pierce

I'm thinking of getting some pedals with toeclips for my hybrid. catch-22, when I'm just bumming around town, I like to ride in Keen Newport sandals, which have a full toe cap like a shoe.


has anyone used toeclips with these? how well did they work? Its been years since I rode with clips (my old roadbike from the 70s had campy pedals with cristophe clips and straps)

I've seen some double-strap clips, also some clips that have a double wide top, like

and


anyone used either of these sorts of clips and can comment on the ease of entry with various street footwear?

irclean

I use clips & toestraps and I find it difficult to use them properly when wearing sandals. That being said, the Keens that you pictured are more "close-toed" that mine so YMMV. Also - watch the tread; chunky tread intended for hiking over rough terrain will get caught up on the teeth of the pedal as shown in your second pic. My experience has been that court-type shoes work the best in my clips & straps. I commute in the winter, too and I switch to platforms when I install my studded tires. I would like to try clipless someday but that's still down the road a piece.

One other product I find intriguing is this:



I would like to try those someday as well. They even come in large sizes for winter boots!

pierce

I have clipless on my hard core mountain bike (Shimano SPD) but don't want to have to wear special shoes when I'm bumming around town on my hybrid.

fwiw, the keens have a fairly stiff sole thats not heavily lugged. but I am planning on using platform pedals rather than rat cage or track ones, something like...

Buzzbait

I use plastic Avenir toe clips on my hybrid, but always wear Converse chucks with them. My Keens would never fit into them.

My hardtail mountain bike has Power Grips, as shown above, and they rock. You can fit snow boots in them if you buy the longer sized straps. I've used Keen Voyagers with my Power Grips many times. Better than toe clips, if you ask me.

cyclistbrian

I second the power grips for sandals. You might want to try so called mini clips for the keenes. These are the toe portion of toe clips shortned and without straps. My wife likes them. Not as effective overall as clips and straps but they do keep your feet in place for non aggressive riding.

pierce

I tried miniclips back in 1983 when I first got my original Stumpjumper, found them essentially useless.

fietsbob

Bike Radar has a Picture of old seatbelt webbing and Velcro used in angled strap designed to make a readily adjustable power grip like strap
DIY.. so get the materials and sew some up a few bolts and washers and you can screw them on most any pedal with a set of reflector mounting holes on them

Wide platform pedals support soft soled shoes.

heck wide platform pedals on their own are fine , without bothering with the whole strap toeclip thing .. on my day to day trips,

But I'm not on a Broad plain ,with hours of city around me.

driveblind

I was just using some Keen sandals very similar to the ones you show here on my single-speed yesterday. I've only had the bike for about a week, and it's the first time I've used toe clips, but they are the best shoes I've tried with them so far. Mine are set up with a metal cage and single leather straps.

Sixty Fiver

50/50 spd pedals are my favourites as then I can wear any shoe I want... they have a toothy non spd side and a wide platform which grips my shoes really well and with the spd I can wear my cycling shoes which I use most of the time.

Today is a sandal kind of day... can't ride as fast with them as I can with proper cycling shoes but it is good to air out the feet and after putting down some epic mileage this week pootling along feels good.

qmsdc15

Get these Keen SPD sandals. https://www.keenfootwear.com/product/...20bossa%20nova

and some nice modern pedals. For example, https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...1_10000_200410

driveblind

What kind of 50/50 pedals would you recommend? I've been thinking that might be a good choice for my hybrid bike, which I use both for occasional commuting to work and for riding around town with my son in the child seat. I don't think I'd want to be clipped in with him on the back of the bike.

irclean

I was gonna ask if "pootling" was a real word, but I looked it up and, what do you know - it is indeed! Great use of the vernacular.

PS. Please excuse my "gonna".

Sixty Fiver

I have Wellgo and Shimano pedals... the M324 is pretty decent at about $55.00 and Wellgos WAm D10's are a pretty good bargain at around $40.00.

