rekon

I followed most of the advice on here about starting off with clipless pedals. I purchased SPD shoes (SH-XC30) that go along with my A530 pedals. I practiced vigorously at home before I went out in the wild. I hard coded the clip out reflexes in my brain.

So, today I did a 22 mile ride and didn't fall once! Yay for me! lol *knock on wood*

Few things... I noticed a huge difference while going downhill. My feet stayed in place and I was able to go faster downhill (~40mph). However, I didn't notice much difference when climbing or riding on flats. Am I doing something wrong? I tried pedaling in circular motions and pulling up with one foot and pushing down with the other and vice-versa. Maybe my expectations were too high. I kinda expected a dramatic difference while climbing. All in all I feel more secure because my feet aren't flying off the pedals anymore...

t.braxt

I don't think I noticed that big of a difference either.

Homebrew01

Not much difference on flat roads. The steeper the hill, the more clipless can help, if you choose to pull up. Even longer, more gradual climbs can benefit from pulling through & up sometimes.

rekon

Thanks. Should I be pilling up throughout the whole climb?

dangerd

Most of the help from the clipless comes from being able to ride at higher cadence. From my understanding you will only get about a 30% power increase from the pulling up. I can't ride without them anymore! I don't feel right when I am not clipped in. Instead of pulling up try to just push your feet forward, sometimes your feet will feel like they are floating around your shoe when you are using them right.

Homebrew01

Not necessarily.
I pull up the most on steep out-of-the-saddle, grunt climbs.
On shallower climbs, if I'm sitting, I will sometimes think about pulling through the bottom of the stroke and up. But only part of the time when I want get the feeling it will help.

Yes, clipless pedals are a great thing.
No, they will not make you 5 mph faster.

datlas 

The difference in actual performance is modest at best. But being fully connected to the bike is almost a religious experience, it's that deep.

Smokehouse

I ride two bikes; a comfort bike, and my road bike. My comfort bike had flats and there are times when I find myself trying to do a "complete" pedal stroke on accident (you know, the wiping the napkin across the floor movement). I will slide my foot right off the back of the pedal.

Clipless come in handy for a complete stroke, you don't have to worry about keeping your feet on the pedal. I have a much better, more complete from when locked in vs flats.

now...there are rare times when I do pull on very nasty climbs and I am desperate and off of the saddle...sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do LOL...

rekon

hahaha I agree. My bike and I experienced a very strong bond today.

surgeonstone

Going up hill out of the saddle- the clipless really allow you to get out of the saddle and pull up hard. Winter cycling or cold weather- much better.

rekon

Hmm.. I'm not sure if 30% power increase is accurate. I will try pushing my feet forward tomorrow - maybe that's what I was missing.

rekon

When pulling hard on the pedals has anyone ever unclipped and ate sh**?

surgeonstone

Yup. Ended up with bruised cajones

rekon

Ouch. Sounds disastrous.

rekon

Cojones* you mean. Unless you damaged some drawers.

Homebrew01

I unclipped during a sprint once. That's the only one I remember over several decades. Better than the old clips & straps.
Unclipping is usually getting sloppy feet, or worn or broken cleats.

generalkdi

Try again on a hill, get up and push a gear a bit harder than you are used to. Pull while you're up, you'll start to see it helps more when you are on a harder gear.
When you are sit, the difference is less noticable.

superdx

The first ride usually goes well because you're concentrating on unclipping your pedals. But the next couple weeks may see a few falls until it becomes 2nd nature. It'll come naturally eventually.

On climbs, the key difference to clipless pedals is the ability to pull up on your pedals. These muscles in your leg weren't used before. So they're probably not that strong for you at the moment, but with time, they'll build up and you'll have two methods of powering up a hill (pulling on pedals vs. pushing down).

Kopsis

Clipless is more about comfort than anything else. Foot position on the pedal is an important aspect of bike fit. Clipless ensures you get that position exactly the same every single time and can hold it even over bumps or high cadence efforts.

If you're expecting a big power improvement from clipless, you should adjust your expectations. You can see modest power improvement for short periods by pulling up on short climbs or sprints, but you will not see a large sustained power increase. From a biomechanical standpoint, the hip flexors have neither the size, structure, nor the leverage to provide a significant sustained power output (compared to the glute/quad/hamstring combination that provides power through the other 3/4 of the pedal stroke).

Sean Gordon

When you're spinning, don't think of it as pulling up- what you want to do is use your hip flexors to make your foot as light as possible on the upstroke, so that you don't waste energy on the downstroke of the opposing leg. If you do this correctly, the weight of your leg alone can do much of the work on the downstroke (at a medium pace).

The same can be applied to climbing out of the saddle. This time, completely unweight the leg on the upstroke so that your entire bodyweight can be applied through the leg on the downstroke.

With simple platform pedals, you have to apply some pressure during the full pedal revolution to keep the feet from slipping off the pedal. This results in the upstroke leg working in slight opposition to the downstroke leg. This effect is magnified when standing.

coasting 

you are doing it wrong. clipless was the biggest improvement to my pedalling. ever. nothing since has beaten it.

kelsodeez

concentrate on lifting your knees and pedaling in circles.