Clipless Peddles

Quoted message said:

How much more efficient do they make your peddling? Apart from not letting
your foot slip off and occasionally entertaining people when you stop at
traffic lights and forget you're wearing them, are there any other
advantages? Efficiency-wise are they any better than straps (or whatever
they're called)?

Oh yes, clipless pedals are a wonderful thing. Much more efficient - make going
up hills easier and I get less strain on my knee joints. Indeed, see my post of
today when I was able to show local yoof a clean pair of pedals as I sped past
him up local incline :-)

Clipping in and out really does become second nature and fast. If I can do it,
I think just about anyone can.

Cheers, helen s

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Mark Thompson said:

How much more efficient do they make your peddling?

Since I'm not in sales, I couldn't tell you.

Mark Thompson said:

Efficiency-wise are they any better than
straps?

I don't think so -- track riders stil use toestraps, presumably because they
have no need to clip in/out -- so they're probably saving weight by using
them.

A cleat/clip system comes into its own for the ease of being able to get in
and out easily.

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

Quoted message said:

How much more efficient do they make your peddling? Apart from not

letting

Quoted message said:

your foot slip off and occasionally entertaining people when you stop at
traffic lights and forget you're wearing them, are there any other
advantages? Efficiency-wise are they any better than straps (or whatever
they're called)?

Why in gawds name would you *forget* you're using clipless pedals any more
than you'd forget that the brake levers are on the handlebars?

The problem people have, if any, is not carrying out the correct foot motion
to effect release, probably exacerbated if they've spent many years using
toe-clips, especially in a panic situation.

Think about it: A car pulls out of a side road into your path and given
time you hit the brakes and stop.Don't you think that having learned how to
operate 2 brake levers subconsciously learning to unclip subconsciously
shouldn't present any particular problems?

If you don't have time to hit the brakes then unclipping is moot 🙁

Yes, clipless are far superior to straps, don't bother with them because as
I've already intimated you will develop a skill that impedes learning how to
use clipless pedals.

Very good clipless pedals are now available for 25 squid so there has never
been a better time to go for it, you will need shoes to suit of course.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/viewproduct.asp?category=Pedals+Clipless&ModelID=3759

--
Regards,
Pete

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

Quoted message said:

Mark Thompson said:

Efficiency-wise are they any better than
straps?

I don't think so -- track riders stil use toestraps, presumably because

they

Quoted message said:

have no need to clip in/out -- so they're probably saving weight by using
them.

Actually it's because they pull up rather hard, and having one's foot come
out in a sprint is not a good thing. Double toestraps used to be common - do
people use clipless + straps these days?

cheers,
clive

Quoted message said:

Actually it's because they pull up rather hard, and having one's foot come
out in a sprint is not a good thing.

Yup - Nathan has done that. Result is rider and track meeting in an
unceremonious way and ample development of bruises on rider.

Quoted message said:

Double toestraps used to be common - do
people use clipless + straps these days?

Yes, I've seen this.

Cheers, helen s

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in message <[email hidden]>, Mark

Thompson (') said:

How much more efficient do they make your peddling? Apart from not
letting your foot slip off and occasionally entertaining people when
you stop at traffic lights and forget you're wearing them, are there
any other
advantages? Efficiency-wise are they any better than straps (or
whatever they're called)?

Efficiency wise they aren't any better than toeclips and straps properly
tightened down onto old-fashioned cleated shoes, but they're one heck
of a lot safer because you actually can get your foot out when you need
to without reaching down and undoing the strap first.

Probably about 5% better than straps not properly tightened and 10%
better than plain platform pedals.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

There are no messages. The above is just a random stream of
bytes. Any opinion or meaning you find in it is your own creation.

Quoted message said:

How much more efficient do they make your peddling?

Pass but I was 10% faster on a 10 mile run with clipless pedals.

Apart from not letting

Quoted message said:

your foot slip off and occasionally entertaining people when you stop at
traffic lights and forget you're wearing them, are there any other
advantages?

I prefer to be clipped on then strapped in. It's quicker and easier to
unclip than unstrap.

Efficiency-wise are they any better than straps (or whatever

Quoted message said:

they're called)?

I never pedalled with tightened straps but I prefer the feel of the SPD
system so much so that i will be equipping all four of my bikes with SPD
pedals.

Clive George said:

Actually it's because they pull up rather hard, and having one's foot
come out in a sprint is not a good thing. Double toestraps used to be
common - do people use clipless + straps these days?

I saw that with the French rider in the world's in Manchester this year --
*and* he was using double straps!

dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers said:

Quoted message said:

How much more efficient do they make your peddling? Apart from not
letting your foot slip off and occasionally entertaining people when
you stop at traffic lights and forget you're wearing them, are there
any other advantages? Efficiency-wise are they any better than
straps (or whatever they're called)?

