microcord
Maximum Pace
- Aug 28, 2012
- 1,650
- 1,193
In short, are cleats likely to be helpful for me?
Longer version: In some past life, I used to use toe-clips; but I did so for some silly reason such as thinking that using them looked more macho than not using them, and also because of a notion that the ability to pull upward was useful. However, looking back, I don't think I ever did them up properly, so they were pointless additions (and limited my shoe choice). Last year I resuscitated one bike and bought another, and fitted both with SPD/platform pedals. Then I got SPD shoes (Shimano SH-MT43G). There was always something (irrationally) scary about being snapped into place, and it was some time till I tried out the cleats.
Being cleated into place seemed comfortable from the start. (Maybe I have "default feet", or maybe I'm undemanding.) But I didn't sense any benefit. One day on one bike I slowed unexpectedly, couldn't detach my shoe in time (I guess this was at least in part because I panicked), and fell. A few weeks later the same thing happened on the other bike. Both falls were excellent: not a scratch. But they got me thinking: Next time I might not be so lucky; my head might hit a wall, or a car might hit me. And so since the second fall I've been using the platform side virtually all the time.
What gives racers a slight edge is of little interest to me; I'm not going to race. I really start to wonder where/what the advantage of cleats is for "active" but noncompetitive cyclist. (Here for example, John Allen seems to take an advantage as given, and discusses the options for implementing it.) Somewhere I've read that without cleats/clips you waste energy because you have to press down the foot that's going up; this sounds like baloney to me, but who knows, perhaps I really do (unconsciously) press down and haven't yet learned not to do so with cleats.
I also read somewhere that in order to make the most of cleats (how?) you may want to lower your saddle a bit. This sounds a bit inefficient/uncomfortable and I've not wanted to do it. Should I try? (What advantage would it likely bring?)
Or is there perhaps a small but non-nutty minority of cyclists who generally know what they're doing but nevertheless dislike cleats and don't use them?
Anyway, as long as I'm mildly alarmed by cleats and don't sense any pluses to them, I'm not using them. If I just shut up and used them, would their benefits be likely to grow on me? (And would I become better at extricating myself from them in emergencies?)
Longer version: In some past life, I used to use toe-clips; but I did so for some silly reason such as thinking that using them looked more macho than not using them, and also because of a notion that the ability to pull upward was useful. However, looking back, I don't think I ever did them up properly, so they were pointless additions (and limited my shoe choice). Last year I resuscitated one bike and bought another, and fitted both with SPD/platform pedals. Then I got SPD shoes (Shimano SH-MT43G). There was always something (irrationally) scary about being snapped into place, and it was some time till I tried out the cleats.
Being cleated into place seemed comfortable from the start. (Maybe I have "default feet", or maybe I'm undemanding.) But I didn't sense any benefit. One day on one bike I slowed unexpectedly, couldn't detach my shoe in time (I guess this was at least in part because I panicked), and fell. A few weeks later the same thing happened on the other bike. Both falls were excellent: not a scratch. But they got me thinking: Next time I might not be so lucky; my head might hit a wall, or a car might hit me. And so since the second fall I've been using the platform side virtually all the time.
What gives racers a slight edge is of little interest to me; I'm not going to race. I really start to wonder where/what the advantage of cleats is for "active" but noncompetitive cyclist. (Here for example, John Allen seems to take an advantage as given, and discusses the options for implementing it.) Somewhere I've read that without cleats/clips you waste energy because you have to press down the foot that's going up; this sounds like baloney to me, but who knows, perhaps I really do (unconsciously) press down and haven't yet learned not to do so with cleats.
I also read somewhere that in order to make the most of cleats (how?) you may want to lower your saddle a bit. This sounds a bit inefficient/uncomfortable and I've not wanted to do it. Should I try? (What advantage would it likely bring?)
Or is there perhaps a small but non-nutty minority of cyclists who generally know what they're doing but nevertheless dislike cleats and don't use them?
Anyway, as long as I'm mildly alarmed by cleats and don't sense any pluses to them, I'm not using them. If I just shut up and used them, would their benefits be likely to grow on me? (And would I become better at extricating myself from them in emergencies?)