My Shimano pedals have taken an absolute beating and are still smooth as silk.

khutch

If you want both a double sided pedal for clip in convenience and a 50/50 for using street shoes here is one possible solution. I just noticed them, I just started using clipless pedals for that matter, and the price is low enough to justify giving them a try. They just shipped today so I have no experience with them yet. The might be a bit fiddly for some since the instructions tell you to loosen the SPD tension all the way to mount them and then increase it to max to retain them in place while riding.

Ken

irclean

I recently test rode a bike with clip-on platforms like these and it really sucked; my feet were a slippin' and a slidin' all over the place. Admittedly, though, the ones I used didn't seem to have as many "teeth" as the ones linked here so YMMV.

khutch

Yep, I know it is a risk. I will know more in a few days. When I first noticed these many online sources had them listed for sale but they were out of stock at all of them. I don't know if they are new, very popular, or were just out of stock due to intermittent production at the supplier. I signed up to be notified when they arrived at Universal Cycles and it took a couple of weeks for that notice to come. They had a lot in stock at all three warehouses when I got the notice, when I went to order a couple of days later they were mostly gone. I think that says that a lot of customers are interested. It does not prove that they like the product once they receive it though....

All I can do is post my impressions after I have a chance to try them. If you find you don't mind having one sided pedals and you do want reflectors on your pedals they should at least accomplish that. Most of us rely more on lights though, I suspect.

Ken

AdelaaR

Great answer!
The OP wanted to ride with KEEN sandals and you found some SPD KEEN sandals!
I would advice not to go with toeclips and to use these sandals in combination with Shimano A530 or M324 hybrid pedals (as sixtyfiver mentioned), so you can still use the bike without needing SPD shoes at all times.

qmsdc15

Nothing better than riding in SPD sandals! Happy feet! Toeclips hurt my feet. Shoes hurt my feet too. Ouch!

the_doughboy

Aren't the OPs sandals SPD sandals? what does he need clips for, just go clipless.

pierce

no, mine are just regular Keen Newports that I've been wearing daily 9 months of the year for a couple years now.

sdold

If you don't absolutely need clips and want a clipless pedal that works with ANY shoe, you might try the Shimano M545. I use them on all of my bikes, tandem, mountain and road. They're slightly clunky, but not too bad. Advantages: Seem easier (faster) to clip in than other SPD pedals I've used, both sides are the same so no fumbling for the correct side, and with non-cleated shoes they feel just like plain (non-clipless) pedals.

https://bike.shimano.com/publish/cont..._mountain.html

AdelaaR

Sdold, they look almost exactly the same as the PDM647 pedals and I found those to be unusable with casual shoes since the clip sticks out of the cage.
Are you sure you can use those 545's with normal shoes and that your shoe touches the whole cage without the clip poking into your sole?

sdold

They do look like the 657s. I do notice it when I'm in something with thin soles like topsiders, but the ball of my foot falls right in between the two fore/aft parts of the SPD piece, so I don't mind. With anything with a harder sole (running shoes, etc) I don't feel it. The thing that's slightly more annoying is that it's not as wide as most plain pedals, so now that I think about it, sandals might not be too great with them. I'd say they're best for someone who rides 90% of the time with cleats, but needs something that still works pretty well for trips to the store.

qmsdc15

I justified buying bicycle specific shoes on the grounds that my regular shoes would get less wear and thus last longer. Is there room in your heart and in your closet for another pair of Keen sandals?

You are going to love the convenience and comfort of SPD sandals. The ones I've used feel like foot sized, foot shaped pedals with comfortable straps gently but firmly holding my bare feet in exactly the preferred position. Quite nice. Awesome solution to your problem.

Why do you want to use toeclips? I'd prefer a plain flat pedal with sandals. In fact, that's what I'm currently using.

AdelaaR

I completely agree with what qmsdc15 said.
I only recently made the switch to SPD clickpedals and I can hardly picture myself riding without them anymore.
They are especially superb for doing very aggressive climbing on rough tracks or cobblestones.
You should indeed not count the price of the shoe ... if you look around a bit you can easily find SPD shoes that are about the same price as regular shoes, and you won't have to tear open the soles of your leisure shoes by hammering your pedals, so in the end it may even turn out cheaper.