Clipless pedals
 

Hi ladies and gents

Im a newbie to the forum and only just got back into cycling, but I have been talking to a guy at work about clipless pedals which i have never used.

what is the best way to get used to wearing a clipless shoe and pedal?

he has said only wear 1 to start with (either right or left) until i get used to clipping and unclipping it leaves me a free foot just incase i forget, is this a good method? or is he yanking my chain?

thanks

That seems like a weird way to learn. I put my bike close to a wall and practiced clipping and unclipping with one hand on the wall while I was watching TV. I've also heard of people just riding in circles on grass. It's not that hard to learn and is more intuitive than you think, though it's likely you'll have one 0 mph crash.

I tried the 1 pedal method with my wife and she still fell over. Repeatedly. We gave up and decided clipless was not for her. When I first got them years ago, I had no trouble getting used to them. I did have one episode of stopping and falling over a few weeks back, but that was a very rare occurrence and my pride was the only thing hurt in the fall.

Well...yeah. One clipless pedal assumes you'll always fall one way, plus it makes you uneven and biases you to one side. If she really wants to learn, that's NOT the way I'd go about doing it, because I feel like it would make you MORE likely to fall. That said, there's nothing wrong with platforms.

:lol: I am reminded of when I was putting the ridge cap on my house. So here I am two and a half stories up with only one safety rope (it was all I owned) reminding myself that if I started feeling myself slip, to fall away from the rope.

When I started with Clipless, first thing I did was to clip/unclip against the wall 10 times (until I knew exactly how to unclip). Then I went to the grass and rode in circles for 5 minutes stopping and unclipping as many times as possible. Then I went to the real life....
Suggestions:
1. Always unclip both pedals at the same time. If you unclip just one, you might fall to the clipped side.
2. Keep in mind that you won't fall while pedaling, it always happens when you stop.
3. Keep in mind that you will fall at least once. It is part of learning process.

Practice a ton! Then practice some more. If you are riding off road for the practice, get some knee and elbow pads.