Touring - POLL --- Toe clips -or- Clipless ---

I've used both. Just wondering what people thought these days.

Power grips for MTB, touring, and commuter and SPD clipless for my roadie.

My tour bike, Mtb, & fixies all have eggbeaters. I use them with Mtb shoes. Speedplay X's & road shoes for my road bike.

Clips only for the last 30 years. You can ride them with any shoe; if your riding seriously, you can still pull the pedal IF you have a racing shoe with a cleat that has a ridge across it that clips onto the pedal cage then snug the strap down for added security. You can also exit your pedal faster with clips, and I think you can enter faster.

I've used both. Just wondering what people thought these days.
Good poll, I've wanted to know as well, just a couple of things I've noticed, I have been using cages for along time until I bought my Trek 520, I had thought of using my cages on the Trek but decided to give the clipless a try. I never had a problem with pulling the pedals on the upstroke with the cages, until I tried the clipless, I couldn't believe how much more effective my pedaling was. It took some getting used to the new system. IMO the clipless are easier to enter and exit (safer) and my foot feels better after a long ride (that depends on the type of shoe), so much so that I replaced all of my cages with clipless, except for the Mtn bike.
From an observation of our last tour (Flagler Beach tour) I would say 75% of the riders were using clipless.
I'm NOT saying cages are bad, It's just as I get older, I find it harder to bend down to release the straps :eek: haha!

I use pedals that are SPD on one side and flat on the other. Best of all possible worlds!

i think that if u have to clip in then its saying that u need help.. that's wut i think... clipless all the way

i think that if u have to clip in then its saying that u need help..

huh....?

i think that if u have to clip in then its saying that u need help.. that's wut i think... clipless all the way
"What The Fixer said" Huh!! :rolleyes:

I always got hotspots in my toes when riding anything longer than 15-20 miles before switching to clipless. No way I could do anything approaching a tour in toe clips.

I used toe clips exclusively for about twenty years. They always worked fine. Then, four or five years ago I tried clipless. Clipless simply do everything better than toe clips and they make more sense. Press down to clip in. Rotate your foot 30 degrees to get out. Easier to adjust the cleat for your foot. No need to reach down to tighten or loosen a strap. Pressure is more evenly divided along the entire top of the shoe, not just at the clip and strap. I can wear my Shimano sandals with clipless pedals. I have a pedal with SPD on one side and a platform on the other, but there's so seldom a need for the platform, really, even while touring. Whenever I ride my bike with toe clips I wonder why I didn't switch to clipless sooner. I'll never go back to toe clips on a regular basis.

Although I've been clipless for many years, it took me a while longer to convert on my Mtb. I felt insecure going clipless on my Mtb on technical terrain and singletrack. I was riding my Mtb with toeclips for several years while all my other bikes have gone clipless. I think insecurity is a big factor for most not wanting to convert to clipless.

Clipless on MTB & touring bike...

Clipless. So much more power, than normal pedals, or even cages, but easier to enter and exit. As an added bonus, especially if you've got eggbeaters, it makes the odds of a daring bike theif doing a crotch-plant onto your crossbar about a thousand times greater.

Clipless. Since the beginning. I love the feeling they provide: that my bike is an extension of my body, and not just something I'm sitting on...

I have SPD's on my roadie, mtb and tandem. I use mtb shoes for all. My wife just got into it with the tandem and got a pair of shoes that look like tennis shoes from Specialized that work with the SPD's. When she walks around it's like wearing normal shoes. I might have to get me a pair of those (had to walk home one time with mechanical problems).

Mark

Eggbeaters/candys for touring and commuting.

Clipless is the way to gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Has anyone ever experienced a terminal failure with clipless systems? eg cracked shoe soles, sheared bolts etc?

I use blocks of 2x4 --hemlock or spruce I'm not picky

Has anyone ever experienced a terminal failure with clipless systems? eg cracked shoe soles, sheared bolts etc?

This was exactly what I was taking into consideration when I started this thread. On my last little trip I busted the main strap on my clipless shoes. Fortunately, it was on the last night with no riding the next day. If I had been ANYWHERE other than the last stop it would have been Duct Tape City. I am building a new bike right now and I am still considering which way to go with pedals/shoes. Great thread.

I have had no failures at all with my clipless system. All components, including shoes, pedals, cleats, and cleat bolts have performed flawlessly during all road rides, commutes, and tours. I do use Shimanos pedal that has SPD clipless on one side and a platform on the other on my touring / commuting bike. This pedal should get you through any type of clipless failure you may be concerned about.

I have had toe clips and toe straps break. The clips were the plastic type and broke during a mountain bike ride. I think I also broke a metal one on the road bike. Also, with metal clips, they sometimes catch the road and bend. Sometimes they're tough to bend back to the right place without an annoying and painful angle. Toe straps have broken on my road bike while pulling them tight. Sometimes they show signs of wear and indicate they'll break soon, like a shoelace. But not always.

I'm confident enough in the clipless system I mentinoed above to use it on tours. I will add that I do NOT share the often-cited paranoia of some tourists that "something might break so I must use the simplest possible system."

I have clipless on my 3 newer bikes & toe clips on all the old bikes. I experienced a broken sole on a Sidi shoe which made it very difficult to unclip that foot but I was still able to ride home in traffic without to much trouble as it was on the foot I usually don't unclip when stopping. Don

I've had a few "fatal" failures:

- I've had one of the bolts that secures the cleat to the shoe loosen and fall out. So instead of being able to twist out of the pedal, the cleat just rotated relative to the shoe. I had to stop, remove my foot from my shoe, unscrew the other cleat bolt by rotating the shoe, and ride home without being able to clip one foot in. No big deal. Solution: Locktite, or periodically check them. Also, always carry the tools you need to tighten them.

- I've had a cracked shoe sole just in front of where the cleat attaches, poking me sharply in the foot when I pedaled hard. Solution: Stuck a piece of cardboard under my insole. Also, replaced the 8-year old shoes...

- On very old el-cheapo pedals, I've had the clipping mechanism just stop working entirely (from wear and tear) so that I couldn't really clip in or out. Solution: rode them home like they were platforms and replaced 'em when I could.

- There was the time my pedals spontaneously caused a cataclysmic explosion that took out nearly an entire city block. Solution: I think I must not have lubed them enough...