Originally Posted by
cooker
Clipless pedals make you lazy. Instead of learning to move your foot in a circle, you let the pedal drag it around.
Seriously, the advantages of clipless are grossly overstated. They're necessary for racing and extreme riding, and they give you a zen-like feeling of connectedness and skill mastery which you may enjoy, but in non-extreme riding the increase in efficiency they offer is trivial.
Since you're riding for exercise, it doesn't really matter if you go clipless or not - the quality of your workout depends on how hard you ride, not on how efficient your set-up is, and making your bike more efficient (if indeed clipless pedals accomplish that) doesn't improve the value of your exercise. But if you think you might race, or you want to learn racing skills, by all means go clipless.
actually this was exactly my thoughts when i was picking out a bike. sure i wanted something durable and something comparable to other "performance" bikes but i didnt care if it was a few pounds heavier or if it wont make me go as fast its the workout. but now that im riding with people with far superior bikes and lower fitness levels it makes me feel like crap when i see them fly by me in portions of my daily climb roads.
also im deciding to spluge on shoes and pedals because i can take them with me to my next bike pretty easily while some other upgrades are pretty much stuck on the bike. thanks for the reply though!