Originally Posted by
spectastic
the article is saying that toe straps were the sht until clip in pedals came along. It's saying that everyone who went from regular shoes and toe straps to stiff soles and clipless pedals are chumps. He obviously doesn't use clipless whatsoever. Take those away, and what does that leave you? Do you actually buy into his argument that the whole clip in concept is there only to make sure the shoes don't slip in wet conditions, or that as long as the pedal doesn't flex there's no loss in energy? I wasn't even talking about spd vs sl, I was talking about why stiff soles (compared to regular shoes) isn't as worthless as he makes it out to be.
and for the record. because spd cleats cover less than a third of the shoe area as sl's, there is more than 3x the pressure exerted on the sole. Unless there's a platform to support the rest of the shoe surrounding the cleat, that small area is going to flex more. The mtb shoes are stiffer because they have thicker soles around that region (from what I've seen), but is that enough to overcome that much more pressure concentrated in a much smaller cleat? Granted, this is a bigger deal during sprints and races, where the force exerted is a lot higher, but I can't help but to question what that means for a long distance tour. That was pretty much the point I asked the question in the first place. And evidently, the response is mixed.
You seem to be really good at reading between the lines and seeing whatever you want to see. If you really want to know - try not to let your preconceived opinions get in the way. You're correct in some of your logic - just the notion that all SPD's are created equal doesn't work. You're really incorrect in assuming that all SPD design pedals have a smaller platform than all SPD SL pedals.
If you don't like the article - ignore it. Shimano still states that they design shoes and pedals to work TOGETHER. Therefore a softer shoe (which makes for easier walking) is supposed to be matched against a pedal with a larger platform for more support. Some large platform pedals are SPD - some small platform pedals are SPD. Each is supposed to be used with a different shoe for optimal performance.
If the only reason you're so gung-ho on SPD SL's is because you've already bought and paid for two pair and don't want to have to return them - that's not related to the question.
And for the record - I personaly own both SPD and SPD SL pedals - and mostly prefer to use BMX style platform pedals with screws for grip myself most of the time. Maybe if I was competing things might be different - but major convenience compared to extremely minor performance gains on a tour or commute works out for me just fine. You can use whatever you want and I won't lose any sleep over it.