what's funny is, I've never had a clipless zero mile per hour fall, but have in toe clips and straps

True. Got my clipless in August and a friend of mine kept asking me if I had fallen down yet for months afterward. Was feeling pretty superior until one day, several months later, I was standing there with my left foot on the ground waiting for my garage door to open, went to put my right foot down, forgot about the pedal thing, and tipped over into the garden by the driveway. I sat there in the snow for a few minutes in awe of my dumbness. Luckily there were no witnesses. Hasn't happened since, but I'm sure one will creep up on me when I least expect it.

The problem with the "hybrid" pedals is the platform sticks way down there when you are on the clipless side. I have one where the cage is all beat up from pedal strike. Less worry about pedal strike is one of the benefits of full clipless IMO

I ride LOOK Keo Sprint Pedals connected to some Sidi Dominators (as well as Sidi Genius 5 Carbons for long rides). I can walk into a store/house/etc. without problems and get the job done. I dont trick or anything so it works perfect for my style.

How do you mount cleats for Keo Sprints on Dominators?

Yes, I meant "I use" I forgot the I. Sorry Hope this explains.

Once you click in, you never click out.

I've never had a problem clipping out on a moment's notice in emergency situations. I've never hit/been hit by a car to test this (thank god), but I've fallen enough times to know that, generally, spds disengage quite easily from collisions if the tension is not cranked way up. And that level of tension still gives me enough confidence for the occasional skip stop and track stand. I agree with you, that it's not good to be stuck, securely attached to a bike in the midst of a collision. Perhaps the tension in your pedals was set too high for your cleats? After you've fallen enough times with clipless pedals, there's a reflex develops when a crash is imminent that I can only describe as "Dorothy frantically tapping her red slippers". Just takes practice, sooner or later you don't even think about disengaging; it just kind of becomes muscle memory.

Oh yeah also, make sure you have a front brake if you're running clipless on fixed. Always.

glad you're finding the guide useful. would you mind commenting on the blog post and letting me know what you think of the Bontrager street shoes? or on here, whatever. I am seriously considering buying a pair. The Exustar's look better but i'm a little put off by their lack of brand and that direct-from-china sales.

i am getting a pair of the Vittoria 1976's when spring rolls around. they're no good for winter so i don't want to tease myself by having them around and not being ale to ride in them.

or you can get some nice road pedals/shoes, then just ride on the pedal as if it were a platform pedal when you don't want to use the shoes. I've been doing this on my road bike for short trips and sometimes on my 10 mile commute. I think this is better than those weird and ugly hybrid pedals

I ride clipless fixed. I don't use a brake. I stretched, broke, and/or popped out of clips/straps on more than one occasion. Even my Toshis gave up some bite at the buckle in an emergency. I replace my cleats when they need replacing, and haven't popped out in an emergency 1 time with clipless. The only time I popped out unintentionally was when I was goofing off doing whip skids, and that was only once.

I still want to know how you use LOOK Keo Sprints with Dominators.

I'm pretty much am dead set on speedplays.

You know that you can get some single/double strap adapters for speedplays, right? I've got a set. I use them for chariot races, 200M, and Kilo. If interested PM your email address to me and I'll send you pics.

Hmm, cool.

done. and the streets do their job, but i might want to mention that if you're really concerned about aesthetics, you might want to consider something else. they look okay compared to most of what else is out there, but that doesn't say much. i actually keep a pair of shoes in my locker to change into, but then again, i am a little biased because i am overly style-conscious.

thanks for the comments, Panda. day-to-day I'm wearing the 611 Filter shoes, but they have gotten pretty filthy riding in NYC slush & sludge all winter.

I had Hybrid clipless/platforms on my fixed conversion for a bit. I had pretty much decided to switch to pure clipless because I never used the paltforms (I don't wear flippy floppies; at this point my regular everyday shoes and my summer sandals both have cleats on the bottom). Anyway, I was lazy and didn't get to changin g the pedals until I had a really nasty crash from a pedal strike. At least on mine, that platform side sticks down further than the bottom of any other pedal.
I don't imagine such pedals would be permitted at my track. YMMV.

My oldest son rides with clips and straps on his geared road bike because he likes to ride in the same shoes he uses for running.

However, he straps in so tight he cannot pull out of his straps; and, on fixed gear he rides clipless.

I rode with clips and straps on road bikes for most of my life, and now that I've ridden clipless these past five years, I can't imagine going back.

clipless riding is the only way to ride bikes.

Dominators come in both road and mountain versions. Great shoes but I feel bad walking around in them too much given how expensive they are.

Can you link to these road version Sidi Dominators please?

Excellent point. you should check your local track regulations. But Your foot is still way longer than the depth of the pedal. There is no way that could make a difference. Not from my experience anyways. The flip flops were a joke. I watch too many SNL digital clip on Hulu is all.

Clipless is the way to go. Although I REALLY hate the name (you're actually "clipping" in...) I love "clipless" pedals. I have a pair of SPD's on my MTB and fixed gear and also a pair of Ultegra road pedals on my road bike. I never ride with platform pedals any longer .

I have some Crank Brothers Quattro SL's that I got for cheaps, and I love them Not exactly ideal for a class to class situation, but for my longer joy-rides, they are purely amazing. Clipping in/out was about 80% easier than I had expected it to be.

good thing about SPD SL and LOOK style pedals is they're big enough to be used as platform pedals if you want to do so. I do that for short errands