Originally Posted by 79pmooney

Yes. I use toeclips and straps on all my fix gear bikes. I never want want to pull a foot out on a 40+ mph descent. Never. That will have that foot or achilles heel or calf damaged for life by the impact of a sledge hammer. (Never mind how the rest of that probably crash plays out.) I raced back in the day. Straps tight. You loosened them after crashes so you could stand up. For those of us with poor gymnastic skills, more road rash, fewer broken bones.

Reaching down to loosen is so ingrained I often touch my clipless shoes at lights when I ride my geared bikes! (Oh yeah, I don't have to .")

Originally Posted by Carbonfiberboy

When i stop, I always put my right foot down, never the left. When I rode with rat traps, clips, and straps, I'd put my left foot in the clip, tighten the strap, and thread it through the buckle. Yeah, tight enough that it's impossible to pull my foot out. I'd get going a few stroke with the right pedal upside down and with a loose strap, then flip it and put my foot in the clip, coast for a little bit while I reached down and tightened that strap. I did not thread it through the buckle. With trad straps and buckles, all I did was reach down and touch the right buckle to loosen it, then pull my foot out as I came to a stop. Which does sound like a bit of a PITA, which is why almost everyone uses clipless pedals now.

Worked very well, though the tight straps had a tendency to make my feet cold in inclement weather. I wore soft rubber soled shoes, so that the rat trap pedals made grooves in the soles after a few hundred miles, which reduced the strap tension necessary.