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Old 11-26-18 | 10:09 AM
  #12  
daoswald
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Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,145
Likes: 83
From: Salt Lake City, UT (Formerly Los Angeles, CA)

Bikes: 2008 Cannondale Synapse -- 2014 Cannondale Quick CX

You shouldn't be anti-clipless, you should simply accept that you don't meet the use case for clipless pedals.

You want to avoid carrying a change of shoes on your commute (and cannot leave a pair at the office, I suppose). Or you prefer the improved walkability of street shoes (though there are SPD shoes that are pretty good, it's never quite the same). Or you're unable to get used to the concept of clipping out. Or whatever reason you have, which is probably a perfectly good reason... you are not a candidate for clipless pedals. That doesn't make you anti-clipless, it makes you someone who has made a conscious decision that the benefits of clipless are not sufficient to overcome the disadvantages in your case.

There are others who have done similar assessments with different priority lists, or different weights on each of the priorities in their list of pros and cons, and who have come up with a conclusion that for them clipless pedals make sense. Going a little further, they have decided on which style of clipless pedals and shoes make the most sense for them, and have moved forward along that path. That does not make them anti-platform, it makes them people who have weighed the pros and cons, and have determined that in their case clipless make sense.

Can we agree that for some people clipless are not the optimal choice for their intended use case, that for some people some style of clipless is the optimal choice, the for some people platform/clipless combination pedals make the most sense, and for some people swapping out pedals as needed is the best approach? If we can agree that each person's list of pros and cons will be a little different, and that each person assigns different weights to each of those pros and cons, we can, by extension, agree that there is nothing inherently wrong with either style, and that those who have chosen one, or the other, or some combination have done so to maximize their own utility.

Pro-clipless and anti-clipless are naive positions to take. The mature and honest outlook is to understand that informed, sensible, intelligent people choose what is best for their needs.
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