Clipping in?
 

I figured I'd ask this in the Clydes area rather than Road Cycling because I'll get more useful responses in here.

Since I started riding I've ridden in regular training shoes (I think they are what you call sneakers in the US) on flat pedals. The other day I rode a 150k brevet and noticed I was the only one who wasn't unclipping when we stopped. So I got to wondering whether having something like SPD pedals will actually make much of a difference.

I'd want to keep the freedom to ride in regular shoes if I needed to but if SPD pedals will make as much difference as padded shorts made (something else I was a little skeptical about until I tried them) then it's worth looking at further.

If I do go down the clipping in route I guess all I need to buy is the pedals and cycling shoes that will take cleats? Is there anything else I'd need that I'm overlooking?

No, there is nothing else.

I wouldn't say they'll make as big a difference as the shorts, but I certainly wouldn't go back to riding without foot retention - whether clipless, or clips and straps. I use the latter for the bike I ride around town in so I don't have to bother about what footwear I have on, but clipless is certainly superior where that isn't an issue.

If you decide to go that way, exercise a bit of care to position the cleats where you want them on the shoes. When I first got some, I positioned them in what looked like the middle of the range and found I was riding too much on my toes. I now have them pretty much as far back on the shoe as they will go. The difference is only a few millimetres, but one can feel it.

YMMV, as usual.

A new set of pedals will always (to my knowledge) come with appropriate cleats. So, you'll have what you need. Practice unclipping mindfully for a couple of weeks or so, and you'll be good to go.

What I like best about switching to clipless is forgetting about my feet/pedal position once I'm clipped in. I wear these http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...04_-1___202526 I started with these pedals http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...60_-1___202530 and after a while bought these http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...73_-1___202530. I put the first ones on my commuter but rarely use the platform side. The surprise with this system is riding without being clipped in is no big deal. When I'm in a area with stoplights every block I don't bother clipping in. However many times my foot just goes right to the position to clip in.

I would go as far to say being clipped in gives you ~ 20% more power utilization during your stroke.

Clipping in lets you pull up on the pedal on the upstroke, power that you otherwise cannot have on regular pedals. I would go for them, especially if you ride a good bit.

I like my SPD's and wouldn't ride without them now, other than going down to the grocery store or around the block. They keep your feet on the pedals in the proper position and I have developed the habit of pulling back and up, for a 360° pedal stroke. When I occasionally go out in sneakers, I have to now pay attention to keeping my feet on the pedals.

I'd suggest starting off getting double sided pedals SPD/platform, then you can use the side you find appropriate at any given time.

shoe and pedals are all you need.

I will toss in a recommendation of using Crank Brothers Mallets. They are platform pedals and clipless on BOTH sides. I love them as i can ride in work shoes, trainers (sneakers), or clipless shoes.

actually i ride in heavy traffic areas at the beginning of my rides so i dont clip in i ride them like platforms until i get to the MUP or out of the city.

sadly they are heavy beasts of pedals but being in the clyde forum i am not concerned about a few grams. Also there is a 15 degree twist out that some may not like and the tension is not adjustable.

BTW when i went clipless i didnt get faster or more that much more efficient, but for some odd reason i cant go back to platforms?

I seriously doubt clipless pedals make that dramatic of a difference - 20% seems high. I don't routinely pull up on the pedal either unless I'm frantically trying to get up a steep hill, and then I pull up like nobody's business and you really can't beat clipless in that situation.

Anyway, cycling shoes tend to have extremely stiff soles and that makes for a much more comfortable ride in my opinion, power considerations aside. You also don't have to worry about your foot slipping off the pedal and your foot is always in the right spot for you (assuming you got the cleat set correctly)

If you're riding 150km in sneakers you probably don't have the foot issues that I do, but my recommendation to you is to go to a shop with tons of shoes and try a bunch on. You want the shoes snug but not tight and since your feet will likely swell a little on your long rides, you want the ability to adjust the shoe on the go. Different brands fit in different ways obviously.

The other thing to consider is the pedal itself - I've tried a few different systems and some of them really lock your foot in to a given angle, which hurt my knees something fierce. Shimano and Look seem to have fairly popular pedals with a reasonable amount of float and you can go speedplay if you want tons of float. Loads of people use mountain bike cleats because mountain shoes cover the cleat and make walking much more manageable - something you may want to consider for your short jaunts to the store on your bike.

One of the main advantages of cycling shoes is that they have a very stiff sole, which act to distribute the force exerted by a pedal stroke over a wider area of your foot. Clipless or not, cycling shoes are stiff. The bottoms of your feet won't hurt as much with stiff soles.

