Comment by jiggy2011 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jiggy2011 | Hacker News Reader

Cycling is great, I highly recommend it. Don't think of it as a cheap hobby though, once you get into it you are almost guaranteed to start breaking things on a cheap bike and want better gear.

As a side note, if you do get a bike on a shoestring budget get an older bike as those things were built to last; modern cheap bikes have gimmicky suspension setups (suspension is great but there are vast differences between cheap elastomers and a plush oil based setup) that don't help and add weight (and parts to go wrong) to the bike.

Also if you are finding it difficult to get into, try different styles of cycling. Fast road riding, cross country mountain biking, long distance cycle touring , downhill mountain biking and BMX riding are all vastly different experiences that use completely different skills and muscles.

On another note, if you get serious I do highly recommend so called "clipless" (a cleat in the shoe locks into the pedal) pedals for most styles of riding.

These things seem so scary and dangerous to start with, but I can virtually guarantee that once you are used to them you will not want to go back even for technical offroad riding. The extra efficiency and control you gain is astonishing, toe clips don't even come close. Of course make sure you practise on a grassy area first and get the feel for them and make sure you are confident with them before heading into traffic.

Falling off your bike when you stop for a red light is at best embarrassing and at worst really dangerous.

Also Sheldon Brown's page (RIP) on cycle maintenance though heavily outdated unless you have an older bike is probably one of my favorite parts of the "old internet".

http://sheldonbrown.com/

Agree on Sheldon Brown's site. Amazing old internet site.

I can't get into clipless riding though. I tried toe clips and found it incredibly dangerous riding in the city (New York City). I don't feel safe unless I can bail off the bike in an instant. It also seems the clips discourage cyclists from stopping at red lights.

Maybe it's a good idea for more rural riding, but I pretty much never do that.

Toe clips are way scarier than clipless once you get used to clipless.

With toeclips there is something physical that is stopping your feet from moving and you have to get your foot completely clear of the strap before it is safe to put it down.

With clipless on the other hand, if you have your pedals set right (spring tension) it becomes an automatic reaction when you know you are about to stop or about to go down. You also get much more freedom of foot movement without destabilising the bike. I got into a few hairy situations riding some technical trails but ejecting feet from pedals was never an issue.

Nowadays I actually find it more hairy riding with flats since I have to worry about my feet falling off the pedals accidently if I hit something too hard.

Agreed. To properly get out of a toe clip pedal, you have to 1. take your hand off the handlebar 2. crouch down 3. catch your thumb on the strap tightener 4. pull it away from you 5. remove your foot fully from your cage

with clipless:

1. kick your heel out so that your foot is more than 13.5 degrees with your toes pointed towards the bike.

2. there is no step 2.

You can still bail off the bike in an instant if the pedals are properly adjusted--see, for example, professional mountain bike riders. If cyclists aren't stopping at red lights, it has nothing to do with their pedals.

Clipless pedals (the terminology is a bit confusing; "clipless" are the pedals that can be "clipped into" using special cleats, as opposed to the toe-cage style "clips") do take a bit of getting used to, but they are no less safe once the transition has been made (should only take a week) and the benefits are enormous.

FYI, if you had a road bike you were probably using SH-51 cleats, which only release by twisting the rear ankle laterally. There is another model, SH-56, which can be released in multiple directions, including by yanking straight up; it's primarily meant for mountain biking. If you're really concerned about unclipping, these might be better for you.

Personally, I haven't had any problems with the SH-51 pedals, including city riding (in San Francisco). Part of it is psychological -- when riding slowly, particularly while splitting lanes, it's a little bit nerve racking to be clipped in at first -- but if you compare to toe clips, you'll probably find that you actually don't step off the pedals very frequently. The other aspect is that it's not completely natural to twist your ankle when falling (since normally you'd roll your ankle doing this!), but after a couple of falls or near-falls you'll get used to it and start to do it without thinking. Every once in a blue moon I'll have to stop extremely suddenly, or start to fall (e.g. misclip in while starting uphill), and I'll now turn my ankles without consciously thinking about it. With clipless you'll find that can actually unclip faster/more easily than toe clips since you can push forwards or sideways with your foot while falling, instead of being restricted to pulling back.

I hate clips with a passion in city traffic. Split seconds matter and the time you need to unclip could easily be the difference between ending up in hospital or not having a scratch. For open road use they're fine but in traffic I see no upside, you're on and off all the time anyway due to traffic lights, pedestrians, people opening their doors and so on.

That's why the dual use pedals like Crankbrother Mallets (especially the mallet 2) with dual-use shoes (like 5.10 Minnaars) are so useful. Riding in clips whenever it's safe, and then when you need that ability to bail, unclip and keep on riding.

i use mountain bike clips and shoes for riding in sf. the clips dont hit the ground when you walk, making it possible to do errands without changing your shoes. after i started riding for exercise, it quickly turned into riding to get around the city.

OP here.

Agree fully with you on clipless pedals, after proper training though :)

Once I got used to clipless pedals, I realized how little control over the pedals you have without them; I feel like my shoes are going to slip all the time.

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