In article <[email hidden]>,
Michael J. Klein said:B i l l S o r n s o n said:Roger Zoul said:
I thought I could just clip out one feet and lean on that foot. That
was after 4 miles. Then, after about 20 miles, the same damn thing
happened again and I had been careful to fully clip out both feet.
{snip}
Quoted message said:When I unclip, I unclip both feet. Period.
Not to be critical, Roger, but you really shouldn't have to do that.
Unclipping one foot and putting it down when stopped is what 99.9% of riders
do.
Are you falling because your free foot SLIPS on the pavement (or trail)? Or
are you simply losing balance? (Saddle way too high, maybe?) Sounds like
something's going on that you could work on to correct.
Bill "unclipping both feet sounds MORE unstable (at least to me)" S.
What I would like to ask at this juncture is (since I don't
understand, seriously) what would one be trying to prevent by using
such systems?
The short answer is that clipless pedals give you a solid, safe, and
convenient link to the pedals.
-solid: the pedals are firmly held to your feet. Under normal
circumstances, which especially includes sprinting or any type of
serious effort, your feet are locked to the pedals, and you will not
lose contact with them. Having a foot slip off a pedal during a sprint
(or even during normal riding) is not only inefficient, it's very likely
to lead to a crash. This solid connection is so important that before
clipless pedals, pro cyclists and serious tourists universally used
clips and straps.
-safe: so clipless pedals offer the solid, efficient connection of clips
and straps. But unlike clips and straps, release is easy. With a
cleated, strapped, toe-clip solution, a rider had to unstrap their foot
at every rest stop, and in the event of a crash, it was unlikely that
you could free your feet from the bike, leading to some possibly
unpleasant injuries, mostly revolving around twisted ankles and knees.
Clipless, despite offering the solidity and virtually all of the
security of clips and straps, are much easier to get into and out of,
and virtually all systems have a natural tendency to release in a crash.
-convenient: it's easy to enter and exit clipless shoes. There's no
dance as you come to the stoplight to make sure you can remove at least
one foot from your pedals. There's no similar dance when you re-start
and need to tighten up your strap again. With most pedal designs, you
just step on the pedal with your shoe, and listen for the click. Exiting
is usually a matter of twisting your ankle slightly outward or inward.
Quoted message said:I'm confused by having to "clip" and "unclip" on a "clipless" system,
additionally. I've never fully understood pedal retention systems.
It's a tragedy of terminology. Since the old system of retaining pedals
had toe-clips, and the new one did not, it was clearly a "clipless"
system. You "clip in" because clicking into the retention mechanism is
analgous to putting your toe into the toe clip, and thus the old phrase
lives on.
Clipless rocks. I started out using un-cleated toe clips and loose
straps when I began commuting. This was an adequate system, but when
combined with a fairly soft-soled shoe, it wasn't ideal. A pair of
stiff-soled cycling shoes helped a lot, and I added some clipless pedals
at the same time. Compared to the loose straps of before, the clipless
pedals offered securer foot retention (you can slip your foot out
backwards by accident in loose straps) greater efficiency (cleats that
locked your foot in place were key to the retention and efficiency of
clip-and-strap systems; I wasn't going to risk that), and ease of entry
and exit (loose-strapped toe clips probably aren't notably harder to
stick your foot into than a clipless pedal is to clip your foot to, but
they are less efficient). Since clipless combined power and efficiency
that matched strapped clips with the ease of entry and exit of loose toe
clips, plus a dose of safety neither system had, it immediately took
over most of the the clips and straps market.
Not going back,
--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com
Verus de parvis; verus de magnis.
