{"id":1295,"date":"2013-06-03T18:11:11","date_gmt":"2013-06-03T18:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nikwax.wordpress.com\/?p=1295"},"modified":"2024-10-24T09:51:11","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T08:51:11","slug":"biking-to-clip-or-not-to-clip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nikwax.com\/en-us\/posts\/biking-to-clip-or-not-to-clip\/","title":{"rendered":"Biking: To Clip or Not to Clip?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/nikwax.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/05\/clipless-shoe-and-pedals.jpg?w=611\" alt=\"clipless shoe and pedals\" class=\"wp-image-1296\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blame it on calf envy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dazzled by the legions of clipless bike commuters (and their sinewy calves) swarming past as I pedaled my commuter bike in slo-mo, I impulsively made the leap: &nbsp;From flat pedals with toe cages (aka \u201cclipped\u201d) to their clipless cousins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Newly attached to my burly green steed via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sidiamerica.com\/sidi\/mountain\/duran.html\">Sidi Duran bike shoes<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mtbr.com\/cat\/drivetrain\/pedal\/crank-brothers\/smarty\/prd_412479_135crx.aspx\">Crank Brothers Smarty pedals<\/a>, I cycled up to a quiet intersection and bam, it hit. Make that I hit\u2014the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Forgetting to rotate my ankle to disengage the bike cleat, I tipped sl-o-o-o-wly to the right, thumping onto a mossy parking strip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At least it was a soft landing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lesson learned: Practice the ankle rotation move before venturing out in public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With national bike month wrapping up, you too might be pondering the eternal question\u2014 To clip or not to clip?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nikwax.com\/\">Nikwax<\/a> to the rescue with a few insights from both sides of the clipless conundrum:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Con:<\/strong> The learning curve. As I learned, the newly clipless need to develop muscle memory for that ankle-rotating, disengaging motion. Try practicing in a grassy field somewhere quiet. Like Iowa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Pro:<\/strong> You\u2019ve got the power. And efficiency. And control. With cleats, you\u2019ll automatically pull up on the pedal rather than just mashing it down. Watch with amazement as your pedal stroke smooths from a jerky, lop-sided egg shape to a nice round circle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Con:<\/strong> You can\u2019t just hop on your bike with regular shoes any more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Pro:<\/strong> Oh yes you can. Check out <a href=\"http:\/\/www.backcountry.com\/shimano-pd-a530-spd-dual-platform-pedal?CMP_SKU=SHI0092&amp;MER=0406&amp;CMP_ID=SH_BZR001&amp;mv_pc=r111&amp;003=7163333&amp;010=SHI0092&amp;mr:referralID=d271396c-c4b7-11e2-9dea-001b2166becc\">Shimano\u2019s double-agent pedals<\/a>. One side has cleats for longer rides; flip it over for a plain old platform when you just want to cruise the neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Plus, there are more bike footwear choices than ever. Want to go incognito? Try <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/product\/850785\/keen-commuter-iii-bike-sandals-mens?cm_mmc=cse_froogle-_-pla-_-product-_-850785&amp;mr:referralID=2593adec-c4b8-11e2-9389-001b2166c62d\">Keen\u2019s cycling shoes<\/a> that masquerade as regular-joe sandals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Con:<\/strong> The intimidation factor. Many cyclists resist clipless pedals because of fears that they won\u2019t disengage in a collision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Pro:<\/strong> You can adjust your cleats to change the release angle. And, as illustrated in my (gentle) fall from grace, they really do release in the event of an accident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Con:<\/strong> Bike shoes cost more money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Pro:<\/strong> Not necessarily. Prolong the life of your bike shoe investment with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nikwax-usa.com\/en-us\/products\/productdetail.php?productid=503&amp;itemid=-1&amp;fabricid=-1\">Nikwax Waterproofing Wax for Leather<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wherever you land on the clipless vs. clipped debate, we know this much for sure: Biking is one of the very best things you can do for your community\u2014and your calves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Blame it on calf envy. Dazzled by the legions of clipless bike commuters (and their sinewy calves) swarming past as I pedaled my commuter bike in slo-mo, I impulsively made the leap: &nbsp;From flat pedals with toe cages (aka \u201cclipped\u201d) to their clipless cousins. Newly attached to my burly green steed via Sidi Duran bike&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2639,2640,539,2629],"class_list":["post-1295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bicycle-pedal","tag-clipless-pedal","tag-cycling","tag-cycling-shoe"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Biking: To Clip or Not to Clip? - Nikwax NA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nikwax.com\/en-us\/posts\/biking-to-clip-or-not-to-clip\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Biking: To Clip or Not to Clip? - Nikwax NA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Blame it on calf envy. Dazzled by the legions of clipless bike commuters (and their sinewy calves) swarming past as I pedaled my commuter bike in slo-mo, I impulsively made the leap: &nbsp;From flat pedals with toe cages (aka \u201cclipped\u201d) to their clipless cousins. Newly attached to my burly green steed via Sidi Duran bike...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nikwax.com\/en-us\/posts\/biking-to-clip-or-not-to-clip\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nikwax NA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-03T18:11:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-24T08:51:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/nikwax.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/05\/clipless-shoe-and-pedals.jpg?w=611\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Heidi Allen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Heidi Allen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nikwax.com\/en-us\/posts\/biking-to-clip-or-not-to-clip\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nikwax.com\/en-us\/posts\/biking-to-clip-or-not-to-clip\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Heidi Allen\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nikwax.com\/en-us\/#\/schema\/person\/dbd090f84780234eaadb61c5b44496e2\"},\"headline\":\"Biking: To Clip or Not to Clip?\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-03T18:11:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-24T08:51:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nikwax.com\/en-us\/posts\/biking-to-clip-or-not-to-clip\/\"},\"wordCount\":415,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nikwax.com\/en-us\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nikwax.com\/en-us\/posts\/biking-to-clip-or-not-to-clip\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/nikwax.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/05\/clipless-shoe-and-pedals.jpg?w=611\",\"keywords\":[\"Bicycle pedal\",\"clipless pedal\",\"Cycling\",\"Cycling shoe\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nikwax.com\/en-us\/posts\/biking-to-clip-or-not-to-clip\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nikwax.com\/en-us\/posts\/biking-to-clip-or-not-to-clip\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nikwax.com\/en-us\/posts\/biking-to-clip-or-not-to-clip\/\",\"name\":\"Biking: To Clip or Not to Clip? 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