Worth Upgrading to clipless pedals

[boss]

You will only improve on this as you get used to them, especially on the hill climbs.

Yep.

And after a few months when you have to ride your bike wearing normal flats, you'll wonder how on earth you put up with it. Every now and then I have to ride my bike with regular shoes due to circumstances, and it's a pain in the neck!

[il padrone]

Yeah, riding with normal shoes you have to push down on the trailing pedal, slowing yourself up

[casual_cyclist]

i was planning on installing the pedals and cleats myself. If it feels uncomfortable, i may have to get a bike fit from LBS.

Installing pedals, sure. Do NOT install the cleats yourself if you are getting road cleats. The potential for it to go badly is quite high. I realised after using SPD MTB cleats for 18 months that I was at the limit of the float (twisting action in the pedal) after big efforts on previous days. You can get away with a lot about 70% of the time, but the last 30% could be destroying your knees without realising it. I had been using these cleats for over a year, and 6 months I wasn't totally happy anymore, and couldn't work out why. I'm riding 1000kms a month these days. I don't think you can be honest with yourself and say "she'll be right" and fitting your own cleats.

I do it myself for just about everything, but anatomy isn't a strong suit of mine and you'll really struggle to isolate a cleat issue by yourself.

Good advice. I switched to clipless as well and got borderline stress fractures in both shins. Turns out I needed wedges or corrective insoles to compensate for my bodgy anatomy. You might be able to get away with fitting your own cleats or you could run into some serious problems.