toe clips

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 16:00:34 +0000 (UTC), [email hidden] (Steven

M. O'Neill) said:

Hi. I'm a strong city cyclist, but I've never bothered with
toe clips. Should I? Why or why not?

You're happy with what you've got. Don't fool with it.

Or, try toe clips. They're very, very cheap. You'll only get
lots of conflicting answers here.

Quoted message said:

Steve "clipless is pretty much out of the question" O.

Why? Nice clipless pedals can be had very cheaply, leaving
only the shoes; and the shoes may be an improvement you'll
like even if you don't buy clipless pedals.

In fact, you may want to consider cycling shoes with
stiff soles more important than the issue of clips,
clipless, or flat.

But, er, back to what I said at the top: If it ain't
broke...
--
Rick Onanian

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 16:00:34 +0000 (UTC), [email hidden] (Steven M.

O'Neill) said:

Hi. I'm a strong city cyclist, but I've never bothered with
toe clips. Should I?

Yes.

Quoted message said:

Why or why not?

1) It is much easier to spin higher RPMs when clipped-in.
This makes you more efficient and less tired.

2) Having your foot slip off a pedal at high RPMs, in
traffic, sucks. Crashing is not fun. Thankfully, my
last bona-fide crash in this mode happened when I
was seven.

3) Clips & Straps make it easier to spin your feet in
circles, & even out your pedal stroke. Efficiency and
happiness ensue.

4) You can use clips & straps with any type of shoe you
happen to be wearing without real prejudice, as opposed
to clipless, which compels you to wear "bike" shoes.
(Of course, wearing sandals with clips & straps might
not be fun, especially if you're a retrogrouch & intend
to use stainless-steel toeclips).

5) Admit it, they look neat.

Why not?

6) You don't like the idea of being tied to the bike, or
you dab often.

7) You're scared of the clip out, clip in routine at
stoplights.

Why go clipless?

8) They are more efficient than clips & straps.

9) They click in and click out faster than toeclips and
straps--and (should) click out easily in a crash.

10) Ride-away biketheft is more difficult, especially if
you use eggbeater pedals.

11) Admit it, they look even cooler. Even if the shoes
look goofy.

Further notes:

Clips & Straps are fantastic if you ride on pavement most of
the time and can't be bothered to wear bike shoes all the
time. Clipless probably wins for performance applications
and off-road work.

Naked pedals are neat, too, but don't expect phenomenal
efficiency.

Clips & Straps (and clipless pedals/shoe systems) feel very
good. Try them.

-Luigi MKS GR-9's plus Sunday Shoes. Try that, LOOK. :-P

Rick Onanian said:

(Steven M. O'Neill) said:

Hi. I'm a strong city cyclist, but I've never bothered
with toe clips. Should I? Why or why not?

You're happy with what you've got. Don't fool with it.

Or, try toe clips. They're very, very cheap. You'll only
get lots of conflicting answers here.

Yeah -- I'll try them.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Steve "clipless is pretty much out of the question" O.

Why? Nice clipless pedals can be had very cheaply, leaving
only the shoes; and the shoes may be an improvement you'll
like even if you don't buy clipless pedals.

In fact, you may want to consider cycling shoes with
stiff soles more important than the issue of clips,
clipless, or flat.

I just want to ride my bike. I don't want to futz around
with funny shoes.

Quoted message said:

But, er, back to what I said at the top: If it ain't
broke...

Well, I'm especially interested in gaining a bit of
efficiency.

Thanks!

--
Steven O'Neill [email hidden] NYC Weather Forecast Chart:
panix.comwgraph.cgiOpen ↗

Steven M. O'Neill said:

Hi. I'm a strong city cyclist, but I've never bothered
with toe clips. Should I? Why or why not?

Steve "clipless is pretty much out of the question" O.

I use toe clips on my city bike. Once every 10 red lights I
lose a few seconds trying to put my foot back in. I am so
used to them I feel naked when I ride without. I keep them
very loose for easy in/out; I can't really _pull_ on the
pedals like you can do with very tight ones or with
clipless, but they still help a lot maintaining a good
regular cadence. Regarding shoes, I must admit they may
leave marks on leather shoes. Don't use them if your
customer buys your product based only on your shiny shoes...

Jacques

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 16:00:34 +0000, Steven M.

