So today I walked into the shop and asked about clipless pedals. I ended up walking out with Shimano SPD pedals and Shimano MTB shoes. Took them for a quick 15 mile spin today and I'm loving them. Maybe I missed the learning curve, because once I figured out that you actually have the press into them to clip in, I was fine. No falls and I clipped out with relative ease, and I'm already considering tightening the play once I really get them down.

For the same effort as I applied using toe clips, I was going ~2mph faster with my new pedals. Seems as though more of the revolution goes toward forward propulsion, and I feel much more like the bike is just an extension of myself. Planning on posting pics of my ride with them on soon. Good times!

Don't worry that you have not fallen.. Experts agree that you will.. ;-) Zero-mph falls only bruise the ego for the most part..

I Loved my SPD's changed them out after a few years for Speedplay-Zero's a month ago, I am glad I did not start with the zeros, clip out is about the same but getting clipped in takes a little heel kick that I am still not used to..

I did my first clipless ride today as well. I picked them up at the REI garage sale for $35 pedals and shoes ($150 msrp). Crank Bros Candy with some Giro MTB shoes. Wow what a difference. No falls either.

Yeah, I don't see why falls would be such an issue, especially if you have used toe clips and tightened them down good.

I also love clipless. When I first tried them there was an immediate boost in my pace... I could naturally and comfortably ride in higher gears and climbs were considerably easier.

When I got the pedals installed at the shop the employees there warned me I'd probably fall, and I'd read that almost everyone falls on them. It's been a little over three months and I haven't yet fallen. There's been several close calls but I've always been able to get out of the pedals when I need to, even when I've had to come to a complete stop on a dime. When I first got them I spent a lot of time just practicing getting out (right there in the parking lot of the shop). I imagine most people probably fall on them in the early stages when they are getting used to them and I'm pretty sure I'm past that stage at this point. I'm not doubting taking a spill will happen at some point but I'd guess it wouldn't be something platform pedals would have prevented.

For me, going clipless will entail carrying an extra pair of shoes to office. The biking shoes definitely cannot be worn the whole day. So the rack and bag/pannier would have to come first before the clipless, but I'd love to go clipless too. Thanks for saring your experience, it's heartening.

Falling is not necessarily an issue as long as you always remember to clip out early. Anticipation is key.

Is there a place at the office where you can stash a pair of shoes?

Agree with etw about anticipation. I'll clip out a second or two before an anticipated stop, and I have hybrid pedals and usually pedal unclipped in any areas where there's a likelihood of surprise stops. Though there are still occasions where there is a completely unanticipated need to come to a complete and sudden stop, so the other part is developing that instinct to clip out as part of the braking maneuver.

I didn't fall for the first two months after going clipless. Then I started getting cocky. Clipped out on the left, tipped over on the right while at a near stop. Didn't hurt but lost some skin. Most importantly, nobody saw it!

I'd recommend practicing quick clip-outs on each side...

I never understood how people fall over with these. It's easy to get out. Maybe good advice is to not chew gum at the same time or something....

J.

Clips is nice. I made the switch art three beginning of the year, and have been quite pleased. Came VERY close to falling a couple times when I had to slow down unexpectedly early on, but now they're second nature, and clipping out it's quick and instinctive. Anticipation and repetition are key. Practice makes... well, better... as they always say.

This has been my experience too. In the olden times, you'd have to start thinking about stopping way before the light, reach down, loosen the straps, wriggle your foot out. Or learn to trackstand.

There that, plus you'll see a benefit in the beginning from loosening the pedal tension a bit to make it easier to release the cleat. One of the nice things about SPDs is how easily you can adjust them with a standard Allen wrench.

I wear my Specialized SPD shoes all day at work with no problem. I wouldn't dare walk on a hardwood floor though.

I posted this question in a thread I started after I got hit by a car but what happens if you get hit and fly over the hood of a car while wearing clipless pedals? I imagine the design is to keep the bike and feet attached so does my 45lbs bike fly over the hood and land on me or what?

P.S. I understand that all circumstances would be different I am just more concerned about what happens in an accident overall. Is there a tension where the cleats will just come out anyhow or are you stuck to to the bike no matter what until you twist out of them?

My experience with crashing and clipless pedals has been while riding my mtb on trails in the woods. I have never crashed riding clipless on my road bike. In slow speed crashes I tend to stay attached to the bike. For example, I have gone over the bars and my feet were still attached when I landed all twisted up on the ground. In high speed crashes I think I have always come out of the pedals. It basically comes down to whether or not your foot twists relative to the pedals during the crash. If your feet twist enough the pedals will release them.

So then I could have been hurt pretty bad in this wreck?



I wasn't going too fast and if my feet didn't change position relative to the pedals I could have smacked the truck and stopped dead, no pun intended, as my bike stopped or I could have drug it over the car with me only to land on me on the other side.

Eeek!! I'll stick to flats for now. I see clipless have their appeal but I also think they have their place. Maybe if I get a nice road bike and only group ride on bike paths away from traffic will I get me a pair of clipless pedals.

Ouch! I really can't say for sure, but there's a good chance I would have instinctively unclipped in this scenario. It's just spring tension that holds the SPD cleat in place so there's also a good chance this sudden stop (of the bike) with you still traveling would overcome the tension anyway. Not sure about that though.

Glad that guy was OK.

That guy was me. After that happened I began to worry about what would happen if I was using clip less pedals.

I used to be concerned with the whole "another pair of shoes" thing, but honestly I've found my platforms tear up the soles of shoes so badly I'd probably be better off with cycling specific shoes anyway. I think I may get the platform/clipless pedals. That way I can still ride around without the shoes for short trips to the grocery store, but I do less damage to my shoes on longer rides (like my commute). Fresno has ridiculously long city blocks, and with such distance I can usually time my cadence to catch the light, so stopping often isn't a big issue. Gah... right when I got done spending money on the bike...

I hope I never have an experience that would provide an informed answer to this! It looks like it happened really fast. Did you have time to make any instinctual moves like hitting the brakes? If you were clipless you'd need to make releasing yourself one of the first moves you make (which you can do at the same time as anything you'd do with your hands like braking or steering away).

You could also try multi-release cleats. They have more angles of release including an upward one so it's more likely the unintended movements caused by an accident would release them. The draw back would be more unintended releases.

I spend most of my rides on trails (including my commutes)... if I had to ride on roads most of the time I'm not sure I'd go clipless.

Leave a pair of shoes under your desk or some other convenient place. I've been doing it forever. I also leave a towel, shampoo, soap, razor, etc. there. No need to carry stuff that you are going to use every day.

I leave shoes at work. I was actually thinking about ckaspar's crash the other day. It probably would have been somewhat worse if he had clipless pedals.

I had been riding toe clips and straps for a couple of decades when I went to clipless. I had them set up just right so I could get out if I wanted without loosening the straps. So converting to speedplays was a bit of a change for me. Now I can get out easily, for a while it was dicey. The funny thing was, I didn't fall for a month, and then I had two falls in less than a week. No falls since, although I was a little close on Saturday. I'm getting fairly good at panic un-clips

I've crashed at all kinds of speeds and in all kinds of conditions on my bikes with clipless and disengaging isn't a problem. It doesn't take that much pressure for the mechanism to open. The one time I got hit by a car was long before clipless and the crash stripped my shoe off and left it in a crumpled toeclip.