Discussion: clipless

Have you used this model of pedals on an upright for any extended period? Might be worth putting them on the MTB and riding up and down the road some to practice clipping and unclipping, then switch back to the Slipstream.

On I my regular road bike, I have the clips set very very loose, doesn't take much at all to clip out, and yet I've still never had one come off when I didn't intend it. I used to have them much too tight, they'd come out with the correct motion, but if you didn't do it just right, and were in a bit of a panic....

I remember the last time I toppled over (was just about standing still) when I failed to unclip. First concern what what damage I might have done to myself or my bike.

Second concern was if anyone was watching.... :-)

I've not used clipless at all before. Based upon a lot of reading online and reviews by others (particularly recumbent riders), I went with Crank Brothers Eggbeaters. Supposed to be very easy to clip in/out but so far I'm not finding it to be so. They do feel nice once clipped in with a reasonable amount of float. They don't have any adjustment for tightness though. They do supposedly take a little time to 'break in' when new, so hopefully that's the issue and I'll just give them more time.

Did the foot pieces come with the pedals? I have found that they are not universally compatible and had to swap some around to get them to work right. I also agree with Peter that adjusting to as loose as possible is important. I have done so on both road and mt. I would be concerned about not being able to loosen or adjust them.

I recall my clipless pedals loosening up a bit as I used them, and feeling tight at first. I love the road pedals (I use pedals that are pretty old and similar to Look pedals). I did give up on the SPD pedals for the mtn bike, though, because of problems getting out quickly enough on gnarly terrain and because of difficulty clearing mud from the cleats. I agree with J-J that a little practice on an upright bike would go a long way toward getting you comfortable with them.

The eggbeaters have gotten very good reviews amongst recumbent riders with 4-sided entry (no need to get it aligned properly) and self cleaning (not that mud is going to be a major issue on roads). A very simple mechanism compared to a lot of the other pedal systems I've seen - KISS applies...

Here's a photo from the Crank Brothers website.



They come with cleats included.

I have noticed the right pedal seems to engage & disengage a little easier than the left, so hopefully its just a matter of working them in

The Crank Bro's type sound and look fine. Interesting concept. But not being able to adjust them? Whoa! And having one different than the other? Sounds like a problem. Otherwise they do sound interesting.

I checked with my brother the bicycle expert, since I have seen eggbeater pedals at his place, and he says:
I've ridden them many miles with no problems. It's sort of a foolproof design. Just double-check that any tread on the shoe sole is far enough from the cleat so it doesn't hang-up/interfere when the shoe twists out. Also, release angle can be changed by swapping right/left cleats -- see instructions.
But he had to add:
Or maybe the problem is that this person is a recumbent rider, invariably a incompetent freak who's incapable of doing anything in life correctly.
(Note that this comment is actually directed at me — he can never resist getting in a dig about the fact that I ride one. Yes, he's a snob. :-)

So I'm an incompetent recumbent riding freak - that's not really news now, is it??

I've got them set up with the mininum release angle and I've verified that there is no shoe/pedal/cleat interference when releasing. I do find that biomechanically they release easiest when my foot is away (knee straight) but I find that's not the point in the pedal stroke I normally take my foot off the pedal when coming to a stop so that's going to take a little relearning of habits.

They look pretty slick. What does Alan use them for? Road? Mtn?

When I saw tham at Alan's, they were on the workbench, so I'm not sure what kind of bike he uses them on. Realize here that Alan is the kind of guy who rarely rides a bike twice, he just moves on to something fancier. Mr Owl's dream life, I suppose.