O'Neill said:

Hi. I'm a strong city cyclist, but I've never bothered
with toe clips. Should I? Why or why not?

Steve "clipless is pretty much out of the question" O.

I use toe clips on my city bike. Once every 10 red lights
I lose a few seconds trying to put my foot back in. I am
so used to them I feel naked when I ride without. I keep
them very loose for easy in/out; I can't really _pull_ on
the pedals like you can do with very tight ones or with
clipless, but they still help a lot maintaining a good
regular cadence. Regarding shoes, I must admit they may
leave marks on leather shoes. Don't use them if your
customer buys your product based only on your shiny
shoes...

I don't see *any* marks on sueded leather, though.

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in
the newsgroups if possible).

Steven M. O'Neill said:

Hi. I'm a strong city cyclist, but I've never bothered
with toe clips. Should I? Why or why not?

Steve "clipless is pretty much out of the question" O.

I'm the same as you, I just picked up some clips on the
ubercheap out of curiosity, and loved them. I started a
thread about it a while back which turned into a huge
debate about clips vs. clipless but like you clipless is
just not for me.

Definitely try them.

David Kerber said:

I don't see *any* marks on sueded leather, though.

me neither

Masking Tape! Just have a couple of your friends tape your
feet to the pedals <G>

"Steven M. O'Neill" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi. I'm a strong city cyclist, but I've never bothered
with toe clips. Should I? Why or why not?

Steve "clipless is pretty much out of the question" O.

--
Steven O'Neill [email hidden]

.o0 0o. said:

"Steven M. O'Neill" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Hi. I'm a strong city cyclist, but I've never bothered
with toe clips. Should I? Why or why not?

Masking Tape! Just have a couple of your friends tape your
feet to the pedals <G>

Sure, then I'll get to my job as a stone cutter extra fast!

--
Steven O'Neill [email hidden]

Jacobe Hazzard said:

David Kerber said:

I don't see *any* marks on sueded leather, though.

me neither

...but don't you step on my blue suede shoes.

-Luigi

[email hidden] (Steven M. O'Neill) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hi. I'm a strong city cyclist, but I've never bothered
with toe clips. Should I? Why or why not?

Steve "clipless is pretty much out of the question" O.

I enjoy using them on my city commuter bike. At less than
$10 its pretty cheap to try out and see if they are
something that you like or not. I have clipless on my nicer
bike and hate hate all the clip
in/outs of it for city riding though the clipless is nice
for other riding where I can get long stopless stretches.

I find they help to keep the feet in an ideal power position
especially when going uphill, so they help go a bit faster.
I did notice a difference when first using them - I had
ridden for a quite a while before getting some to put on.
You get power on both the downstroke and upstroke. They are
really easy to get out of, and just a quick flick around of
the pedal to get into. I find that I often need to take a
brief glance down to do so, if it is not convenient time I
will just ride on the other side of the pedal and although
its close they don't brush the ground.

Tanya

[email hidden] (Steven M. O'Neill) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hi. I'm a strong city cyclist, but I've never bothered
with toe clips. Should I? Why or why not?

Steve "clipless is pretty much out of the question" O.

I use SPD mostly, but I've also got PowerGrips for one bike.
Some people like them, some don't. I think they're pretty
good. You can get them different places, this link is just
to show what I'm talking about.

performancebike.comProfile.cfmOpen ↗
Store=Bike

In article
<[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] (Steven M. O'Neill) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hi. I'm a strong city cyclist, but I've never bothered
with toe clips. Should I? Why or why not?

Steve "clipless is pretty much out of the question" O.

I enjoy using them on my city commuter bike. At less than
$10 its pretty cheap to try out and see if they are
something that you like or not. I have clipless on my
nicer bike and hate hate all the clip
in/outs of it for city riding though the clipless is nice
for other riding where I can get long stopless
stretches.

I find they help to keep the feet in an ideal power
position especially when going uphill, so they help go a
bit faster. I did notice a difference when first using
them - I had ridden for a quite a while before getting
some to put on. You get power on both the downstroke and
upstroke. They are really easy to get out of, and just a
quick flick around of the pedal to get into. I find that
I often need to take a brief glance down to do so, if it
is not convenient time I will just ride on the other
side of the pedal and although its close they don't
brush the ground.

