Well, yes and no. I agree that Grant Peterson is wrong about this clipless/clips issue - having your feet attached to the pedals gives real benefits even to non-racers. I'm perfectly content to ride plain pedals if I'm just going to be cruising slowly along, but if I want to move faster and climb hills with greater ease, my feet had better be connected to my pedals. That said, there is apparently a lot of misunderstanding of just HOW having clips or clipless pedals helps your pedaling - someone recently posted an article suggesting that focusing on developing the pedal upstroke may in fact be detrimental to developing the most efficient cadence, and may even be harmful to your muscles. Instead, the author suggests that the Greg LeMond analogy of "scraping something off the bottom of your shoe" is the correct focus. If he's right, products like Power Cranks are barking up the wrong tree - sorry, markhr . I only pull up on my pedals when sprinting out of the saddle, or climbing out of the saddle.

Anyway, that aside, I don't think that means that Grant is on the right track with this. Say that clips or shoes are unnecessary for all cyclists, sure, but the claim that they offer no real benefit to most cyclists is outright wrong.

However, I daresay that you're misrepresenting Mr. Peterson with that statement, LoFarkas. He has said for a long time that having handlebars several inches below the level of the saddle is of no benefit to most cyclists, and is in fact a major turn-off. He suggests that most casual cyclists, especially older people or cyclists just starting out, are best off with the handlebars at seat level or a touch above or below. What's wrong with this? I think he has a point. My bars are set maybe an inch below the level of my saddle. Much lower would be uncomfortable and unpleasant to ride. As for the rack eyelets, what's wrong with that? They don't slow a bike down if you don't install a rack, and it's nice to have the versatility. I love my front rack, though I don't have it installed at the moment. There's nothing demented about it - it's a very useful accessory to have. I'm surprised to see such anger about either of these very practical considerations in the commuting forum. Commuting is, after all, perhaps the most practical possible use of a bicycle, and few of us would be willing to subject a fancy-pants racing bicycle to the day-in, day-out stress of commuting, especially if the bike has to be locked up outside all day.