For me, I can't ride a bike without my feet being clipped in. I started using "rat trap" cleats in the late 60's and have used some form of being "clipped in" ever since. The very few occasions when I did ride platform pedals without my feet being attached to the pedals was a very unsettling experience. I felt naked. Like driving a auto without the seatbelt being buckled. In addition to not being able to pull up on a back stroke, I felt like I could easily lose control, or that my feet would accidentally slip off a pedal at any time, especially when going over those inevitable bumps in the roadway.

Sure, I've fallen a few times when I couldn't get un-clipped fast enought. Once in junior high school, at very low speed coming out the school driveway and turning onto the street where there was a patch of sand. Front tire slipped out from under me. The other time was when being chased by dogs on a sand/dirt road during my cross-country cycling trip in 1995. That's all I can remember. At faster speeds, I see it as a safety hazard if I wasn't clipped in somehow.

p.s. 1) There are pedals available that have clips on one side and a platform on the other. Then, you can ride clipped-in (with the appropriate shoes), or push the platforms using any shoe you want.

p.s. 2) As mentioned by jmccain, most pedals come with cleats. Keep in mind that there are several varieties of cleats available. Those that come with pedals usually have a float. That means that you can twist your ankle a few degrees side-to-side without unclipping. Since my history of being clipped-in is so long, and that most of that time have been in "rat traps", I have never gotten used to float cleats and ride with no-float cleats instead. That just means that I can't twist my ankle without un-clipping. Those no-float cleats have to be purchased separately. Figure an additional $30. (Anybody want to buy two sets of brand-new Shimano SPD-SL float cleats?)

After I'd been riding for 15+ years, I got severe pain in my left knee one day, after a long ride. It took most of a week to go away, and came back (with a vengeance) the next long ride I did. Somehow my pedaling was wrong, suddenly, and I couldn't really figure out how. Clipless pedals made it go away, as close to instantly as is possible.

There are a lot of benefits to clipless pedals, and I wouldn't have thought much of "my knee pain went away" until I started experiencing knee pain. Otherwise, the zen-like connection to the bike is very nice, being able to pull the pedal up when you're stopped at a light but getting ready to take off is handy, and it's nice to be able to pull upward on the pedal in a sprint or a tough climb.

I use SPDs, on my road bike. Mine are very stiff shoes, with CF soles. I can't feel the pedal through them, and don't get hot spots. They're ok for walking in, but you would never confuse them for regular shoes. Still, you can scramble over loose rock in them to get to the stream for some water.

I also have a pair of SPD sandals, which are nice in the summer. I wear them when I bike to Magnuson Park for a swim. The lake bed has a lot of rocks and pebbles at the bottom, which poke your feet. The shoes swim well, and work on the bike. Makes for some happy days.

Why 20 %, and not 10 % or 30 %? How did you get to that figure? It's extremely dubious; that's more performance benefit than you'd get from probably any other upgrade people routinely make.

Clipless can cause foot discomfort. I enjoy clipless on my single-speed, because I really feel like I can sprint without slipping off the pedals, but my feet get sore on a long ride.

For comfort, big, flat pedals are best. :)

You may want to get your cleats adjusted by a LBS for proper fit because I don't think that they should be causing discomfort.

To anyone suffering discomfort in any part of the leg, knee, ankle or foot as a consequence of clipless pedal use:

It's not necessary.

1. Reposition your cleats. Either get some help from someone who is familiar with setting them up, or, do some reading.

2. Try some different shoes or insoles. Cycling shoes are subject to the same fit concerns as any other type of foot wear.

3. If those haven't worked, consider trying a different pedal system. As stage as it seems, some report hot spots and knee issues with some pedal systems, but, not others.

Don't suffer pain thinking its part of the clipless pedal equation.

Clipless make a small difference but on balance these pedals are not worth the risk of bad falls that whose who use them face. A great pedal for the street is the "power grip" line since they DO NOT lock your foot to the pedal which on the street is bad news no matter what the fans of clipless say.

http://www.amazon.com/Power-Grips-Hi...7103813&sr=8-2

Guessing you were riding the Danebury 150, can't say I've seen anyone riding an brevet / Audax without clipless pedals, they are an almost standard part of bike attire.

There is normally a mix of road an MTB pedals / shoes being used, using MTB pedals likes Shimano Time or Crank Bros gives the rider the advantage of using shoes which can be walked in, where road pedals are harder to walk in.

