Cleats and the evil tricks they play

dg74

Damn it! Stood at some traffic lights, thought my foot was clipped in, pushed off, foot slips and the next thing I know I'm flat on my back in the middle of the road. Quickly got up and chuckled to myself but couldn't look at the people in various cars howling at me.

:oops: :oops:

STEFANOS4784

Loads of people on here talk of these clipless moments, i never push hard until i here/feel it go click. Only ever came acropper once but that was on the christmas bike ride with my mates and there were other factors to consider

dennisn

STEFANOS4784 wrote:

Loads of people on here talk of these clipless moments, i never push hard until i here/feel it go click. Only ever came acropper once but that was on the christmas bike ride with my mates and there were other factors to consider

+1 on the "never push hard until......". Never assume that you will automatically clip in just by standing on the pedals. A bit more care is required or you may find the family jewels
in a very painful state. At stops I stay clipped in on one side and then am able to at least get moving without worrying, then, once moving, I can find the other pedal, clip in, make sure I'm clipped by wiggling my foot a bit, and then put down the power. Although in my case "power" might not be the totally correct wording.

Dennis Noward

doyler78

When I first changed from spd's to spd-sl I hated them the first couple of times I went out on them because with spd's you just stomp on them and they clip in whereas I have to slide into my spd-sl and did what you did - just went carrering off the top of the pedal thankfully the outcome wasn't quite as bad. I knocked the saddle almost pointing straight down and had about another 1/2 mile to do my commute. Needless to say I had to do that standing up. My legs hurt at the end of that. Then done the same thing again on the way home though this time I had about 10 miles to go so I got off and adjusted the saddle this time.

As the others said I now make sure I am clipped in before I put any power down. Sometimes you get that deceptive click sound but your not actually clipped in so I lift the foot just to make sure it is definitely attached.

Trying to clip in on a steep hill is an absolute nightmare and still haven't got any technique down that is fool proof for making sure I clip straight in. Haven't toppled off on the hills but have come close more than a few times.

Mount Pleasant

Always tentative until I get the "click to go" mentioned previously. I've yet to encounter the hill start issue though, which sounds tricky. All I would suggest is the obvious and try and select a really low gear before stopping so that I had as high a cadence as possible from the off which I could maintain with one good foot (well around 1 1/2 I guess) for a bit, probably before falling over anyway!

Only slightly off-topic, I always seem to go left foot down to stop with cleats. Is it best to force myself to get the hang of either foot "just in case" or is this the norm?

doyler78

In reading this threads in the past it seems to be a put left foot down tendency because you fall away from traffic. I personally unclip right because that was just natural to me. Only time I've fallen off was at traffic lights so it was immaterial which way I fell and indeed it could be argued that you could easily slap your head of the kerb by falling leftward and which is the more likely ie falling off in moving traffic or falling off in stationary traffic and therefore which offers the greatest risk?

Crapaud

doyler78 wrote:

...
Trying to clip in on a steep hill is an absolute nightmare and still haven't got any technique down that is fool proof for making sure I clip straight in. Haven't toppled off on the hills but have come close more than a few times.

I've found that clipping in going across the road (start off on the wrong side) - or even slightly downhill - works well, then turn and off I go. Quiet or empty roads only though.

Anonymous

I sometimes dont get clipped in properly then start accelerating really fast, havent fallen off yet though!

I find it easy to clip in on hills though, just abit extra care needs to be taken and alot of force.

keef66

Given the choice of falling left onto the kerb or right under the wheels of a bin lorry, I think I'll continue with the former and unclip / lean left

doyler78

keef66 wrote:

Given the choice of falling left onto the kerb or right under the wheels of a bin lorry, I think I'll continue with the former and unclip / lean left

As I said when do you ever fall off clipless pedals in moving traffic? Surely the very large (ie nearly ever fall) is in stationary traffic therefore the risk of hitting your head of the kerb is considerably higher. Just riding on the road is a risk in itself so I don't buy the mitigate all risk argument for the sake of some freak that is never likely to occur.

keef66

I've never fallen off clipped in, but I think the time I'm most likely to is when creeping up towards a roundabout with the traffic, and the drivers are trying to look in several directions at once. I'm with you; cycling in traffic is inherently risky, and each to his own way of living with the risks.

NWLondoner

I hate trying to clip in at roundabouts because you normally have to accelerate pretty quick to filter into sometimes fast moving traffic. At least at lights you can place yourself in front on the traffic and dictate his fast they pull away. That is of course if they have not stopped in the ASL box!!!

Why of London Taxis and mini cabs think they can break all traffic rules???

redddraggon

willhub wrote:

I find it easy to clip in

1337

Bhima

Never had a "clipless moment"! Hopefully, I never will!

chuckcork

NWLondoner wrote:

Why of London Taxis and mini cabs think they can break all traffic rules???

You've missed several classes of motor vehicles there...

doyler78

chuckcork wrote:

NWLondoner wrote:

Why of London Taxis and mini cabs think they can break all traffic rules???

You've missed several classes of motor vehicles there...

And quite a few unmotorised vehicles if my experience of London a few weeks back was at all typical