I've gone clipless!!

[Sheena]

I bought my first pair of bike shoes and clipless pedals for my bike today.

I was a little nervous at first, because all I have heard was "horror" stories of people's first time using clipless pedals.

Thankfully, it was not as hard as I thought it would be, once I figured out how it all worked. I only had one moment where I could not get my left foot unclipped when I was trying to stop. So I kept trying and trying with the left foot (completely not thinking that I could easily get my right foot unclipped), until me and the bike with me clipped in toppled over. There was a group of kids who were on the trail and just , and they all just sort of stared at me, probably wondering what was going on with the strange lady on the bike. lol.

 

[Native Vail Gal]

Congrats, Sheena!

Biking! Wow.....I still can't get skiing off of my mind!

 

[dloveski]

skiing is still the 'thang' until it's not the 'thang'. for 07-08 season. I hear ya.

 

[altagirl]

Nice! What kind of pedals did you get?

 

[SuperMoe]

I'm so glad to hear that I'm not the only doofus the first time I used my clipless pedals. I didn't tighten one of my cleats enough, went to stop and the whole shoe twisted but nothing came out. I had to pull up next to my car and my girlfriend twisted it out.

I just got some new pedals, I went with Time. I had used the spd's, but I really like my Time better.

Yeah, what kind do you have?

I became such a better biker one I got clipless pedals. Uphill is so much easier and you really feel like you get the most out of every pedal. You just can't let fear overtake you and clip out because you get scared...which is something I used to do.

 

[Sheena]

I got the Simano 424... I am still a total noob mountain biker. Only about 2 months of trail riding time so far.

I read that these were really good for beginners.

There is not much trail I can ride yet, but what little bit I did, I noticed immediately that my pedaling was smoother, and climbing was smoother.

Plus, when I am going downhill, my feet don't slip off the pedals.

 

[mtnbikegirl]

I love my Shimanos...you can keep them kinda loose until you get used to getting out of the pedals.

 

[altagirl]

I started out on Shimanos but now I'm 100% sold on Crank Brothers pedals - they release much more consistently for me and eliminate any issues with mud. But those'll do fine for you for now!

 

[volklgirl]

Sweet!

Don't worry, that won't be your only clipless-related crash ! Everybody I know still has those uh-oh moments on occasion (usually with tons of people around to watch ).

The 424/545/636 series is excellent for beginners. I still use them for my off-road bikes so I can be unclipped for scary stunt stuff without losing pedalling platform.

 

[Swamp Dog]

yup, I've gone over like a ton of bricks, and more than once. One time was at a busy intersection. I just forgot I was clipped in! Another time was in the middle of my own driveway. There's just no limit to the possibilities!

 

[ski diva]

This is NOT what I want to hear. I just got a new road bike last fall, and put off getting the clipless pedals til the spring. So that's pretty soon. I've never used them before, and frankly, I'm a little afraid! Everyone says they're better, though......

 

[SueNJ]

Ski Diva, they are! Most people fall at least once (but no one that I know of has ever gotten hurt--it's usually a slow-mo fall to the side when you forget to unclip as you stop), but once you see the incredible improvement in efficiency in your pedal stroke, you'll wonder why you waited so long. Clipped in, you can take advantage of the full pedal stroke, even the upward and over-the-top parts.

No one was more nervous about it than my SO's teenage DD. We put her bike on a stationary trainer and let her practice clipping in and out there before she took the setup on the road. Is that an option for you?

I'm so hooked on clipless pedals, I even went out and bought a pair of spinning-specific SPD shoes so I could clip into the spinning bikes at the gym. No toe straps for this Diva!

 

[altagirl]

I can't even imagine road biking without clipless pedals. They are SO much more efficient, you won't even believe you ever went without them.

And Sue - I'm the same way. I use Crank Bros pedals on all my personal bikes but our spin bike at home and all the ones at the gym use SPD pedals, so I have a separate pair of spinning shoes. And ventilated XC clipless shoes, and more protective clipless shoes for riding DH, and special shoes to wear with my flat pedals...

