tjspiel

I've got some Performance booties that work pretty well for keeping my feet warm. The problem is that the bottoms get slippery. I took the cleats off my cycling shoes and have been using them with regular cage pedals.

I could replace those pedals with my spds but I've been leery of riding clipped in the winter. I also have clips and straps lying around (never been a fan) and power grips.

It seems like BMX style pedals with pins like these Nashbar's have a lot of fans too.

Thoughts?

irclean

I bought sealed-bearing platform pedals just like your example from Nashbar and so far they have been great. I used them yesterday with my winter boots on while it was snowing and blowing and I experienced no slipping of the feet whatsoever.

Stert

although i do not have much experience riding in harsh winter snow and ice, i put platform pedals on my recent mtb build and the first change i will make to the bike will be clipless pedals.

i would reason that riding hard on a mtb trail clipped in would be similar to riding in the snow and ice clipped in. a lot of people seem hesitant to be clipped in on the trail at first but once they switch they usually do not switch back and unclipping becomes second nature to catch yourself while falling.

Tequila Joe

I use Egg Beaters full time commuting and winter mtb-ing, they don't clog up with ice / mud like SPDs. What tire are you running? Studs generally provide much more grip on ice so I'm confident with being clipped in full time. As for unclipping, its second nature for me, however I sometimes ride with one or both feet unclipped on off camber ice where I could be down in a fraction of a second.

CastIron

Shimano M-424. Have it both ways on both sides. Been running 'em for years.

tjspiel

I have W240s but still there's times on roads with a lot of loose, pushed around snow at the intersections where it can get dicey.

The other reason I'm a little reluctant to go clipless is warmth. I've heard that the cleats will transmit the cold right to your feet. Right now the booties I use have a rubber sole that completely separates the shoe from the pedal. If I wanted to go clipless, I'd have to cut a hole in the bottom. They're designed to be cut, so that's not a problem. Just worried about making my feet colder as a result.

Tequila Joe

I don't notice any cold from my cleats, I use a these winter clipless boots and a good thick pair of Defeet Wolly Booly socks. If that is a concern, perhaps insulating insoles would help?

https://www.mec.ca/Products/product_d...=1260575960653

tsl

Depends.

If you're talking clipless winter shoes, you heard wrong. My Lakes have an insulated sole and came with insulated insoles. I often ride 2 to 2½ hours in the teens or twenties and my feet have never felt the least bit cold, even right over the cleat.

If you're talking wearing summer shoes in winter, well, I wouldn't be surprised, booties or no booties.

Back to the original topic, it seems to be more a personal taste issue than anything else. I think the same platform/clipless arguments apply no matter what the weather. I wouldn't dream of riding without my SPDs. Some people would never dream of riding anything but platforms. I really don't think it changes with the weather.

I doubt you'll get anything near an objective, scientific proof of one being "better" (whatever that could mean) than the other--at least not on an internet forum. All you'll hear here are personal preferences and opinions. Yours is just as valid as mine, and just as valid as that of anyone else.

If you want to run platforms, then by all means do so. If you want to run clipless, then by all means do that. In cycling, it's all about whatever works for you, not for me, and not for some other guy.

electrik

No need for spd, especially if your commute is short. Just get some platforms with claws and wear your normal toasty warm winter boots. Do you want to be trudging/hiking through snow banks and slushy intersections in slippery rock hard soled spd shoes? SPD pedals/cleats also ice up badly(eggbeaters are better), the mechanism doesn't cope well with mud or ice, this is from first hand experiences. Also clipping out costs valuable fractions of a seconds if you're tipping over - often the difference between dabbing a foot or falling flat on your side. With all the problems i listed, I wonder why people feel like they must force themselves to wear clipless shoes in the winter, especially when they're only commuting 20km round trip.

clasher

Yeah, I run BMX pins in the winter and they're great, I can wear my sorel boots and not have to worry about yet another pair of special shoes for one thing. The platforms let me use my regular boots in the fall/spring rain without being over-insulated. Basically, I like the flexibility I have with platforms.

The pins are nice too, they're more comfortable on soft-soled shoes, 'cos in the spring/summer my winter bike can work for guests if they need a ride to a show or the bar or if I feel like riding it around town.

