Today on my lunchtime ride, I rode with clips and my pumas. I normally ride with clipless pedals and mtb shoes (AXO Blackballs I think they're called), but had the clips on as I was practicing trackstands yesterday in the parking garage at work due to the remnants of tropical storm Jeanne pouring down upon us. I didn't experience any foot pain using my flimsy pumas as opposed to my stiffer mtb shoes, which I thought would be my main problem with clips. Anyways, although I was quite comfortable in the clips, I didn't feel as secure as when in my clipless pedals. Mostly due to the fact I wasn't able to cinch the straps down tight. Now how the heck do you do that without crashing whilst your feet are in constant rotation? And on another note, why are leather single and double straps so expensive? I've been seeing crazy prices on ebay and the online shops. I'll keep the clips on for a bit and see if I like them.

Oh, and for you drivers out there...use your goddamn ducking turn signals!!!!!!!!!

When i ride and i know i'll be stopping alot i'll cinch one down tight and leave the other kinda tight. After a while i'll switch feet. If im not gonna be stopping for a while, i'll cinch them both down.

i use end buttons. i can just reach down, snag the button, and use the forward momentum of my feet to pull 'em tight. i ususally keep mine fairly loose most of the time, tho...

I had a bit of time during which my feet hurt (two or three days) when I made the jump to clips. No probs anymore, and I prefer them over clipless. Call it convenience.
As far as straps go, I run Sprint doubles ($45 - leather with laminate between to prevent stretching. nice and tight clamp mechanism means little slippage too), never had to adjust them mid-ride. Maybe once, after assifying myself on a skid attempt. Live and learn.

Do you have a pic of these end buttons? I saw [165]'s double straps in a thread on the track forum. Thanks. I may go with double straps, depending on how I like riding with clips.

leather straps should be expensive at your local S n M store. if you go to a bike shop, you should be able to find them for $11. see Yojimbos. or, shoot, youre in PA. keep hunting.

I'll check the shops near work in Hackensack, NJ, tommorow. Heck, maybe I'll even check out the shops in Stroudsburg...ya never know.

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...103828207&rd=1

i just rode a fixie with straps the first time today too. they were way too loose and i felt like i would endo if i tried to skid for more than a second. weird. my shoes felt way too flexy too. did any of you see those 60s italian racing shoes on ebay last week? they were so badass. if i got em i wouldve gotten clip pedals for sure. oh well.

I run single straps (recently moved to leather from nylon--the difference is immense, I can't believe I didn't try this earlier)... Anyhow, cinch one down before you get moving. The other, while rolling really slow just reach down and pull it tight. If it happens to come loose (less of a problem with leather, even less with doubles I imagine), you just gotta wait for the strap to come near on a rotation and grab that sucker as it goes by. On the plus side, your crank rotation will carry your foot away and help you pull it tight.

It only really sucks if you really want to loosen up *just that little bit*. Then you got to try to tab out just a touch on the fly. Good luck.

If your shoes are feeling soft, it's probably because you're riding a standard frame pedal. Move to a platform like the MKS-GR9 and that will go away. Frames are really made for cycling shoes (w/ or w/o cleats).

yeah my friend has some gr-9s i might get ahold of. at least to try anyway...
check out these ****in shoes!: https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...e=STRK:MEWA:IT

I always use clips and never really have a problem keeping them tight enough for skidding purposes. I think the trick is to have larger clips so you can get your foot pretty deep in there. I use them in conjunction with some old rat-trap pedals from a ten-speed so my toe can be pretty far forward bu the ball of my foot is still squarely on the pedal. It works.

has anyone had to do the emergency jump-over-the-handlebars-to-avoid-death maneuver with clips?
I have HAD to do that numerous times clipless and that is the only thing that is holding me back from being a convert. I love my shoes being super tight but still having the freedom to "click" right out whenever I would like.

OK, I have a related question: I always ride with clips b/c I can be strapped in and know my feet aren't going anywhere, allowing me to skid with confidence. I'd love to try clipless, but I always worry that when I threw a really hard skid, I'd clip out and disaster will ensue. Does this happen or am I worrying needlessly?

Skids with clipless wasn't all that difficult. I don't think I ever clipped out unintentionally when trying a skid. Clipping out intentionally when a trackstand goes awry...that's a whole new topic!

yes its happened to me a couple of times. even with the nicest clipless pedals the cleats wear down. if you dont replace them regularly you might have this happen to you. it happened to me in the middle of an intersection with a cop car waiting at the light. i tried to stop and BOING! my foot came out and i went into the intersection against the red. i didnt crash and the cop didnt seem to care but it was awful.

i believe there is always the possibility of coming out of clipless while skidding. i've had it happen on long descents and it's scary. i can never clip back in unless i can somehow slow down, and that's hard on the hills of seattle. increasing spring tension will make it more difficult to clip out, but it'll still happen...just not as often.

i don't skid for huge lengths, but will sometimes skip or skid for about a foot at the most to help slow down in certain situations... on my super worn out cleats and first gen eggbeaters, i've occasionally pulled out doing this. with my new cleats and new ti eggbeaters it hasn't happened... yet.

either way, i prefer clipless, especially for commuting. also, i'm certainly not strong enough to pull out during a sprint on the track to run clips.

guess not.

i dont think im agile enough to jump over my handlebars so any type of incident like that would just mean a endo crash for me...

These work GREAT..your feet are wedged in diagonaly, and no rigid toe clip to deal with.
The pedals have nice sharp edges to keep your foot from slipping.
Fairly cheap off nashbar. You can buy these pedals and straps cheaper than you can get a pair of double straps.

FXjohn