Were you ever afraid of clipless?

[roo4]

Yes. Still am, at times. Especially on climbs that are too much for me--really hard to clip out going up hill.

[indysteel]

I wouldn't say afraid, really. When I first started using them (SPDS briefly and then Look Keos), I recognized that there was a learning curve and that I had to exercise a bit of patience with them and with myself. The SPDS were pretty easy, but I didn't really like them. The Keos took some practice in a parking lot. When I first had my LBS install them, I practiced them in the shop while on a trainer. It seemed pretty easy to get in and out of. My first ride with them was slightly traumatic in that that the tension was set too high and I could barely clip out. There were a few tense moments, but luckily I was in a park and I did get my foot out eventually. I learned that how easy a pedal feels on the trainer may be different on the road.

After a few practice runs, I really haven't struggled with them since. Every once in a while I'll have a ride where my timing on clipping in is off, but clipping out has always been pretty intuitive. I've had one (knock on wood) fall and that was because I had unclipped the foot I normally don't unclip for a stop because of a bad hot foot and it just threw my muscle memory off.

[jessmarimba]

I like them on uphills.

I'm afraid of going over the bars clipped in on a downhill again. But they're on my mountain bike because they were the only spare pedals I had when I brought it home.

I do have them on the absolute loosest setting right now, and I have no intention of changing that.

[Biciclista]

i resisted them for years. When I was ready, I paid someone $90 for a lesson..
still use them but occasionally i ride without them and it is very freeing.

[westtexas]

Nope. When I started riding as an adult, I never had platform pedals (I do now on my commuter and I hate them) and started out with SPDs. Can't imagine it being any other way. I've fallen over one time, but I was at a complete standstill at the bottom of a hill. I just ran out of steam and couldn't get my leg to do anything at all. My pride was wounded way more than my body.

[Crankin]

I really wasn't scared, either. I was scared of other things, but not clipless. I rode for about a year on flat pedals on an old mountain bike and when I got my first road bike, I got spds. DS took me out at 6 AM on a Sunday and I practiced. I rode around for 3 weeks with just one foot clipped in, but after that, it was totally intuitive. Two years later I switched to Speedplay X2s and I never had an issue.

[carlotta]

I bought my first road bike from a friend and it had one sided SPDs on it. The non-SPD side is lethally slippery metal, so I got over clipping in really fast, since the alternative was flying off the pedals (or buying new pedals, but I'm cheap . Those pedals are still on my other road bike. I have had a couple uncomfortable moments in deep sand (leftover from flooding), snow, ice, and on a particularly big hill with a big load of groceries on the commuter but always gotten out.

I WAS scared to ride clipless on the fixie, but that has nicer platform/SPD combo pedals so I compromised and rode clipped in on one side for awhile until I was more comfortable and now it's easy and I vastly prefer being clipped in on that bike now.

[SheFly]

I wasn't afraid either. Been using SPDs and then Shimano road pedals for ever. They were so much easier than the toe straps and Power Grips that I learned with (for me - not for everyone).

I'd just like to comment that once you have the motion down on the trainer, the next best thing to do is to go to a GRASSY PARK/LAWN and practice, not a parking lot. That way, if you do have a fall, the landing will be softer. Don't worry - your road bike can handle riding on the grass .

Good luck!

SheFly