rode clipless for the first time last night
 

i love the hell out of it, i got some sidi dominators bundled with eggbeaters for $239. it was a lot easier to get in and out of them than i thought, and when i'm in, i'm IN. i love it. the only concern i have is i noticed on either the right pedal or right cleat (i think it's the cleat) i can hear a creaking sometimes, is this normal or something to be concerned about? the left side appears to be pretty silent.

Try dripping some lube on the squeaky cleat.

Congrats on the revelation.

I bet it's the cleat.

Where'd you get that deal? How do you like the Sidis so far?

I was wondering the same thing.

pricepoint

i got them here:
http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/138...ome-Pedals.htm

i love the hell out the dominators.

Yeah, I like Pricepoint for pedals. I've bought three sets of Time ATAC Alium's from them in the past 4 years.

By the way, how do you like the Sidi Dominators? I've heard that the ratchet buckle can be a problem.

well keep in mind this is my first pair of bike shoes so i have nothing to compare them to, and yes the ratchet buckle took about 30 seconds of getting used to but it's not bad. they feel great.

Have you fallen over yet trying to unclip? I remember I did, in fornt of a hot girl in front of my apartment complex.

I don't get the faling while trying to unclip. I went clipless about 2 years ago. Never fallen, after periodically falling when trying to use toe straps (the most dangerous cycling invention ever).

The truth is that unless you sprint in really big gears and give a lot of upward torque, you can actually keep your pedals set rather loose.

I also went WAY faster with clipless.

Welcome to the light side, of the pedal force

not yet, i can get out of them pretty easily.

i switched to clipless recently too, and it rules.

i, uh, fell the other day, though. i had just finished a morning ride, stopped at peets for a small coffee to drink on the way home. drank most of it fine cruising slowly down the street. once i finished it, i stopped on a corner that had a trash can. unclipped my right foot, put it down on the curb, leaned over to throw the cup into the trash can, and i guess when i pushed back up i used too much force and i started to go down the other way, to my left. i still don't have the 'twist your foot cuz yer gonna fall' reflex down and *blam*, fell right over on solano avenue. fortunately it was only like 6:30am so there was no one around to see my idiocy.

scraped my left knee, left elbow, cut the underside of my left middle finger, and somehow put a gash into my right shin. i plan to be more careful.

Anybody can learn not to fall from not being able to unclip, but real hardmen know how to do the perfect eskimo roll such that only flesh and no precious bike makes contact with the pavement :P

I would pay money to see somebody do an eskimo roll on a bike. Hell yes.

I fell once after going clipless and had a few other close calls. For me, it was never an issue of it not being easy to get out of the pedals, but rather forgetting about them. After a few years moving my heel to the side is just a natural reflex, but I remember the fall like it was yesterday. I stopped and tried to just lift my foot off the pedal, I had just done about 30 miles and basically forgot about what I needed to do. This was after about a week of riding clipless. I guess it was just long enough for the pedals to not be on the top of my mind, but not long enough for it to be natural.

I don't think that everyone will fall down while getting used to clipless, but it sure seems like a popular trend. When I got ym SPD setup a few months ago, I was doing really well for about a week when I fell over at the end of a ride. I was in my driveway and coming to a stop. I unclipped my left foot, but when the bike stopped, it began leaning to the right. I wasn't quck enough and ate pavement. No notable damage to anything, and my foot even unclipped when it hit the ground.

Yes. 2 hot runners at the river park. They asked me if I was okay. I said something about practicing emergency ditching proceedures. Either: 1. They didn't understand what I said 2. They thought I was being serious 3. Didn't think it was funny (most likely). They could have at least given me a pity laugh.

This morning I was walking down the stairs in my office and following two staffer-types and I hear one say "....tried to swing my foot over the bar but I forgot that my foot was still attached... "

Had to stifle a laugh. Really, it's in empathy!

i killed off all my short term memory brain cells back in the day with mickeys and the "kb"
and it never came back. so bassically i will go clipless for a week or so with no problems. then i will eat it at a light, and then its every day afterwards till i take them off.
i love the feel and control but i just keep falling over, i guess it would be better suited for
long rides and races and not street riding around in dangerous nyc traffic. however i have
alot of people i know who do it no problem, iam just a slow learner. the last time i wiped out
two weeks ago ( prior to taking the eggbeaters off again) i somehow when i fell injured
the top part of my left foot, and it still hurts to put shoes on.

Eggbeaters creak when they're new. Get some Phil Tenacious oil and put a drop at all metal contact points, and down in the spring. No more noise.
Also, after a couple of weeks, take the pedals off the spindles (8mm nut) and clean them good and put a bunch of fresh grease in there. They will last a long time.

OK, so since using this site I have noticed a lot of talk about falling over with clipless (spd's). I have yet to eat it and I'm no Jedi knight (of course I probably just jinxed myself). Is this a common technique described above?
I have found that if you slow yo roll, take out one foot and swing it over the rear while the other foot is just past halfway through the downstroke, your weight will push the bike forward through the beginning of the upstroke before stopping and wanting to reverse. The swinging of your released leg over the rear of the bike will allow a very easy and natural release. If you make it a habit you won't ever fall, and if you do the hot women will understand your plight, then comfort you. That's what I tell myself.

the one time i fell over was actually my first day riding eggbeaters after ditching spds... corner of newbury and mass ave, coming out of a trackstand i forgot that with the 'beaters you can't just yank them straight out but actually need to twist. oh it brilliant.

Yeah, my pedals were creaky at first. Make sure your cleats are torqued down well too. Same with the pedals into the crank arms. When you say put fresh grease in do you eman IN the pedals (like with a grease gun) or on the threads of the spindles?

That's Rule #1 of the Horizontal Trackstand: Thou shalt fall in the most embarrassing manner.

Rule #2: There shalt be many witnesses.

Rule #3: Those that have not yet fallen victim of the Horizontal Trackstand shall soon succumb.



I've fallen when trying to gauge the light; slowing to a trackstand(well, I can't do it yet) then being unable to clip out fast enough when falling over.