Oh yes, clipless pedals are a wonderful thing. Much more efficient -
make going up hills easier and I get less strain on my knee joints.
Indeed, see my post of today when I was able to show local yoof a
clean pair of pedals as I sped past him up local incline :-)

Clipping in and out really does become second nature and fast. If I
can do it, I think just about anyone can.

You live in Norfolk don't you? Don't talk to me about car insurance
(hills)...

Quoted message said:

Why in gawds name would you *forget* you're using clipless pedals

Believe me, I can forget *anything*.

Mark Thompson said:

How much more efficient do they make your peddling? Apart from not letting
your foot slip off and occasionally entertaining people when you stop at
traffic lights and forget you're wearing them, are there any other
advantages? Efficiency-wise are they any better than straps (or whatever
they're called)?

"Pedals" and "pedalling". Peddling refers to selling stuff.

Clipless rocks my world. I used toeclips for a long time, and liked
them. When I made the switch to SPD, I *really* liked them. Your foot is
much freer to move around slightly, but will not fall off the pedal.

They feel more efficient and a lot less constrictive, although I don't
have any quantitative evidence.

I have some nice Diadora touring shoes that I use for commuting, which
have inset cleats, meaning I can walk around in them like normal shoes.

Clipping and unclipping is second nature, although I tend to track-stand
as much as possible. I have double-sided pedals, so I don't have to look
down to get the right side.

I've come off twice since I've had them:

First time was on ice, and because the bike just slipped away, I stayed
attached. I don't think that would have been different with toeclips.
Only suffered a dented ankle.

Second time was when a car pulled out on me as I was going round a
roundabout and T-boned my rear wheel. I didn't consciously move my feet
to unclip, but I found myself on the road not attached to the bike. I
guess they detach under large force, like ski bindings.

--
Mark.

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

Quoted message said:

Clive George said:

Actually it's because they pull up rather hard, and having one's foot
come out in a sprint is not a good thing. Double toestraps used to be
common - do people use clipless + straps these days?

I saw that with the French rider in the world's in Manchester this year --
*and* he was using double straps!

I've also seen track riders with the shoe bolted to the pedal. You
have to unstrap the shoe and take your foot out to stop.

--
Dave...

Dave Kahn said:

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

Quoted message said:

Clive George said:

Actually it's because they pull up rather hard, and having one's
foot come out in a sprint is not a good thing. Double toestraps
used to be common - do people use clipless + straps these days?

I saw that with the French rider in the world's in Manchester this
year -- *and* he was using double straps!

I've also seen track riders with the shoe bolted to the pedal. You
have to unstrap the shoe and take your foot out to stop.

Cyclingnews.com today:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=photos/2004/tech/probikes/clignet_look/look_clignet_pursuit15-pedal

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

Quoted message said:

How much more efficient do they make your peddling?

You're not a journalist by any chance are you ;-)

--
Simon M.

Simonb said:

Mark Thompson said:

Efficiency-wise are they any better than
straps?

I don't think so -- track riders stil use toestraps, presumably because they
have no need to clip in/out -- so they're probably saving weight by using
them.

A cleat/clip system comes into its own for the ease of being able to get in
and out easily.

The functional equivalent would be clips/straps and shoeplates, rather
than clips and straps on unadorned shoes. Practically unobtainable and
hardly any advantages of any kind over clipless unless you're a track
sprinter/kilo rider/hill-climb specialist who has a habit of pulling
your foot out by accident, and then mainly used with double straps. And
someone to catch you at the finish, natch.

Roger

Simon Brooke said:

Efficiency wise they aren't any better than toeclips and straps properly
tightened down onto old-fashioned cleated shoes, but they're one heck
of a lot safer because you actually can get your foot out when you need
to without reaching down and undoing the strap first.

And more safely still, when you and your bike are perfoming cartwheels
after riding over some unexpected obstruction, like the rider in front,
you will come unclipped more or less spontaneously, and won't end up
tangled up with your bike in a manner which tends to twist and break
bits of you; pictures of the aftermath of the average bunch stackup 30
years ago and now will show the difference.

Roger

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

How much more efficient do they make your peddling?

You're not a journalist by any chance are you ;-)

Eh? Oh, I get it. Sorry, was taught grammer/ar in the 1980's.

Mark Tranchant wrote:

<snip stuff about first fall>

Quoted message said:

Second time was when a car pulled out on me as I was going round a
roundabout and T-boned my rear wheel. I didn't consciously move my feet
to unclip, but I found myself on the road not attached to the bike. I
guess they detach under large force, like ski bindings.

Similar thing happened to me earlier this year. Whacked from behind
entering a roundabout, Bike and I thrown into the air with me still
cleated in as far as I am aware. When I landed I was no longer attached
to the bike so I must have become unclipped whilst performing the
"spectacular aerobatics" (Witnesses words not mine). Good job we did
separate, the bike was written off when the car ran over it just after
knocking me off. [1]

Terry Duckmanton.

[1] Insurance company coughed up, got a nice shiny new one now.