 

[Bing]

I love my Looks clipless pedals for my road bike, however, after a year of not progressing (o.k. 2 years) on my mountain biking skills using clipless ... I switched to downhill flat pedals last season and I am a new woman on obstacles - woo hoo !!!

 

[SueNJ]

And Sue - I'm the same way. I use Crank Bros pedals on all my personal bikes but our spin bike at home and all the ones at the gym use SPD pedals, so I have a separate pair of spinning shoes. And ventilated XC clipless shoes, and more protective clipless shoes for riding DH, and special shoes to wear with my flat pedals...

I've got Speedplay Frogs on both my road and mountain bikes, so a separate pair of shoes was definitely in order for the spinning bikes.

 

[num]

Now for the noobiest question ever:

Does anyone learn how to ride a bike using clipless pedals? For an athletic, just never learned how to ride a bike as a kid or ever (and is currently stationary biking her butt off for rehab) type would it make any sense to start out clipless?

 

[skigrl27]

I bought a Cannondale Rush 4 when I moved out here. The guy at the shop said "well, your bike comes w/ clipless pedals...so that's what yer gonna get!"

OK, I thought. Whatever. I'm a noob mountain biker too, but I thought...how hard could it be?

LOL:ROTF:

Owie!! ouch!! dammit!! crap!! That kind of summed up my first adventure w/ clipless pedals. I still struggle here & there. I think it's mostly a mind thing. I think I may fall, therefore, I clip out prematurely. I'll master it this summer...or I'll just get bruised up again.

 

[Sheena]

Well, two days out, I am still working on it. I had a stunnning low speed fall as I was climbing up a gravel hill. (Not only am I getting used to clipless, I am still working on my biking/hill climbing fitness).

Haha, so I was climbing this hill and about a quarter of the way up, I just stopped going, and over me and the bike went. No time for me to even think about getting unclipped until it was too late. It was a really low speed fall, and I DID unclip, but only after I hit the ground.

 

[SueNJ]

Owie!! ouch!! dammit!! crap!! That kind of summed up my first adventure w/ clipless pedals. I still struggle here & there. I think it's mostly a mind thing. I think I may fall, therefore, I clip out prematurely. I'll master it this summer...or I'll just get bruised up again.

I've got a lovely scar on the back of my calf that roughly resembles the teeth on a chainring. That was from one of my early attempts at mountain biking with clipless pedals--I was able to clip out, but it was just a tiny bit too late and my leg got stabbed by the chainring.

 

[altagirl]

I've got a lovely scar on the back of my calf that roughly resembles the teeth on a chainring. That was from one of my early attempts at mountain biking with clipless pedals--I was able to clip out, but it was just a tiny bit too late and my leg got stabbed by the chainring.

I've been riding clipless for years, but sometimes use flat pedals for riding DH when it's really technical. I had brand new flat pedals with nice sharp pins, bounced on a log, slipped a foot off the pedal and it hit the back of my ankle/calf and then I bounced again... I got my foot back on the pedal and still riding, I looked down as my foot started feeling really warm and oozy to see a couple inches of skin sticking out of the back of my calf. There was no one else with me so I just kept on riding (cleaned the whole trail since I felt like I could absolutely NOT fall and get it dirty and had nothing to bandage it with anyway) and went and got about 25 stitches. Luckily it just missed my achilles and just ripped the skin up.

Clipless pedals aren't the ones that do the damage...


And if you're doing more technical riding, you might want to consider getting a bashring instead of your big chainring. It can weigh a little more, and you don't have those huge gears if you're XC racing or going full out on gravel roads or something, but for the most part, I've found I never miss the big chainring when it's gone. And then it's fewer pointy sharp parts sticking out of your bike to stab yourself with. I think Volklgirl has the award for that one IIRC! YEOW!