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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2013 15:49:36 GMT
My advice to anyone thinking of trying clipless pedals for the first time is not to do it in the confines of a small back garden. Head out to a park or a very quiet road instead. It'll give you much more space and time when you need to unclip those first few times and hopefully you'll not find yourself eating your own bedding plants if you do fall.
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Post by mattl22 on Sept 23, 2013 18:44:34 GMT
Not had any tumbles, yet...
Living in a residential area, not having a garden and having a couple of major roads close by, was a fair baptism of fire for getting used to clipless. Rolled nicely down our street and slowly onto the mainroad where the traffic gods were smiling on me with no traffic from the right so nicely turned left. 100 metres down the road is the first set of traffic lights on red so I began coasting to the lights from about 20 metres out and realised as I got closer that my foot was still attached to the bike, then panic, then "oh eff, oh eff, oh effffffff, i'm gonna fall", traffic building nicely in the 2 lanes to my right "this is going to be a 'you've been framed' moment", then a couple of breaths, gave my head a wobble and flicked the left heel out and set it down on terra firma.
Doddle this I thought.
Lights go to green, right foot still clipped in, the thought of "how the hell do I do this?" crept in... boosted off the ground with my left, fumbled and turned the crank from left-foot-at-the-top position and clicked in by the time it was at the bottom of the stroke, another 3 sets of traffic lights and a roundabout in the next 1/2 mile focused my mind and I was fine.
However, the next time I was out I tried the left foot unclip and use as standing leg but with the right foot at the top of the stroke and seriously struggled to get clipped in on the upstroke, it wasn't until I was back on familiar territory of the top to downstroke did I manage to engage.
It may not be pretty, but it works for me: left unclip at the bottom of the stroke. Left Foot down, bring right foot to bottom of the stroke, level left pedal, push off then engage at top to bottom of crank stroke.
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Post by william39 on Sept 23, 2013 19:09:35 GMT
I have had one mini tumble, against the barrier in my avatar photo. I always unclip the right and did that but didn't put the foot down so tumbled to the left and luckily the barrier was there to save me falling! Still getting used to clipping back in and find it hard on an upslope, good reason not to take a breather on the climbs.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2013 22:51:56 GMT
It may not be pretty, but it works for me: left unclip at the bottom of the stroke. Left Foot down, bring right foot to bottom of the stroke, level left pedal, push off then engage at top to bottom of crank stroke. From what I can gather from reading, the idea in your circumstances would be to pedal half a stroke with the right foot to get you going as that should give you more speed then pushing off the ground with your left - you could then either back pedal or finish the revolution by pulling up with the right leg allowing you to clip the left leg in at the top of the stroke. If you want to try and get going quicker with cars behind or something you can always pedal for a few revolutions with one leg and then focus on getting the other one in. Or at least they make it sound easy when you read that in places, if it works then it works Glad I've got an empty back street near me that is just used for emptying rubbish bins so barely any cars, will be practicing there first. Have to go on a main road through a roundabout and a right turn to get to my cycle paths though not looking forward to trying that
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Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2013 21:54:52 GMT
Had a few close calls, but thankfully with the tension at minimum I can pretty much just rip my foot from the pedal (hasn't come off unless wanted yet, even when sprinted/stading climbing) which I am glad about, though nearly came off today on a metal ramp, the noise of me jumping around in cleats made a few people look my way Also had a close call, went round a blind sharp left turn on a narrow cycle path that was barely wide enough for 2 to have another cyclist come round at exactly the same time, must have literally just missed each other and with the surprise I found my left foot unclipped after (the foot I usually unclip at junctions). Must be getting in the right mindset, must remember to never lean right. Also finding it difficult to locate the cleat into the pedal so keep slipping off the pedal trying to get it.
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Post by Big Brother on Sept 27, 2013 23:22:15 GMT
Touch wood I've not had a clipless moment. Have come very close mind you, but just managed to release my foot in time. Done the unclip left and end up going right routine a few times but thankfully I have my clips set relatively loose. I always unclip the left foot as I find it much easier pushing off with my right foot. Like @harley I often have some difficulty clipping in with the left foot when I push off. A bit of jiggling with the shoe on the pedal usually results in a successful clip in though.
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Post by baz on Sept 28, 2013 20:27:12 GMT
It had to happen sometime and it did today, there's me telling myself this is easy, all them eejits falling off must be doing something wrong and it'll never happen to me because this is really easy , i mean how hard can swinging your heel out be? or remembering that when coming to a stop you have something to do before you actually stop! Well coming to a corner i kinda forgot and by the time id realized and trying to wiggle my heel from pedal i was on the ground, a nice long line of cars all sitting there at the right time to see this eejit pick himself up and hobble off with head bowed hoping no one noticed anything, ah well i guess its better than coming off the bike at speed
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2013 21:17:30 GMT
One problem I've found with my Look Keo Classics is that they don't hang properly to clip in anymore. It's only since I swapped them off the Triban to put them on the hire bike in Lanzarote and then put them back on the Triban that I've had this problem, but it's meant I've had to push off and pedal unclipped, then look down to clip in!
