Comedy-Falls as a result of being clipped-in

S_J_P

I went out with a new set of Egg-Beaters at the weekend as opposed to my usual M520's with adjustable release tension, and paid the price

On a short but steep rocky climb my chain dropped-off causing me to stall and I was unable to release my right foot before falling into the undergrowth, unfortunately rocky ascents don't generally offer a soft landing, and I'm now sporting a cracking bruise on my right thigh. :oops:

It wasn't my first comedy-fall (and probably won't be my last!), but it's certainly the most painful yet!

Has anyone else been the subject of low-speed, clipped-in injuries?

morleyman200

i have a few times, first time i went out on clippy pedals, i forgot i could alter the tension. so there it was as high tension as it could. wasn't even a hill, i just stopped to wait for my brother and ended up in the under growth with was full of brambles and nettles, brother found it funny, i didn't quite see the funny side

Tom

allthegearnoidea

i've had a few, but most comedy would be stalling going up a short section of climb on my fav ST loop, unclipped right leg, fell over to the left, but! the track runs on the tree lne so the ground to the left fell away,
que me tumbling down a fair bit of it still clipped in!

Also! very nearly dropped a bar end into a mates Knackers during an attempt to trackstand! remarkably funny! couldnt unclip fast enough to prevent the wobble and gradual fall!

S_J_P

allthegearnoidea wrote:

i've had a few, but most comedy would be stalling going up a short section of climb on my fav ST loop, unclipped right leg, fell over to the left, but! the track runs on the tree lne so the ground to the left fell away,
que me tumbling down a fair bit of it still clipped in!

Aha, the well-known unclip-one-side-and-fall-the-other-way trick I've managed that at traffic lights :shock:

andyhilton

The first time I rode clipless. A quick spin around the car park whilst waiting for my mate to build his bike up. I rode back towards him, came to a stop and just keeled over sideways! both feet were still clipped in. He just pissed himself laughing whilst I painfully wriggled around trying to get unclipped.

I don't use crank bros any more.

allthegearnoidea

S_J_P wrote:

Aha, the well-known unclip-one-side-and-fall-the-other-way trick I've managed that at traffic lights :shock:

its the then trying to get your still clipped in leg out to get up that amuses me!

my crank bro's pedals were stiff as hell to start with but are brilliant now, they loosen up lovely after a bit of use!!

paulbox

First time for ages last Sunday... :roll:

I was being over careful and going to slow down a narrow path which has recently been dug up. Front wheel came to rest against a bit of rock and I toppled to the right... :oops: If I had been going faster I'd have just gone over the rock.

spuddymbr

OMG thought i was the only idiot to fall cliped in
first of meny was when i first changed flats to clipins , was in garage thought id try them to see how they worked , ended up in xmas tree still clipped in :oops:

chedabob

S_J_P wrote:

Aha, the well-known unclip-one-side-and-fall-the-other-way trick I've managed that at traffic lights :shock:

I'd had my clipless pedals for about 5 minutes before I managed to hit the deck at a red light :oops:

I almost shat myself when I was belting down a hill and my front derailleur went for a wander and managed to get the chain over all 3 rings. My feet weren't in the easiest position to unclip from, made worse by the fact I couldn't turn the cranks.

*AJ*

A friend of mine years ago used to stop at traffic lights and track stand sometimes he’d steady himself by putting his hand out and pushing against the top of the windows/roof of the car next to him.

This was all well and good until a nice hot sunny day, when the car that pulled up next to him was a …… cabriolet.

Oh how I laughed….. luckily he didn’t damage the car either, but nearly ended up inside it.

ex-pat scot

EVERYONE falls with clipless, the first time they try it.

It's a rite of passage.

stuart_c-2

I’ve always wondered about the whole “prop yourself against the car thing”. I have been tempted to do it in the past, but the law of sod dictates that the driver will be having a bad day and do a Derrick Bird on me.

