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My spouse and I were out walking our dog a couple of days ago. As we approached an intersection, a cyclist rode up on the opposite side of the street, stopped, and promptly fell over (fortunately onto some grass). She said that she was alright and had forgotten that her shoes were attached to the pedals. I know about tow clipless pedals. I think they've even been talked about here, but I've never really looked at them or the cycling shoes that are used with them. The lady was pretty embarrassed. Once she said she was ok, we just walked on. I'm now curious about what you have to do to disengage from the pedals and how hard it is. The lady just sopped and toppled over in one fluid move. It was pretty amazing really.
Comments
From Observation...
I haven't tried them, but I've spent some time looking at all the various clipless systems in the bike stores and catalogs.
Basically, it looks like you just push down to "click in" with most of them. The plate on the bottom of the shoe snaps into a sort of one-way spring-driven clamp. Getting out might vary depending on the system. I think for most of them, you have to rotate your ankle and toe-in or toe-out a certain number of degrees for the thing to let go of your foot.
One of the reasons I haven't tried any of them is that you're wedded to wearing special shoes to fit the pedals if you want to go riding. And, most of the shoes aren't really that suited to walking any distance after you get off the bike. For me, a bicycle should be general weather functional transportation, not a pure sporting good. My bicycle, which cost me about $2000 to put together (including lacing my own 4-cross wheels on low-flange hubs) over 25 years ago, is one of the finer examples of a now entirely-lost breed, the long-wheelbase road-touring bicycle, a Holdsworthy Mistral. The longer wheelbase is achieved with a slightly more raked, less upright geometry, and the extra couple inches (along with the "double-butted" steel tubing and the specially laced wheels) gives the bike a natural springiness and smoother ride without needing a separate mechanical suspension. In keeping with its function, which is to carry the rider from place to place for purposes other than the ride itself, it's outfitted for ordinary shoes and clothes, and to carry things. Altogether, with its full fenders, platform pedals and toeclips, lights, water bottle and luggage rack, it's still under 28 pounds. I have full panniers and a large handlebar bag for it, too, which get pressed into service when it goes grocery shopping these days, but once served well for 3 fortnights of hostel-hopping.
Racing bikes are fine for racing and/or working out, but I much prefer something designed for practical use, something not really in vogue any more, especially at the higher end of pretty hardware.
clipless pedals
I ride with them on most of my bikes, although I have a hybrid pedal on one bike, which is normal on one side and SPD on the other. Both my road bikes have SPDs. Once you get used to them they are better, because you can power on the up stroke as well as the down. They are reckoned to be 40% more efficient than toe-clips.
I suspect your fallen rider has more than one bike and that the others have normal or toe clip pedals. It is easy to forget. The problem is once you stop, unless you have very good balance - I don't - you don't have time to get your foot down. Gravity takes over. I did the same with toe clips. It's something of the price we pay for enjoying our bikes and riding, that every now and again, you come off!
The link should tell you all you need to know about pedals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipless_pedals
Angharad
Angharad
Bike falling over.
I bought a drop center ladies bike, (no, I won't tell you what kind because you would all sneer at me.) because I was too sore from SRS to get over the bar, and I wanted to wear skirts while riding.
Well, the first few times I was out, when I stopped and tried to take both hands off the bars, at which point the bike would promptly fall over leaving me humiliated. There are advantages to having that bar there and another one is to have something to brace to when you go around a corner and find yourself in a "hot shoe" situation. Without the bar, I have to ride in a much more stately fashion.
Gwendolyn
Clipless pedals
Is a generic term for pedals that don't take a toe clip. These pedals were a breakthrough in the early '80s. Before clipless, all racing bikes had pedals with a toe clip coming forward from the front of the pedal then bending up and back over the rider's shoe. A toe strap went through the pedal, behind the pedal's axle (spindle), up around the shoe, thru a loop or slot in the toe clip then out where it went thru a buckle on the other end of the strap. For racing, the bike shoe had a rigid sole (same as today) with a cleat fastened under the ball of the foot. The cleat was tapered (thin) in front to help the shoe slide into the pedal and toe strap loop. The cleat became deeper (thicker) toward the back and had a narrow, vertical slot (8mm deep, 3mm wide on a shoe I'm holding now) that would fit over the backplate of the pedal. When the shoe and cleat were in position, with the back of the pedal in the slot, the toe strap was tightened until the shoe was locked in place on the pedal. This was the normal riding configuration. One could push forward and down and pull back and up with one's foot and the pedal remained stuck to the shoe. The only way to get one's foot off the pedal was to loosen the toe strap at the buckle (which was sort of quick relief) with an upward pull on the loose end of the strap. In this usage, all the toeclip did was hold the strap in position. After one ride, I crashed in my driveway, at zero speed, because I forgot that I was strapped into the pedals.
