I haven't fallen over. Not in my first 24 hours, anyway. After nearly a decade of eyeing fellow cyclists using clipless pedals – confusingly-named because someone had already invented toe clips, and these are actually clip-in pedals – yesterday I finally made the switch to them for commuting.

The reason I procrastinated so long was simple: fear. Fear of becoming one of the surprisingly common number of pro-looking riders who, locked into their pedals, totter at traffic lights and fall slowly, Laurel and Hardy-style, to the ground. I'm not alone in this – several other cyclists I've spoken to have admitted to being slightly terrified of clipless pedals and wobbling over.

Here's just one of the many videos of such "clipless moments" – this one taken from the cyclist's perspective – if you haven't seen it happen before:

But as the bike shop guy who sold me my clipless shoes and who admitted to falling off several times put it, it's not so much the physical pain but the wounded pride that smarts. Most of the fellow cyclists who have already made the jump tell me they've had at least one fall.

What's surprised me most is the learning curve has been much, much easier than I expected. That may, admittedly, have a lot to do with how loose the tension is currently set on the locking mechanism of the pedal and the fact they're double-sided – you can twist your foot at 45 degrees left or right to pop out.

(I opted for SPD, one of the most common systems. There are several others for road cyclists, including SPD-SL, Look, Time, Speedplay, and there are long-running debates on the merits of each, by people who've got far more experience of clipless pedals than me. The shoes and pedals cost just shy of £100 which I think is not cheap, but not expensive in the context of some bike gear).

My fears were unfounded. The physical act of clipping in is not tricky – I've mostly clipped in by just putting my foot on the pedal and getting in first time. Clipping out, the bit I was scared about, is equally straightforward – one decisive twist, and you're free.

Wearing them has made me even more conscious than usual of reading the road ahead and looking for junctions, traffic lights, hazards and so forth that might necessitate a quick clipping-out. But better general road awareness seems like a good thing, not a downside, I'd say.

The thing I like about them most so far has not been the extra power – straightforward extra speed was what attracted me to them in the first place – but the greater sense of being fixed to the bike and not having to worry about my shoes sliding around on the pedals. On the potholed roads that seem to litter my commute, that's a particular bonus.

At some point I'm likely to have my clipless moment, but the fear is gone. One thing is for certain: like most cyclists who make the switch, I'm never going back.