It takes a couple of months to get used to locking cleats on pedals
because you need to twist sideways to get out of them. Most people, early on, panic and try and pull upwards, which doesn't work.

So, yeah, it happens a lot. At least in those situations at traffic lights you just look like a prick but it's only pride that's damaged. I once toppled off a narrow path down about 6 feet straight into a river head-first because I failed to unclip. The utter fucking tool that I am.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Thu 9 May 2013, 16:55, 2 replies)

Worst I managed was chinning the road
after doing an emergency stop on an icy road, when the car that had just overtaken me decided to come to a complete halt at an empty roundabout.
I've since gone back to normal pedals, as most of my cycling is very stop-start, these days.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Thu 9 May 2013, 17:00, closed)

yeah ... I was never convinced in London that they were worth the hassle.
Worth their weight in gold generally though in terms of maximising energy transmission to the bike.

And being able to do big bunnyhops over shit.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Thu 9 May 2013, 17:03, closed)

hooray for big bunnyhops
and hooray for big bunny beer.
( tickle I was away, Fri 10 May 2013, 0:15, closed)

I'm not laughing at the thought of you two falling off your bikes, but I have to say
Oh, OK, well I am laughing actually. There is a slight edge of sympathy to my laugh, but not that much.

Head first into a river . . . Not funny at all. :D
(username failed moderation, Thu 9 May 2013, 17:05, closed)

The people I was riding with certainly found it funny.
the cunts.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Sun 12 May 2013, 8:36, closed)

So that's the trick.
I've always refrained from buying any on the grounds that they were alien technology and I could never figure them out. Sports shops are a scorched wasteland of cleats I have stuck on and been able to unstick.
( .Yeti., Fri 10 May 2013, 8:01, closed)

Unless you're going a good distance,
I wouldn't bother with them - maybe just get some toe-cages instead. Riding around town in cleats is just asking to lose your head under a bus.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Fri 10 May 2013, 9:23, closed)