Bike Fit and Clipless Pedals

[Emm]

@Sujiro 162268 wrote:

Hi,

And are bike fits free? I got my bike from Freshbikes.

Thank you

Freshbikes costs around $200 for a fit with Clovis. Totally worth it if you ride your bike alot. I’ve had 2 bikes fit by him, and they both ride wonderfully.

Clipless pedals can go on almost any bike, and you dont need a fitting to get them installed. Usually it’s around $15 to have a shop change out your pedals if you can’t do it yourself. Just head to fresh bikes (or really, any bike shop), and they can show you the clipless options, and some shoes that can have the cleats attached. I think I paid $30 on amazon recently for some shimano SPD pedals, and another $70 for the shoes. Just be prepared for spending alot of time practicing getting in and out of those pedals, and prepare to fall over a few times too while you get used to them.

Clipless pedals have pros and cons. I love them for my 14 mile commute, but find them annoying for short rides. Not sure they helped my speed a ton over short distances, but they definitely help over longer rides.

[jrenaut]

i love my SPDs – I was using toe cages and started getting knee pain. The SPDs make sure my legs properly aligned, every time, and that pain is gone. But while they may be a little more efficient (there are arguments for an against this that I don’t care to pay attention to), faster is a function of strength and fitness way more than any equipment.

Remember that with any sort of fitness activity you’re going to improve quickly at first and plateau. Keep at it, vary your rides (do some long rides, some short sprints, LOTS of hills), and you’ll be fine.

[Crickey7]

You can get SPD pedals that clip in on only one side, the other side being a platform. There are two Shimano versions, the more expensive one having a bigger platform. I actually like the cheaper one, because for some reason it tends to rotate to have the SPD side up. Nashbar has a version too, I think.

[anomad]

I’ll repeat what jrenaut says here pretty much. I use clipless pedals on virtually every ride. However, don’t rush into it if you don’t want to. Its definitely worth trying, in my opinion. But if you don’t like it there’s nothing at all wrong with riding flats. A rider close to me has been riding for decades and doesn’t like clipless pedals at all. But when she raced they were necessary.

After a couple years of riding 3000 miles a year all the gear choices sort themselves out. So just get out there and enjoy riding.

Having said all that… I like crank brothers pedals and stiff mountain bike shoes or sandals for most bikes and classic Look style pedals for serious road work.

https://youtu.be/YmPkYMPVqQU

@jrenaut 162270 wrote:

i love my SPDs – I was using toe cages and started getting knee pain. The SPDs make sure my legs properly aligned, every time, and that pain is gone. But while they may be a little more efficient (there are arguments for an against this that I don’t care to pay attention to), faster is a function of strength and fitness way more than any equipment.

Remember that with any sort of fitness activity you’re going to improve quickly at first and plateau. Keep at it, vary your rides (do some long rides, some short sprints, LOTS of hills), and you’ll be fine.

[hozn]

Yeah, they won’t make you any faster but clipping in is definitely part of taking cycling to the next level.

[anomad]

@hozn 162274 wrote:

Yeah, they won’t make you any faster but clipping in is definitely part of taking cycling to the next level.

I ran double straps back in the day…

[dkel]

Years ago when I bought a bike from Freshbikes, the purchase included a basic fit, and all I had to do was schedule it. That may not be their policy now, but if you aren’t sure, it can’t hurt to ask.

[AFHokie]

Counterpoint

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930AZ using Tapatalk

[Judd]

I started with toe clips when I was casual riding and then went clipless when I started bike commuting and riding a lot. I don’t think they make me any faster, but they do keep my feet from slipping around on the pedals. I’ve got mountain bike spds which I like because the cleat is recessed and I can jump off the bike and walk around.

It’s really common to have the initial gain in speed and endurance quickly before it levels out. 11 mph isn’t too shabby. When I was riding casually, I was doing good to average 12 mph. Getting up to the 14 to 15 mph average range would put you in good company with lots of folks on the forum.

There’s all kinds of drills to improve your speed which people who work on that kind of thing can tell you about.

[Judd]

@dkel 162276 wrote:

Years ago when I bought a bike from Freshbikes, the purchase included a basic fit, and all I had to do was schedule it. That may not be their policy now, but if you aren’t sure, it can’t hurt to ask.

Here’s the Freshbikes Bike Fitting Page:
http://www.freshbikescycling.com/page.cfm?pageid=65

New Bike Fit Adjustment is free for bikes bought there. I haven’t bought a bike there so I’m not sure exactly what they do. A for reals bike fit is discounted if you bought the bike from Freshbikes. The reviews of Clovis are all overwhelmingly positive.

