bhop

I've been reading up on track racing thanks to my new found interest in it, also watching videos and stuff, and it seems SPD-R or SL is what most people use on the track. I'm going to be taking a beginner track class in a couple weeks. I was going to try putting my SPD (mountain) pedals that are currently on my road bike onto my fixed bike for the class, but i'm a little apprehensive about it. I've never accidentally popped out while on the Aurora, but I also don't have to backpedal on that bike. I'm wondering if it'd be better off to leave the clips/straps on for the class?

If I like the class, i'd be willing to get some different pedals/shoes, but I don't want to do it just yet.. just in case it doesn't work out.

any thoughts?

Also, does anyone ride regular clips/strap pedals on the track?

TejanoTrackie 

Backpedalling is no different than normal forward pedalling as far as unclipping is concerned, and I've never unclipped accidentally with clipless pedals while backpedalling. In any case, you do very little backpedalling on the track; in fact you only do it when exiting the track and only very lightly. Just make sure you have the release tension set high enough that you can just barely unclip with a lot of side force; you don't want to accidentally unclip while you are riding fast in a paceline with other people. MTB pedals are ok to get you started, but if you decide to get into racing, I'd recommend going with road pedals like the SPD SL, which will require different shoes. As for clips & straps, I stopped using them 30 years ago when clipless came out, and very few racers use them anymore, mostly sprinters.

bitingduck

Lots of people who ride the home depot center track recreationally (as opposed to racing) use mtn or road SPDs (the two bolt kind), and I don't think I've ever heard of a problem due to them. SPD-SL are popular for racing, and various people use probably every other popular race-oriented pedal system as well.

Clips and straps are fine, as well-- they're available with the rental bikes if you don't bring pedals. They've stayed popular with sprinters because of the forces in standing starts, as well as the rules for mishaps on starts.

bhop

Thanks.

zzzwillzzz

just use what you've got, there is no reason to change and incur extra expense while you are learning

Kayce

If you have the option I would go for the SPD. Once clipped into the pedal(with the tension set high) there is very low likelyhood of popping out in any direction, and you have a nice hard pedaling surface on the bottem of your foot for better engery transfer than your normal shoes. Without the proper technique its possible to pull out the back of clip and strap pedals while sprinting.