Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
What I shall call limited success
I actually had far better success with the clipless pedals than I'd expected. I stopped into Gregg's Cycles after work, though, to see if I could find better shoes. I did find some, sort of. I got a pair of Specialized shoes (model name already forgotten, naturally) which fit a lot better than the Cannondales I got last night. Unfortunately, the cleats still protrude just a little bit, so they're no better for the floors.
Ah well, at least they fit well.
Posted at 21:02 permanent link category: /bicycle
I've been riding bicycles since I was a kid. Someone convinced me, early on, that I needed to be riding with toe clips, so I installed some stamped steel clips on my pedals.
I rode around, wondering what the big deal was. I would try lifting the pedals with my feet, but in order for the clips to be loose enough to allow my shoe to be removed or inserted, they were also loose enough that there was considerable slack between pressing on the pedal and lifting on the clip. Lifting with my feet felt inefficient and silly, and I never got in the habit of it. It seemed to energy more than anything else.
Fast forward to this last year. I got on my bicycle again in a big way, and started riding to work daily in September, 2006. Once again, people started urging me to use clips, but this time they were advocating so-called clipless pedals. These are the serious pedals you see that just look like a shriveled, mangled corpse of a pedal. When the rider uses them, they engage with the shoes with a loud snap. They're clipless because they don't have that big, dorky clip running up over the rider's shoe.
Indeed, clipless pedals are supposed to be much better, because your shoe is fixed fast to the pedal, eliminating that slop-factor I discovered with toe clips. However, I had my doubts, and resisted the idea for more than a year.
Finally, some time this summer, I started thinking I should see what all the fuss is about. My friend Jesse, who was the biggest proponent of clipless pedals, compared the situation to watching a friend labor with a hand saw and insist that it was good enough, eschewing the electrically-powered saw that was next to him. A compelling comparison, if you've ever switched from a hand tool to a power tool.
So last night, passing conveniently by REI, I stopped in to check out clipless pedals and shoes. I'd done this before, but the consensus seemed to be that the only shoe that was possibly wide enough for my freakish feet was that $230 model there. Oh, I would say, and walk away dejected. $230 (plus $50-200 for a set of pedals) is far too much of an investment in some technology that I strongly suspect won't work for me.
What I found last night, though, was a set of $45 shoes that basically fit. They're certainly nothing fabulous, but they're "walkin' around" shoes, and they fit well enough to give it a try. I picked up my Cannondale shoes, and a set of middle-line Shimano pedals.
This morning, (while waiting for the DSL to be installed, which will doubtless be a story unto itself), I screwed the miniscule cleats into the shoes, and installed the little pedals on my bike. The very first thing I noticed is that the cleats do, in fact, protrude past the tread of the shoe, meaning that they are not actually "walkin' around" shoes. They still provide hardened steel edges to dig little crescent-moon shaped gouges in any soft floor, such as all the floors in my house, or half the floors at work. Strike one.
I spent a few minutes in the garage, balancing myself on the stationary bicycle, to get used to the pedal engagement/disengagement procedure. Everyone who's told me about clipless pedals has also told at least one, "So I came to a stop, and fell over, having forgotten how to disengage my feet..." story. I'd like to avoid that, if possible. Engaging the clips seemed to be more difficult than disengaging them, so that at least is somewhat positive.
Now confident enough to try riding around, I clipped in, and rode up the street for a few blocks. Nothing. Well, obviously, I thought to myself, if I ride the same way I always do, I won't notice it. So I tried experimentally lifting my legs as I pedalled. Yeah, ok, I can lift now, but the differential in muscle power between my pressing and lifting muscles must be 100:1 or better. Lifting won't gain me much if there's no power behind it.
I came in from the ride thoroughly disappointed. Treading with extreme care (noticing that the protruding end of the cleat was already shiny from walking on the concrete garage floor), I walked back into the house and changed back into safe shoes.
Right now, I am prepared to ride straight back to REI, and get my $145 back. I'm not going to, though. I realize that it'll take some practice to get used to this new world order, so I'll give it a try for a week. If, after the end of the week (and at least 50 miles) I still can't tell any difference, I'll return the whole shebang and never look back.
A power saw with no electrical connection doesn't really get me anything over the trusty old handsaw.
Posted at 10:42 permanent link category: /bicycle
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater