I got a road bike a few months ago (entry-level stuff: Sora 18-spd, aluminium frame, carbon fork etc.) and I was wandering about a simple issue; whether I should buy myself some shoes and clipless pedals. I'm not having any problems with my current ones although I am still pretty inexperienced when it comes to traffic, riding in large groups etc. and I am not all too confident yet.
Should I wait a few months to buy them or should I get them straight away?
One other thing, I have been training on an ergo for some time, and I was wandering how the wattage (i.e. power) on these things translate into a real-life sprint/climb. E.g. if I can do 750 Watts for a few secs flat out on the ergo what kind of sprint would this be in the toughest gear on a flat? I certainly can't picture myself doing 750W on the real bike at any rate.
Originally posted by z3ro I got a road bike a few months ago (entry-level stuff: Sora 18-spd, aluminium frame, carbon fork etc.) and I was wandering about a simple issue; whether I should buy myself some shoes and clipless pedals. I'm not having any problems with my current ones although I am still pretty inexperienced when it comes to traffic, riding in large groups etc. and I am not all too confident yet.
Should I wait a few months to buy them or should I get them straight away?
Once you are half-decently confident in riding for the conditions you'll be in, definitely go clipless. It is so much more efficient, and promotes a better pedal stroke.
As for the power thing, that reading sounds a bit dodgy.. Lance Armstrong's peak power is about 600 watts 😉
dude this one is a No-****ing-brainer. Get them NOW, the sooner the better. i had more crashes because of those damn toe-clips than because of my clipless. it takes a relatively short time to get used to them but when u do they are possible the best upgrade you could have EVER done to ANY bike. If u are on the low-budget side (like i was) u can sacrifice weight (which with your current bike wont make that much of a difference) and go with shimano M-515 pedals and mountain shoes. They are cheap and they have worked amazingly for me so far.
As for the power reading, it's seems accurate for a few different types of bikes, and I know Lance's peak power is 600+ Watts but that's on a real road, and in any case I am a sprinter as well (i.e. track 100m/200m sprinter) so that is one of my strong points. That can't be his peak power on a bike because if he couldn't get a digital readout it on the ergo bike it must have been really, really high. (I would guess 999+ but that seems impossible to me)
Anyway thanks a lot for the help, I will look for double-sided pedals. One more thing, if you a crossing an area with many intersections with stop streets (i.e like every 100m) is it really neccesary to unclip and stop each time or what do you do? I know I never did and cruised straight through at 40kph until an angry woman missed me by inches in her PT Cruiser. So now I am a bit more careful (at least she didn't hit me!)
concerning the suicide solo racing through the city ( i do it too...) and the constant clipping and unclipping, get double sided pedals, and that will fix your problem. Make sure that they are adjusted as hard as possible, just soft enough so that you can clip out without problems. if they are adjusted too soft you will accidentally unclip, trash your knee agaisnt the handlebar and your bike against the floor when you try to make your rear wheel smoke off those red traffic lights.
As the Dr who worked with Indurian had to build a new power tester / exercise bike because Big Mig could max out the 1000 watt system that he had I feel that 600 watts max for L . A. seems a bit low , re sprinters one of the lesser guys did , a few years ago hit peaks in excess of 1300 watts . Power cranks and lab gear results don´t always co-relate .
re pedals : have a look at mtb shoes and the shimano 536 pedal , it´s designed for mud but gives more of a platform feel than the 515 etc types , and can be set real lose to start off ( a confidence booster in traffic ) Suerte tio .
Thanks for the info on the power. I expected that doing 750 couldn't be that great since I only recently began cycling. with regards to L.A's peak of 600W, this is on the road which is different to the ergo. I certainly don't have the confidence to do 750+ W on the road (that must be pretty damn fast coming downhill in the largest gear) or the gearing for that matter. The 750 was as much as I could do with the ergo on the highest resistance level (which to me feels much tougher than my largest gear)
What do you guys do on the stationary bikes (i.e. max wattages in sprint efforts)? I will try and hit 800, the 750 was at the end of a longish "climb", hopefully I can do better without all the lactic acid in my legs.
Thanks for the info bout the pedals as well. I am going to go buy some MTB shoes and either double-sided pedals or those lovely Crank Brothers Egg Beaters (may be difficult to get used to but they look lovely and I have heard that they are easy to use and are great pedals)
How cautiously you need to approach an intersection depends on a few things -- if it's a four-way stop sign in a queit neighborhood, and there aren't any cars in sight, I typically blast through it without a second thought. Beyond that, use your best judgment, and try to err on the cautious side.
In any case, you'll get good enough at the pedals soon enough that clipping and unclipping isn't a big deal. Before long, you'll be hanging at red lights in a trackstand, both feet clipped in, waiting to take off like a pro.
