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Old 07-09-13 | 03:37 PM
  #244  
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cooker
Prefers Cicero
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Joined: Jul 2005
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From: Toronto

Bikes: 1984 Trek 520; 2007 Bike Friday NWT; misc others

Originally Posted by gregf83
That said, I believe the original premise was that riding clipless did not provide more power. I think that is incorrect as there is plenty of power being applied at the top and bottom of the pedal stroke which would be difficult to achieve with platform pedals.
Not really - it's being applied somewhat perpendicular to the pedals, see for example the red and green arrows in post #212, which point down and back, at the bottom of the circle. So with those vectors, your foot isn't likely to slide off the flat pedal. You may be trying to "scrape mud", but instead you're taking the scraper with you.

I think the weakest part of the circle is around the "10 o'clock" postion where the vector point back at a tangent.Your foot is barely interacting with the pedal here, and in fact the pedal is dragging your foot along. And in post 183, the vectors show no interaction between foot and pedal at the top of the circle- they just happen to be moving in the same direction. When I have switched from cleat to flat pedals, that is where my foot tends to drift off the pedal, for the first day or so until I adapt. Not at "8 o'clock" or "9 o'clock" where you think I'd be pulling up and leaving the pedal behind.

Last edited by cooker; 07-09-13 at 03:48 PM.
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