Clip out: Left or right?

Its always right even when I should be doing the left foot its always right. Creature of habit.

Dominic Sansom said:

I clip out right first, how about you?

At a light it is just the left ... I think. When getting off, it will be the right. I have to go for a ride to find out for sure. But getting on the spin bike I like to clip in with my right first. I never thought about this till now. I believe this to be true to the best of my memory.

Pete

When I'm stopping/dismounting, I unclip the right first. This comes from childhood when I would watch Steve McQueen in Westerns (Magnificent 7/ Nevada Smith). He'd ride up on his horse and swing his right leg off the horse, step out of the left stirrup, and he'd be standing on the ground before the horse stopped. Cool. So I would do that on my bike. Now, decades later, I'm still doing the same thing.

Dominic Sansom said:

I clip out right first, how about you?

as with my damaged left ankle ( polio ) I have great difficulty to unclip it fast so it ´ain´t much of a choice but I would not go back to toe clips from my PD536´s ( spd´s ) if you paid me .

The idea is to clip out with the left to avoid chainring marks on your right leg. I usually go left first, except at intersections when there's a curb handy, I often clip out on the right to get a footrest.

Always left. Right's just weird.

It depends. I hold a track stand at lights as long as possible then either unclip the left or right when I start to lean too far one way.

I don't unclip at all...I just topple over! 😄

Just kidding. :p

Dominic Sansom said:

I clip out right first, how about you?

Always the left, mainly due to the fact that is the side that the curb is on.

jcjordan said:

Always the left, mainly due to the fact that is the side that the curb is on.

I need to move to UK or Down Under. 😉

Left foot for me. I never really gave this any thought until the guy at my LBS made a big deal when he asked me and I had no idea. lol

Left. Avoids the chainring tatoo.

Always left.

Wurm said:

I need to move to UK or Down Under. 😉

there are three reasons why in Australia we clip out with the left foot first.
1.to avoid the dreaded chain tatoo
2.the curb is on the left and
3.we ride on the left side of the road/cars. so if we fail to unclip we will fall against traffic and not into traffic.

a1086528 said:

there are three reasons why in Australia we clip out with the left foot first.
1.to avoid the dreaded chain tatoo
2.the curb is on the left and
3.we ride on the left side of the road/cars. so if we fail to unclip we will fall against traffic and not into traffic.

Yes, that's what I figured. You guys got it made there with the left-side deal!

What am I missing here? Why would clipping out your right foot first make you more likely to get a chainring tattoo? Do you put your foot down underneath your bike (and if so, I hope you never get hit with a crosswind from the left!)? Are you clipping out by turning your heel towards the bike, instead of away? I'm confused...

friedmikey said:

What am I missing here? Why would clipping out your right foot first make you more likely to get a chainring tattoo? Do you put your foot down underneath your bike (and if so, I hope you never get hit with a crosswind from the left!)? Are you clipping out by turning your heel towards the bike, instead of away? I'm confused...

1. the chainrings are on the right.
2. fidgiting around while waiting for a light to change eventually leads to the tattoo (just having your leg down and leaning your bike slightly does the trick...it's not a function of how close your feet are together when standing, but just how close the BB/rings are to your right leg).

My chainrings are on the left.

j/k. I guess it's just me. Those odd occasions that I clip out right first, I just don't stand that close to the chainrings, so the tattoo's never been an issue.

friedmikey said:

My chainrings are on the left...j/k.

...

Psyche!!!