Used clipless pedals yesterday for the first time (Advice)

karel

I recently moved from mountain biking to road for the first time and wanted to try clipless pedals. I bought the 'Look Keo Easy Clipless Pedals' that were suppose to be good for begineers and to be fair after a bit of practice leant against a wall and up and down my road I felt safe enough to hit the quiet roads.

Well it did not go too bad apart from one hairy moment in a tight spot that had glass all over the floor and I could not unclip quickly enough and had to ride over it all, how my tires survied I don't know. The big problem though came when I hit a T-junction and had to stop and then turn right up a hill, this happened twice and I found it impossible to clip in whislt trying to set off up hill. My momentum is stopped within a second and I just can't clip in as most of the time the pedal is the opposite way. Downhill and the flat is fine as I get get a little speed up and have plenty of time to clip in, uphill I had no time at all and had to wait for a big break in traffic and set off downhill only to have to turn in the middle of the road. I have read about people advising to pedal with the shoes on to get the momentum but they are plastic pedals on plastic shoes and any real pressure on the pedal and they just slip straight off and no momentum is gained.

Any advice?

Thanks a newbie

CiB

You can pedal with one leg pushing and pulling until the other one slots in to maintain momentum.

Always use the same foot to stand on if you can't get it, that way muscle memory gives you a greater chance of getting it in.

Don't over-think it or stress about it. If someone's held up, tough. It's not the end of the world being delayed for 5 seconds by a cyclist.

Clipping in has more chance of success if the two sides are in the right place. As your foot comes up it should rotate the top of the pedal round to about 45 degrees off the vertical, offering the front tip of the cleat a welcoming recess. Once that's happened you're as good as there; just push in & down as the pedal stroke comes round.

str1ker1212

I was the same, mainly struggling to clip in quickly when when going from a standing start uphill. All i can say is that it just gets easier the more you ride and it quickly becomes almost natural to be able to clip in first time every time... well almost!

slowsider

I went for (shhh) SPD's as a first clip-in - double sided, so one less thing to worry about.

Since you have yours already, all I can add to the above is make sure you change to an appropriate gear before you stop, it'll make the one-legged pedalling start that bit more do-able.

karel

You can pedal with one leg pushing and pulling until the other one slots in to maintain momentum.

The hills round here are steep and I tried but it was too much of a gradiant and I could not do it with one pedal in

Don't over-think it or stress about it. If someone's held up, tough. It's not the end of the world being delayed for 5 seconds by a cyclist

I wish it was 5 seconds, I was there 5 minutes before I gave up trying. Hopefully it is just practice, but I found it impossible as I just can't get any momentum and maybe the advice of double sided pedals would have helped but it's a bit late. Thanks for all the advice, ill just have to try and figure a way or hijack a cyclist and see how they do it

CiB

Thing is most people do get it (eventually) and it's not like trying to assemble an Airfix plane whilst riding a bike - it's just two halves that need to be brought into line and pressed together.

Give yourself a real good shove off with the clipped in leg, then casually bring the other leg up. It is easy, some of the most incompetent buffoons I've ever met could do it.

trek_dan

I have to admit I used Look Keo Easy's as my first clipless pedal when I got my bike, eventually I got so frustrated I just changed to using mountain bike style SPD's. Clipping in uphill from a standing start was just too difficult for me, especially on my morning commute while still half asleep and with busy traffic around. Fortunately the DHB shoes I'd bought accepted both cleat types and I just Ebay'd the pedals to buy some different one's. I changed back to SPD-SL's a few months ago, but glad I had a period of SPD use to get up to speed with clipless.

karel

Im not alone then Dan with these pedals

Give yourself a real good shove off with the clipped in leg, then casually bring the other leg up

Again thanks for your advice and you probably find it very easy, but a good shove on a steep hill still didnt give me enough time, half the problem is the pedal is usually the wrong way round and by the time I flick that round the bike has stopped. Ill keep trying as I have just shelled out £150 on pedals and shoes and don't want to have to change just yet.

CiB

karel wrote:

Im not alone then Dan with these pedals

Give yourself a real good shove off with the clipped in leg, then casually bring the other leg up

Again thanks for your advice and you probably find it very easy, but a good shove on a steep hill still didnt give me enough time, half the problem is the pedal is usually the wrong way round and by the time I flick that round the bike has stopped. Ill keep trying as I have just shelled out £150 on pedals and shoes and don't want to have to change just yet.

See you've quoted my one-leg idea, and then ignored it by saying one shove doesn't get you far enough. It's not about somehow being intrinsically good at these things, or having some magical ability that other cyclists can only dream of. Practise riding on the flat with one leg. Practise riding round a car park in circles using only the right leg. Practise clipping in on the move to the point where it's second nature.

If you miss first time, drag the bike forward with the other leg till you can have another go.

The other option is to turn round and roll downhill whilst clipping in, then go back to where you started fully clipped. Depends on context etc though, so it's not always possible. and how often does this problem arise, clipping in from standstill on a slope that's so steep that one-legged pedalling isn't viable?

Stick at it. You'll be glad you did.

snoopsmydogg

OP just get some practice in before going out. Try leaning against a wall while clipping and unclipping and pretty soon it will become (almost) second nature to you.

Also have you wound the clip tension out? new pedals can be pretty stiff and most will have a tension setting so you can loosen it to make it easier to unclip.

CiB

karel wrote:

half the problem is the pedal is usually the wrong way round

Just read this again; this bit is relevant. The natural free hanging position of the pedal is for the back to hang down leaving the top pointing at the sky. That's gravity for you. The pedal won't spin wildly on its accord (we already know that you're setting off from a standing start) so you have a consistent start point, and it's no coincidence that the pedal hanging that way allows your foot to push the top over to level it off making the recess magically appear in the right place relative to the front of the cleat. Just by following through the cleat will naturally clip in. It's designed to be easy, tbh it is, maybe the more so the less you think about it. Let the pedal hang, slide the foot onto its top surface and engage as it becomes parallel to the floor. One flowing movement, barely any thought or effort involved. It should all happen inside that first half turn as the clipped in foot brings the other pedal round.

deswahriff

Karel, I was the same two years ago...it took me a good 6 months to get totally confident in that I can now spontaniously unclip in an "emergency" and clip in without looking down and trying to position the pedal...still miss now and again and set the mad spinning off!!....as the other posters say, keep practising..I used to unclip/re-clip while cycling along on a nice flat road just to get used to it....also a good idea to sort of half-unclip as you approach a junction or hazard, i.e. twist your foot to unclip the mechanism, but keep your foot on the pedal...then if the way ahead is clear, it's much easier to snap back in.
..and, yes, I still do the one legged cycle thing to get across a junction or gain momentum on a hill....saves you having to think about clipping if there;s other stuff going on around you...

karel

twist your foot to unclip the mechanism, but keep your foot on the pedal...then if the way ahead is clear, it's much easier to snap back in

Good advice and makes a lot of sense as most of the time its quiet and I can just keep pedaling

Ill practice on one leg amd see if it becomes easier, I wont give up though, hopefully it becomes easier and the advice people have given me will help

All advice appreciated thanks