Originally Posted by
Miele Man
Lug sole shoes do NOT work well with toe-clips.
If you use metal toe-clips and no cleats, you might want to wrap some tape around the toe-clip where the toe of your shoe contacts it to prevent wear on the shoe. back in the day cleats were adjusted so that there was about 1/8" gap between thetoe-clip and the shoe.
I find that toe-clips help a LOT when climbing as I can pull up on the pedal. With toe-clips you can more easily pedal in circles too. That's done by pretending to scrape mud off your shoe at the bottom of each pedal stroke. That has the effect of pulling the pedal rearward making pedaling more efficient.
Cheers
IN addition to avoiding lug soles, you will find that if you use straps, do not use velcro shoe flaps as they will catch on the strap, lace-up shoes work far better. If using half clips and no straps, then it is OK. I also find a true stiff leather strap is far superior to a limp nylon strap that does not hold its shape and gets folded as you slide the shoe in.