Road Cycling Essentials

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Went for my first ride with clipless pedals today. I have never been more reluctant to stop at a traffic light!

Slowly getting used to them though, the worst part is pulling away from a stop going uphill, trying to get my left foot clicked in quickly is not as easy as I would like. More practice needed I think!
 
Lopéz said:
Went for my first ride with clipless pedals today. I have never been more reluctant to stop at a traffic light!

Slowly getting used to them though, the worst part is pulling away from a stop going uphill, trying to get my left foot clicked in quickly is not as easy as I would like. More practice needed I think!
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Clipping in on a hill is most definitely the hardest part! When you're coming to a stop on a flat, just take one of your feet out well in advance and make that the foot you put down first.

For hills I sometimes try to pedal with one foot 'till I get going but it's not always possible. Most of the time I will clip my left foot in, give it beans on the first push and then pedal with my right foot without clipping in, pedal with the left again and then try and clip in while I have some momentum.

If it's just too hard and you're going to crash, you can either turn back round and go downhill with the brakes on while you clip in, then turn around (requires good balance depending on how big the road is and if it's safe to turn around). Otherwise, you can pedal diagonally up the hill i.e. from one side to another (assuming the road is quiet enough), that way you take some of the steepness out of the hill.

As you say though it is all about the practise and it sounds like you're getting on fine!
 
Vonhelmet said:
Are you using spd or spd-l?
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Neither, LOOK.

In the 70ish km I did today, I only had one genuine "FFS I'm gonna crash" moment, right outside East Midlands Airport, after pulling away from the traffic lights I tried to clip in, missed, tried again, ran out of momentum and for a split second felt myself crashing towards the grass verge. Clipped out my right foot just in time and my blushes were spared :o
 
I'm about 6 weeks into clipless pedals and I still have my wobbles, usually if I'm being careless stopping. I find that once I unclip I have to then be very careful about keeping my weight to the side I've unclipped, which is easier said than done now because by then it's my other leg that's still attached to the bike. As for hills... I usually make do with one foot until I've got a bit of momentum and then clip in.

Practise really does help, though. I still have the odd moment when a foot just won't go in, but by and large it's just second nature now.
 
Do want that canyon. Bought some clip on aero bars today as I'm competing in London Triathlon in September. Really liked having them, strange to use at first, but a lot quicker on the flat stuff, added another 1-2mph average I think. So comfortable too.

Has just made me really want a TT/Tri bike now, hated having to go back to the bars to change gear every now and then.

Anyone want a defy advanced!? On a serious note, anyone got any idea what it might fetch second hand? 105 groupset.

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Hardest part for me with SPD-SL is pulling away from traffic lights/junctions, trying to get the second foot in. Only had 2 rides with them and its much more difficult than standard SPD. I'll get there. First ride I had the old, unclip with left foot and fall to the right at a junction moment. It always happens whilst someone is passing too!

Only did 20 miles today but the heat was unbearable on some of the climbs. I had to seek shade at the top of one as I thought I was going to pass out.

http://app.strava.com/rides/18926212
 
There's no way I'm returning to normal pedals. I started off with normal MTB style pedals, then toe clips. Went from toe clips back to MTB and I slipped off the pedals more times than I could count, it was awful - just couldn't put the power down at all.

I'm putting clipless on my hybrid now as well, no going back :)
 
Shamrock said:
What are these important benefits? I guess it's of no consequence now since I've ordered the pedals already (£150 down to £88 on Ribble btw!) so I might as well use them, but from observing others clipping in it just looks like hassle to me!
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Your feet stay on the pedals, with no sliding about. More specifically, they stay in the optimal position for powerful pedalling through the ball of your foot. I also like the feeling of being much more connected to the bike, but YMMV.

I wouldn't go back to flats.
 
Well, I've got the Speedplays on the way so I will be trying them out once I get some shoes to go with them.

I've just noticed a very small hole on the bottom of my downtube, presumably from a sharp pebble flicking up and striking it.:mad:

Do you think I should be worried? Very annoyed to say the least but if it won't affect the integrity of the frame I can overlook it as it is out of sight.
 
My Pinarello has Shimano Ultegra 6620 SPD-SL's fitted, has done since I first got it. I have clipless pedals on my mountain bike as well, I guess I'm just used to them as I was a roadie long before I turned to the dark side and bought an MTB. :)

Felt natural having them on my Cube hardtail but I've found it a bit of a disadvantage on more technical sections of some trails. They are however, excellent for climbing trails and fast descents are better with them I feel. I swapped them out for a pair of DMR V8's but just couldn't get on with them so went back to the Shimano M520's.

Going by the other bikes I see at my local trails I seem to be in the minority using clipless. Most guys I see with anything from mid to high end MTB's have flats like V8's or V12's on their bikes.
 
Draeger said:
My Pinarello has Shimano Ultegra 6620 SPD-SL's fitted, has done since I first got it. I have clipless pedals on my mountain bike as well, I guess I'm just used to them as I was a roadie long before I turned to the dark side and bought an MTB. :)

Felt natural having them on my Cube hardtail but I've found it a bit of a disadvantage on more technical sections of some trails. They are however, excellent for climbing trails and fast descents are better with them I feel. I swapped them out for a pair of DMR V8's but just couldn't get on with them so went back to the Shimano M520's.

Going by the other bikes I see at my local trails I seem to be in the minority using clipless. Most guys I see with anything from mid to high end MTB's have flats like V8's or V12's on their bikes.
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For anything more adventurous then cross country clipless pedals are considered dangerous so that might account for some of the riders.
 
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DIABLO said:
For anything more adventurous then cross country clipless pedals are considered dangerous so that might account for some of the riders.
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Quite a lot of DH racers use clipless pedals.


Shamrock, i rekon that will be a drain hole or something. It looks to neat and round to be from a stone.
My canyon doesnt seem to have any but my ridley did. 1 small hole on the bottom rear of each chainstay about 1mm diameter. Dad's bianchi has them as well.

Where exactly is the hole on the tube? If it's in a seemingly random location, i would be worried. If it's centered on the tube, i think it's more likely that its supposed to be there.
 
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