Clips, Clipless or Platform?
 

What kind of pedals do you like to ride best?

I like clips, and i tighten the straps down nice and snug.

Clips are okay if they're wide enough, but on the bikes I ride a lot, I just have plain BMX or platform pedals, the wider the better. Well, the bike I ride the most is a folding bike, and it has folding pedals.

SPD's are indicated on my tandem, because the stoker can make the pedals move unpredictably.

I use Look pedals on my recumbent.

Clipless. Sure, rat-traps look cool, but they're a PITA, IMO. I'm just glad Look pedals have been around long enough to be classified as vintage.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I4Snyzw2IM...t_giro84-1.jpg

Depending on the ride, I use them all. Platforms on my cruiser, clips on my commuter (so I can walk some distances and make store stops) and clipless on my distance/recreational bike.

All of the above. I have very wide feet, but MKS touring pedals with clips work fine as do the old Lyotard Berthets. I have SPD pedals on several bikes and like them a lot, and one a few bikes I have platform pedals, including BMX pedals on my snow bike. Variety is good.

Neal

I've got cage pedals on my bike but they were missing the clips when I bought the bike, so essentially just platforms. This works for me, since I use the one bike for everything-utility, commuting, sport/exercise and riding to the bars at night. Nice and simple.

I've been considering powergrips though-- seems like a solid blend of foot retention/power and versatility/ease of use. Clips seem like a hassle for the short rides I do, and clipless are just too expensive (and you can't wear flip flops!)

atacs or mks gr-9's with a quality laminated strap or rubber blocks or odyssey triple traps

btw you should never ride a bike in flip flops if you like your toes

Clipless, more so once I got some shoes that spread the pressure out more.

Looks for me, because I can use older Shimano clipless, Looks of many varieties, and generics places like nashbar and Performance.

If I had to do it all over again, maybe SPD's so I can wear shoes that are walkable.

Clips to flat pedals, straps tightened only just so you can get the foot out in a hurry. That means that for a given set of shoes, the straps are "fixed", eg they don't see any adjustment until wearing another pair of shoes. Gives plenty of uplift potential if there is such a thing as useful uplift (no, I'm not trying to start a debate on that one, it's already been debated from here to kingdom come), and best of all, unvarying foot placement on the pedals.

I rode clips recently for the first time in about 5 years - on a '72 (and since it's all orig Campy it'll stay that way).

But what was I thinking? :D Size 12 feet hate clips. Clipless SPD-SLs are on everything else. God it's easier.

Clipless, to be specific SPDs with SPD MTB shoes.
Distant second, flats (platform if you prefer that term)
Straps or Clips are not third, they're not on my list. I've tried them and don't find they fit my riding style.

I'm with roccobike: SPDs with MTB shoes (but my MTB shoes are very non-aggressive and look like runners). I have quills on one bike without clips (only because the straps rotted away and I haven't replaced them) but still love to ride clipless....

Mark

Depends on what I use the bike for...

Panasonic PT3500 and Bottecchia Special - commuting: MKS Touring
Peugeot UO8 - cross and Marin MTB: Time MTB clipless
Bottecchia Giro d'Italia and Professional, Bianchi Veloce and Pista - road: Look clipless

Rat traps, no straps

I use toeclips on everything. Campy Record SL, C-Record platform pedals, Shimano 600 Platform pedals, Chorus platforms. Also a few miscellaneous MKS and Lyotard quill-type pedals. I set the straps just tight enough that they touch my shoes. It holds my foot in position, but never impedes foot extraction.

I use both toe clips (with slotted cleats) and Look clipless pedals on my bikes.

Me too.

Same here. I'll use clipless for most everything, and for more leisurely riding, I use toe clips & straps.
The clipless I use are the older Dura Ace SPD-R

I use Ultegra SPD pedals with Shimano mountain bike shoes. I like them because I can walk in them without looking too weird. On a couple of my bikes, I have "campus" pedals, which are SPD on one side and platform on the other (these are on the bikes I use for errands around the neighborhood wearing street shoes).

Today it was warm and I rode the Waterford through Golden Gate Park to the Beach Chalet for lunch wearing Shimano SH-SD60B SPD sandals.

I'm a late bloomer when it comes to clipless; I really started regularly using clipless about a year ago.

