Road Cycling - clipless vs caged

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a bit of feedback here. I'm purchasing a new bike, OCR2. It comes with clipless pedals. I'm actually thinking of swapping them out for caged variety. The reason I want to do this is because 1) I've been riding an old bike with standard pedals forever and don't have bike shoes. I really don't want to spend the extra $$ right now for shoes. 2) I don't do big miles, mostly neighborhood rides, 10-20 miles or more on a weekend, etc. so it is not a big deal to me. 3) I ride with my 9 year old sometimes and we do end up walking or sightseeing on the way and it would be a pain in bike shoes.

I assumed that if I really get into biking more miles, I could always switch these back again. Yes, I know the clipless are much more efficient, but I'm willing to take the trade off.

Thanks for any opinions...

Sheldon

Those a good reasons for going with the old toe clips, but since you are getting a new bike, maybe the LBS will swap out the road clipless pedals for MTB clipless (SPD) This will allow you to walk in the bike shoes, when you get them later.

I switched to clipless back in the late 80s or early 90s and haven't looked back.

However, if you have no intention of buying bike shoes standard pedals certainly make sense.

Hm. I always suggest clipless, for everyone. Go with Andrew's suggestion and get some double sided clipless pedals with cleats small enough to let you get a shoe that you can walk on. You'll find shoes for the kind of riding you want to do are not prohibitively expensive, and you can always get another pair down the road.

Sheldon, I think you have the right idea. For your riding purposes, the toe clip pedals will suffice and still allow you to wear regular shoes. The problem with the SPD's is that if you aren't wearing bike shoes, you don't have the toe clip either. This is what you are trying to avoid. The clipless pedals are much, much more effiecient but they don't seem to be what you need right now. I say go with the toe clips.

Hey Sheldon, As you said, riding with the kids often amounts to as much time spent off the bike as on it. I have cages on mine and ride 300 miles/wk. I probably don't know what I 'm missing, but until the price of clipless/shoes comes down or my wage goes up - the cages seem to meet my needs!

Hey Sheldon, As you said, riding with the kids often amounts to as much time spent off the bike as on it. I have cages on mine and ride 300 miles/wk. I probably don't know what I 'm missing, but until the price of clipless/shoes comes down or my wage goes up - the cages seem to meet my needs!

Thanks. I am picking up my bike this afternoon and had them swap out the clipless. For me, I think it's the best way to go also.

Sheldon

Thanks. I am picking up my bike this afternoon and had them swap out the clipless. For me, I think it's the best way to go also.

Sheldon

There is some good feedback on pedals/shoes in this forum. (While I haven't figured out how to efficiently navigate thru this site, I did a search for "shoes" that produced alot of helpful discussions on the topic).