[drevil]

I know you asked about clipless pedals, but I’ll throw out another option (as I often do ): platform pedals with pins. Platform pedals are flat like the one you have now, with no cleat holding mechanism. They’re usually wider and longer, and have pins/screws/spikes that stick out a few millimeters to dig into the bottom of your shoes and hold your feet in place.

PROS

• No learning curve, just step on them and go. With clipless, it will take a while and a few inevitable falls before you master the in/out technique.
• The pins allow a much better hold on your foot than (smooth) flat pedals.
• Your feet aren’t locked into the platform pedal like clipless, so you just have to lift your feet a few millimeters (to clear the pins), then it is free to stop the rest of your body from crashing into Earth.
• Although I would recommend non-clipless cycling shoes (stickier rubber and firmer midsole), you can use normal shoes or sneakers. Special cycling shoes with cleat pockets are unnecessary.
• You can place your foot easily anywhere on the pedal. With clipless, once you position and lock in your cleat on your shoe, that is the one position where it will stay (until you undo and redo it). THat said, most clipless pedals will give you float (rotation around the cleat’s axis).
• Funky colors are often available.

CONS

• You can’t pull your foot straight up and expect the pedal to follow. There’s a pedaling technique where you angle your feet and press down and back that you can use to help pull the pedal up, but clipless allows you to pull up the pedals more strongly.
• Chance of poking/scratching your shin or calf with the pointy pins if your foot happens to slip or you are standing over the bike and not paying attention.
• Wider platform of the pedal body has a higher chance of striking the ground when leaning over and pedaling.
• Nice platform pedals can be more expensive than clipless pedals.

There are a lot of articles that discuss platform pedals. Here’re a few:
http://www.bikepacking.com/gear/flat-pedals-for-touring-bikepacking/
http://enduro-mtb.com/en/flat-pedal-group-test/

Oh yeah, I’m primarily a mountain biker, but I’ve used platform pedals on all my bikes (mountain, road, townie, fixie) with no issues. All that said, if I want to go fast or ride extra bumpy stuff, I’ll use clipless because I like the locked in feeling. The main reason I like platforms is because I don’t need special shoes for them.

[LeprosyStudyGroup]

+1 for flat pedals with pins

I tried SPD clipless on my new bike after a couple years of commuting because I believed the marginal gains hype and I started wanting to go on more 50+ mile weekend rides and was told they would be necessary. Got myself into a few pretty dangerous falling-over-in-an-emergency cause I couldn’t get the foot out in time type situations. And like Drevil I too dislike having to suffer that gear collection creep the SPDs induced. I ended up removing them and putting bennies on my hybrid commuter and they work great, even for century rides, no problems.

That being said on my new-new bike, I’m riding some dual use platform/clipless made by MSW and have no complaints about em and switching between street shoes when I’m tooling around and clipless when I wanna go full roadie works well.

[huskerdont]

I love MTB SPDs. My totally skientific experiments (compared using the flip-flop platform/SPD pedals Crikey mentions) prove to me that I get a 1 to 2 mph boost on the flats, and a lower mph boost but probably higher percentage on climbs when you can really pull through on the upstroke. No bias in that at all, no.

I had a few falls in the city learning, some of which were embarrassing, if you care about that sort of thing. Once I fell over at a light and couldn’t get unclipped while lying on the ground and had to take my foot out of the shoe to get out. Someone actually walked out from the sidewalk to help me. So I loosened the setting on the pedals, and I keep the cleats lubricated, especially after a rain, so that they slip out more easily when needed. I find the lubrication really helps and doesn’t affect performance.

Still feel a bit sketchy to me mountain biking, and if I’m going over a log I don’t like the look of, I’ll usually unclip and use the other side of the pedal, at least for the right foot.

[Tania]

I’m a “clipped in at all times!” kinda rider although I did just order some platforms. I found out by mistake the other day that I can pedal wheelie like a boss in flip flops (I went up so high and so fast and so easily it scared me) but I struggle with it clipped in. Plus, it’s time to learn to track stand and I’m not comfortable learning/perfecting either of those while clipped in.

I’ve been riding SPDs for ages now and I still occasionally will have that “oh cruuuuuuuud” slow motion fall in public. More so on trails but it happened last year on the W&OD at a light when I thought my friend was moving out and he wasn’t. 😮 Everyone who witnesses those kinds of falls will nod their heads in understanding, because they’ve been there.

If I did more short trips I’d probably put flats on one of my bikes.

[streetsmarts]

Thanks! I’m gonna check these out!

[Author]

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