Originally Posted by
Rick
Pedal force in the down stroke is the same clipped in or not. There is more to it than this. On flat pedals you can't hold the proper foot position on the pedal constantly. This becomes even harder when you use more muscles by pulling and pushing through most of the pedal stroke.
Even the pros spend little time "pulling up".
Like I posted above, being clipped in offers some benefits. Performance is low on the list, because as you correctly say,
Pedal force in the down stroke is the same clipped in or not.