Check your cleats and tighten them before leaving the house! I've never given it a thought and today one of them fell out unknowingly to myself, so when I went to step out at at the train crossing and my foot was viced to the pedal. Tipped over right in the middle of the road and couldn't get the cleat out or get up. A big dump truck came up behind me, but stopped well enough away. I ended up sort of crawling off the road as best I could with the bike on top off me. Dudes came out because they thought I was messed up after getting hit or something. Once they helped me get on my feet, I was able to pull my foot of the pedal. It was pretty dark, but I've got flashers or I think I would have been squashed. It happened at kind of a blind turn where most of the vehicle traffic is big dump trucks and big 18 wheeler dumpers. Anywho.. learn from my mistake. Check your cleats often.

Whoa! Glad you're okay, dude. Good advice.

Scary -time for thread locker me thinks

Yeah I mentioned this on Heincreasesme's thread on clipless pedal nerves recently as it has happened to me a few months back. It was impossible to unclip from the right peddle and the shoe began to move around in a circle. luckily I had just clipped in after stoping at a shop so I just rode to a fence, leaned up against it still in the saddle and unlaced my Cannondale csole shoe.

I had just changed the cleats on my shoes as at that point and was experimenting with 3 different pedal setups for the 2 bikes I was riding. I now have 2 different sets of shoes one for my Vpedals on my MTB and one set for my Candys on my Salsa.

I tried using cleats but I found that I had a problem with getting clipped in...
and caused me problems when I had to make a left turn at a stop sign on my route...

I went back to the toe clips and I think its the best thing for the job...

I had a very similar experience when I tried clipless pedals (SPDs). I've actually given some thought to trying out a set of Speedplay Frogs; look easier to get in/out of than SPD. Of course, this will probably start a Holy War between the various clipless fans.

That's nuts. Makes me appreciate my regular pedals.

I've never tried spds only Look and Time atac. Have just bought a pair of frogs, there stupidly easy to get in and out of. No spring tension to over come

So I've heard. I tried SPDs once and felt like I was locked in Had trouble getting out and ended up falling over. The pedals got Filed 13 right after that.

If you dont like the locked in feeling of spd's you'll love the free float feeling of frogs, I do

Sounds great. And this time I'll have my LBS show me how to use them rather than trying the hard way. Thanks for the info, my friend.

np - i know your gonna love em

What is the real benefit of clipless ? I quit using them and got to work just as easy and in the same timeframe. I think maybe if you are racing....

I don't shave my legs either LOL

I don't shave my legs either but I use clipless

They allow you to peddle more efficiently- a lot less tiring; I also noticed that my knees ached a lot less after I made the switch from toeclips. Bar the above incident they are easier to get out of than toeclips, particularly if you hit something at speed, with clipless you get bounced out on imapct. Not true of toeclips you end up carrying the bike with you wherever you land.

I went to SPD pedals this spring. I had been using toe clips for my entire life up to that point. I've been using a fixed gear bike and found that getting into and out of toe clips in traffic was just not working for me. I've found the SPD system to much more easy to use, especially since I use the two sided MTB version. Just set the tension correctly and you should have any problems.

They really help me improve my spin and the side benefit to that is my knees are much happier! Maybe my knees are happier because of the Glucosamine and Chondroitin I've been taking. None the less, my spinning is much better.

Funny that. I shave my legs but don't use clipless (yet).

I admire anyone who can shave their legs, shaving my face daily is bad enough. I talked to an old roadie from way back, he felt shaving legs did nothing to increase his speed but helped his legs feel cooler.

I switched to clipless from powergrips. I love my powergrips. But now that I"m used to the clipless, I think they're head/shoulders above platforms. I'm not exactly saving a lot of time, but I'm saving effort. Or at least getting better output with the input I'm putting in. I can totally tell the difference especially on the ride home with the hill climbs. My pedals have a platform side (saved my @ss today) and I've ridden quite a bit on just the platforms and there is definitely a distinct advantage to the clipless. I also tested the powergrips against the clipless and it saddened me to give the nod to clipless.

But to try and stay on topic in my own thread.... the downside to clipless is the inherent and present danger of not being able to get clipped out. This is my 2nd fall this week. 1st was on Wed. when my chain fell off and was down around the bottom of my crank arm on a descent. That one was just plain inexperience on multi-tasking dealing with equipment failure.

Given the heat and humidity of the Gulf Coast, yeah, shaved legs feel better, but it also makes it nicer when you (or your sweetie) message your legs. Also, in case of an unexpected high-speed dismount, the band-aids don't hurt as much coming off.

Not being clipped in can be dangerous for recumbent riders like myself. If your foot comes off the pedal and hits the floor, because your in a reclined position your foot/leg gets dragged under the bike resulting in broken bones/torn muscles and tendons etc. Its' called "leg suck"

owwwww I hadn't thought of band-aids

I went to SPD from platforms a few years ago. I have never had a problem getting in/out and haven't fallen over. A friend at work with Looks had a clip-out failure, fell and badly injured her knee a couple of months ago. She's off the bike for a year and looking at at least one surgery sometime later this year.

Same thing happened to me with toe clips because the friggin' laces on my shoes got caught. It was sort of humiliating. I got some vans but I think I'll need clipless MTB pedals for winter (vans don't keep you feet too warm).