I thought everyone fell with these things

The first time I was stopping to help a fellow who was changing a flat along the river trail. As I approached he called out to me and asked if I had an extra patch. Just as I got to him I applied the brakes, hit some goose crap and I knew I was going down. I missed him but the back of my bike with the rack trunk was almost in his lap. I just reached back and unzipped one side of the bag and told him they were in the side pocket. He just smiled and said that was great service

A couple years ago I bought a pair of cycling sandals and decided to try them out around the neighborhood. There was no problem getting clipped in and taking a short tour around the block. As I pulled into my driveway I discovered I couldn't get unclipped. I simply grabbed onto the bike rack on the rear of my van to keep from falling. I had to take the sandals off and pry them loose with my hands....those cleats went right back to the LBS

Other? Who are these Others? Did they levitate in clipless pedals?

The second time I went out with this one group, we're leaving the parking lot to begin. At the entrance, everybody stops. I do the slow roll....hit the ground still clipped in. I tried to look cool about it. Didn't work....

Without going all statistical here (I'll leave that to our resident statisticians) it appears that 98%+- of the falls with clipless pedals also involve little to no forward motion on the bike and the other 2% wouldn't have mattered what kind of pedals were involved.

Does the bear not deficate in the woods?

I didn't bias the poll by voting either. I don't ride with clipless pedals. But I found a novel way to fall anyways.

I was riding around one of the shared walking/cycling tracks around here and, whilst travelling around a small lake saw a short, sagging wooden suspension bridge that looked kinda interesting. So me being me I decided to try it out. Mistake!

I musta looked kinda silly, laying flat on my back amidst a cobbled artificial creek bed still hanging onto the bike and loudly exclaiming "YES!" as I punched the air with one fist. But I'd just somersaulted over the side rope, and I was awfully damned pleased that I hadn't scratched, dented or broken the bike. Bruises heal. Scratches, dents and breakeages need to be fixed

Wouldn't use them if you gave them to me. Speedplay Drillium platforms, the only way to ride. bk

Pedals? Shoes? Please tell me more. The LBS owner recommended Shimano SPDs for my shoes (Specialized MTBs), but several women in another forum recommended Frogs and a few of those said they also wear Sp. MTB shoes. I wouldn't know one from the other except for label packaging, and I don't know why he discouraged me away from Frogs. I guess this is the hurdle I will jump when the time is right, after a few hundred miles on the bike. I don't want to hijack this thread...

jebus. the first hard fall i had with clipless pedals was right in the middle of michigan avenue (main touristy street in Chicago)...it was awesome.

Aside from mishaps during the learning experience we all go through, a common thread here is the emergency. We are so focused on stopping the bike or trying to avoid an accident, that when we breathe the sigh of relief and come to a stop, we realize that we are still "attached". Too late.

A lot of the stories about falling with clipless pedals seem to indicate that the rider would have fallen in the particular situation even if they were using platform pedals.

The poll would hold more interest for me if it was strictly about falling when the pedals are the cause. In fact I would like to see that figure broken down even more so we could see if it was an equipment failure or rider memory error that was at fault.

I use one bike with platform pedals and three with clipless pedals and I feel a great advantage when using the clipless pedals. I'd hate to think we scared people away from using these pedals with our horror stories when the pedals aren't the actual cause.

Actually, that is how I interpreted the question. In my mind I changed it from:

Have you fallen in clipless pedals?

to

Have you fallen because of your clipless pedals?

Which I think was the intent of the author.

Author?

So, if a rider forgets that they need to twist their foot to get out of the pedal; they should vote "no" as in I didn't fall due to clipless pedals. Because of course the pedals were not to blame for the fall; the riders' faulty memory was to blame.

Well, I would have considered my memory (or lack of it) as a part of my total "clipless pedal package."

Thats' one of the things I think skews these polls.

The other thing is when someone would have crashed anyway but because they couldn't get out of their pedals before they go down; its automatically blamed on the pedals. Later when they tell the whole story you get a different picture of the accident.

Well, certainly none of these polls approach in any way a scientific model, or a decent paradigm. I just consider them sort of fun!

I agree but I do have a concern that because they are inaccurate they are chasing riders away from trying clipless.

I guess I don't really care whether or not other folks ride clipless, strapless or platform. Am I a bad person?

I'm not even sure that your a person.

I .. AM .. AN .. AUTOMATED .. CONTEXT SENSITIVE .. COMPUTER .. PROGRAM .. WHICH .. POSTS .. ACCORDING .. TO .. A .. PARADIGM .. DEVELOPED .. BY .. A .. 10 .. YEAR .. OLD .. KID.

I believe that it was about a year ago that the members of this forum conspired to name "Club Tombay" Stapfam came forward with the name used in Europe "Le Toumbeur" or "The Fallen". Tombay is the Anglesized version of the word for here.

The club is not to be taken seriously as it is merely a gathering place for the telling of stories about the 0 mph fall over due to forgetting that one is clipped in. (forgetting to unclip is the #1 cause of clippless pedal falls)

I seriously doubt that the stories told in this venue are chasing riders away from trying clipless pedals. If these funny stories (I have yet to hear one that involved serious injury other than to pride) are scaring riders away than they probably wouldn't have tried the pedals in the first place.

I understand that there is some humor involved, when I do something clumsy (these things occure with more frequency than I care to admit) I also like to joke about it. Its also nice to feel like you've earned your stripes and belong to a special club (and I use the word "special" in that small school bus sort of way).

But I disagree with your theory that it doesn't scare people off to hear those stories; the most common response I get when I ask a non clipless rider if they have considered clipless pedals is that they "heard they are dangerous". You have to ask where are they getting this impression.

If this (clipless pedals) is some secret that we want to keep to ourselves; we are going about it the right way.

Yes. A few times on my road bikes. Once it was at a stop sign and I didn't get out fast enough. I wonder what I looked like to the pretty girl inside the car as my face slide down the passenger side window.

I have learned the hard way that I should never, ever, ever, ever ride clipless on my mountain bike if any trails are involved. After that day I felt like I'd gone 10 rounds with Muhammad Ali.
I'll use them if the ride is just dirt roads but if I know that I will be on any trails I switch over to platforms before the ride.

They are dangerous! Stairs are dangerous. Dogs are dangerous. Swimming is dangerous. Bicycles are dangerous. Humor is one way of informing that the danger can be managed and isn't as bad as some would have you believe.

My contention is that after reading the humerous stories about fall overs the folks that say "that's too dangerous for me" wouldn't have tried the pedals anyway.

Are you likely to fall? Yes.
Are you likely to get hurt? No.

That does not meet my definition of dangerous.