I just fell for the first time ever 2 days ago. I simply forgot to unclip and tipped over. After about 10 min. of laughing I was OK.

I just switched to clipless a few days ago. I haven't fallen yet, but one thing I find interesting in this thread is how many people only unclip one foot. So far I've always unclipped both feet when stopping, then a few seconds before the light turns green I clip back in on the foot that isn't on the pavement.

I've never seen anyone get hurt from a non-moving tip-over while being clipped in, but it is friggen hilarious!!! I've fallen twice: once a dog ran right in front of me unexpectedly and I quickly stopped and pulled my foot UP (duh). The other time I tried unclipping only one foot and accidentally leaned the other way. Both hilarious.

Wife just did her first 25 miler last weekend and fell as we stopped at the truck after the ride - HILARIOUS!!!

There is nothing better than watching someone panic right before falling while clipped in and stopped - as long as they're not hurt and don't ruin their bike.

I havent fallen yet, but have almost killed myself at slow speeds. Came rolling up my friend's driveway into their garage and slowed down, except their garage has about a 1/2 inch lip going into it. I was going so slow, my front wheel hit that lip and stopped my bike, totally unexpected. I almost fell over straight onto the front end of his car, ugh, that would've hurt.

I hear people choke on pretzels, too...

So you are coasting along with most of your weight on the saddle & both feet unclipped? When your right foot slips off and you get gashed by the chainring or you slide off the front of the saddle and perform a dynamic top tube mount then you might re-think your methodology.

Horror story. This is applicable to fix gear riders who use clipless and who slam down a long hill and they either don't have brakes or their brakes failed. even worse if you pants get caught in the chain ring and you can't unclip at all. I did not know that shins could look that ugly.

A lot has to do with how long you've been riding without clipless. For me, the movements involved in getting out of my toe clips were so automatic, that with clipless, the first time my conscious mind was on something else, I did my toe clip automatic movements, and fell.

And I fell into a lane of the freeway!

Yeah, this is probably a bad idea, it's just what I naturally started doing when I went clipless. I guess it's because I'm indecisive and don't know which foot I'm going to put down until I stop. I guess more experienced cyclists put the same foot down every time. I may need to be more conscious about my stopping.

I'll give you a story:

I went on a ride with an "intermediate" group that turned out to be newbies with no pack skills. So we come to a left turn at stoplight, and I'm 3rd in line. Light turns green (Yield on green) and the ride leader clips in and moves out. Then she notices a car up that would have prevent the whole pack from making it all in one go, so she stops 5 ft after she started. I'm on the right side of the lane, with traffic passing us on the right.

SHE F-ING STOPS, as I'm half clipped in! For those of you that have fallen over, you know the feeling when you're about to succumb to gravity. I had to stop when I was thinking we're going, and I nearly fell to my right, into traffic, but was able to get my foot out and down in the nick of time. JEEEZUS CHRIST. I can still see the end of my life.

Lesson learned. Be EVER vigilant! Especially in new groups.

Here's one: riding rollers in my garage when my kids were little - neighbor kids messing with my son, yelled and lost my concentration, went down on the concrete, cracked a rib (I think, it hurt!). This was less than 2 weeks before running a marathon - man, that sucked!

LOL I fell a couple of times the day I got my clipless. Got embarrassed because of it, and learned to unclip in advance before coming to a full stop. After that I had a couple of close calls. I was surprised how quickly I unclipped when I crashed last time :)
I think it happens to everyone who's ever ridden clipless. If not....don't say it didn't because there's bad karma :)

we'll see how long he lasts before he falls off

:innocent:

An emergency brake locking stop for a newbie like you will do the trick..Enjoy your trip down!!;)

Well, so far this thread is pretty entertaining for me ;D

ive found the best course of action is just laughing it off unless youre truly hurt, right?

as for broken bones, i cant even imagine...

As good as you think that you are with clipless pedals, you will fall. I have seen many experienced cyclist fall. It is nothing to be embarrassed about.

I rode toe clips for 15 years, never fell once because I wasn't able to unclip.

I've probably gone down 5 or 6 times from not getting a foot unclipped from a clipless pedal fast enough in the 10 years or so since I switched.

I've never gone down because of clipless. The only two low-speed falls I've take were because I didn't know I had stopped at a light with my back wheel on black ice, and I was going up a steep driveway in a too-big gear, someone cut me off and I couldn't recover enough speed. I don't even remember learning how to use clipless, just put them on my first bike the day I bought it and "it clicked".

First day on my new bike. Had the clipless for a couple of weeks. I was figuring out the shifters (old bike had them on the down tube) when I went over to my left. I struggled to kick my foot out, but ended up twisting my knee and coming down on my kneecap. That was three weeks ago and it's still not quite healed yet.

I haven't had this happen in a long time, but I had a new reason for a couple of close calls when I got my new bike a year ago. On my previous bike if I ever dropped the chain from the small chain ring to the inside I could almost always just soft-pedal and get it back onto the chainring within a couple of revolutions. I got used to dealing with it that way instead of stopping to adjust the FD limit screw like I should...

On my new bike if the chain drops to the inside it gets WEDGED in there, and if you continue to pedal you're going to seriously gouge up the frame. I can maybe make half a crank revolution before it stops. I've nearly fallen over on a steep upslope a couple of times from chain-drop incidents.

Moral of the story: adjust your FD limit screw...

A phobia maybe. Not enough time adjusting to the change . First day I rode clipless I rode about a parking lot clipping and unclipping multiple times.. Afterwards it became natural.. Can't imagine unclipping not being natural, but one never knows how we'll react when some situation causes us to panic.

There are 2 types of clipless rider. Those who have fallen and those that will fall.

I have fallen riding toe straps but not clipless. Last fall was 3 years ago on toe straps. I'm waiting for the clipless fall.

I just started riding clipless a few months ago. I bought them in Manhattan, and had to ride through Soho and onto the Brooklyn Bridge to get back home. On a weekday. But first I paid for the pedals, took the bike outside, and promptly crashed to the pavement in front of the bike store as I clipped in one one side, and then, tried to clip in on the other side while forgetting to pedal. Embarrassing, but not painful.

A few days later, while stopping at a red light, I unclipped on my left side but leaned to my right when I slowed down. I landed in a heap, and cut myself on the chainring pretty badly.

But I haven't fallen in months, although I still have a hard time clipping back in. Takes me a try or two before I get it. And nothing beats that first experience of pedaling really hard in them. Felt like flying compared to plain pedals.

road them for the first time today

really easy

After I had been riding with clipless for a while, a "freind" gave me a free set of Wellgo, Shimano cloans. I popped them on a bike, hopped on, clipped right in no problem. Rode them up the street, turned around, came back, rode into the garage went to unclip........went to unclip..........Ok, we're unclipping now........Ok the bike is fully stopped and the #$@# Wellgo pedals won't let me unclip. I look to lean on a car, OOPS, no cars in the garage.....crash. Took the Wellgo's off and threw them in the spare parts box. That's where they are to this day.