Mine do scrape the ground if I ride them upside down, but it
doesn't cause a problem for a short distance, such as
clearing an intersection.

--
Dave Kerber Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return
address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

Kaputnik <[email hidden]> wrote in message
[email hidden]

[...]

Quoted message said:

I use SPD mostly, but I've also got PowerGrips for one
bike. Some people like them, some don't. I think they're
pretty good. You can get them different places, this link
is just to show what I'm talking about.

performancebike.comProfile.cfmOpen ↗
Store=Bike

Jeez, they're expensive for what they are.

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B: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

Steven M. O'Neill <[email hidden]> wrote in message
[email hidden]

[...]

Quoted message said:

Well, I'm especially interested in gaining a bit of
efficiency.

You'll do that but it will feel weird for a while. That's
because when you ride with ordinary shoes you tend to put
your arch on the pedal but the clip will force your foot
back slightly and your weight will go more on the ball of
the foot. You'll feel this change in your calves and quads
just above your knees until you get used to it. Just don't
let the initial weirdness put you off them.

--

A: Top-posters.
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On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 16:00:34 +0000 (UTC), [email hidden] (Steven M.

O'Neill) said:

Hi. I'm a strong city cyclist, but I've never bothered with
toe clips. Should I? Why or why not?

Steve "clipless is pretty much out of the question" O.

Yes, try them. On the weekend, away from traffic at first.
And don't pull the straps tight for any kind of stop and go
riding. Don't pull the straps tight at all until you are
very familiar with them and won't forget to loosen the strap
when you do stop.

Why?
- at stop lights, you can easily get your start-off foot to
the proper position
- even loose, you can get a bit of pulling up
- no slipping off of the pedals
- once you get used to them, you'll wonder how you ever did
without them and will find riding without them strange;
even trying to explain what the benefits are is strange
when you have been using them (or clipless) for years and
years and can hardly remember what it is like to ride
without them.....

why not?
- you are happy riding without them
- fumbling with one foot when starting off from a stop as
you try to flip the pedal and slide in in one motion while
not getting rear ended by the other cyclists behind you at
the stop light
- leaving them loose doesn't give you much on the upstroke
- rub marks on your shoes
- some shoes won't fit into them well (big toes) and you
can't reshape the plastic clips
- lugged soles can hang up on the entry edge of the pedal
and make life miserable
- if you use the other side of the pedal, you can get a
really annoying 'tick' as the clips hit the ground; this
is worse if you pedal through corners and could be
dangerous if you aren't ready for it

"DRS" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Kaputnik <[email hidden]> wrote in message
[email hidden]

[...]

Quoted message said:

I use SPD mostly, but I've also got PowerGrips for one
bike. Some people like them, some don't. I think they're
pretty good. You can get them different places, this
link is just to show what I'm talking about.

performancebike.comProfile.cfmOpen ↗
1&Store=Bike

Jeez, they're expensive for what they are.

Yes, perhaps, although you can get them for less than that
if you shop around. I just wanted to show a good picture.
They will last a long time, they are usable with just about
any shoe, and you can get in and out of them quickly without
worrying about loosening straps.

Another option, but one I've never tried, is those plastic
mini toe clips that are designed to be used without straps.

Kaputnik <[email hidden]> wrote in message
[email hidden]

[...]

Quoted message said:

Yes, perhaps, although you can get them for less than that
if you shop around. I just wanted to show a good picture.
They will last a long time, they are usable with just
about any shoe, and you can get in and out of them quickly
without worrying about loosening straps.

Another option, but one I've never tried, is those
plastic mini toe clips that are designed to be used
without straps.

I use a set of el cheapo Taiwanese plastic toe clips and
simply leave the straps that came with them in a drawer.
They're perfect for around town and cost about USD5.00

--

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Luigi de Guzman <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

4) You can use clips & straps with any type of shoe you
happen to be wearing without real prejudice, as
opposed to clipless, which compels you to wear "bike"
shoes. (Of course, wearing sandals with clips & straps
might not be fun, especially if you're a retrogrouch &
intend to use stainless-steel toeclips).

I did an 80 mile ride wearing ordinary velcro strapped
sandals with clips & straps (plastic though) and didn't have
any problems with comfort. I did however manage to have a
nice sunburn pattern on my feet where the sandals weren't 🙂