Time to leave the cleats alone ??

[Landsurfer]

I had an accident on Saturday .... no one else involved.
I'm an Engineer.
So going over the accident in my head it is clear that the cause was my delay / inability to release my right foot from my cleat.
According to many of my cycling peers it was an accident waiting to happen.
I ride a road bike, primarily on the roads, but often on tracks and paths. I'm a RSF member.
My peers ride with the DMR V8 type pedals and i intend to purchase a pair of the Wellgo copies to try it out ...
But ..... Shoes...
I like a stiff sole shoe and cannot ride any distance in soft soled trainers ... neither do i want to ...
So ... recommendations please for a stiff soled cycle shoe with a soft enough sole to grip flat pedals but still a close fitting cycle shoe .... i can think of a few but they are mostly over £200 ....
Feel free to give sage advice ...

 

[ColinJ]

The sage advice is to stick with clipless pedals but set the release tensions as loose as they go so that there is no problem unclipping in a hurry!

If that doesn't suit, just buy mountain bike shoes with stiff soles and use them without the cleats.

 

[Landsurfer]

My tension is set to the loosest .... well the tension in my pedals ...

 

[Sharky]

Stick with the clip less. Once you've had a moment, the risk of falling off again reduces dramatically.

 

[steveindenmark]

Buy double sided pedals with mtb shoe. Best of both worlds.

 

[Gunk]

I’ve never used cleats with a mountain bike, always DMR V8’s

 

[Landsurfer]

As i put in my OP ... i don't ride a mountain bike ...

 

[Gunk]

As i put in my OP ... i don't ride a mountain bike ...

View attachment 527079

oops, sorry 😐

 

[Landsurfer]

oops, sorry 😐

I starting riding off road with a road bike when i lived in Fife in the mid 80's ... i've seen MTB arrive and now gravel bikes and i still just keep on riding with my road bikes ... with 28 x 700c wheels / tyres .. up hill and down dale ...Saturday was a moment of stupidity on my part ... a junction between track and tarmac i have ridden across many times ... and this time i got it wrong and ended up in Minor Injuries / A&E ... some comrades have suggested for a few years now to bin the cleats and just enjoy pedalling ... but i feel comfortable with my feet clipped in ... a hangover from 20 years of TT's i expect ... i'll try the DMR / WELLGO pedals and see how i get on ...... but i suspect ....... some cheap flat pedals with little use may be for sale soon ...😄

 

[Globalti]

Have a look at the Shimano SPD pedals, which are flat with a cleat system. You can use them with flat shoes or SPD cleated shoes and they're rather good.

 

[fossyant]

What clipless system are you using - if road type (e.g. Look or SPD SL), then switch to SPD and get some MTB shoes. I MTB with clipless, it's not a popular choice amongst MTB'ers but 3 of the lads off here still use SPD that I ride with, and Id rather stay clipped in on the rough stuff.

 

[RobinS]

I MTB with clipless, it's not a popular choice amongst MTB'ers

It might not be nowadays. Back in the early 1990s I used to race MTB winter series, and in those days most of us used old-school toe clips. When SPDs became more common, and affordable (interestingly the actual cash price has remained unchanged for over 25 years!) most switched to them. It is only in the last decade or so that flat pedals have become more popular again.
Personally I use SPDs on both my tourer and MTB, and always ride clipped in. This though is partly due to nerve damage following back surgery that means I have little feeling or control of my right foot - if I don't clip in my foot falls off the pedal!

 

[I like Skol]

So going over the accident in my head it is clear that the cause was my delay / inability to release my right foot from my cleat.

Are you sure you fell off because of the spds? Might be that you just fell off your bike and maybe you are now over thinking it and looking for a reason where there is none.
I also wonder why your cycling peers think this was 'an accident waiting to happen'? You say you have decades of spd experience (as do I, being one of @fossyants spd using cycle buddies with spd pedals across my fleet for all trips from urban commuting, hardcore mtb rides and fast roadbike trips) so why do they and you think these pedals are a risk?
IMO my riding is much safer as a result of using spds compared to the alternatives.

 

[mjr]

So ... recommendations please for a stiff soled cycle shoe with a soft enough sole to grip flat pedals but still a close fitting cycle shoe .... i can think of a few but they are mostly over £200 ....
Feel free to give sage advice ...

Why a cycle shoe? The bike bondage crowd have cornered the name for their fetishware. Most of the remaining MTB and BMX shoes are far too squishy, or you have one with a blanking plate over the unused cleat position which I can usually feel. I had better results buying other indoor sports shoes (boxing shoes was one) when I wanted a firm sole, but I ride in canvas skateboarding shoes most of the time now. The rubber sole is comfy and its slight softness doesn't bother me because my pedals are big enough to support my foot.

 

[Vantage]

Maybe it's just me, but u clipping my left foot is a perfectly natural response to going sideways and has been for many a year.
The same can't be said for my right which also happens to be the dominant one, even using flat pedals. It just work that way. My brain fails to engage that leg quickly enough in order to balance or stop me falling off.
Could that be what happened?
As above, clip less pedals keep my feet from bouncing off the pedals resulting in unplanned aeronautics.