I too tend to be a very late adopter of new technology. I was using toe clips until only this year. Finally tried a set of Shimano Ultegra SPD's with Specialized carbon shoes and wow what a difference! Just so much more comfortable and easy to deal with, especially when clipping in on my single speed bike. Now three of my four bikes have SPD's. I keep my grocery getter/beater single speed bike with toe clips so I can wear street shoes when doing errands.

I'd like to try some mountain bike shoes or some that would allow me to walk around easily. Do they make these for SPD's or do I need mountain bike specific pedals/cleats?

I love clips and straps. I love the way they cut off the circulation in my feet. I adore the way you have to remember to loosen them when you come back into town and hit that first stop sign or traffic light that you simply have to stop at. I delight in falling over when I have forgotten to loosen them at that stop sign or traffic light and entertaining the hoi polloi. I go all a-dither over the *** shoe laces that inevitably came with them (I replaced them with regular white athletic shoe laces - may not have been proper Euro-styling, but they worked a lot better and lasted a lot longer). I went ga-ga over trying to nail on cleats and watching the wimpy little "nails" bend as the hit the steel shank in the shoe. (A nearby lbs solved that problem by riveting the cleats into place - worked great.)


If you have read this far, you understand why I have SPDs on everything I own (all road bikes) with MTB shoes so I can walk without looking like a duck or slipping and my butt in a store. I'd only be angry if my click-shifting disappeared. I'd be homicidal if clipless pedals and shoes disappeared.

Depends on what the meaning of "is" is.

Okay, it's not quite that bad. There are "regular" SPD's and a couple of variations. SPD-R is one, and I think there may be one or two others that have some distinctive name. Any "regular" SPD cleat will work in any "regular" SPD pedal, regardless of whether one or both is marketed as "road" or "mountain" or "fitness" or "causal" or whatever.

That's how I do it when I use clips - on the fixed gear and a couple of my older bikes. Platforms on the three speed and the unicycle. I use LOOKs on one (the bike was painted to match the color of the pedals :o) and SPDs on a couple others.

Kindred spirit! :thumb:

Road quills w/ toeclips and color-coordinated straps on all 4 road bikes, square MTB pedals w/ plastic toeclips on the mountain bike.

Lyotard 36's on almost everything, sadly they are becoming harder to get. racing type quill pedals are simply too narrow for my feet. Can only use them on short rides.

I'll probably start buying MKS touring pedals soon.

Aero pedals with clips/straps. I have yet to give clipless a try, but I feel quite comfortable in clips/traps

Everything.

SPDs on the cross bike
Campy Pro-fit on road
Clips and straps on fixed gear/track/vintage road..with classic vittorias and slotted cleats or modified sneakers with shanks.
Platform pedals on porteur and polo bike with climbing approach shoes (stiff soles)...

everything, every pedal system has a place.

I have yet to try clipless, I use either Lyotard or MKS Sylvan touring pedals sans clips. I am a size 12 and the clips just don't work too well for me.

Heh, that makes me cringe every time. I feel like I'm fighting a one-man war for correct nomenclature. A platform is a specific type of toe-clippable designed specifically to only be used with toe clips. As you say, if they don't have toe clips, they're just 'flats.' Or plain pedals, or whatever.

Anyway, my preference depends upon what I'm doing. For fast or technical riding on my road or mountain bike (though I don't have an MTB at the moment), I prefer clipless pedals, by far. And among clipless pedals, I like road pedals a heck of a lot more than MTB pedals.

For anything else, I've found that I actually prefer to have flats on my bike, so that's what goes on my commuting/cruising around bike. I like being able to just hop on the bike without swapping shoes, to be able to just get off and walk around comfortably when I get where I'm going and without worrying about slipping around at the supermarket. I'm not a fan of clips and straps, though I rode with them for a couple years, and besides, I don't feel like I need any foot retention for sprinting between stop lights or cruising along a country road at 15mph. I LOVE my clipless pedals on my road bike, and I wouldn't dream of riding it with anything else, but I ride hard on that bike. I train and race hard, and really don't feel any motivation to ride hard when I'm on a bike that isn't intended for it. My around-town bike is for commuting, shopping and riding socially. It's funny, my friends who don't race will actually ride much faster than I will just getting around town. It's annoying as hell. Not a fan of getting tired and sweaty when we're out to hang out and drink beer.

I've been using clips and straps but recently got some Powergrips and really like them a lot. May switch all of my bikes over.