Clipless pedals...do I really need them?

[Paulus]

So they should be called slideless then?

Maybe.😁

 

[PaulSB]

Does anybody actually pull up on pedals ? been riding clipless since early 80s never pulled up on the pedals and managed to keep up the pace with some decent riders.

I don't consciously do this but I'm sure I do on a climb. I probably tried to when I first rode clipless and over the years it's become natural.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

So they should be called slideless then?

Slideless in the saddle?

 

[Venod]

If you are going up 20%+ in bottom gear out of the saddle struggling to turn the cranks and trying not to fall over then anything that helps

I have never tried that while climbing, but I am a bit of a twiddler and usually have a low enough gear suitable for the climbs being ridden, perhaps the pulling up is more suited to a lower cadence, I am usually using a highish cadence, I once did 60 mile with an average cadence of 100rpm.

 

[the_mikey]

I use cliipless pedals on my road bike, flat pedals on my hybrid, I might be faster using clipless on the hybrid but that isn't the point of owning a hybrid, I just wanted a bike that I can just ride when I need to just ride, like when I need to go to the shop, or if my car is being serviced and I still need to get to and from work.

 

[Pblakeney]

I use cliipless pedals on my road bike, flat pedals on my hybrid, I might be faster using clipless on the hybrid but that isn't the point of owning a hybrid, I just wanted a bike that I can just ride when I need to just ride, like when I need to go to the shop, or if my car is being serviced and I still need to get to and from work.

SPDs are my solution for that. Clipped in but can still walk normally.

 

[Mike_P]

SPDs are my solution for that. Clipped in but can still walk normally.

As I noted earlier you can get adaptors for road bike shoes although probably only practical if you have a bigger shoe size due to the resultant angle betwen the moulded surround to the SPD and the shoes heel.
Definitely did once at least pull upwards with the rising leg. Was going up a hill climbed many times before but with a wind in totally the wrong direction. Speed fell that quickly U realised simply trying to unclip couls stall the bike with a consequential sidewards fall so pit in as much effort as possible to reach the summit

 

[Pblakeney]

As I noted earlier you can get adaptors for road bike shoes although probably only practical if you have a bigger shoe size due to the resultant angle betwen the moulded surround to the SPD and the shoes heel.

Yes, I have observed club mates walking like ducks. 😂

 

[Illaveago]

I bought a pair of shoes from a chap I bought a bike off for a friend. The bike had Look pedals which I knew my friend wouldn't get on with so swapped them for some flat pedals of mine. I thought I would just try clipping the shoe into the pedal to see how it was done and found that I couldn't release it so I took my bike out into my garden to put my shoe on. It all sounded simple at the time but once I had laced the shoe onto my foot I was stuck! I was dancing around like a mad thing attached to my bike. I couldn't release my foot from the pedal. I couldn't swing my free leg over the saddle and when I tried to get to my shoe to release my foot the crank just went round. I kept trying to release my shoe by twisting my foot but it was stubborn. I eventually managed it but It was a struggle. I will have to do a lot of practicing before I try riding with them.

 

[Bristolian]

Does anybody actually pull up on pedals ? been riding clipless since early 80s never pulled up on the pedals and managed to keep up the pace with some decent riders.

Yep, I do. Many moons ago (1972 or '73) I took part in a study at Reading University looking at how power/torque was distributed around the pedal stroke. They discovered that, for the first half of the down-stroke, I put out hardly any power compared to the second half so we experimented with having me consciously pull the foot through the bottom of the stroke and up into the up-stroke. The thinking was that the effort I consciously put into raising my foot would result in a correspondingly equal effort in the down-stroke (Newton's 3rd law of motion?). It worked and the extra power was far from equal but quite quantifiable.

I still do it when I want to accelerate or add some extra oomph going uphill. It engages some different muscles and I can only do it for a short time these days but the effect is real and not just imagined.

Edit to add: I have always been a grinder rather than a twiddler and my average cadence in around 70; the max my Garmin has ever recorded is 108 but that was downhill with a following wind.

 

[Oldhippy]

We are indeed a wide thinking bunch.

 

[Mike_P]

Yes, I have observed club mates walking like ducks. 😂

Suspect that more non SPDs than SPDs in a moulded adaptor.

 

[GarthW]

I was really referring to possibly requiring less effort as more power goes to the crank with the extra from the upstroke?

Clipless let you pedal the whole circle, not just down the front. Think more of pedaling a circle, rather than a reciprocating up-down action. An important part is pulling back through the bottom of the turn, even more than pushing forward across the top. When all we had was toe clips, even shoes with slotted cleats could be pulled out of the pedals too easily unless the toe straps hurt.

• Since clipless pedals let you pedal the whole circle, more muscles can share the load, making for less muscle fatigue, and less strain on the knees. You can get lots more power when you need it.
• Clipless let you achieve higher a cadence. Power is cadence times the average torque around the circle, and you win in both departments if your feet are attached.

Some caveats:

• You will not initially gain much (or any) benefit. It takes training yourself to pedal around the circle instead on just down the front. Then, I recommend that you never ride unconnected, because it's too quick to defeat the good habit of pedaling the whole circle.
• A benefit is that you can habitually do a higher cadence; but training for a high cadence also takes at least months, if not years. You cannot say, "I tried it, and it didn't work for me," if you only tried for a few rides or less.

Related: When I got started seriously into cycling in the late 1970's, I used toe clips and straps of course (clipless Look pedals were about to come on the scene), but I just used tennis shoes. I was on a 78-mile loop, and when I had 30 miles left to get home, my feet felt like I was barefoot on those quill pedals. It was very painful. That's when I decided I had to bite the bullet and spend the extra money on real cycling shoes, which was a stretch when I was a teenager working in the bike shop for minimum wage.

 

[Bristolian]

@GarthW : slotted cleats and toe clips - now that brings back memories; not all of them good

 

[GarthW]

@GarthW : slotted cleats and toe clips - now that brings back memories; not all of them good

...and the straps were never tight enough to keep your feet in in hard efforts unless they hurt! Then came the Uniblock cleats that went over the barrel of the quill pedal, way down in, rather than just a shallow slot to hold the edge of the pedal; but at about the same time, Look came out with their clipless type, spelling an infant death to the Uniblock. I have not been able to find a picture of Uniblock to post.