General: clipless pedals v clips

so almost everyone i ride with or have talked to said dont get clipless pedals on your fixed gear. so cause im such a rebel and since i ride fixed and am so cool like that (dont really feel that way) i decided hey why not 29.99 for a set of crank bros smartys at preformance and some mountain bike shoes from wheel and sprocket i'd give it a shot. BEST DECISION EVER. you really become part of the bike. instant power transfer, seated skids like nothing way more speed and speed control i strongly recommend. how does everyone else feel about clips v clipless

Definitely clipless. The people you've talked to apparently either have no clue, or are just wusses. As long as you can tweak the float so you're not clipping out every time you try to skid, then you're golden.

I to use both, for the same reasons as deermatt, I use spd's, might go back to crankbrothers again. I use mks slyvan cages with just a single strap, im not doing any hard riding or anything with those, but they are still nice!! I do fully agree though on the clipless pedal thing, such power over cages!!

Posted By: GOBSTOPTODROPI'm curious about this to, if i really like to whip it when i skid, will i clip out with clipless pedals?

i can whip skid just fine with clipless pedals . Im using TIME atac , but i run the left cleat on the right foot, right cleat on the left. It gives a harder angle to clip out , so less chance of an accidental pop out.

Posted By: eaglerockIs that common to other cleat systems (Look, SPD, SPD-SL)?

nah, look uses adjustable spring tension plus cleats made for a specific degree of float.

just so you guys know - you dont ever pull up on your pedal with clipless pedals, when you pedal you only push down, you waste energy if you are pulling up with your leg

I thought one of the main ideas of clipless pedals was able to pull on the pedal for the ability to pull more power out of the pedal stroke....

Guess Im the noob here.... hmmmmmm

and HAHAHA,, what the hell are you talking about,, nice Terrible_one49!!!!

Posted By: suicide_doors

HAHAHAHAHA +1

Clipless is the way to go. I run shimano 105 pedals and as long as I keep the tension on the pedals high enough, I never have had problems with pulling out when I didn't want to and I do whip skids all the time.

I just cant bring myself to take a change on shoes with me everywhere I go. To me that is the ultimate downfall of clipless. I wish someone would design a pair of clipless shoes that are as comfortable to walk in as they are to ride in. (Which isnt going to happen because as we all know you need a rigid sole on a cycling shoe).

It makes sense if you simply use your bike as a hobby, but mine is part transportation in general, and frankly clipless shoes + hard glossy floor = funny standstill slip and fall in the middle of krogers.

Posted By: LyKqiD= funny standstill slip and fall in the middle of krogers.

Haha. Don't let embarrassment ruin clipless for you!

Posted By: suicide_doors

Posted By: LyKqiD= funny standstill slip and fall in the middle of krogers.

Haha. Don't let embarrassment ruin clipless for you!

I'm with LyKqiD: I hate bike shoes (and bike clothes) that holler lookit me! I'm a cyclist! wherever I go. And the NASCAR-ization of roadie togs doesn't make it any better.

eaglerock to Bike Gear Manufacturers (and some bike manufacturers, Fuji being about the worst): If I'm buying your crap, I shouldn't have to be your unpaid rolling billboard; I already paid you for your crap. The bigger the logo, the less I should have to pay to wear it.

There certainly are bike shoes that a) work pretty well as walking shoes; b) have reasonably stiff soles for cycling; c) are normal enough in appearance that you don't look like an idiot wearing them with jeans. The ones I usually wear are Shimano's MT-30 from 2006, as shown in this velospace listing (not mine; ignore the very cool Frankenstein-drivetrain bike, and pay attention to the shoes:



The cleat is recessed enough that you don't slip on hard floors, and there's an elastic strap across the tongue to hold the lace ends out of your drivetrain. I wear them with jeans and with Docker-y pants, and nobody looks at my feet. The one downside of them is that they're suede, instead of hard leather; so there's no way to make them water-resistant.

Shimano has done a lot of 2-bolt cleat shoes in this product segment, mostly the MT line: MT-20/21/30/31/40 and so on. As time has gone on, they've gravitated away from laces and towards Velcro - wrongwrongwrong; Velcro makes shoes look like spaceships.

I'm still waiting for some normal US retailer to sell the Vittoria 1976 series. So far, the only retailer that claims to have them is Superb Bicycle, a fixter snob/fashion victim operation in Boston. I resent the fact that they don't advertise the price, saying merely: We have the cool new kicks/you can only get them from us/they're flying off the shelves/get them NOW for whatever speculative price we choose to charge, or all your buds at the next absinthe cruise will know uR a luZer. Something about a retailer whose slick website focusses on 20-something white kids (elaborate tats, Brillo-pad beards, dreads, pipecleaner jeans, PBR, gangsta hand-signals) having Big Fun displaying "rare" bike fetish items in their newly renovated Beacon Hill Victorian mansion storefront makes me think: I don't want any of those people to get one dollar of my money.

Of course, the downside of that caveman reaction is that I still don't know what the shoes cost. I'm sure the price is ridiculous; the question is $100 ridiculous or $300 ridiculous, and since I don't trust the retailer not to just make up a mailorder price based on perceived demand...If any of our Boston folks might happen to go past Superb Bicycle on Beacon Street, could you stick your head in and see what they're charging?

tempting, but I don't like changing shoes sorry

Sheldon Brown said that he wore his spd sandals for months at a time. I've never worn them but I'm interested.

I'm going to be switching back to these when my current pair are worn out. They've got a moderately stiff sole and take SPD bolts. They also don't look wonkity.

You still clik-clik-clik when you walk around, though, and they're slippery on hard surfaces. I'd love a system that wasn't like that.

Posted By: LyKqiDSheldon also said that he would rather ride a fixed gear conversion then a track bike on the road. A belief shared by few.

For the type of riding he did it makes a lot more sense to ride a road conversion. He did do some odd things but I wouldnt count that as one of them.