Buying a new road bike this weekend, and got some SPD pedals and shoes off of craigslist to put on it. I've always ridden clips and straps so I thought I'd put them on my FG for the ride home.

I can't tell you how great it was riding home with those. I was worried about getting my foot in and out at stoplights, but I cranked down the tension and they popped right out when I need them to. I think they even improved my stroke, because I could tell I wasn't just pedaling with my quads.

Eventually, I'll go back to clips and straps so these can go on my road bike, but in the mean time I'll be carrying my chucks in my bag til I get wherever I'm going.

Plus, buying off CL, I saved more than $100! Anyway, just wanted to throw this out there, and see if anyone else had had similar experiences or had the opposite happen.

I've used them both and the only advantage that I can see for using toe clips is that you can use regular shoes, which to me isn't worth giving up all of the advantages of riding clipless.

Honestly, only the SS/FG crowd and some track riders (in conjunction with clipless) are riding toe clips. Road, MTB, SS MTB, and BMX racing are riding clipless.

Once you go clipless you never go back. It's just better. Technology evloved.

I'd bet a dollar that you put some SPDs on your fixed as soon as your wallet will allow.

I love my Time ATACs but the main problem is carrying other shoes around w/ me. Unless I want to walk in my bike shoes all day.

I agree. I think it's a small price to pay for the gains.

Also, people forget to mention that toe clips can ruin some nice shoes.

They way I do it is to ride clipless MTB pedals (I also have TIME) so I can use MTB shoes with a full sole that can be walked on. Some shoes will fully recess the cleat so no click-clacking around. I have some old Nike Kato III shoes that are matte black and look like normal shoes. Sidis look great but even the MTB models are tough to walk in.

Also, some babes dig cycling shoes with jeans when out at the bar

I have Specialized shoes and I wear them around for hours, without thinking about it.

The special shoes argument is a pretty lame excuse. These are the only shoes I wear these days:

I'd really love to try out clipless pedals when I've got the disposable income for it. I might just use them for riding on weekends and keep the clips and straps for riding between classes during the week, unless I find some with shoes that I particularly like. Those SPD's above look promising, I may have to look into that.

You can get some clipless pedals pretty cheaply. Lots of bikes come with entry level clipless pedals that people have just lying around. You can get a new pair for about $30. $10 or 15 for used. Shoes run from about $40 on up.

But, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Good pedals start at around $60-125. Good shoes from $60-100...then there's carbon fiber...titanium...leather made from Italian babies.

Yeah, I don't want to go into the whole carbon fiber/titanium thing, but I do want something decent, and given that I just bought a bike and had a rear brake installed on it pretty recently, $100+ for a set of pedals I probably won't use every day isn't an expense I can justify right now.

I've also been considering switching to SPD, but tell me, I hear that when whip skidding, or skidding against/with centrifugal/petal will unclip a rider...what have you guys experienced?

i have eggbeaters on my motomess, and have NEVER unclipped without wanting to. clipless is 100% efficient, unlike clips/straps which is more like 50%

Same here

I understand they're more efficient, but I'm more curious about certain circumstances that supposedly unclip a rider. I'd like to switch, but this question is important to me cause I whip my bike around a lot when I skid.

+1

imo, clipless is safer than clips as far as pedal-to-foot attachment is concerned

I don't whip-skid so I can't say. But in my 8 or 9 years of riding clipless (been riding clipless fixed since 2002) I can't recall unclipping unexpectedly. I've ridden SPD, Egg Beaters, and Time with time being my favorite of the 3. I pull pretty hard on the up stroke (something that's hard to do with toe clips) and I've never pulled out.

I can't imagine you clipping out on a whip skid. If you are worried about it, get some pedals that provide some positive resistance before disengagement. To explain: Some pedals provide a "wall" that you feel when you are about to clip out. Imagine bending a #2 pencil with your two hands till it snaps. That snap is sort of what it feels like to unclip. Some pedals don't provide that wall which sort of feels like bending a hollow Bic pen...just bends till it's bent. You just simply twist until you disengage (Crank Bros Eggbeater, Speedplay). I prefer the wall type (SPD, Time). But that's a personal thing.

On a related note, I'm going to buy some Ultegra SPD-Rs today for my track bike (for actual track use).

I bought a pair of these recently and love em.Light and comfortable when off the bike.Great when clipped in and riding, improves technique and you use more of your muscles evenly.Excellent for climbing hills too as you lose no power to foot flexing around the pedal and can pull up as well.
Get on em!

Eh, **** this sport as a hobby I'm so broke!

I'm going clipless as soon as I make the purchases. I'm going with time atac aliums + one of the shoes recommended in this thread: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...163&highlight=

Aside from online deals you might want to go to a shop and see if they have any "take-off" pedals you could get a deal on. SPD and Crank Brothers pedals are pretty common clipless pedals that come with bikes and sometimes people trade those in right away for something else. At my shop we used to sell those take-offs for $20-$30 CDN (w/ cleats) to whoever asked.

Oh, decent shoes: SixSixOne makes some normal-looking ones as well (they look like skateboarding shoes).

those look nice, i use a pair of vagabonds for my everyday "shoe"

I love riding clipless - I've tried clips/straps on a friends bike briefly but never liked the idea.

I first ran Forte Campus pedals (platform/SPD) and then went to Eggbeaters - I recently broke a spring on my FG driveside eggbeater, but it'd done around 6000 miles and had broken while in pretty extreme cold (I had to leave the bike outside in the elements that day ) - no complaints and love them to bits.

I have had a couple of unwanted unclips - moreso with the SPDs and *really* worn cleats than anything else - I was accelerating out of the saddle from a light and had my right shoe unclip whilst in the process of giving it some beans, that wasn't pleasant...

I have popped out of the eggbeaters twice or three times, each time was an extreme where I yanked my foot at a weird angle and it popped out - it's never happened in a time of need with the eggbeaters.

I don't know. I think I'd rather rock sidi's or something and just keep a pair or real sneakers in the bag. The casual clip in sneakers have a ways to go stylistically imho. Not really down to commit to the cross-training/hiker looks permanently. Although those sixsixone "filter spds" are somewhat promising...

I keep my work-wear in my locker, so I don't have to carry around any shoes. If I'm out running errands, I don't care about walking around in my bike shoes for an hour or three.

I've got $20 Nashbar SPD pedal on my fg, and wear $35 Forte CM200 shoes. Never had any issues with them for comfort on or off the bike. Can't say for stability in skids since I don't skid.

(I wear the same cheap shoes when I ride double centuries on my geared bike, and the pedals on that one are 18 year old Shimano M545's. Definitely would notice if there was a comfort issue.)