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Post by baz on Sept 28, 2013 21:32:38 GMT
One problem I've found with my Look Keo Classics is that they don't hang properly to clip in anymore. It's only since I swapped them off the Triban to put them on the hire bike in Lanzarote and then put them back on the Triban that I've had this problem, but it's meant I've had to push off and pedal unclipped, then look down to clip in! Most times when im not under pressure i'll get clipped in, seems when there s cars behind at lights/corners ect i have to look down like you toonsi.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2013 21:48:09 GMT
One problem I've found with my Look Keo Classics is that they don't hang properly to clip in anymore. It's only since I swapped them off the Triban to put them on the hire bike in Lanzarote and then put them back on the Triban that I've had this problem, but it's meant I've had to push off and pedal unclipped, then look down to clip in! Most times when im not under pressure i'll get clipped in, seems when there s cars behind at lights/corners ect i have to look down like you toonsi. I never used to have this, they just seem to be hanging the wrong way to do the push the pedal down and clip in motion. Not really sure how I could get them to hang correctly again!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2013 12:33:10 GMT
Had a stationary oopps moment the other day. Left foot unclipped and firmly on the ground, then in my wisdom decided to make a slow right turn, lent to the right and over we go right in front of a couple of mountain bikers!!
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Post by william39 on Oct 2, 2013 15:36:12 GMT
Had a tumble on Alpe d'Huez, ground to a halt on the climb and fell over to the right. Getting unclipped and my feet on the ground was the last thing in my mind. Since I've raised the seat I seem to be having a few more near misses also as it is harder to get the foot on the ground. I've got Look Keo Easy pedals and they don't ever seem to hang right @toonsi, so clipping back in is sometimes a panic!
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Post by martin122 on Oct 8, 2013 19:33:03 GMT
well after 13 months of great cycling with the T3 and so many people telling me to go clipless or clipin as some people say I have done it at last well sort of! fitted pedals to T3 sunday evening and put the cleats on my new road shoes,sat on the bike with O/H very close by, I clipped in ok but find my right foot is easier to unclip than my left, I have checked the settings on the pedals and they are the same,so I went down my road slowly and tried to unclip but was not quick enough and went down like a falling tree! with 2 people walking past but hay ho im ok and most of all the T3 is ok. the T3 went back in the shed and is still there! im thinking of putting the pedals on my hybrid and getting use to them for a week or so as im not bothered if it gets damaged.
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Post by Phil on Oct 9, 2013 10:15:02 GMT
well after 13 months of great cycling with the T3 and so many people telling me to go clipless or clipin as some people say I have done it at last well sort of! fitted pedals to T3 sunday evening and put the cleats on my new road shoes,sat on the bike with O/H very close by, I clipped in ok but find my right foot is easier to unclip than my left, I have checked the settings on the pedals and they are the same,so I went down my road slowly and tried to unclip but was not quick enough and went down like a falling tree! with 2 people walking past but hay ho im ok and most of all the T3 is ok. the T3 went back in the shed and is still there! im thinking of putting the pedals on my hybrid and getting use to them for a week or so as im not bothered if it gets damaged. I find my right foot comes out much easier than my left, but then I'm right footed so I figure to be expected. I just go with it and unclip my right foot when coming to a stop, it might be the "wrong side" (closer to the traffic) but I'd rather be unclipped than falling over all the timeβ¦
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Post by johnc60 on Oct 9, 2013 11:29:19 GMT
well after 13 months of great cycling with the T3 and so many people telling me to go clipless or clipin as some people say I have done it at last well sort of! fitted pedals to T3 sunday evening and put the cleats on my new road shoes,sat on the bike with O/H very close by, I clipped in ok but find my right foot is easier to unclip than my left, I have checked the settings on the pedals and they are the same,so I went down my road slowly and tried to unclip but was not quick enough and went down like a falling tree! with 2 people walking past but hay ho im ok and most of all the T3 is ok. the T3 went back in the shed and is still there! im thinking of putting the pedals on my hybrid and getting use to them for a week or so as im not bothered if it gets damaged. Sorry to hear that Martin, have you slackened the springs on the pedals. I found it useful to slacken them off to about as far as they go and then start tightening them up bit by bit as you get used to them.
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