khutch

I don't think it is complete nonsense. It certainly does ignore any valid counterpoints in an attempt to make its own contentions seem unassailable, quite a common practice today and all the way back to the beginning of writing. The things professional riders do are not necessarily of great benefit to less intense cyclists. Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

I have always liked "pedal connectors" whether toe clips, PowerGrips, strapless toe clips, and as of two weekends ago my first clipless pedals and shoes. There is a benefit to them that I rarely if ever see mentioned here, elsewhere, and certainly not in that article. Yes I do actively pull up on the rear foot in very intense situations like climbing steep hills and much more rarely accelerating. Everyone seems to agree that this is an advantage of being attached to your pedals, they just disagree on how much of an advantage that is to anyone but professionals or very serious amateurs. However many people here talk about the rear leg being limp, dead weight to be lifted by extra force exerted by the front leg. I agree that you pretty much have to ride that way if you are not attached or at least located in some fashion as on plain platform pedals. It is quite hard to exert you rear leg just hard enough to avoid some extra work for the front and when you get it wrong your feet are constantly moving around on the pedals, something I find very annoying. So you pretty much have to let your rear leg exert some counter force in order to keep that foot well located on the pedal.

In my opinion there is a middle ground however and after listening to many opinions about this here recently I think it is the true reason I like a pedal attachment of some kind. If you are attached to the pedal then you can pull up enough on your rear leg to feel some force against the attachment and that gives you feedback to tell you that your rear foot is not impeding your progress. Neither is it being exerted hard enough to impair your efficiency. And when you come over top and start the down stroke on that leg your foot is right where you want it. I am quite certain this is the way I ride most of the time. I recently put strapless toe clips on my folding commuter and they have this beneficial effect even though the plastic material they are made from flexes far too much under pressure to allow you to actively pull up in intense situations. I had PowerGrips on that bike before and I like them. It is just that they can be hard to get into as they age and become limp and on a commuter stopping and starting are frequent events that require you to remove and then reinsert at least one foot at each stop. The strapless clips do have the advantage that they are very easy to get out of, the PowerGrips are actually the hardest of the ones I have tried. Even so I miss the ability to pull up on hills and I might try using both the PowerGrips and the strapless clips. If I attach the top of the PowerGrip strap to the clip it won't be able to sag and make it difficult to insert my foot....

Ken