Originally Posted by
PaulRivers
Things I think are awful:
- Those "flats on one side clipless on the other pedals". I always had to look down and sometimes flip the pedal to get back into them, right at the time when I want my head up at an intersection watching for cars. If you do clipless, go for 2 sided clipless on both sides. If you want to switch back and forth, go for EZAY pedals that let you switch the pedals by hand.
it's always interesting how two people can have such
RADICALLY divergent experiences with the same exact thing.
i've been riding on combo SPD/platform pedals just about every working day (and many non-working days too) for the past decade. i absolutely love them. i can be clipped in when i want to, and i don't have to be clipped in when i don't want to, all on the same ride without needing to change pedals. and i can ride any of my bikes, at any time, with any kind of shoe i might be wearing without having to change anything. the versatility of combo pedals is marvelous. no other pedal style that i'm aware of affords so many options.
was there a learning curve at the beginning to figure out how to get on the correct side of the pedal that i wanted to be on? i suppose there probably was, but it was so long ago now that i have no real memory of it. riding nearly every day on combo pedals for 10 years has trained my feet to simply "know" what to do all by themselves. it's 2nd nature, there's no looking down at the pedals to get on one side or the other, it all just happens automatically, instinctually.
i'll never bike commute with anything other than a combo pedal for as long as i live.