Clipless - give me your passionate opinions

[david p.]

Gang,

I'm thinking about migrating over to clipless - but have no experience with them.  What do you guys like?  What do you hate?  Any advice on the matter?  I want to switch over because my shoes are taking a beating, and I'm also interested in the more efficient energy transfer, and all that jazz.

[paul]

do it.. you've already made up your mind ;-)

http://cgi.ebay.com/CRANK-BROTHERS-2007-EGG-BEATER-C-PEDALS-BLACK-EGGBEATER_W0QQitemZ290217363999QQihZ019QQcategoryZ36137QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://www.rscycle.com/s.nl/it.A/id.13150/.f?CAWELAID=63653126

[Morgan]

how often do you go through cleats for the egg beaters?

i have spd pedals and find that my right cleat (the front one in a skid) wears out more often than i would have thought acceptable.

[paul]

I wear Shimano mountain bike SPDs so the cleats on the shoe protect the cleats. They only cost a couple bucks to replace when they wear out but they do last a long time.

[david p.]

i definitely like the aesthetics of the egg beaters, no diggity.

alex t. told me that he prefers the SPD system because it's more clear that you've clipped in.

what do you guys think about this? is alex a pansy?

[buttrumpus]

dammit this is all so relevant to my life right now. i just bought some spd's, and am waiting for my shoes via the mail. everyone i spoke with without a doubt preferred clipless, so i was easily antagonized into getting some. keep this thread going till monday or tuesday and i'll be able to throw in my 2 pents.

[paul]

I've used both spd and egg beaters on road and mountain and prefer egg beaters by far. Mostly, because they are super easy to clip in/out and give you more float which is better on ur knees.

[paul]

also, i have an extra set of both eggbeaters and SPDs if you wanna try them out..

[david p.]

lets talk more about "float"... i'm not sure i know what that is - float = the ability of your foot to move slightly from side to side?

and yes paul... i might be interested in

[paul]

yep, float is how much the pedal will allow you to wiggle your foot around on the pedal.

[buttrumpus]

the float thing was kinda a question mark in my mind, too. luckily i found a new/used pair of the speedplay zero's on ebay for a good price. they let you adjust the amount of float you want whilst riding. after paying close attention to how my feet move when strapped in, I think it's going to be best to have a very slight amount of float, so we'll see. so does switching to clipless make you average a high rate of speed right out of the box? cuz that's what i'm expecting. that would be sweet.

[oregondan]

You can "pull" as well as push, so yeh, it's faster. I can "peel out" with my cleats on, so thats cool.
I use the old school Look style, and have never tried others but would like to... The drag with the look cleats is they stick out when you walk so you either use covers or they wera out, plus you look like a walking duck.

[JonLuskin]

Might I suggest...

[Alex Thompson]

Boo on Look

- you can't walk in the damn things without spending 10 minutes putting on some crazy crap and then you still can't walk

- you'll fall down if you try to run

- you can only clip in on one side of the pedal so you'll spend 10 minutes of every day trying to clip in during which time you'll be more likely to fall

Definitely get something two sided or better with a shoe you can walk in.

[Jaz]

Why wear special shoes when you can just use clips?

I've yet to see aesthetically appealing clipless shoes.

You can't run, as mentioned.

More money needs to be spent to do this.


positive, supposedly more efficient? I don't know.

Makes you look like a cyclist.

Gives you some hard that can be used to hit cars that piss you off.