As far comedy falls, had a few. 1st 1 was a couple of weeks after getting them, came to a drop, slowed down, front wheel caught the lip at the top, down I go, managed not to fall down the drop though. Did a good 1 at a race, faster riders coming up behind so I pulled to the side of the ST and slowed up, they went past, said “thanks” just as my front wheel hit a rut, I said “no worries” mid fall as I went down, luckily nobody behind as I was block the track.

It would seem these things just happen. I felt a lot better about it when the chairman of our club, long time rider and I believe previous regional XC champ, ditched it in front of me. He was going real slow in a group and just slowly toppled to 1 side straight into the bushes, I just calmly unclipped, put my foot down and said “Twist, and release, simple isn’t it?”

Pufftmw

I think my silliest was when I was out with my daughter, teaching her how to ride. It was our first trip to the local village & back and as we came up to a T-junction, a car pulled into the lane, so I said to her to pull over a bit. She just hit the brakes and stopped! Me, who was travelling about a meter behind her had no choice other than to stop as quickly so as not to pile into her, after which I just keeled into the verge... "You OK Daddy?"!!

GHill

Toppled over sideways into a gorse bush at Afan once, just after a tight switchback.

gonga

Are you lot sure these clipless pedals are suited to offroad?

kawasparky

My most embarrassing clip fall was a couple of weeks ago, It was my first time at the cannock trails. The carpark was quite busy so I parked the car, got the bike out and rode down to the ticket machine, I got a ticket then got back on the bike and promptly turned to tight and couldnt unclip and ended up crashing to the ground in front of several people :oops:

TheKrikkitWars

I had a particularly comic near miss today; coming down a very steep, rock strewn gravely decent I was bouncing about everywhere and my left foot shook free, somehow I managed to get enough support on my right foot to not demolish my balls and rode the next 300m of descent with my left leg stuck out for balance until I could compose myself.

My friend behind me literally fell off laughing (well his seat was a bit high which he claims caused "distracting and painful impacts", but he damn well was laughing just before he came off :P)

slimboyjim

Too many times to count.

My favourite was trying to trackstand - unclipped on one side as you can only fall one way can't you :roll:

Luckily no-one saw and it was just me laughing at myself. Soft landing so no damage done. Although I wasn't wearing kneepads on this occasion (I was out riding with my Dad rather than proper MTB'ing) I tend to which has always meant it doesn't matter if I fall off at a low-medium speed...

I've always found my Cranks pop out fine as I'm going over - I've had quite a few saves where I've managed to unclip just in time... I think the painfull levering of my shin against the top tube helps though I've not tried Shimano's although I understand they are easier to clip in and out due to the lack of float. I only got the Cranks as I got such a good deal (85% off!)...

Despite the issues I think they are worth it though, although I may make a few trips back to the dark side of flats for sessioning some steps I struggle with at Cannock...

CrankMarvin

I have unclipped a couple of times on those steep short uphill turns at cannock
my pedal span round banged into my leg and then off i came.. not very graceful..

all part of the fun tho and another excuse to spend a night twiddling with my bike boring my missus with technical talk...

Muddy1182

First long ride in clipless was about 35- 40 miles. Did the entire ride no worries, feeling great and nearly home 20 yards from my road, stopped at the lights and panic set in. Over i went, gashed knee.

Back to my DMRv12's now. :-/

Willrideforcake

First proper clipped-in off road ride. I'd spent ages practising unclipping whilst riding around my street, though I was the nuts, so took to the trails. It was all going swimmingly, when I decided to attack The B##stard, as it was known. This was the mother of all steep climbs, and I'd never cleaned it. Not even close. So I set off attacking the climb with as much momentum as I could muster. Got halfway up, shifted a few gears, got a little further, grannied it, pulling up, pushing down, feathering my weight like a riding god (in my mind, anyway), sweat pouring from every available orifice, dignity barely intact. I had just crested it, thinking "Yes, I've cleaned it!", when I finally ran out of momentum, just two degrees short of the flat, and I begin to topple. I'm almost trackstanding, trying furiously to unclip before I hit the deck in an undignified heap, still unable to get my damn feet out from the pedals with a bike on top of me. I'm afraid to say that I actually had to take my shoes off to disentangle myself from the bike...