akmal's bike park

akmal's bike park

Monday 30 March 2009

clipless

Yesterday's ride was a 2-in-1 event for me:
  • Brothers and sisters from MR MoBiC came riding with us (along with local riders from around JB - lost count how many of us actually went in).
  • I pedaled clipless offroad

Well, not all the way, and not all the time. Still in the learning stage. Most of the time I couldn't attach the cleat on my right foot. Only the left foot was attached to the pedal, and that was after struggling a bit to get it right. I need to adjust the setting of cleats on my shoes, especially for the right one, to get it right. Right? Right on...

Errr.. shoes? Yup! Finally got hold of 'em shoes. A pair of SH-MT41G. Thanks to advices from Dino, BC Kelolo, and Panjang, I got a good pair of shoes to begin with. I'm happy with the purchase, and even more happy to experience the clipless riding.

What awed me was the really light feeling when climbing up. Bukit Panjang felt a short distance uphill, and my bike felt a bit lighter. That was with only my left leg 'clipped' onto the pedal. I wonder what it'd feel if both are secured to pedals. Looking forward to that.

And perhaps also I should get a pair of clipless pedals to replace the pair of 'training' pedals I'm currently using: VP 2-in-1 clipless/platform pedal. Crank Brothers Mallet or Candy are on top of my list.
Aiyahh... would there be any end to this biking stuff? Anyway, for now, it IS getting more exciting.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

clipless: way forward bro :)
MT41: u bought it in KL?

akmalhizam said...

Dino: thanks man.
Yup, bought in Rodalink Bangsar. 'Tersinggah' KL masa balik Senawang two weeks ago. Apparently new stock arrived when I went there. Good thing too, because I don't have a clue where Giant is, and didn't have much time that day.

Afrezal Karim said...

menarik tu bro.. bru sesuai utk cycling.. how does it cost.. insyallah mana tau boleh angkat satu gak. hari2 pakai kasut biasa berlubang dah.. :)

akmalhizam said...

RM240 tak kurang.
Tanya 2-3 kedai sume harga sama.
Good for cycling, cuma ia agak stiff, so not really the same as normal sports shoes.

a.k said...

so far the setback for me, riding with clipless, is the tendency to lose balance during sharps corners or abrupt stops. other than that its like having 4 strokes instead of 2. expect also some slight pain in the knees.. hehe

jafa @ the panjang said...

aku muskil laa. apsal diorg panggil mende ni 'clipless'? anybody can explain? aku dah lama pikir tapi tak dapat2 reason dia. aku ada baca satu article. ayat dia lebih mcm ni - "i have to unclip". so, bila dah lekat tu, sah la clipped kan? mane mari itu clipless?? ke ada mende yg aku tak tau?

bro, cleat angle n position tu kene adjust sampai ko dpt tempat yg ko rasa sesuai. nobody can tell u that.

about that CB yg ko nak tu.. platform dia tu ko takleh pijak klu tak clip in cleat ko. so not really a platform. summore, tuning a shoes to suit a CB ada sikit rumit.. hehe.. later u know laa..

bab stiff tu, memang cyling shoes lebih stiff untuk better power transfer from leg to pedal. road shoes is stiffer.. ada yg takleh bend langsung.. so this tipe of shoes tak berapa sesuai utk aktiviti lain. e.g shopping. hehe

akmalhizam said...

a.k: Thanks for the heads up. You're right on the extra power. Never experienced the knee pain (yet?), though.

Panjang: clipless refers to pedals without clips, as in 'toe clips & straps'. The late SB says this:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_cl.html#clipless
Perhaps it's much better to say 'stepped in' and to 'step out', but I guess that would be a huge step like saying 'a tube compressor' rather than 'a bike handpump' (we pump liquids, and compress air and gases).
Yup, can never use the shoes around the office, and pergi bersiar-siar. Feels a bit awkward, although it would look super cool.

So far I read in forums, most advices would end with something like 'you'll fall eventually'. I hope mine would not be a bad one. Gosh. Imagine knowing something bad would definitely happen to you, just you don't know how, how bad and when. Sheeshhh...