For making a difference, with clipless pedals, you can pull up on the pedals and do circles far easier than without.

I cringe everytime someone mentions seriously "pulling up" on the pedal with clipless setup. I mean yes you can pull up but I wouldnt recommend this, unless you feel you have no other option. Holy stress on the knees batman!!!!! The "drag back" is more plausible with clipless pedals.

As far as the benefit....I feel more balanced and in control. Also your feet stay in one place, no slipping or sliding, especially with rain or any type of weather. In terms of power, it is my understanding, that it more or less sets the bar even, in that the amount of gain you obtain from using the extra motions allowed by clipless pedal systems, is still negated by the loss of power transfer in your drive train...lol. So riding without the clipless, especially for long distances, you would theoretically be using more effort overall.

Cheers,

This is nonsense, really. Lots of things are dangerous until one knows what one is doing, and after that they are completely safe.

Either your shoes are too flexy, or your cleats aren't positioned correctly. My guess is shoes.

Yep, pulling up isn't the best way of describing it, your way is better, you do make better use of the full pedal stroke with clipless pedals than without, with leads to more efficient cycling.

Some Bacitricin or Neosporin for the rash after you fall. :D

But don't be put off. Most clipless falls happen when you're close to a dead stop. A "bad" fall will happen no matter what type of pedals you have, IMO. Some sort of catastrophic frame/fork failure at high speed, potholing, getting doored, etc, you may be better off taking the bike with you than getting propelled off it. And clipless pedals do release on their own a lot of the times when you're crashing. Some of the worst falls I've seen happen when someone is standing and mashing platform pedals, has a foot slip off them, and the pedal opens up a long gash on a leg.

You're not overlooking anything.
Once you go clipless you will probably wonder how the heck you rode before. I know I can't ride without my spd's. tried ti last week for about a half mile before I turned around.

I went clipless (SPD) about 7-8 months ago, and haven't looked back. I was having severe left knee pain back in September / October last year - mostly while climbing or peddling while off the saddle. My Dr. recommended I get cleats and focus on my form, in addition to physical therapy (simply leg lifts, stretching, and such). The combination of these made a world of difference. I still have some discomfort occasionally, but nothing severe. I can now ride much longer with less pain & discomfort.

I haven't fallen (yet), but I've had a couple close calls. One was the typical stop and forget your clipped in - but the other was when my front wheel got caught in an abandoned light-rail track going through a dark parking garage in San Francisco. I had my sunglasses on, and didn't see the track - and of course wasn't expecting it. My front wheel fit nicely into the track, causing me to lose control. Had I unclipped 1/10th of a second later, I would have eaten the pavement.

Practice on a road with lots of stop lights. Make it a habit to unclip about 50' before you get to the stop. Muscle-memory will come in handy when you're faced with an emergency situation (Dooring, etc.). The retention strength of the pedals can be adjusted. Start off with a weak setting, making it easy to pop out, then increase the tension after you're comfortable to make sure you don't pop out unexpectedly.

I went the cheap route - $50 (sale price) for shoes, and $35 for pedals. No complaints whatsoever.

I use speedplay zeros with my specialized comp shoes. I just started cycling seriously a month ago and when I'm clipped in I never think about foot position. Initially, I noticed some foot pain on the outsides of my feet, but realized that I was tightening the BOA system up too much. Speaking of the BOA system, I prefer these over velcro. I can easily adjust my shoe as I'm pedaling if need be.

That's one advantage of zero-float cleats. I have mine set on the weakest/loosest setting and have never unexpectedly unclipped. Not even close. I have to make a conscious decision to twist my foot/ankle to get out.

The right foot muscle memory is pretty good. I'd be in a world of hurt if I had to unclip my left foot first. It's amazing how fast one can unclip when they have to quickly.

I went back to pinned platforms and "Sticky Shoes" (5.10's Chase) on my mountain bike and would never clip in again in the dirt. I do have a roadie bike with Krank Bros egg beaters. I did take some tumbles getting used to them. I would encourage you to have your wife get used to riding a bike first and then introduce clipless pedals. A couple falls in the next couple weeks and you may never get her on a bike again. Take it slow on clipless.

I have seen several women with pinned platforms on group rides. Seems to be a good compromise. You do get better transfer of power, not that much. Plus your feet won't slip off the pedals, ever when wet. When you need to put a foot down, its instantaneous.

Plus, with platforms you can shift your foot around and change positions. Early on that can mean more comfortable as well.