Some of the early Looks had very slippery float, which I hated when I first tried them in about 1993. I went from toe-clips and straps, with Adidas Eddie Mercks shoes, to these super slippery Looks, and it was horrible! Then, I got mud in the cleats, my foot got stuck on the pedal, I tumbled over, and was lucky not to get hit by a car. That was it!! I got rid of the Looks and went back to my Shimano 600s with toe-clips!

The moral of the story: I foolishly judged all clipless pedals by these slippery Looks, and refused to go clipless for years! Finally, after about 2 years of coercing by my local shop guy, I tried Shimano clipless in 2004!! I couldn't believe how good they were, and felt like a goose for being so stubborn

O.K. Seriously. Raise your hands if you came from actual clips and straps and then transitioned to clipless.

I mean, real clips and straps, double Binda leather straps, real cleats and campy clips. Real old skool. I mean late eighties, early nineties old school.

I had one of the early sets of Ultegra clipless pedal. Clean white, look style. Zero float. I bolted them on to my SL tubed Rossin with a bad mix of DA, 105, Ultegra and Sante' and away I went. Down tube shifters set for friction, because we couldn't trust index. Besides didn't want anyone to hear you shift...

Brand new first ride. But years and thousand of miles on real clips and straps. I put the pedals on adjusted the black cleats and it was a miracle. The sky opened, the sun shined, the angels sang. I was fast.

About 20 miles into my loop I went to unstrap for a stoplight. Reached down to loosen the strap, but there - was - nothing. I completely vapor locked and tried pulling up and back to get out. This movement burned into my head from years of getting out.

Meanwhile the stoplight gets closer...

I remember it like yesterday. I very gracefully and slowly angled over to the left side and landed on the asphalt. It was on Mission Gorge Rd. In San Diego. I remember how hot the asphalt felt on my shoulder. I remember the dumb@ass in the white car looking at me like an upside down turtle trying to get myself untangled.

Funny. Hadn't thought of that in years...

-Z

My noob self knew nothing about clipless pedals when I bought my bike in June. I wore out both cleats the first week. It was rough. Now I have gotten much better with them after almost 1,000 miles. I still struggle to clip in though. I go through a lot of green lights with only one fit clipped in until I get out of traffic. I feel like a heel but I just never get it on the first try.

Exactly what happened to me but luckily released just before i hit the ground or it would have been FUGLY.

Hot!!

Ha! I remember reaching for my straps several times when I first went to clipless, but, luckily, I never went over. As you say, it's burnt into ya head when you do it for so long -- i rode with straps and clips for at least 15 years.

However, when I first used straps and clips in about 1986, I went over just as you described. I'd been used to talking my foot off sideways, so, when I got to that first red light, I'd already pretty much stopped when I said, "uh oh", and tumbled over

[Raises hand] Except I wouldn't call late '80s / early '90s "old school". Through the early and mid '80s, I ran on a pair of Detto Pietros with slotted cleats, and 600EX (before that "level" was called Ultegra) pedals with the rear plate that the cleat locked into when you strapped down. The earliest Shimano clipless pedals were actually made by Look (as I recently learned here on BF), and sold at the Dura Ace level. I bought a pair in about '87. The float was (as it is today, AFAIK) actually a function of the cleats, not the pedals. First "black" cleats had zero float, but I got a pair of 15 degree (?) float "red" cleats shortly after. Never fell with either cleats. Oh, and when I built that bike, it was JUST as 6-speed 600EX SIS was coming out, so I tried it. Never went back to friction; I didn't care if anyone heard it click.

I'm on all SPDs now, even on my daily work commuter and rail-trail rambler. I still haven't fallen on account of them. My only bike that doesn't have SPDs is my '69 Robin Hood.

I just dug out the old PDs, and found the cleats; now I'm wondering if I should fit my newest road shoes with SPDs, or go with those old PD cleats and recommission the pedals. The current "road" pedals/cleats look remarkably similar to the original Look/PD design; funny how "everything old is new again".

How about going up a steep hill, throwing a chain, attempting to dismount and forgetting to unclip, rolling down the hill in a panic, and busting out of the pedals in the last second? Could hear some of my friends having a good laugh as I hopped off the bike ...

I hate trying to unclip on an uphill stop, I've fell twice today because of it, I keep having trouble getting my right leg out too.

Worst thing was, I unclipped early on the second hill, then tried to cycle up it with the bck of the cleat against the pedal, it clipped me back in just before the stop, I was f**ked, must have been comical to see though.

