SPDs

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

Quoted message said:

As a recent convert to attaching myself securely to my bike, I was telling
a
non-cycling mate about how good they were.
"What if you come off, the bike comes with you?"
"Spose so."
"You'll break your legs".
Is he right?

--

Martin Bulmer

No, as you fall you tend to twist and so on and pop out of the pedals. I
know as it's happened to me a couple of times. It's all a bit like ski
bindings, they pop before your leg does too.

Alex

Martin Bulmer [email hidden] opined the following...

Quoted message said:

As a recent convert to attaching myself securely to my bike, I was telling a
non-cycling mate about how good they were.
"What if you come off, the bike comes with you?"
"Spose so."
"You'll break your legs".
Is he right?

Possibly. But a few caveats.

1) How likely are you to fall off your bike?
2) ...in a manner that will cause you to break your legs?

Why on earth will ~10-15kgs of bike cause you to break your legs when
your feet stay on the pedals?

If he asks again, attempt derisory laughter. Then ask how often he falls
off his bike, and has he considered stabilisers?

Jon

Martin Bulmer said:

As a recent convert to attaching myself securely to my bike, I was
telling a non-cycling mate about how good they were.
"What if you come off, the bike comes with you?"
"Spose so."
"You'll break your legs".
Is he right?

Usually, you or the bike will naturally twist to one side at some point,
causing the pedals to unclip automatically. There may be a delay before
that happens making the fall more awkward.

Track riders are so firmly attached that they stay with the bike, but they
don't seem to break their legs every time.

~PB

In news:[email hidden],
Martin Bulmer <[email hidden]> typed:

Quoted message said:

As a recent convert to attaching myself securely to my bike, I was
telling a non-cycling mate about how good they were.
"What if you come off, the bike comes with you?"
"Spose so."
"You'll break your legs".
Is he right?

No, you unclip with no conscious effort and no strain to the legs if the
bike falls over. Going over the bars on a mountain bike, I have stayed
uncomfortably clipped in while the bike was stuck upside down somewhere and
that was a bit annoying, but I can't remember the exact configuration I was
in.

a

Martin Bulmer said:

As a recent convert to attaching myself securely to my bike, I was
telling a non-cycling mate about how good they were.
"What if you come off, the bike comes with you?"

No it doesn't.

in message <[email hidden]>, Jon Senior

jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOTco_DOT_uk ('') said:

Martin Bulmer [email hidden] opined the following...

Quoted message said:

As a recent convert to attaching myself securely to my bike, I was
telling a non-cycling mate about how good they were.
"What if you come off, the bike comes with you?"
"Spose so."
"You'll break your legs".
Is he right?

Possibly. But a few caveats.

1) How likely are you to fall off your bike?

When on my hill bike, between zero and ten times an hour, depending on
how technical the route I'm attempting is, with an average of probably
about one or two falls per hour. Anyone who says they've never fallen
off their hill bike isn't trying hard enough.

Quoted message said:

2) ...in a manner that will cause you to break your legs?

Why on earth will ~10-15kgs of bike cause you to break your legs when
your feet stay on the pedals?

Leverage.

Having said that, I've never sustained any injury worse than a grazed
knee in a fall from a hill bike, although pedals that don't unclip
easily enough are a significant cause of falls.

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

[ This .sig subject to change without notice ]

Simon Brooke vaguely muttered something like ...

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Jon Senior

Quoted message said:

Martin Bulmer [email hidden] opined the following...

Quoted message said:

"You'll break your legs".
Is he right?

Possibly. But a few caveats.

1) How likely are you to fall off your bike?

When on my hill bike, between zero and ten times an hour, depending on
how technical the route I'm attempting is, with an average of probably
about one or two falls per hour. Anyone who says they've never fallen
off their hill bike isn't trying hard enough.

Heheheh ... "one or two falls per hour", damn you're good .. 😉

Quoted message said:

Having said that, I've never sustained any injury worse than a grazed
knee in a fall from a hill bike, although pedals that don't unclip
easily enough are a significant cause of falls.

I tend towards forearm and hip grazes .. must be how I subconsciously twist
or move as I fall.

Since using spd's I've _never_ bruised my shins through slipping off the
pedals, something that used to happen occasionally with flatties .. So in
this instance they're actually reducing injury to me.

--
Paul ...

(8(|) Homer Rules !!!

"A [censored] is a [censored], no matter what mode of transport they're using."

