# Skol Jnr...... goes clipless



## I like Skol (23 Apr 2014)

I realise that I post fairly frequently with tales of milestones in my children's cycling careers. Hopefully these are not too boring and I also hope these little stories serve as an inspiration to other children and adults alike.

The latest instalment took place this evening when we decided it was time to try out the new cycling shoes I bought for my oldest 11yr old son over the Easter weekend. The shoes are a pair of end of line Shimano M077 SPD shoes that I spotted on the clearance bench at Swinnerton Cycles. Last pair in the shop and they just happened to be his size. They also happened to be reduced to 50% of the rrp so were a bargain. Annoyingly they are also better than my own M064 shoes, the lucky blighter.

He had experienced clipless pedals briefly when using the Look Delta pedals at the Manchester Velodrome taster sessions but that was in a very controlled environment and only setting off and stopping against the handrail. He was a little unsure as he had had some trouble clipping in to the single sided Look pedals. I did my best to assure him that the double sided SPD system would avoid all that trouble.

Once the cleats had been installed and aligned properly and the pedals screwed into his bike we were ready and away he went. After just 5 or 6 runs up and down the street outside our house I suggested he tried to lift the back wheel using his legs to pull up with the pedals. 30 seconds later I was running into the house for the camera so I could capture this...
(click picture for vid clip)




I then told him with a bit of speed he could now jump up kerbs and over trail obstacles so with a branch as a marker we filmed this that he cleared at the first attempt...
(click picture for vid clip)




It started to rain just after we filmed this last clip so it was back into the house and an extra pair of hooks were lined up on the hanging rail....


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## 400bhp (23 Apr 2014)

Good lad

You know about the Tuesday night races at Ashton don't you? They have different age groups.


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## Cubist (23 Apr 2014)

Awesome stuff. Boring? Never.


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## veloman (24 Apr 2014)

Totally agree, getting them on to clipless makes a massive difference to their ability to control the bike, especially on tricky descents. My daughter got her first pair for her eighth birthday!!


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## I like Skol (24 Apr 2014)

veloman said:


> Totally agree, getting them on to clipless makes a massive difference to their ability to control the bike, especially on tricky descents. My daughter got her first pair for her eighth birthday!!


He seemed to be doing very well with his grippy, pinned flats and kept his feet on the pedals even when I expected him to be bounced off. I have held off the clipless pedals until now for 2 reasons. one is the speed at which their feet grow (so the number of cycle shoes they would go through) and second is the fear that they might damage their young knees if the cleats aren't quite right.


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## fossyant (24 Apr 2014)

I better not show my lad just yet.


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## veloman (26 Apr 2014)

It's a tricky one making sure sports / sports equipment doesn’t do any damage to developing kids. At least spd's give a reasonable amount of float incorporated into them. 

In my view the bigger problem with mountain biking is that kids get unlimited gearing for racing on, something far more likely to damage knees; where as for road racing they are on restrictive gearing.. But then you factor in the health benefits of doing the sport... and are they in more control using clipless pedals. The debate can go on and on..

BTW, totally agree on problem of the speed kids feet grow, mountain bike shoes - road shoes and climbing shoes . nightmare. ebay etc.. again.


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## YahudaMoon (26 Apr 2014)

As above, maybe if you have the time check out AUL track

See you soon no doubt on our commute 

Greetts, and loved the pics


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## Lanzecki (27 Apr 2014)

My 11 year old has been pushing for clipless for the last year. I hesitated to let her because of the obvious reasons. She bought her own Last week. 'Borrowed' my cleats, permanently it appears. I got home from work to see her on her bike, on the turbo trainer, after she changed pedals, removed my cleats away she went. 

We've yet to have a moment. 

Moral of the story : if you want to keep your cleats don't teach small children how to spin spanners. "the left pedal gave me some problems."


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