clipless virgin...
 

heyo

so i have been riding with clips the past few months an im thinking about the jump to clipless

the first challenge is finding pedals and shoes

as for the shoes, im thinking im gonna stick with something in the "mountain" category because they have a flatter sole and would allow me to use them with my clips as well....

as for the pedals...im thinking eggbeaters....but I really have no clue

now here is the caveat....i ride brakeless now and would like to continue doing so....can i do that with clipless pedals? do i risk my foot becoming dissengaged and ...well....dying?

i want to take care of this tomorow and be riding my new pedals on monday so i will be cheking this thread every 3 minutes until i get an answer i like...so fire away


please....?

This has nothing to do with your question, but I just wanted to testify.

I recently picked up a set of LL toe clips, moving up from plain ol' L's. The difference is pretty phenomenal. Previously I could get my straps just behind the balls of my feet if I worked it just so. Now they're comfortably behind the balls approaching archville. Tighten them suckers down and I am so hooked in. It was very surprising what a difference just moving up a size in toe clips made.

It pretty seriously impacts how I can pull up on the pedals on the backside of the stroke.

I don't understand how people can ride brakeless without clipless, but I have never used clips. I use SPDs and I keep them pretty tight. I have never had a problem with disengaging accidently.

there was a recent thread about comfortable SPD shoes

*too lazy/tired to post thread link*

SixSixOne Tiburon and Launch, and Diadora Geko were recommended,
and crank bros. are recommended just based on (from what i can tell) sheer popularity.

i've got some sidi shoes with some sort of generic shimano spd pedals.
the shoes are nice, but hella uncomfortable to walk around in.

i'm still building my fixie, so i can't say much about the dangers of accidentally un-clipping, but i've ridden maybe 5,000 miles with these pedals, and i can only remember accidentally unclipping twice, which isn't surprising since i like to keep them pretty loose (at least, i like to keep them loose on my non-fixie)

i ride brakeless with eggbeaters. when i first started to skid/skip, my back foot would twist out because of my poor technique. i went to spds because of this and didn't really like them--you won't twist out but you might pull out if the tension isn't high enough. i went back to eggbeaters last summer and haven't had one accidental disengagemnt since. i skid/skip down lots of hills and know that i'm putting 'em to the test. watch the wear on your cleats and you'll be fine.

with the exception of bostontreavor...thanks for the input

eh...maybe i should look into some real clips too...inteast of my junky plastic wellgo clips

geckos and spds work great for me.

I made the switch from spd to speedplays(frogs). I have to say its been the best bike upgrade i made so far. Its so much easier to clip out using the speedplay's. I once got doored and went down hard. My foot was still in the pedal causing me to sprain my ankle.

For shoes i use specialize carbon mtb.

Ouch, called out by name. Can't a half-intoxicated guy make a mistake now and again? Man.

;)

SPD pedals and Shimano mountain shoes with stiff, yet flexible sole.

Inexpensive pedals and inexpensive shoes.

Love them both.

Never tried eggbeaters but have heard great things. Also great things about "time" pedals.

I've never accidentally unclipped and I've never had problems being stuck in the pedal when I needed to frantically kick a foot out.

I skid and skip as well and haven't had any problems.

After riding with toe clips for four months then switching to clipless for the last three, I feel much safer with the clipless and the pedal stroke feels more efficient.

Hope this helps.

I ordered a pair of answer mtb shoes and stainless eggbeaters as a deal off of nashbar last week.
http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...=322&pagename=
This is the closest deal I could find still, but the shoes I'm getting have 3 straps and the eggbeaters are better. It came in at 129 dollars, plus 15% off because of a discount code. I can't say anything yet for how good they are, but at 110 odd dollars total it didn't break the bank. The ones in the link I posted could be had for 85$, pretty damn good deal if you ask me.

