Clipless Moment!

sarajoy

Had my first one on Friday on my way home from gtvlusso - I didn't even take either of his saddles!

On my usual route home, coming to a stop behind a slowing car, unclip the left foot and promptly topple over the right. Hurrah! At least I wasn't moving forward or the graze may've been nastier.

Got some road-rash on my right lower-leg, minor bruising on the left leg (where it hit the frame I guess), and a whacking great big black bruise on my upper right buttock! Looks very impressive

Furbes

And that's the precise Reason why i will not use them ! I prefer my flat Pedals - at least your ok though
I'll bet it was VERY embarrasing though :?:

sarajoy

Well I've had them on there since Mother's Day and it's my first (and hopefully only!) off due to them exclusively...

Aye well it was daft, a lady with a dog was very concerned but I assured her I was fine. To be honest, I'm surprised the bruise came up so big, it didn't feel all that bad!

I was very happy with flats until I got well into my fairly hilly commute. Also in some ways the clips feel kind of comforting, not sure if I can explain why...

redvee

Welcome to the club You have now progressed from clipless beginner to clipless inremediate. Went out today with clipless for the first time in 2 weeks as I have flats on the bike for work and I felt too clipped in :?

DiggingDeeper

Ouch, glad the fall wasn't too bad...................

I fully understand the hesitation to go clipless because of the fall issue, but I have reached a point where I feel the benefits of clipless out weigh the previous safety consideration.

In wet conditions I feel more safer that my feet will not slip off the pedals and because of the commute stop and start routine the agro is not getting out of the spds so much, more the ease of getting into them. Rat traps aint that easy to get into (well for me at any road).

In 3 years I would guess 3 falls where I was lodged in the pedals, nothing too major, some scraping and bruises and a bit of pain for a few days.

However each to their own, I am not out to preach

Furbes

I used to have them , but with the Off-Road & Downhilling , i got too used to the "freedom ?" of the flats . Now i can't see myself going back to them .

roger_merriman

Furbes wrote:

I used to have them , but with the Off-Road & Downhilling , i got too used to the "freedom ?" of the flats . Now i can't see myself going back to them .

i have proper mtb flats on the MTB and always have, (mummble years) most road flats are well poo, fairly useless when dry once wet frankly dangerious, for my roadie i just moved over to clipless. mind you, neither to i have any intention to move away from flats off road.

itboffin

I almost had a clipless moment on Sat. I unclipped the right foot and rolled to a stop but then for some reason I chose to lean to the left, Q panic jerk of the left leg and me jumping off the saddle towards my handlebars.

That was a close one :oops:

Not sure why that happened, it normally second nature, good job I have very loose cleat tension :roll:

Feltup

I will probably jinx myself for saying this but it has been a while since I last came off due to my clipless pedals. The last one was good though. I came up behind some stationary traffic and tried to unclip but the show wouldn't release. It was only as I got a lean of about 45 degrees that it did let go. I somehow managed to get my foot on to the pavement and luckily my right foot released at this moment which allowed me to do one of those running/falling movements across the pavement. Cue much arm waving as I try to catch myself which I did just shy of making it all the way through the front door of the chippy.

I reckon the driver behind must have thought I was really desperate for some dinner.

lost_in_thought

I've never actually fallen over/off due to clipless incidents. Oh I've had some near misses, one hilarious incident some may remember where I hauled my foot out of my shoe and Feltup jinxed my ankle, but never actually fallen.

The secret is to keep 'em loose at first, then you can wrench your foot out in pretty well any direction.

symo

Went over last Thursday on my beautiful Kiron, small scratches in the lovely job imperceptible to everyone but me but I know they are there damn it.

Not used to the SL cleat and getting my Ultrega pedals to clip in, in a hurry is comic.

tarquin_foxglove

The only time I had an unclipping incident was when a cleat bolt fell out on a ride and the remaining cleat bolt became a pivot for the shoe to rotate round. If it hadn't been for a handily placed bit of street furniture I would have been over.

As an aside, why if they are 'clipless pedals' do we all 'clip' into & out of them?

lost_in_thought

tarquin_foxglove wrote:

The only time I had an unclipping incident was when a cleat bolt fell out on a ride and the remaining cleat bolt became a pivot for the shoe to rotate round. If it hadn't been for a handily placed bit of street furniture I would have been over.

As an aside, why if they are 'clipless pedals' do we all 'clip' into & out of them?

I know, I wondered about that for ages! They don't have toe clips, which, I'm told, is the reason.

gtvlusso

Doh! Sorry to hear about it!! Not great fun!

I think we have all been there - my first moment was in SPD-SL's on the Airbus round-a-bout, lady in front of me braked for no reason and down I went, luckily I had no injuries - other then dented pride.

Get well soon.

Feltup

lost_in_thought wrote:

I've never actually fallen over/off due to clipless incidents. Oh I've had some near misses, one hilarious incident some may remember where I hauled my foot out of my shoe and Feltup jinxed my ankle, but never actually fallen.

The secret is to keep 'em loose at first, then you can wrench your foot out in pretty well any direction.

You just wouldn't let it lie would you (said in Vic and Bob stylie)

lost_in_thought

Feltup wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

I've never actually fallen over/off due to clipless incidents. Oh I've had some near misses, one hilarious incident some may remember where I hauled my foot out of my shoe and Feltup jinxed my ankle, but never actually fallen.

