Hi all,
I have been unicycling for about 11 years and have used clipless pedals
on my bicycles for much longer than that, so the obvious question has
always intrigued me: what would it be like to ride those pedals on the
unicycle. The predominant opinion on the web seems to be that this is
crazy and suicidal, and I agreed - until yesterday.
On the bicycles, I have tried Look and SPD clipless pedals. Both these
systems are springloaded. You need to push your foot into the pedal
until it clicks into the lock, which will then give you a fairly strong
binding between your foot and the pedal. To get out, you have to twist
your foot fairly hard until it snaps out of the lock again. On the
bicycle, most clipless-pedal beginners fall on the ground a few times
when stopping, especially on traffic lights, until they have learned to
disengage the foot before the bike comes to a complete stop.
The thought of falling backwards on my unicycle and smashing my head
into the ground with the feet locked to the uni scared me enough to
never try this at home.
A few weeks ago I got a pair of Speedplay Frog clipless pedals
(http://www.speedplay.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.frog). This system
is very different from the clipless pedals I've had before. Instead of
a springloaded click mechanism, the design is ingeniously simple and
completely passive - there are no moving parts at all, just two metal
pieces that slide into each other. To lock the foot to the pedal, the
heel is rotated outward by about 30 degrees. In that position you slice
the foot onto the pedal and then twist inward until the foot is
parallel to the crank. There is no click, the only feedback you get
about having the foot in the pedal correctly is that it won't rotate
inwards any further. To get out of the pedal, simply rotate the foot
outwards again by about 30 degrees. The has a little ramp that lifts
the foot out of the pedal when twisting outwards. Since there is no
spring, rotating outwards requires no resistance to be overcome. You
just twist, and you are out.
When I rode these pedals on the bicycle for the first time, I was very
impressed how easy it is to disengage them (I fact, being used to other
clipless pedals that provide a much stronger connection between foot
and pedal, I had to learn to not accidentally disengage the pedal by
twisting too much), and I immediately thought about putting them on the
uni.
Well, yesterday I finally dared to do just that. I got a pair of
wristguards, put on my bicycle helment, and checked my health insurance
(not). First test: mounting on the wall and locking feet into the
pedals. I thought: Ok, this is crazy. Let's put the normal pedals back
on. After a few moments of gathering courage, I tried it anyway and
went for a few meters on the driveway and then tried to dismount. I
normally use my right leg to mount and dismount, so the right foot came
off first without any problems. The left foot came off in time, but
nearly got stuck in the pedal. Then I tried freemounting. I put the
right foot into the pedal, went on the uni, found my balance, and then
locked the left foot onto the pedal as well. I practiced freemounting
and dismounting a few more times, remembering to twist the feet
outwards for getting out of the pedals. After doing that I few times, I
felt confident enough to go for a ride.
Over the day, I did about 20km of riding, and one hour of doing tricks
and jumps. After overcoming the initial fear of the clipless pedals, I
started to appreciate the extra amount of control I had over the uni. I
ride a normal 24" uni and do mostly long distance rides. Most of my
UPDs are due to the feet losing contact with the pedals. Well, using
clipless pedals eliminates that kind of UPD completely. To go fast, I
simply leaned forward and started spinning. I also ride a recumbent
bicycle with clipless pedals, and I'm used to spin very fast on that
(up to 150 rotations per minute according to the cycle computer). I
won't try that cadence on the uni yet, but with the clipless pedals I
could definitely spin much faster than without, and because the feet
were locked to the pedals, they didn't come off one single time.
Halfway through the day I had become quite confident with those pedals.
Dismounting had become a reflex to twist both feet outwards at the same
time, and they always disengaged. I had one UPD where that didn't
happen when I tried to go backwards, and in that case the wristguards
saved me from serious injury.
I also tried some jumping. I have never been much of a jumper, because
after 2 or 3 jumps I would loose my balance or my feet would slide off
the pedals. With the clipless pedals, jumping is incredibly easy. Since
I could lift the uni with my feed, there was no need to hold on to the
seat, and since the feed would not come off the pedals, I always had
time to regain balance. So suddenly I was able to do ten or more
freehanded jumps and then continue riding. The clipless pedals just
provide so much additional control over the uni that it is much easier
to regain balance by simple continuing to pedal.
In conclusion, I am very happy that I didn't break my wrists or my legs
or smash my head into the ground. After one day of riding clipless
pedals, I have decided that they will stay on the uni. The extra amount
of control is extremely impressive and gives me the confidence to go
faster and to do other things I wouldn't normally do. I'm also
confident that I can disengage in time, and at the end of the day it
had become an automatic reflex to twist my feet outwards almost every
time. However, I will continue to wear wristguards, and perhaps even
more safety gear for trying new stuff.
So there you are. There is at least one happy unicyclist riding
clipless pedals without killing himself. Would I recommend this to
others? Not generally. But if you are very confident on your uni, and
are very confident with clipless pedals on your bicycle, and wear
safety gear, especially wristguards, then I think it's quite doable and
definitely worth a try.
Bodo
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bodo
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