Jesse M

it seems that whenever i ride the bottoms of my pedals, my toe clips scrape pretty badly on the ground. i tried to bend them slightly so it wouldn't happen, but it doesn't seem to have worked very well. anyone have any suggestions?

isotopesope

ride clipless, get shorter cranks, or get a track bike with a higher bottom bracket.

HereNT

Ever hear that one where the guy goes to the doctor and says :

Guy : It hurts when I do this.
Doctor : Don't do that.

Sorry..

Seriously, though, if you're riding very far without being in the clips, you might want to re-think your shoes or how far you ride before flipping the pedal over and putting your foot in...

Jesse M

yeah, it's a very minor thing, but i'd thought i'd ask anyway. it's not affecting anything, and only happens when i'm riding the bottoms of my pedals for the first few seconds before i clip in; so i might as well keep on what i'm doing...

think5577

What kinda clips, metal or plastic. I use metal (Christophe... oh I love those French) and when I WALK my bike, they scrap on the ground but they're still as shiny as the first day I got them.

Doesnt riding on the bottom side of the pedal defeat the purpose of clips?

Jesse M

they're just cheap plastic clips. i don't really ride the bottom of the pedals, but i start out with one foot in the clip and one foot on the bottom of the pedal, then flip it and put my other foot in. i haven't had any problems with pedal strike yet, so i think everything's pretty much fine in that area.

Moonshot

If I can slip my foot into my clip on the first upstroke, I'm golden. After that it seems to be a fight to get into the clip and my clip will scrape as it goes around.

So, I'm trying harder to get into the clip immediately from the standing start. Might help you too.

rwan

NO NO NO!!!

do NOT ride on the bottom of clipped pedals! i learned my lesson about this last week.

i used to frequently ride the bottoms when first mounting and starting off, then clip into them when i'm comfortably moving.



last tuesday, starting off, my right clip was low enough to get caught on a piece of rie-bar (sic) sticking out of the sidewalk. bike halted, and i went headfirst over the handlebars.



miraculously, i did a full flip and sort of ended up on my feet/knee. no injuries, but i did tear my cycling pant lengthwise, all the way down. this all toook place right in front of a bike shop, which was all the more embarrassing.



go clipless, buddy.

Jesse M

yeah... most of the time i get it on the first upstroke, but if i don't it takes a couple of tries to get clipped in. it seems like we've got the same problem as far as the scraping goes, so i guess it's more common than i thought. i'm not really going to worry about it.

Cynikal 

I ride the bottom of my pedals when practicing trackstands or other tricks. I scrape the heck out of my clips often, they have never shown wear. I wouldn't worry about scraping, i doubt it will effect the clips. get metal ones if you can. They will last longer and look better.

jimv

I ride SS so normally just coast until I get my second foot in. Sometimes however, I'm more interested in getting across an intersection or past a car that may be pulling out, and will rock my bike away from the unclipped pedal as it approaches the bottom of its travel ... sort of like the way you might rock the bike while dashing up a short hill. I also point my toe down abit which rotates the inverted clip back and up. I have Christophe clips that I like alot and hate it when they scrape.

Jim

stevo

i can't beleive we're still talking about this.

JASON R. TOMSIC

Take them off.

Fugazi Dave

Take them all off.

skitbraviking

Hell no! Just ride in your clips. So they scrape once in a while, are you afraid of a little scratch, sissy?

pitboss

I say we start a new and ultra-uninformative thread on how to buff out scuffs on our toe clips. Then we could all retire to someone's sun parlor and read excerpts from Pride and Prejudice to one another while eating cucumber sandwiches. Oh joyous day!

ultra-g

Don't ride on the bottoms of your pedals.

TeleJohn

My wife gets angry that she has to scrape my toe clips off the bathroom floor.

Fugazi Dave

Psst....differnt toe clips, man.

SyntaxPC

I started out with the plastic clips, too, and quickly found that they are worse than useless (for road use). I promptly bought a set of metal clips, and for the ~$8 difference they are well worth the price.

crustedfish

handholders of the world unite!