Falling off Clipped in
adameyres
Posts: 8
I went for a ride the other day for a quick 10 miler! all the way, first time clipped in went great.
Got all the way up the big hills, easy work.
Got home..... Forgot i was clipped in... and boom! i fell. ( in front of the whole street may i add) embarrising. but not painful.
Dont be scared guys, being clipped in is Much much better. Falling doesnt hurt at all, its not a long way down.
Clipless is the way to go.
Got all the way up the big hills, easy work.
Got home..... Forgot i was clipped in... and boom! i fell. ( in front of the whole street may i add) embarrising. but not painful.
Dont be scared guys, being clipped in is Much much better. Falling doesnt hurt at all, its not a long way down.
Clipless is the way to go.
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i know how you feel. i managed to fall at traffic lights just as 2 lovely young ladies pulled up next to me just as i started to fall. nothing hurt but pride. least i made them laugh.... :-)Cube Cross 2016
Willier GTR 20140 -
I fell off on my drive 3 yards from my house. Tried to unclip whilst virtually stationary on a moist drive. :? Fortunately I was hidden by our bushes :oops:
Just went back in, got what I wanted (why I was stopping), wiped the dirty mark off my white top and then went out and rode as normal.
Fallen twice - both virtually stopped and the back wheel sliding away from me. I normally unclip my left foot way in advance of any lights/junctions. Stuffed if a car stops right in front of me (as the other day :roll: ) but that's rare.0 -
It's all part of the learning curve,if you only do it once then your getting away with murder...
Happens to the best of us im afraid.
Cervelo S5 Ultegra Di2.0 -
im glad i got straight back on the bike though afterwords i laughed it off and thought to myself that i was an idiot :P. 0
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I've been riding clipless for months now, but I still have the odd moment! Although funnily enough, whenever it happens now, it's always the same situation; I've already unclipped my left foot and am sitting there stationary. After a period of talking or otherwise getting distracted, I go to swing my right leg over as if to dismount, not realising IT'S still clipped in. My weight counters to that side and over I bloody go!
It happened to me yesterday, right in front of a roadie club going the other way! 0 -
How many of them fell over through laughing though? :-)0
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Fell twice in my learning period while stationary, both in front of people. Even at zero it hurt and the second time I broke my derailleur hanger and chipped the bike. So not cheap. Hopefully those days are behind me ...0
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Try falling at junctions
Took a while to get the correct tightness and as you say, remembering your clipped in. 0 -
It happens when you least expect it, happens to the best of us at the start of our clipped in days!0
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And one day, just when you are least expecting it, you'll experience the problem of a jammed cleat and/or your legs being too tired to lever yourself out of them.
Thats when you learn how to cycle up to a lamppost and grab it, before sliding down gracefully
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My first fall was when I'd just finished a ride, rolled up outside the house feeling chuffed and stopped.
Fell sideways in complete cartoon fashion.
Also suffered a horrifically pathetic injury and had to have a finger pinned for six weeks.
Learned my lesson - always unclip when anticipating a stop.Hills are like half life - they wait until you're 50% recovered from one before hitting you in the face with the next.
http://www.pedalmash.co.uk/0 -
Love this ^^^tiredofwhiners wrote:And one day, just when you are least expecting it, you'll experience the problem of a jammed cleat and/or your legs being too tired to lever yourself out of them.
Thats when you learn how to cycle up to a lamppost and grab it, before sliding down gracefully0 -
The key to this is being accustomed to the fact that your feet are 'attached', and assuming that - rather than 'free' - to be your default. You know that this has happened when you ride a bike with plain platforms and try to clip/strap in! I never had any of this happen when I started using clipless pedals because I had mastered clips and straps; anticipating stops is very easy with clipless pedals when you're already used to reaching down and loosening your strap. It doesn't surprise me much that this happens to people that go from plain platforms straight to clipless, but it doesn't take long to become natural. And then again, if you have the springs really loose your foot may come out anyway, depending on which pedals you have...0
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Simon Masterson wrote:And then again, if you have the springs really loose your foot may come out anyway, depending on which pedals you have...
I was fairly much expecting this as my Shimano 105 pedals are on the loosest setting and I still haven't had my foot come out when I didn't mean it to. I also have to give my feet a real yank to get them out.
I am starting to wonder whether I turned the Allen screw the right way...0 -
Happened to me this morning on the way to work, was commuting in busy traffic when a white van in front of me suddenly stopped couldn't get un clipped in time and ended up kissing the tarmac!0
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Sounds like i'm one of the lucky few that have never done this. Im sure my time will come one day though!
