mprelaw

Hey man, the dude is a sergeant, which means that he has to know WTF he's talking about.

itsmoot

+1

Zealots are far more dangerous than any foot retention system.

gecho

You too? As a kid my foot slipped off the pedal while spinning like a madman on my single speed BMX. Gave me the nastiest case of road rash on the back side of one thigh as I landed and slid on my side.

Homebrew01

I don't know how many millions of miles get ridden cumulatively in clipless pedals, but it only takes 1 troll to rant and find some obscure example in which clipless pedals may have contributed to an accident. I wonder how many accidents have been avoided because a rider with clipless pedals was able to accelerate quickly out of a bad situation, or to avoid something due to better bike control ..... oh well ..... false logic lives on.

And since I can ride faster with clipless, I can get my ride finished sooner, meaning I have less exposure to traffic & other hazards !!

Flying Merkel

Worst cycling injury was due to a foot slipping off a pedal into the front spokes. Broken elbow during the first week of summer vacation.

After 2 years riding with Crank Bros. pedals, I'm sold. Much more efficient and less tiring than platforms.

MattFoley

This is why I don't wear a seatbelt...in an accident I don't want to be attached to the car, I want to be thrown from the vehicle because that's obviously safer.

FrenchFit 

Why does there have to a reason other than someone jsut doesn't like them? I rode for a season on clipless, I think they suck; went back to straps. I didn't fall or fail, it's just my preference. No, I don't think they are dangerous...and although I might think they're a stupid gimmick obviously MILLIONS of cyclists disagree. I don't wear kits either, poor me.

dynodonn 

I don't use clipless pedals because of my stop and go commute, and the extra 10 percent is not worth the hassle. There's been a number of times that if I had been clipped in, it would have ended up being ugly. Large studded MTB platforms here.........life is good.

IthaDan 

bigfred 

And there in lies the difference. No one has a problem with you or anyone else using them and determining that they're not for you. But, the OP continues to contend that that their use on roads is dangerous not only to the user, but, "everyone around them".

lungimsam

True dat! 25 mph downhill and you hit bumpy/broken roadway, I want my feet connected. You don't always have a choice to avoid the broken areas of the road if traffic is around.
If I remember correctly, I did get myself bounced off the platform pedals once. Didn't get hurt, but scary.

lungimsam

How are they dangerous to self and others?

Sixty Fiver

I think that when we look at performance, it is pretty clear and has been known for decades that having a solid connection between your shoe and the pedal is of benefit... old clips, straps, and cleats provided an extremely secure interface that actually required to loosen the strap to withdraw one's shoe and in a crash the show and pedal would stay attached to one another.

With modern clipless shoes and pedals clipping out is pretty smooth and easy as long as the pedal is set correctly and if you come off the bike unexpectedly your shoes should release.

I really don't give riding with clipless a second thought any more.

mprelaw

He's not trolling. He's like the Jehova's Witness of anti-cliplessness.

You're entitled to that opinion, and it's fine to have it. You're not spreading mis-information based on an ill-formed wild assed guess. Therein lies the difference between you and the OP.

denvertrout

I feel out of control when not clipped in.

HokuLoa

Descending a mountain pass at 50mph+ I absolutely want my foot "locked" securely to my pedals. If at speed I suddenly encounter tire/wheel-ending road debri I cannot navigate around I absolutely depend on my clipless pedals to safely bunny hop to safety (this includes curbs when joe/jill-idiot-driver suddenly puts me into the curb). When/if I lay down the bike in a slide I would prefer to have that first impact come WITH my foot still locked in. Bottom line is that clipless pedals have saved my hide far more times than they have put me at risk and that includes both road and MTB.

fietsbob

Rode thru the winter in rubber Bean Boots, on Ergon pedals..
Dry feet took precedence . Ergon uses skateboard deck friction material
+ their contour shape..

I have a few very nice clipless shoes and Time Atac alium pedals ,
but I have not fitted them on, for the commute, in a year.
because I have to stand for hours on a concrete floor at the shop.

And I would hate standing on them for the day.
at least on the bike I'm sitting down.

for below posting and their shopping tout,
location matters..
NB winter right on the Pacific Ocean is different from CO
Colorado snows, [but its a long way from sea-level and the sea]
but I doubt it rains 2.5" a day, like here, and
Rain-squalls come in waves too even heavier for a while
And rains for a week or 2 straight.

We have roads where the Salmon swim across them in the Winter.

HokuLoa

I actually just took a sec to look at the links. They are pathetic anecdotes that are about as useful "evidence" of the dangers of clipless as handelbars are evidence of the dangers of cycling. Most of those were neophyte cyclists who quite likely would have had some sort of accident as we all have had in our introduction to cycling. Pedals are just a convenient excuse to blame.

As for the last link on the Irish pensioner death... seriously??? Coming from a B-Day, witnesses say he was wobbly (drinking unconfirmed but highly likely), he swerved unpredictably, and with all that we are to take the officer's conjecture about the dangers of clipless pedals as the moral of the story!?!?!

Give me a break man. You need vastly better "evidence" than first time, poor riders and an elderly, probably inebriated, unpredictable cyclist who gets hit by his own son in a car. It is all well and good to have an opinion but at least provide some credible backing for it if you are going to trot it out and expect others to see your point. Especially considering the massive quantity of quality evidence supporting the benefits of clipless pedal systems.

Shimagnolo

And I rode though the winter with dry feet *and* clipless with my PI Barrier GTX.
Plenty of options in winter shoes:

Exustar E-SM450
Gaerne Akira (Road)
Gaerne Artix (MTB)
Gaerne Polar (Road and MTB)
Lake MXZ3
Louis Garneau 0
Northwave Avalanche Pro
Northwave Celsius J GTX
Northwave Fahrenheit (road)
Pearl Izumi Barrier GTX
Shimano MW02
Shimano SH-MW80
Sidi Diablo GTX
Specialized Defroster

Nightshade

My choice of bicycle brands has nothing to do with clipless pedals...........

Please stay on topic.

njkayaker

Get a better topic. This one's a turd.

Leebo

This newfangled clipless thing works great for all my mt biking type stuff. Great for bunny hopping/ logups that I encounter. Keeps the feet on the pedals when cresting a steep hill. Most important, keeps feet on the pedals when on a fast/ bumpy downhill. Works for me and all my mt bikers I ride with. Has the OP ever used them ? The shimano spd's just release with a twist of the heal, have never not come out of them. Reminds me of all the people who live in a desert saying rim brakes are just as good a disc.

A10K

Its not a desert!!
....we've just been in a drought for the last few years...

My pristine shins thank me for going clipless for the last three years (and my only non-clipless bike has plastic pedals)

rebel1916

Don't tell me what to do. For the vast majority of riders, Workmans suck and clipless rules. There is nothing wrong with being different, there is something wrong with being, well like the way you are.

dcrowell

Exactly. There's nothing at all wrong with doing things your own way (I often ride a recumbent), but to tell others that it's the only way is annoying and won't earn you any friends.