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I'm trying to remember why I rejected them long ago but I can't think of one. I'm definitely looking in to Speedplay for the future.
Could falling off your bike at the wrong time , or bad time, getting seriously injured have anything to do with your rejection of clipless pedals back then?
Clipless are just great on the race track to wring out that last bit of stroke power but on the street all they are is a disaster waiting to happen to the rider.
In racing all the equipment is kept tip top so equipment caused wrecks are at a minimum. Not so on the street where equipment caused wrecks are more common and worse because the rider didn't care if his/her bike was race ready. So when a rider does go down on the street the damage/injury is often much worse than one might believe.
Could falling off your bike at the wrong time , or bad time, getting seriously injured have anything to do with your rejection of clipless pedals back then?
Falling down because you didn't unclip is pretty embarrasing, but seriously injuring? It happens when you're stopped.
As for Speedplays, the X-series feels really weird when you first get them, but when you get used to them they're really nice. And in a pinch you can pedal them with street shoes.
Falling down because you didn't unclip is pretty embarrasing, but seriously injuring? It happens when you're stopped.
Not always and not always in a clear open space. More often than not there will be a curb close by which will not welcome your head with pillow like comfort.
Could falling off your bike at the wrong time , or bad time, getting seriously injured have anything to do with your rejection of clipless pedals back then?
Nope, I literally jumped on clipless pedals as soon as I could. I began racing in ernest when I was 19 and stationed in New York. I would ride from Floyd Bennet Field in Brooklyn to Central Park at the time the "safest" way to ride was to have a use the traditional bird cage straps and cleat on one shoe so that you could slip out one foot if you had to put a foot down, of course the object then was to do a track stand when you had to stop so that you didn't have to unchinch your straps to begin with.
When clipless pedals came out you you didn't need to have one foot uncleated. Nor did you have to flip your pedals, insert your foot then reach down to cinch your straps or conversely reach down to release them. As far as I was concerned it was a huge improvement and while I have fallen while at a complete stop (rather embarrassing) it has never been a earth shattering experience, certainly not as bad a falling over on my motorcycle which resulted in me breaking my collar bone , but that is the subject for another thread.
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Clipless are just great on the race track to wring out that last bit of stroke power but on the street all they are is a disaster waiting to happen to the rider.
You don't do much out of the saddle hill climbing or sprinting do you? I say that because racing or not, you can apply so much more power, efficiently, while out of the saddle during a climb with clipless pedals than you ever could without.
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Not so on the street where equipment caused wrecks are more common and worse because the rider didn't care if his/her bike was race ready. So when a rider does go down on the street the damage/injury is often much worse than one might believe.
I can't think of anything mechanical other than a tubebless tire coming off of a rim or maybe a chain breaking that would cause a crash. Folks who go down, go down because of bike handling (or getting hit by a car) not because of mechanical failure. And while pro race bikes are obsessively maintained, maintaining a road worth bike doesn't take that much effort outside of having working breaks, and properly inflated tires.
I'm trying to remember why I rejected them long ago but I can't think of one. I'm definitely looking in to Speedplay for the future.
The only reason I can think of rejecting them may have been the cleat design. The retention system is incorporated into the cleat and not as part of the pedal. When everything is clean, the interface works like a dream, but if you get off and walk without cleat-covers, inadvertently picking up even a little tiny pebble and getting it lodged in the works can have an effect.
The only reason I can think of rejecting them may have been the cleat design. The retention system is incorporated into the cleat and not as part of the pedal. When everything is clean, the interface works like a dream, but if you get off and walk without cleat-covers, inadvertently picking up even a little tiny pebble and getting it lodged in the works can have an effect.
I think that was it. When the Speedplays came out they were way more expensive that either the Looks or the Shimano copies. And to spend that kind of money on what was then an unorthodox design didn't make much sense to me.
I think that was it. When the Speedplays came out they were way more expensive that either the Looks or the Shimano copies. And to spend that kind of money on what was then an unorthodox design didn't make much sense to me.
Yep, my original (used) 2300 Trek already had them on it or I would have stayed with my LOOKS. Now the LOOKS sit on a shelf in my garage.
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, but that is the subject for another thread. 
I say that because racing or not, you can apply so much more power, efficiently, while out of the saddle during a climb with clipless pedals than you ever could without. 