Now-days, clipless sounds a little silly because around here (Arizona) we use the term "clipped in" for having the cleat on the shoe locked into the pedal's spring loaded mechanism. As far as I know, all clipless pedals will release if one's heal is pushed outward or inward far enough. Inward, one's shoe could easily hit the chain or other parts of the bike, so I, at least, clip out by twisting my heal outward, away from the bike.
The rider seen crashing (any fall is considered a crash, I think) might have had the tension of the pedal (force needed to push the heal out of the pedal mechanism) set too high. She might have twisted her shoe, but couldn't get the pedal to release so she fell over.
I have spd pedals on 3 bikes, my touring, recumbent and mountain bikes. The cleats for these pedals are on a fairly cheap pair of mountain bike shoes. The sole of these shoes flexes a little at the front. The small, steel, spd cleat (37 X 34 X 8mm thick) fits between the rubber treads of the shoe so on a flat surface the cleat doesn't touch that surface. These shoes are easy to walk in.
On my 4 road racing bikes (I just haven't gotten rid of any since '84) I have the old style Look pedals. Look was making quick release ski bindings before they got into bike pedals. I don't know, but Look might have made the first clipless pedals. I use these because I can clip into them faster than the spd pedals. The road shoes have flat, very rigid, bottoms (no tread anyway); the best are carbon fiber. The cleats are hard plastic, big (73 X 63 X 7mm thick) and roughly triangular. Walking in road shoes, with any kind of cleat is uncomfortable, somewhat slippery and wears down the cleat.
Reporting from Tempe, AZ, this is Renee M.
Hugs and Bright Blessings,
Renee
Clipless pedals
"I don't know, but Look might have made the first clipless pedals."
I think Cinelli made some that pre-dated Look, however the mechanism was a bit like a door bolt and had to be released manually by leaning down and pulling on a pin.
Before that there was one that was actually nailed to the shoe. The only way to release it was untying the laces!
When I started cycling everyone used clips and straps. After a break of several years, during which the clipless revolution occurred, I noticed that the sound of a cycling club pulling away had changed from the 'tap-scrape-click' to 'clack-clack'.... Happy days!
Audrey
I'm old enough to remember ...
... the days before clipless pedals became the norm for the vast majority of keen cyclists. Like Angharad I use SPD types because the shoeplate is recessed and makes walking much more civilised - an advantage for a touring/utility cyclist like me. They're very quickly released by twisting the foot either outwards (usually) or inwards. Out and out racing bikes have other systems which claim to be more efficient but the shoes have a huge lump underneath which makes progress off the bike amusing for onlookers :)
It seems most people new to SPDs have an embarrassing incident and topple over. However I managed it when using old-fashioned toeclips. It was Winter and I was wearing a rather shabby pair of overshoes to keep my tootsies warm. I delayed until the very last second pulling my foot out when I arrived at the cafe but, to my horror, my foot wouldn't move because my threadbare overshoes had become entangled in the toe strap. I gently toppled onto the pavement at the feet of surprised shoppers before mustering what dignity remained by picking myself up and strolling casually into the cafe.
I also used to ride a tricycle in Winter when it was likely to be icy and a return to the conditional stability of a two wheeler can sometimes result in forgetting to put a foot down. Mind you trikes are only conditionally stable too and fast cornering is an excellent cure for diarrhoea :)
Geoff
I'm old enough to remember
When a real bicycle had a coaster brake, one speed, balloon tires and said "Schwinn" on the front. :-) And if you were lucky there was more left of the pedals than just the post sticking out from the crank. ;-)
KJT
"Being a girl is wonderful and to torture someone into that would be like the exact opposite of what it's like. I don’t know how anyone could act that way." College Girl - poetheather
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Opportunity Missed!
Didn't you try to bring her to your home and dress her in your clothes? (a la EAFOAB)
Doh! Yep, I'm Slow on the Uptake
You know, I wasn't sure if the cyclist was a man or a woman until she responded that she was alright and said that she'd just forgotten about the pedals. So, yes, it was a big missed potential opportunity. Guess that's why I just read these stories rather than try to write them.
straps
When I had my Trek MTB a few years back I looked at clipless pedals and shoes as an upgrade from toeclips. Ultimately the expense of shoes and pedals, plus the walking problem put me off. I went with a sort of compromise thing I think called a power strap which was a heavy roughly one inch wide strap diagonally across the standard pedal, you shoved your foot in at an angle and twisted it straight with the resulting tension keeping a good tight foot to pedal grip. Along with some stiff soled tennis shoes or something similar you could wander about the shops or whatever and toss the goodies in the backpack and pedal home. A compromise I grant you and not as good as clipless but a hell of a lot cheaper. But hey I wasn't chasing Cadel Evans who was Mr MTB here at the time. Did have some cool purple nix, purple seemed to be big in the late 90's. Did have some light grey ones too for when I was feeling less groovy.
Kristina
Thanks to Everyone Who Responded
I appreciate the information and enjoyed the shared stories. I understand the embarrassment potential as I clearly remember the time several years ago that I rode off on my motorcycle with the steering stem still locked full left. Only did it once.