I never failed with clipless yet but I ALMOST did about a week ago at a busy street corner I was standing there at a very slow speed hoping for the light to change and Down I went and at the last second I managed to unclip, I did look silly nonetheless though.

Horror Story: Back in the days when I used to mountain bike, I was slowly making my up a slope covered in loose rock. I lost traction, couldn't unclip in time and fell over. No, that's not the horror story. Somehow I managed to fall just right and my front brake lever snapped. We were leaving on a weekend mountain biking trip up to Mammoth Mountain and being 5pm, no one was going to be able to repair this for me. I was lucky to get home in time to high tail it to an LBS who happened to have a brake in stock. On the positive side, I did manage to learn how to install hydraulic brakes that evening.

I just bought a road bike and pedals, and the first few days I was doing great with them. As someone above said, once you start getting good at them you stop thinking about unclipping. I just bought the 2011 Tarmac SL2 and was testing out the brakes. I didn't know them very well and couldn't clip out to slow down fast enough, so I ran into some thorny bushes. I was't hurt(a few small scratches), but it was definitely an experience to remember.

Damn! I bet that left a (permanent) mark!

Very artistic!! I set the pic as my desktop.

Do you work in any other media??? I could use some Xmas card pictures too...

The last second saves always get the blood pumping!

Ricey, you will fall lol.. It's happened to all of us. I've fallen once since I went clipless in May..

I was riding to work one morning on the bike path. Maintenance truck was in path. Signaled to go ahead and pass by, I slowly rode up to the truck and instead of squeezing through the truck and edge of walk, I went into the grass. When I tried to get back on the sidewalk, the nice wet grass made my rear tire slide and down I went to my left side. I was nearly stopped so did not hurt, but was embarrassing. Have had quite a few close calls after.

This coming from the guy who was "always" aware, and I would even unclip ahead of time when I'd see a group of people or a person walking a dog ahead of me.

Who ever said i havent fallen? i just havent had any terrible injuries or cool stories yet!

i fall at lights, not paying attention, but i bike when nobody is out, so i just feel pretty stupid, i swear i fell 4 times my first day clipless

I started riding clipless about 2 months ago now. I was warned to try a few rounds around the block, stopping and starting, before going on a serious ride. I did once around the block was too pumped, filled up my bottles, grabbed my tools, and went straight out. I have a really crappy ~2k down to the bike path, right through downtown, though, and I definitely took a spill. I think it was around 3pm on a weekday, so the streets were quiet and only a few pedestrians got to watch it happen - I wish I did - it was one of those will-I-go-or-won't-I situations at a light that often results in cars running reds, but I wasn't going to let that happen, so I stopped, still not used to the pedals.

Fell right over onto my left side, onto the ankle that I'd broken pretty badly (surgery, plates, the whole deal) less than five months prior. It was terror as I realized I was falling and the direction I was falling in, but it turned out alright - not even a bruise, really. It shook me up, but I was good to do my 40k and get home, noticeably more tired than usual because of the extra effort on the way in and out of the city. One thing that I'm happy about is that the tech at the LBS set my left pedal to a very low tension, in light of my healing ankle. I've only increased it a little bit since.

I've had close calls since - a dog off its leash that I almost cut in half with my wheel, and the other time, again on my way down to the path, almost got doored - fortunately, I wasn't going fast, but I had to grab onto the door and roof with both hands and struggle to get a foot out. Scared the crap out of the girl opening the door.

Wouldn't go back, regardless. I use toe clips on my commuter bike, and I feel so much less in control.

Ah, ok - Gotcha! Well then, glad to hear you have also taken a spill?

Haha, ive been through 2 car accidents within a year of each other, and i still speed on the same hill! Non-clipless, im pretty anxious about first accident on the hill all clipped in, =P

It'll happen

Bah dude i know, haha, i hope i dont trash the bike.

You won't, and you'll also probably not really hurt yourself. The worst injury with my two falls when I first started using them was to my pride because it was in front of a group of people both times. :/

Spring for ceramic bearings in your BB and you'll add another 4mph

*raises hand*

Late 80's is only old school in the sense the clipless pedals were available at that time so people who used toe straps hadn't drunk the kool aid yet. I've only been riding clipless for 7 years or so, and I'm never going back.

I'll raise my hand too. I started out with the 600EX's. No float meant a lot of time adjusting the cleat.

--
Jeff

And I will tell you... My worst spill since I was a kid, happened late June of this year, and it was non clipped. I flew over my mtb, and landed on my left shoulder. Rock rash, minor concussion, bruised ribs. Nothing broken, but my shoulder still bothers me. I don't have the balls to go clipless on mtb yet.