i love potatoes (spuds)

joshtp

having just recieved my lovely new dx shoes, and banged out on a quick local, i can confirm that spd's are amazing. it only took me about 10 mins to get used to clipping in and out, 20 mins of gental riding around the street to get used to doing it on the fly, and by the end of my 2 hour ride i was doing it almost without thought. i had one "clipless moment" trying to clear a mega steep slope, but i still managed to unclip before i actually hit the ground, and im even running the cleat tension pretty tight, i prefer the firm feeling.
so, all in all, im chuffed, they do have downsides, like not being quite as good for the kind off hacking about, sessioning stuff, riding i do alot off, but i have my spare bike for that, and they arnt bad.
as well as having no downsides, i found there was plenty to mean i really cant see myself changing back too soon, i get soooooo much better power transfer, can accelarate faster, and i found the climbs alot easyer, i also felt more in controle of the bike, esp in the air, wich is suprising considering i was expecting to feel nervouse in the air!
so, chuffed!

nicklouse

so what do you think.

5 days till the SPD moment happens?

BurtonM

3

rackgaki

spd moment?

Anonymous

my money's on his next ride, whenever that may be.

nicklouse

rackgaki wrote:

spd moment?

coming to a stop and forgetting to un clip.

rarely happens on the first ride.

Anonymous

I remember my first SPD moment.
We were at the top of an earth embankment, I forgot to unclip, and toppled over, falling down the side of this bloody steep bank, a good 30 metres or so, roling over and over.
i was in a lot of pain, but my father, ever the caring parent, just laughed his censored off at me

joshtp

ok, so, you recon its gonna happen next ride? huuhuu, huu. well, i can only hope its not too bad, yeehee-thingamajigs sounds nasty! i supose on the first ride you are always thinking about them, but as time goes on you start to forget your using them, and suddenly! BOOM!
anyway, it doesnt put me off, im hoping that it will help me in the persuit of being faster than my mate thats super fit and has a tricked trek full bouncer.....

Anonymous

why do you always turn yeehaamcgee into something much longer?

it's "Yeehaa McGee" simplez.

timmys

joshtp/mbukman wrote:

"...they do have downsides..."
"...as well as having no downsides"

I reckon he's already had his SPD moment and banged his head in the process!

Northwind

nicklouse wrote:

coming to a stop and forgetting to un clip.

rarely happens on the first ride.

Happened to me approximately 10 seconds after the first time i thought "I'm totally used to these now"

jayson

It doesnt really matter how long you've been riding spuds there'll always be one time that will catch u completely unaware and no matter how experienced u are, over u go. Ive done it barely moving at all in the street just tryin the bike out after fettling with it, why is it though there's always an audience no matter where it happens???

Thewaylander

yeh i do enjoy watching you SPD riders deck it when trying to get a foot down or summat... it cheers me up

.blitz

Still getting SPD moments even now. I don't believe unclipping ever becomes instinctive. Second nature maybe like changing gear but not 'wired in'.

_Ferret_

.blitz wrote:

Still getting SPD moments even now. I don't believe unclipping ever becomes instinctive. Second nature maybe like changing gear but not 'wired in'.

trust me it does come as second nature - if I ride a bike with flats I twist my heel instinctivly when coming to a stop even though I don't need to.
The best SPD moments are when you hit ice.

scale20

Probably the best SPD moment I ever saw was my mate at the end of a ride. we all rode into the village where I live and stopped outside the spar for some scoff. For some reason he was way behind us.

He came hurtling down the road and as we were all watching he decided to pull one of those 'whip out the back wheel' skid only he forgot he was clipped in and hit the floor sideways like a sack of spuds. I think the worst thing for him was that the local 'Spar massiv' kids on their 2L bottles of cider were outside. You can imagine what a nob he felt

stubs

_Ferret_ wrote:

.blitz wrote:

Still getting SPD moments even now. I don't believe unclipping ever becomes instinctive. Second nature maybe like changing gear but not 'wired in'.

trust me it does come as second nature - if I ride a bike with flats I twist my heel instinctivly when coming to a stop even though I don't need to.
The best SPD moments are when you hit ice.

