Were you ever afraid of clipless?

[BC2COCyclist]

I've had a long-standing fear of riding clipless, I was convinced I would be unable to unclip in a sudden stop scenario etc. However, I will soon have a road bike so I will be learning how to clip in and unclip. Also, my platform (current) pedals on my current bicycles have pegs, so I think I'm quasi-ready to make the change...

My DH bought me Speed Play (?) road pedals yesterday and in a day or so, I'll be getting some shoes./cleats. He's going to put me on the trainer at first and get me used to clipping in and unclipping.

After that, I suppose I will use the pedals in the "real" world.

Did anyone else feel apprehensive about switching from platform to clipless?

[Catrin]

First of all, plenty of people do not clip in on road bikes, there is NO shame on using BMX or other good platform pedals on your road bike. If you want to wait until you are more comfortable with the road bike, especially if it has a different riding position and shifters than you are accustomed to there is certainly nothing wrong with that.

Practicing on the trainer will certainly help you get used to the action required without the fear of falling over and that is a GOOD thing Do this as often as you can...then when you've practiced so much on the trainer that you are sick of it, then take it to a nice empty parking lot somewhere and do it some more.

I think that most of us had some level of the same fear when moving to clipless, I certainly did and indeed I still wonder if I can unclip/act quickly enough in an emergency situation. I THINK I can, but unless something happens (hopefully not) I won't actually know.

[Veronica]

No, I was never fearful. I went clipless in '88 with SPDS on my mountain bike and eventually on a tandem and road bikes. I switched to egg beaters in 2005 and those are just as easy.

The motion of clipping in and clipping out has always seemed very intuitive to me and I am always a bit surprised by how many women seem to struggle with it.

Yes, I've had a few clipless falls - scars on my knee from one particularly stupid one that happened while I was standing still, but still had one foot clipped in. The others were from from dirty or loose cleats. I've had some spectacular mountain bike crashes and always came unclipped.

Veronica

[BC2COCyclist]

Thing is...I eat it on platform-pedal bikes, too, so I don't know what I'm so scared of, LOL. I often tip over when getting on or off one of my bikes cause I'm extremely clumsy.

That said, my hardcore roadie DH does slow-speed tip overs, too, generally with an audience so I'm in good company there. Last time, a patch of sand got him.

I think, after using the pedals on the trainer a LOT! I should move to parking lots etc (like you suggested) on one of my crappy bicycles, long before I get the road bike as if I put a ding on my 21 year old kuwahara MTB (that I got for FREE LOL) I'm not going to do much crying about it. If I put a ding on a brand new $2000.00 road bike, I might need counselling, you know?

I once got my front wheel caught in traintracks that were ummm indented on a bike path when I was commuting home from my (crappy) ex-job. Slow-mo, I knew I was screwed, tipped over, scraped some spots, banged my elbow and squashed my foot underneath my (steel) hybrid. I'm the queen of dumb wipeouts etc.

[surgtech1956]

Yes, I was afraid of clipless pedals, toyed with the idea of buying some for a couple of months. Best thing I ever did. I have Shimano RD540s. I have mine adjusted so they release easily/quickly. I think they are much easier to use then 'toe clips'.

[BC2COCyclist]

More evidence that I'm a clumsy idiot: I just fell off my computer chair and jammed my arm when I 'landed.' Also, I injured my big toe nail but not severely. My 7 month old, who was playing nearby thought it was hilarious.

[zoom-zoom]

More evidence that I'm a clumsy idiot: I just fell off my computer chair and jammed my arm when I 'landed.' Also, I injured my big toe nail but not severely. My 7 month old, who was playing nearby thought it was hilarious.

Kids...

I have only been fearful when I had pedals that wouldn't release, not even on the loosest setting. I ended up having 2 falls within about 2 weeks of each other, even though I had only had something like 2 falls in the previous 6k miles of riding with mtn. SPD pedals. I think they were defective, since I now have a different brand/system and I was able to crank them about to about 1/3 of the way to fully tight and they are still WAY looser than those other pedals.

[Velocivixen]

Regardless of clip less or platform, I have observed that many riders, children and adults, do not know how to start from a stop. If you don't know how to start smoothly from a stop it doesn't matter what kind of pedals you have. There is also a correct way to stop so that you are smooth and are less likely to fall. During last Sunday's Portland Parkways it was surprising to see how many people don't start smoothly and wobble all over.
I am not saying that this describes you, however you mentioned not being great even on platform pedals so it got me thinking about the stops/starts.

[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.