Joe_Mo

If your feet are getting cold use the platforms.

rodar y rodar

Cold was the first reason that I went from my Crank Bros to BMX pedals- I gave up trying to find booties that worked right for me (didn`t try very hard, to be honest) and started wearing hking boots in the winter on my mtb. But then I got to liking the BMXs and after the second winter I just left them on. Later I changed out the quills and clips/straps on my comuter/tourer too and I don`t miss cleats at all for those purposes. I`ve got clips and straps on my road bike and I kept the Candies on a tandem and occasionally put them on my mtb, but that`s about it. I love being able to wear whatever shoes are best suited to the conditions and for commuting and other in town riding it`s well worth the slight (less than I had would have thought) disadvantage of not being clipped/strapped in. No adjustments, no flipping the pedals around, no straps getting caught and turned inside out. YMMV, but I just plain love pinned pedals.

bionnaki

wellgo bmx platforms ftw

I use these on my winter commuter / grocery getter: https://www.lickbike.com/productpage....=%270814-00%27

tjspiel

A find this a little funny. If you follow the above link and read the description eventually you'll get to this:

"For extreme cold (-10°C and colder), use a Sorel-style boot and flat pedals."


First of all -10°C is not extreme cold. I mean, I realize that for most people it is, but for here that's normal cold. It's actually warmer than what I would expect on an average January morning. So maybe that answers my question.

Just to clarify a few things I already have SPDs and understand the pros and cons for non-winter use. I was worried about cold getting transmitted through the metal cleat and I guess I should be specific what I mean by cold. I mean that I expect to ride when it's well below 0°F. Is a quality winter cycling shoe really adequate for that? It's not in the budget right now anyway, but I'm always looking toward the future.

Also I'm curious about the pros and cons of being clipped in when it comes to riding on slick surfaces. If I'm clipped in and my bike starts to slide out from under me, am I going to find it harder to put my foot on the ground to keep me upright? Or does the greater control of having your feet attached solidly to the pedal outweigh that concern?

Maybe there's no real way for me to know but to try it. I was hoping not to have to cut a hole in the bottom of the bootie to find out ;-)

rodar y rodar

Wow, -10 C is extreme cold? That`s somewhere around 25 F, isn`t it? Sounds pretty mild to me too, and my winter weather is a far cry from Minnesota`s.

Whoops, no! I halved that ten degrees instead of doubling it. Still, ten to twelve F doesn`t sound "extreme". Well, at least they don`t make wild claims like marketers do for cheap sleeping bags

Tequila Joe

If you consider the wind chill effect, -10 C (14 F) is fairly cold. As an example, on a calm -10 C day, traveling at 28km / hr (~19mph) = -19.2 C (-8.5 F) I don't commute much below -15 C anymore; I use to do the -30 C thing but as I've gotten older (& wiser), I've choosen not to self inflict physical / mental abuse anymore. Having a job that allows me to work from my home office also helps. To each thier own I suppose, everyone has thier own temperature limits, reasons and advantages / disadvantages for riding though the winter. I'm just glad there are people out there crazier that I.

tjspeil, for me the pro's of riding clipless over the winter are consistant placement of feet on pedal, its best for my wonky knee because riding without them gives me a very sore knee after an hour. Also it just feels right beiling clipped-in, all of my road bikes, fixed gear, mountain bikes and commuters have clipless pedals. Finally, being able to peddle in circles when climbing icy trails gives me less of the "push push - slip slip" effect. The only disadvantage I have is being unable to unclip in time to avoid kissing icy pavement, its good winter practice for summer mountain biking though...

electrik

Yup, the good parts are a solid connection to the pedal and the ability to forcefully "pedal-out" of a skid or a snow-bank, the downsides are exactly the opposite; You're solidly connected to the pedal which means unclipping in an emergency before you can abandon ship and the incentive to stay fatefully too long on your listing ship because you feel you can pedal it out.

MEC is based in vancouver, -10C is extreme for them! Those shoes aren't water-proof either so don't dunk your foot in a freezing slush pool.

tjspiel

Appreciate the information and I understand that when cycling a lot of air is moving past your feet making it effectively colder.

For me though opting not to commute when it's colder than -10 C would essentially mean taking most of the winter off. I don't think there was a single morning last week when it was above 14 F and it doesn't look like there will be any this week either. And it's only December. Winter hasn't even officially started yet.

I do like the feeling of being attached to the pedals too so I may just have to give it a shot.

Tequila Joe

I'm very glad that I am not commuting by bike today ... traveling at ~ 19mph, thats about -55 F with wind chill, thats not normal cold, its alien planet cold!

Eddie Loves You

Platforms and Powergrips for me. Goretex hiking/trail running shoes (add covers if it is really wet)