Ive often wondered when it does happen to people, how hard it is to unclip your feet once you've gone over with the bike on top of you?0 -
boxxer750 wrote:Sounds like i'm one of the lucky few that have never done this. Im sure my time will come one day though!quote]
Famous last words!Hills are like half life - they wait until you're 50% recovered from one before hitting you in the face with the next.
http://www.pedalmash.co.uk/0 -
boxxer750 wrote:Ive often wondered when it does happen to people, how hard it is to unclip your feet once you've gone over with the bike on top of you?
They're very like ski-clips (in fact the original LOOK cleats are very much based on them apparently) - in an impact your feet should come out. Mine certainly do at least (SPD-SL cleats).0 -
boxxer750 wrote:Sounds like i'm one of the lucky few that have never done this. Im sure my time will come one day though!
Ive often wondered when it does happen to people, how hard it is to unclip your feet once you've gone over with the bike on top of you?
it's not too bad, but you have the bike on top of you and it makes it awkward to unclip0 -
I've been using clipless for over 20 years but still not immune to 'incidents', I was titting about outside a cafe stop a few months back (track-standing waiting for the others in the group to get ready) and managed to topple over (I blame toe overlap on my summer bike
), I got a round of applause though which was nice... 0 -
I did it trying to be a show off. Unclipped one foot lifted the back of the bike up and round with my clipped foot .... not enough balance and over I went. It was worth it for the banter and the education of not being a show off.
Although a funnier one is when people dismount with their leg over the handle bars and get caught in cabling or something and end a pile. Rare, but it happened early one Sunday to a club member a few weeks ago.0 -
At my age I find it difficult to get my leg over at all ...0
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I've been riding clipless for about a month now, and hadn't had an accident trying to unclip until today, whilst riding with a very attractive female friend... And to make it worse I managed to go bottoms up twice!!!!!! Sods law will mean you will have an issue when you least want one aha! It's all part of learning though I guess... Specialized Secteur Sport 2011
B'Twin Rockrider 8 XC
B'Twin Rockrider 9.10 -
haha ! i am know for my toe clip calamities lol 0
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adameyres wrote:I went for a ride the other day for a quick 10 miler! all the way, first time clipped in went great.
Got all the way up the big hills, easy work.
Got home..... Forgot i was clipped in... and boom! i fell. ( in front of the whole street may i add) embarrising. but not painful.
Dont be scared guys, being clipped in is Much much better. Falling doesnt hurt at all, its not a long way down.
Clipless is the way to go.
Same thing happened to me but as I was going uphill couldn't maintain pace. Bloody painful but a comedy moment. More annoying at the moment is that my clip discipline is so good that I often find that I unclip too early at a junction so end up losing more momentum than I needed to. Better safe than sorry I suppose.Someone's just passed me again0 -
I ended up taking the clips off back in the summer as I couldn't seem to get the hang of un-clipping at all. My 1st few rides upon getting a road bike were fine (probably because I was so concious of being clipped in) but then I would be falling off with alarming regularity on rides.
I am now using the winter on the Turbo Trainer as an excuse to really get some practice in before heading out on the open road fixed in again.0 -
If you struggle with clipless pedals enough to take them off, consider trying clips and straps. A loose strap (in combination with a clip the right size for your foot) is much easier to escape from than a clipless pedal.
As I said in my earlier post in this thread, the reason why many people struggle with clipless pedals to begin with is that they are accustomed to having their feet free. Loose straps can give much of the same pedalling experience whilst permitting easy escape, and before long you will be used to both having your feet held in place and having to free them. If you then decide to wear cycling shoes and leather straps, and pull them tight, you get a similar effect to using clipless; though I don't suppose you'll do that.0 -
On the bike at home, practise clipping in and out 50x on each foot everyday for 1 week and figure out the best angle to clip out and in (I like with foot tilted down). At the end of the week you would have clipped in/out 250x on each foot.
Also, on the foot that you start off cycling, you just need to learn clipping in when the pedal is low. On the other foot which you clip out of, you should practise some clipping in/out while on the saddle with pedal in high position leaning against wall.
Then you should get more confident.0 -
I've been clipped in for about 7-8 months now and had a tumble yesterday, I was following a route on my Egde 500 and took a wrong turn. Went to do a u-turn and clocked a 4x4 coming up behind me. I hit the brakes but my mind was clogged with wrong directions and the 4x4.
The result was an embarrassing fall in front of a car and a nasty gash on my knee. The dent in my pride hurt more!!0 -
shatter wrote:I ended up taking the clips off back in the summer as I couldn't seem to get the hang of un-clipping at all.
Had you adjusted the tension on the pedals? I still have to give my foot a pretty good yank to get it out but a little bit of anticipation goes a long way.
I am fairly new to clipless pedals but there is no way I'd go back to toe clips much less flatties. I love the feeling of being at one with my bike and it makes getting into a regular pedalling stroke much easier with my foot staying in exactly the same place all the time.
It's clearly a matter of taste (and practice) but there is a good reason why almost all experienced roadies use clipless pedals.0
