Clipless pedals
In the 'olden days' cyclists wore shoes that simply rested on the pedals during cycling, and life was simple. Then someone had the bright idea of fitting toe clips to pedals, to stop the shoes sliding around so much. Slightly irritating to use, but more or less a good idea.
Then by the 1950's someone had the idea of also fitting something to the shoe that clipped around the back of the pedal. Used together with toe clips that worked pretty well, and it was still essentially possible to move your feet to the ground when necessary (for example stopping at a road junction) without major incident.
Now we move forward to recent years. Every cyclist worth his spandex shorts is using 'clipless' pedals. These come in various shapes and forms, but the general idea is that a 'cleat' - a clip, if you must - is fastened to the bottom of the cycle shoe. An appropriate pedal is then used, such that the cleat can be clipped into the pedal when cycling. To 'unclip' it is necessary to turn the shoe (twist the foot) slightly outwards.
Hence the shoe is fixed to the pedal, which can improve cycling in all manner of ways. No more friction between shoe and pedal; no more loss of grip; and if you are really keen you can actually pull the pedals upwards at the back of the turn as well as push them down at the front (this is hard work).
Note 1: pedals come with a standard size thread and can be readily changed / replaced. You would be well advised to put some grease on the thread before fitting your new pedal - so that in years to come it can still be removed if necessary! Remember to order 'cleats' at the same time as your pedals - these screw to the bottom of your cycling shoes so they can clip on.
Note 2: Having bought your new pedals you will also need some cycling shoes, and cleats (your new shoes will probably come with cleats already supplied)
Why are they called clipless pedals? Beats me, but I think it's because you no longer have toe-clips. the fact you still have clips seems to have escaped the attention of whoever invented the name 'clipless pedals'.
So this works very well, but there is a downside in having your feet fixed securely to the pedals. You need to plan ahead more when you are going to stop. This is usually not a problem but there are three occasions when it is:
- Something leaps out in front of you suddenly and you need to stop unexpectedly.
- You need to stop for some reason on a steep uphill section. Getting clipped in takes a few seconds, and you need momentum while you are doing it. so getting started again on a steep uphill can be very difficult. Luckily this provides extra motivation not to stop on the hills.
- You forget. When this happens, and it does happen, usually during the first couple of weeks with clipless pedals, you fall over. Since your feet are fixed to the pedals, when you try and put a leg out to support yourself nothing happens, and you land on your leg, arm, shoulder, whatever. On tarmac this can be very painful (believe me).
For newcomers to 'serious' cycling all the stories of falling off as soon as you start using clipless pedals can seem a bit off-putting. Be assured, the pleasure of using them far exceeds the pain of that nasty graze you will get on your second trip out (first trip you'll be too aware of them, and be extra careful, but by your second trip you'll start to forget you have them on).
The other significant disadvantages of clipless pedals are
- they are pretty much impossible to use with normal shoes, so if you use your bike for cycling to the newspaper shop on a Sunday morning, that will be less practical
- as you now have big lumps of plastic screwed to the bottom of your cycling shoes you look like you have a serious medical problem when you try and walk in them
- you have to go and buy these special shoes and pedals - perhaps £70+ for shoes and £40+ for the pedals
They really do improve your cycling, and allow you to push down evenly for a larger part of the pedalling cycle. There is also a small element of 'pulling up' on the pedal at the back of the pedal stroke - perhaps usually negligible, but can be very useful in a fast sprint).
Very few cyclists would change back from clipless pedals to 'normal' pedals, I think, having once acclimatised to clipless pedals. It is pehaps the most important improvement you can make in your cycling (unless you are overweight).
Comments
Thanks, and love the site as a newbie rider, very informative.
Chris
I have a quick question though:
I suffered a major and sudden component failure riding uphill, standing up and on the down stroke! This was some years ago and due to using clipless pedals (and having no time to unclip!), I suffered extensive injuries to my right leg and arm which required over 30 stitches, a broken wrist and also some muscle damage to my shoulder and back (for which I still get some discomfort). Since then, I have lost confidence in riding generally, but in particular I can't bring myself to ride clipless. Do you know of any clipless solution that doesn't really 'clip in' or one that is easy to use, but releases with the slightest excuse? At the moment I'm using a traditional bear trap type pedal with a plastic toe cage and not enjoying it so much!
Many thanks.
Good luck, and let us know if you do find a good solution.
It is possible to cycle using normal trainers on the bottom side of Look type pedals and similar - although your feet might keep sliding off if it's wet out, which might be a bit dangerous (or painful). Definitely for short distances only but maybe OK if the shops are close!