The secret is to keep 'em loose at first, then you can wrench your foot out in pretty well any direction.

You just wouldn't let it lie would you (said in Vic and Bob stylie)

I was of the bike for 9 weeks because of you! 9 weeks!

redvee

Still have a war wound from my first clipless moment when I had SPDs just after Shimano started selling them but rest assured if you need them to release in an emergency they do as I found out when I hit a big road cone at 15 mph :oops:

Feltup

lost_in_thought wrote:

Feltup wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

I've never actually fallen over/off due to clipless incidents. Oh I've had some near misses, one hilarious incident some may remember where I hauled my foot out of my shoe and Feltup jinxed my ankle, but never actually fallen.

The secret is to keep 'em loose at first, then you can wrench your foot out in pretty well any direction.

You just wouldn't let it lie would you (said in Vic and Bob stylie)

I was of the bike for 9 weeks because of you! 9 weeks!

I apologised! What more do you want? Blood? That's it isn' it, blood! Will you settle for a split lip where the bottom bracket spanner slipped and smacked me in the face? :roll:

Kieran_Burns

I've had two moments, both to the left: one into tar and crap and the other into a huge patch of hawthorn and nettles.

I actually now have the best (and worst) of both worlds by using semi-cleated pedals.

Flat on one side and cleated on the other - perfect for my commute which has long stretches suited to using cleats and a stop / start section more suited to flats

lost_in_thought

Feltup wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Feltup wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

I've never actually fallen over/off due to clipless incidents. Oh I've had some near misses, one hilarious incident some may remember where I hauled my foot out of my shoe and Feltup jinxed my ankle, but never actually fallen.

The secret is to keep 'em loose at first, then you can wrench your foot out in pretty well any direction.

You just wouldn't let it lie would you (said in Vic and Bob stylie)

I was of the bike for 9 weeks because of you! 9 weeks!

I apologised! What more do you want? Blood? That's it isn' it, blood! Will you settle for a split lip where the bottom bracket spanner slipped and smacked me in the face? :roll:

I got nothing. Nothing but giggling.

symo

LiT the more you say you haven't had "the moment" the more likely it is to happen, and according to sods law it will be on your Viner.

Beware the ides of ma....... oh wait April.

salsajake

You will probably find that will be your last - you tend to learn from things like that! I had the same (and my second ever (and last)) clipless incident, turning right at a junction in a sleepy village. Got my left foot released nice and early as I approached the junction, slowed to a halt and then leant the bike - to the right! Crew crunching down onto the tarmac whilst still on the pods - not good. An elderly lady on the other side of the road called out, as I got up with my mate absolutely in stitches "ooooh, that's the sort of thing I would do". Really very not good!

I did find it very interesting when I set off down the hill outside my house approaching the t-junction at the bottom of the hill after having given my bike a thorough clean and service - and realised I had not connected the brakes up again! Clipped in, barrelling down hill, no brakes at all - swung out wide, clipped the apex and prayed that nothing was coming, then all the way down the next hill managed to kick both pedals out and drag my toes along the floor - took about 1/4 mile to slow down enough to turn the bike into a fence and stop. That's something I haven't done since either!

Feltup

:shock: No brakes is definitely bad!

salsajake

Feltup wrote:

:shock: No brakes is definitely bad!

thats a good sketch of what my face looked like, except the mouth was more the shape of someone going "shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii...."

Never before or since has 20mph felt so utterly and terrifyingly, impossibly fast!

SteveyW

on my road bike last summer after just having had the front wheel repaired (new spokes)

all was going well until I heard a lose spoke type noise in my front wheel region...so I panicked and yanked the brakes on and completely forgot about the clipless pedal situation, managed to tracke stand for about 3 seconds and then slowly toppled to my left onto the pavement infront of about 10 cars.

Just laid there on my back whishing I had a cigarette or something.

Once all cars had gone I got up and found out it was the computer receiver that had come of its mounting (no idea how).

Bad knee and elbow ( 2 point landing) and severely dented pride

I use flats for commuting and have a garmin now

always_tyred

I know there are odd occasions (like loose cleats) where you can have a clipless moment, but really, if you can't clip out reliably, using clipless pedals on the road is the cycling equivalent of driving around without a clutch ("sorry, can't stop, no clutch" and/or "whoops, I've stalled").

sarajoy

It's not a case of being unable to get out, it's just a case of entirely forgetting the movement required to do so!

always_tyred

sarajoy wrote:

It's not a case of being unable to get out, it's just a case of entirely forgetting the movement required to do so!

Occasionally I launch my car into the garage door because I forget to depress the clutch.

redvee

sarajoy wrote:

a whacking great big black bruise on my upper right buttock! Looks very impressive

Pretty colours on your bruise that you showed everybody in The Duke tonight. What will happen if you have more ale next time?

NGale

I had my moment at the hands of a van driver yesterday who hit me with his wing mirror. Couldn't unclip fast enough ended up on the pavement still clipped to the bike.

Have a wackin great bruse on my butt and a sore hip now, thankfully my 'ample' bum took most of the impact.

Just doing all the report writing in work was a pain as it was an accident on the way to work!

Oh and the van driver...he drove off!

ratherbeintobago

NGale wrote:

Oh and the van driver...he drove off!

Have you reported him to the police? Failure to stop at an accident.

RBIT