Cycling in heels! Experiences please...

[aristoc]

46 minutes ago, Shyheels said:

What kind of pedals are you using? Certainly not clipless - in heels. (That said I have seen high heeled cycling shoes for clipless pedals) All it would take is for your feet to shift on the pedal (assuming no toe clips) and you could send a slender heel into the chain or drivetrain. It wouldn't be that hard.

If wearing heels I'll use a bike with flat pedals - metal, plastic or rubber construction makes no difference as your foot will slip off the pedal. Not into the drivetrain, as you fear, but off the sole and into the shank - that's why it ruins your heels. I use clipless pedals for anything other than casual city commute cycling. Incidentally I think  clipless are much more efficient and safer than the old 'Christophe' toe clips cranked down really tight.

46 minutes ago, Shyheels said:

 Would never really have occured to me to wear heels, although as I say I have seen a few women do so, elegantly, on Dutch commuter bikes in London

Definitely style over function. Such fun too.

PS. Don't think high heel clipless cycling shoes are commercially available, just photoshop images like these Sidi's, or home made.

Edited May 26, 2016 by aristoc

[Shyheels]

I have actually seen some mid-height heels with clips - not photoshopped but for real.

I know clipless are meant to be very effcient, but as a tourer - and in the past in some really remote places, solo, with much water and supplies on board - that kind  of racer efficiency was never a concern. Same as I never worried about shaving bike weight. When you have 80lbs of gear, much of it water, on a lonely desert crossing who cares about saving a few grams on your rear sprocket? 

I never tightened up my Christophe clips. Again, not concerned with speed or efficiency to that degree. No need fir power on the upstroke. The toe clips were mainly to prevent foot slippage in rainy weather, or with muddy shoes, and partly because I grew up with toe clips and they were just part of the deal.

I always travelled with street clothes, never wore Lycra, so I could always look presentable on or off the bike. Much more diplomatic in remote corners of the world. Never occured to me to pack heels!

 

 

Edited May 26, 2016 by Shyheels

[Shyheels]

I see on the BBC website coverage of the Tour de France a call via Twitter for viewers to send in images of their most interesting cycling outfits. Those of you who cycle in heels...here is your moment.

[Sydheel]

Im an avid cycler.

but i use a carbon racer with clip shoes.

love the tour although it's not good for sleep as i stay up half the night for 3 weeks. 

 

[pebblesf]

Those heels are very cool, even if they are just photoshop inventions.  I have seen some Nike heels online, but am guessing they are phonies/clones, because I can't find them anywhere online.  I have seen someone online with HHasics where are very cool as well. 

[Shyheels]

3 hours ago, Sydheel said:

Im an avid cycler.

but i use a carbon racer with clip shoes.

love the tour although it's not good for sleep as i stay up half the night for 3 weeks. 

 

Much as I miss living in Australia, there are some advantages to being in England! Avid cyclist here as well, although my bicycles are classic lugged steel tourers with quill pedals.