I was delighted to find they work with an old pair of Shimano R060 shoes which I bought in error years ago and couldn't be bothered to return to the seller 8-)
Only problem I have is after say 20 miles or so my feet buzz & go a little numb, is this normal or is it due to poor adjustment?
I bought the shoes at the same time as the pedals; having odd shaped feet it took ages to find ones wide enough, Specialized Road Sport. Perhaps slightly too large (to allow for winter weight socks)
I'll experiment with shoe straps adjustment.
Thanks!
Looking forward to cycling now with clips and having that extra power without worrying about sliding off... will laugh my head off if I forget I'm wearing them and topple over
The variety of MTB shoes is much less and they generally aren't as cool looking. Can you buy for instance these sidi shoes [SiDi Genius 5 5 Carbon Luxury Woman] and get cleats that would fit MTB pedals???:
thanks!
Really helps clicking in on a start as well as the unexpected red light!
However, I am doing the London to Brighton this year and know that there are two hill climbs that are haunting me....I enjoy the sport & not obsessed by it, so plan to change my pedals so i am not photographed as someone that 'cant help themselves' walking up a hill or two if i need to. I have keo look's at the moment on a totally carbon frame - any ideas anyone without spening a fortune?
Do you have any tips for getting out of clips very very quickly? I have cleated shoes but am being put off using them as I have ended up on the road twice after not being able to release quickly enough. Fortunately, no damage as I'm out before 6am to get a traffic free road to practise this on, however, an hour later, both times culd have been potentially very serious.
Generally speaking unclipping is pretty fast once you get used to it, pretty much as fast as just taking a foot off the pedal and much quicker than getting a foot out of an old-fashioned toe-clip type arrangement.
Check if your pedals are on the 'loosest' (easiest to unclip) setting (they should be if you haven't changed anything), also that your cleats are definitely the right type for your pedals.
Having said all that, if you are talking about cycling in heavy traffic or a route with lots of traffic lights then clipless pedals may not be the best choice for you.
after struggling to keep up with my friend on his road bike I recently bought a cheap road bike which came with toe clips on the pedals.
The bike is realy comfortable and last month decided to buy some Shimano SPD PD-M520 pedals so that I could use them with my mountain bike shoes. I fitted the cleats and have been out four or five times. So far no problems with clipping in and out but I'm struggling with the set up of the cleat positions.
My right foot seems to be ok but I can't seem to get my left foot sorted and I,m getting knee pain in my left knee.
I've tried all sorts of positions but it just doesn't feel right!
If I can't get it sorted I'm thinking of putting the toe clips back on.
Am I doing something wrong or do I just suit toe clips rather than clipless?
Any ideas?:
Usually just putting the cleat exactly centre in its range of options comes pretty close. Can you tell whether your foot feels too far back or too far forward when you are cycling? For example if your left foot is tending to be slightly 'toes pointing down' when the pedal crank is at the horizontal position the cleat could be too far back.
Is it better to have the ball of the foot slightly forward of centre of the pedal rather than behind?
I'll have another go at starting from scratch and let you know how i get on.
I'm assuming the problem definitely started when you got cleats and nothing else could be the problem? eg that you didn't change saddle height recently as well? (If in doubt changing back to the old pedals will quickly see if the problem goes away again)
If all else fails I guess I'm back to the old pedals.
Cheers
SPD and cleats create far better transfer of energy, I've just got a cyclo cross bike and want something that I can just let my cleat hook into at the front so I can step out easily... the best of both you may say?
And to the man with the Allez back in 2010, I hope you did it. I fitted Look Keo Max 2s to my Allez Elite, and they are doing great ... apart from that mishap.
My advice with clipless pedals is:
Firstly when the guy from the shop tells you how to take your foot out of the pedal don't blindly choose his favoured side. Think what is MY natural side, NOT his!! That will save you from falling in front of a car as I did.
Secondly, make sure the shoes are tight, not too tight but NOT loose. I have Specialized shoes for my road bike and Shimano shoes for my MTB and I find the Specialized shoes have to be tight otherwise they'll just not release quickly enough.
Happy cycling from The Netherlands.
Excellent articles. Thank you.
But! I need to get some road pedals I can actually work with, as I am starting to do triathlons and need a system which doesn't scare me too much but where the shoe stays on the pedal when I'm not in the shoe...here we go again...
Are sliimer shoes available if thats the cause
Or does it sound like my cleats are incorrecly set up?
Any help would be greatly appreciaited
Ian
You can get slimmer cycling shoes if that is what your feet need, but the cleat setup is most likely to be the issue (I think spd r is the cleat not the shoe, so I'm assuming they are road cycling shoes rather than mountain bike cycling shoes).