Martin Bulmer said:

As a recent convert to attaching myself securely to my bike, I was telling a
non-cycling mate about how good they were.
"What if you come off, the bike comes with you?"
"Spose so."
"You'll break your legs".
Is he right?

--

Martin Bulmer

They've always let go when I've crashed the MTB. The old Time road
pedals, OTOH, never let go (the release mechanism is separate from the
retention mechanism) and it can be tricky to release the foot that's
trapped under the bike!

Martin Bulmer said:

As a recent convert to attaching myself securely to my bike, I was telling a
non-cycling mate about how good they were.
"What if you come off, the bike comes with you?"
"Spose so."
"You'll break your legs".
Is he right?

No. In a crash your foot will break free of the pedal more easily with
a clipless system than with the old toe-clips and straps. Even if your
feet stay attached to the pedals it's unlikely that you'll break your
leg. It happens to trackies all the time.

--
Dave...

Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live. - Mark Twain

Martin Bulmer said:

"You'll break your legs".
Is he right?

Every time I've come off at any speed (on-road one smidsy, off-road
numerous times, including two fast hill descents which resulted in A&E
visits) the bike has detached from my legs without me particularly
noticing, and there's been no injuries attributable to being clipped
in, let alone broken legs.

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

The last time I fell off in SPD's I unclipped without conscious effort
however when I fell off recently in Look bindings I managed to go over the
bars and stay clipped in. This was fairly annoying as I ended up on my face
with my back wheel resting on the car I was at the side of. The bike was
vertical and it took my quite a while and great deal of embarrassment and
swearing to extricate myself.

Paul F

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Martin Bulmer said:

As a recent convert to attaching myself securely to my bike, I was
telling a non-cycling mate about how good they were.
"What if you come off, the bike comes with you?"
"Spose so."
"You'll break your legs".
Is he right?

(hello Martin, how's things generally, do you still have the trike ?).

In my experience I automatically come unclipped. I believe this is part of
what's supposed to happen from the design of the pedals and clips. I've had
SPDs for about 5 years.

Only fallen off a road bike with SPDs once (touched the back of a tandem on
a group ride, and was thrown sideways). The bike detached itself from me
fairly quickly before me and the bike went into a muddy ditch.
On a mountain bike, I've fallen off a couple of times when running out of
traction on steep ups, again came unclipped as I tumbled off to the side.
I've now got a bit better on the mountain bike and can anticipate the "stop"
and unclip in time.

- Nigel

--
NC - Webmaster for http://www.2mm.org.uk/
Replies to newsgroup postings to the newsgroup please.

In news:[email hidden],

NC said:

(hello Martin, how's things generally, do you still have the trike ?).

Things are generally good, thanks, but I never had a trike. Another Martin,
perhaps?
--

Martin Bulmer

Martin Bulmer said:

As a recent convert to attaching myself securely to my bike, I was telling a
non-cycling mate about how good they were.
"What if you come off, the bike comes with you?"
"Spose so."
"You'll break your legs".
Is he right?

Having come off a bike while wearing clipless, and never having broken
my legs (*yet*, touchwood, sacrifice virgin goat on Dark Altar etc.) I
have empirical evidence he's wrong.

Another thought... ever hit a big bump, lost your feet off the pedals
and in the ensuing leg waving lost your balance? I know that when I hit
something at speed I much prefer to be held, even lightly, onto the
pedals. I feel this contributes actively to my safety.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

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

Quoted message said:

It's all a bit like ski bindings

In fact, isn't that where the designer of the Look clipless system got
the inspiration from?

David E. Belcher

David E. Belcher said:

In fact, isn't that where the designer of the Look clipless system got
the inspiration from?

Yes. Look make ski bindings, in fact.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

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

Quoted message said:

Martin Bulmer said:

As a recent convert to attaching myself securely to my bike, I was
telling a non-cycling mate about how good they were.
"What if you come off, the bike comes with you?"

No it doesn't.

Yes it does, especially if you fall in the river !

If any convincing were needed, my wife was utterly convinced that she wasn't
going to try them. She almost cracked some ribs laughing though !

I'm still a convert, just need to be a little more carefull. I'd previously
poo-pooed a concept where you needed special shoes to cycle in, and stuck to
toe-clips. Having had a go with "combination" pedals - SPD one side, plain
the other, I v. soon swapped for dedicated double-sided SPDs (Time's variant
to be exact), since I'd never want to use the non-SPD side as you can't then
have toe-clips. I did contemplate fitting cleats to my brogues, but sold-out
to conventional thinking and bought the special bike-shoes.

Hywel