For shoes, take a look at the Pearl Izumi Vortex. I love mine.

yo man, if you want to get clipless pedals from my experience and from what I've heard from others your only real option is Time Atac. They're really hard to clip out of accidentally and you can flip the cleats over and make it even harder to clip out prematurely. Get those with a nice set of mountain shoes.

dont worry boston treavor...i still love you

as for the nashabr egg beater deal...i saw those.....im hesidtant to order online though becuase i dont know what size to get im usualy 12-13 in sneakers....i think i should be about a 47 (which nashbar has) but still...ive got doubts

well, even if the shoes don't fit, nashbar lists the chrome eggbeaters at 99 dollars, so the shoes are essentially free. Also, I found the deal I got again for 140 dollars, the same price as a set of stainless eggbeaters on their own (at nashbar).
http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...eid=&pagename=

I am a size 11-12 and I ordered the size 47's, so I'll let you know whether they are on the large or small side.

i can vouch for the "walkability" and limited cleat profile of specialized's sonomas . they're not the stiffest most technical shoe (since they were made for spinning classes *yuck*) but they've served me well for city riding. i've rocked the mtb shoes around town before and i always had to deal with the inconvenience of carrying a pair of non cycling shoes for puttering around my destinations. there's only so long i can stand the sensation of what feels like wearing high heels backwards. since you're also a fellow philly-dude it'd behoove you to know i picked mine up from keswick cycle in glenside for about $72~74.

Shiznaz you going to get whacked with customs?

I would recommend trying on shoes in "euro" sizes or whatever you call them in person - sometimes the numbers don't line up exactly, and blah blah blah speaking from experience its just best to figure out exactly what size you need on the other scale. Once you get a feel for the sizes order online.

As for pedals, I'll put in a vote for eggbeaters. I don't regret getting them at all. The only other clipless pedal I would ever consider getting is the Time ATAC or whatever, just because I've heard so much praise about their durability. But you really can't beat the 4-sided entry of the eggbeaters when your cranks never stop turning. :D I also like knowing that there aren't that many people that can ride off on my bike (brakeless) without cleats and live to tell the tale.

I went from those to MKS metal clips and the difference is quite remarkable. The wellgo clips were far too small for me, and the straps didn't hold to any big upward force, so after the first skid they'd be completely loose.

The metal clips with leather straps feel real snug, allow me to get the same pull I could get when I rode clipless, and yet are still easy to get out of. There'll be a slight learning curve learning to get into them flawlessly on the run, but no harder than it was to adapt to clipless.

Cinching the straps tight will give you the same effect as using clipless pedals.

good point, ryan. feet just roll of those beaters...

this is not really true. sure, you might get more transfer by tightening the straps, but then it's harder to get out of the clips (without loosening) and you have no float, which are both essential effects of using clipless that are not matched by clips and straps.

as much praise as egg beaters are getting in here I'm hesitant to add to that. Sure I've never ridden them but I have friends who have ridden them on track bikes and they've told me horror stories about clipping out on hills and other scary situations. Based on that I wouldn't get them.

Well I do ride eggbeaters and have done some prerry gnarly climbs and skids and have never had my foot clip out. It really depends on how you ride. If you twist and turn your ankles when you climb and skid..you're going to disengage. If you wear worn cleats...you're going to dsengage. For me eggbeaters are where its at.

I've been riding eggbeaters brakeless for about two years, no problems. I use sidi rampa's for tootsie wootsies.

potus......awesome name

I would say go with Time ATACs, and yes, I'm biased. I ride Time exclusivley, and I've never had a problem with any of their stuff. I haven't used them on a fixie (sorry), but I can tell you that they won't dump you if you don't turn your foot a fair ways, but they're still easy to get into and out of. They can also be had for less than the eggbeaters(look on ebay for some realy good deals). I'm sure eggbeaters are nice (a lot of the guys I ride/race mountain with use them), but I've also seen some problems with things wearing and them pulling out. Maybe they just don't maintain them right (I think I was hearing that there were some bushing or something that wear, maybe someone who knows more could comment on this). Well, that's my $0.02, take it for what it's worth.
NAH

thanks. I always wonder if people think I'm a ****** bag from my username. truth be told I was reading Deception Point by Dan Brown when I registered and it was the first thing that came to mind.

Traps are the way to go!
It's just so fresh.

I have eggbeaters on my fixie and have never had a problem. Check the cleats every six months or so.