Gone clipless for my commute..

iPete

Wow,

Never going to go back, waited 2 weeks for my M076 shoes to arrive and got to use them yesterday, fantastic, can power all the way through my pedal, knackered my legs though!

Highly recommend to anyone considering making the jump.

BUT

Second commute with them this morning, must have forgot I had them on, got to the end of my road, failed to unclip and made a comedy sideways fall!

Then proceeded to fly into London only to have another comedy sideways fall in stationary traffic

Had to laugh both times, still can't believe the driver I stacked in front off in traffic didn't even raise a smile!

So go on, how many more "clip less" moments must I endure before my brain tells my feet to twist harder

Aguila

The key is to practise using them on quiet roads first, getting into the habit of unclipping a second or two before you need to. Once it's second nature then go into traffic...... bit late for that with you though

I've yet to have a clippless moment having learnt like that, your method will work too but be more painful!

Clever Pun

it becomes second nature, I even 'unclip' when using flats on my brompton

iPete

Spent Tuesday going up and down my road, came very quickly moving from toe straps, I'm sure I'll be a lot more aware heading home tonight!

Worth sharing for a chuckle.. don't want my daftness this morning to put anyone off, they are fantastic :!:

FeynmanC

I didnt even get both feet clipped in and move off for my first clipless moment! I discovered I had a weird balancy thing when pushing off that meant I clipped in one foot, lifted my other foot from the floor and collapsed to the floor on the side I was clipped in :oops:

I've had a few more since then but you've got to giggle at the sillyness of it all

ride_whenever

I tend to flit between flats and clipless, i have enough of each type for all my bikes and tend to drift one way and the other. However i'm thinking i might go back to exclusively flats for a bit because my shoes are completely dead (3 years of hard service!) so i very quickly eat cleats walking into work from the bike racks.

In the new year i'll hopefully get a pair of these:



the replaceable sole will mean i should break even in just over 9 years!

nicklouse

Learning to un-clip in mid air is fun.

But doable and the prospect of not managing to do so was painful.

iPete

FeynmanC wrote:

I didnt even get both feet clipped in and move off for my first clipless moment! I discovered I had a weird balancy thing when pushing off that meant I clipped in one foot, lifted my other foot from the floor and collapsed to the floor on the side I was clipped in :oops:

I've had a few more since then but you've got to giggle at the sillyness of it all

+1 to the giggling!

And you've deffo made me feel better reading that

_Brun_

I had an intimate moment with the road on Monday evening when my right foot clipped in while I was standing on the pedals. First time since day one that I've had an unforced clipless moment (off-road ones don't count).

It's quite surprising how little damage you can do to yourself falling like felled tree onto a hard surface, minuscule graze on my knee was the extent of my injuries. Even my pride remained largely intact because I don't think anyone saw it.

lost_in_thought

So the one where you fell over in a garden doesn't count? :P

bice

Each to their own, but I don't really like being clipped in when commuting in London. I find bicycle clips best in London - decent, firm plastic ones, not the too flimsy ones that come with road bikes. They cost £5, you can wear ordinary shoes and they do about 90 per cent of clipless. But ... before the SPD marketing board starts sounding off ... SPDs are better for long rides on the road bikes.

blorg

I went seven years clipless before I had my first fail to unclip moment, just wouldn't come out at traffic lights, cue slow-motion fall. Everyone passing was very helpful and sympathetic to their credit and I didn't detect any giggling.

White Horse

_Brun_ wrote:

It's quite surprising how little damage you can do to yourself falling like felled tree onto a hard surface, minuscule graze on my knee was the extent of my injuries. Even my pride remained largely intact because I don't think anyone saw it.

My first "moment" resulted in a bruise the size of a side plate on the top of my thigh as I'd hit the saddle on the way down. And it hurt for days!!

_Brun_

lost_in_thought wrote:

So the one where you fell over in a garden doesn't count? :P

Clearly, as you would have realised if you'd actually read my post properly before giddily jumping all over the reply button. :evil:

lost_in_thought

_Brun_ wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

So the one where you fell over in a garden doesn't count? :P

Clearly, as you would have realised if you'd actually read my post properly before giddily jumping all over the reply button. :evil:

It was funny. I thought I'd remind anyone else who saw it of how funny it was...

jonginge

lost_in_thought wrote:

_Brun_ wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

So the one where you fell over in a garden doesn't count? :P

Clearly, as you would have realised if you'd actually read my post properly before giddily jumping all over the reply button. :evil:

It was funny. I thought I'd remind anyone else who saw it of how funny it was...

You did raise a smile at the memory.

Have those white tyres recovered?

_Brun_

You might be laughing now, but I'll find a way to shut you up sooner or later.

Clearly I'm going to have to come up with something better than painting dangerous cycle lanes on the streets of Notting Hill. A shame, I thought that one was fiendishly creative.

Edit: Location fail - must pay more attention

jonginge

_Brun_ wrote:

You might be laughing now, but I'll find a way to shut you up sooner or later.

Clearly I'm going to have to come up with something better than painting dangerous cycle lanes on the streets of Kingston. A shame, I thought that one was fiendishly creative.

Paint away. I don't live in Kingston but spaghetti cycle lanes can't make the road layout any worse :shock:

Edit: ah

biondino

nicklouse wrote:

Learning to un-clip in mid air is fun.

But doable and the prospect of not managing to do so was painful.

I had an accident once where I bounced off a ped, then twice off some railings, before the railing ran out. As the bike went down, I somehow - and to this day I have no idea how - managed to literally hop off and land on my feet. Unclipping ftw.

biondino

It was funny, though, the way Brun fell over, in Liv's garden, on a really muddy day. I laughed at Brun's clipless moment and have thought about how funny it was, how he fell over, loads of times since. He landed in the mud!!

Kieran_Burns

Well - I'll be able to go clipless when my new commute starts in the New Year - all roads from now on (country and one A road)

I'm actually looking forward to it!

suzyb

I just ordered a pair of SPD pedals to go clipless. No point in keeping thinking about it. I'll only know whether it would work for me if I try it.

Wallace1492

-null- wrote:

I just ordered a pair of SPD pedals to go clipless. No point in keeping thinking about it. I'll only know whether it would work for me if I try it.

Go for it -null-, once you have tried clipless, you will never go back!! However I do have flat on one side, that helps for traffic commuting and for touring when you want to just pop to the shops and cant be bothered putting on SDP shoes.

mgu91

May just be me...but has anyone else unclipped at a set of lights then try to put your clipped in foot down?

colintrav

I suppose you can learn to tap dance as well ???


Or can you ??

Kieran_Burns

mgu91 wrote:

May just be me...but has anyone else unclipped at a set of lights then try to put your clipped in foot down?

Yup.

It's actually quite amusing while you frantically wave your clipped in leg around like some kind of halibut on speed.

Well it is when you manage to 'unclip' JUST in time. :oops:

lost_in_thought

biondino wrote:

It was funny, though, the way Brun fell over, in Liv's garden, on a really muddy day. I laughed at Brun's clipless moment and have thought about how funny it was, how he fell over, loads of times since. He landed in the mud!!

resus1uk

I have SPDs (single sided & multiple release cleats) on both trikes so no chance of a clipless fallover.

Waiting at a road end when a lycra-clad carbon bike rider rolled up alongside As he looked at the vintage trike , he forgot to to unclip & descended to the floor clutching my backwheel to go down "gracefully"

What would he have done if I wasn't there? Probably I distracted him.