Or in my case last saturday on wet leaves mind you I went down so fast it was like I didnt fall I was vertical one moment and horizontal the next. Wouldnt have mattered what pedals I was using I was still going to end rolling in soggy leaves

omegas

For now you will have to think about releasing every time you have to stop,
In a few days maybe weeks you will start to do it without any thought.
One day you will have a emergency stop situation and forget to release and realise your not there yet.
Months from now you will realise that you have been out riding all day without ever thinking about it.
Months maybe a year later you will release as easy as you take a breath of air.

But then it all depends on how often you ride ……….

tilt

I had one not long ago, the fc had cleared some ground and dumped all the mud on one of the fire roads we use between trails and put a sign at each end saying not to use it...which we promptly flew past without noticing.

I'm in front and before I know it I hit the stickiest, gackiest load of mud I've ever ridden through (about 1.5 feet deep), stopped dead and just started to topple. Obviously that was the moment my cleat decided it wasn't going to release.

My mates thought it was hilarious, obviously :evil:

jayson

omegas wrote:

For now you will have to think about releasing every time you have to stop,
In a few days maybe weeks you will start to do it without any thought.
One day you will have a emergency stop situation and forget to release and realise your not there yet.
Months from now you will realise that you have been out riding all day without ever thinking about it.
Months maybe a year later you will release as easy as you take a breath of air.

And then just a day later you'll come up against something completely unexpected and over you'll go

Paul 8v

I've never had a SPD moment but I've had a LOOK moment many years ago on £2.5k's worth of road bike, I chose to smash my knee up rather than the bike!

dav1

Mine was trying to clip in on my second outing, wasnt looking where I was going because i was looking for the clip point.

For some reason the Mrs had stopped and got off her bike in the middle of the road, I hit it and went over the bars.

joshtp

well i did a big local ride yesterday, about 2 hours of tech ST and stuff, i walked one bit i normaly ride, only becouse its slimy wet rock, and i figured it could all end in tears. but, as of yet, no "moments" i wonder when... inevatibly next time i see that girl from down the road who i fancie.....

_Ferret_

joshtp/mbukman wrote:

well i did a big local ride yesterday, about 2 hours of tech ST and stuff, i walked one bit i normaly ride, only becouse its slimy wet rock, and i figured it could all end in tears. but, as of yet, no "moments" i wonder when... inevatibly next time i see that girl from down the road who i fancie.....

with all her friends...
in front of a que of traffic...
at rushhour...
while you're wearing your pink lycra...
with matching helmet...
(that's all I got right now )

joshtp

ye, i know it, thats what will happen. ah well, i may as well go and consign myself to a life of spd moment misery.

_Ferret_

it's the price you pay for having a better pedal.

(oh no he didn't...)

seriously though - if that scenario does happen, you can only scream in agony and hope that you get some sympathy and TLC. (tis a long shot though)

joshtp

_Ferret_ wrote:

it's the price you pay for having a better pedal.

(oh no he didn't...)

seriously though - if that scenario does happen, you can only scream in agony and hope that you get some sympathy and TLC. (tis a long shot though)

nah, coz all that does is make everyone think your a panzie, i mean, you fall over when there is no aparent reason to, and then scream, despite the fact that you wernt moving at the time.

_Ferret_

happened to my mate.
It just depends how well you sell it. A twisted knee could happen at any time...
You're probably right though - and the pink lycra will have you looking like a panzie anyway...

stubs

Go for flats because we all know that people using flat pedals never ever fall off and if they possibly do come off they do a forward roll in the air and land on there feet and doff there cap to all the admiring girls

Well thats what I do dont know about you lot

omegas

jayson wrote:

omegas wrote:

For now you will have to think about releasing every time you have to stop,
In a few days maybe weeks you will start to do it without any thought.
One day you will have a emergency stop situation and forget to release and realise your not there yet.
Months from now you will realise that you have been out riding all day without ever thinking about it.
Months maybe a year later you will release as easy as you take a breath of air.

And then just a day later you'll come up against something completely unexpected and over you'll go

Bike commuting around a city 5 days a week and riding off road at weekends brings up just about every unexpected event and its never brought me a spd moment in years.

_Ferret_

stubs wrote:

Go for flats because we all know that people using flat pedals never ever fall off and if they possibly do come off they do a forward roll in the air and land on there feet and doff there cap to all the admiring girls

Well thats what I do dont know about you lot

If you can show me a youtube vid of that I will convert!