Originally Posted by
jonnycomelately
Here I go... possibly about to make a fool of myself again... I understand cinching the straps down on a track. Maybe. Dunno bc I've never done it. But in traffic? Every time you come to a light (if you can't track stand) you're gonna loosen one, then the light turns, you're gonna put your foot back in and cinch it again? I guess you could get good at timing it, but seems to me like in the meantime you're missing it, not paying attention to the road, maybe veering into traffic... seems dangerous.
After a few times you don't even need to look anymore. It helps to put end buttons on the straps to make them easier to grab as they go by:
Good quality straps with rollers on the buckle help as well. I usually leave one foot clipped in at stops; then I only have to deal with one foot when I start again.
And I'm not convinced that clipless saves much time, either. During group rides with clipless users, I'm still routinely one of the first to be fully engaged after stops. Plenty of people still have trouble lining up their feet on clipless pedals; the only real difference is that once they do get clipped in they don't need to snug anything up. On the other hand, I can still pedal without having to snug the straps.