Originally Posted by
albrt
I am about the same age as you and I never liked toe clips either. Recently I started riding more, and I realized that they really do add some efficiency. I found some old plastic ones with fairly big toes and removed the straps, and it gives me a decent percentage of the benefit while still being able to get my feet off the pedals pretty quickly.
I am pretty sure I tore my ACL late last fall when I lost the front wheel of a bike turning it too sharply on wet pavement. It was a mountain-bike and my right foot was trapped on the pedal by the toe-clip/strap setup and my right knee hit the blacktop first with my 215 pounds behind it. I got up and rode home but could not bend the knee much for a few months or it would spasm and pull itself shut with me screaming, and I would have to hook it on something and pull it straight. My calf did not feel like it was moving with my thigh after it happened. I don't think I tore it 100% but really weakened it. No sense in going to the hospital as for a partially torn ACL it just has to heal over six to nine months, all the way torn has no option but surgery. I eased into riding a stationary bike over the winter months, then gingerly got back on the road. I am riding well again, but surely not as good as I was before, my right leg is skinnier than my left, maybe over the summer I will get it all back if I don't fall on it again. Toe clips are a help on steep hills while mountain-biking, and they may make you faster in a race, but for recreational riding I am not a fan of them. I had Time clips 25 years ago and crashed with them and they would release, but I hated wearing the shoes with clips, they are not comfortable to wear for anything but cycling, and of course they are expensive.