I used to think clipless pedals were ridiculous. Then I actually got a set of egg beaters out of the C/V Box O Crap from these forums that go around...fell in love with them. It solves multiple issues. Slipping when it's raining (though admittedly that can also be solved by more aggressive flat pedals with the little studs on them..), and the ability to pull on on the pedal. I was also wrong about this...thinking that was a load of bunk, and really people were just unweighting their legs a bit. But sure enough...when sprinting, or powering up a big hill, I absolutely pull up, to the point I have to make sure my shoes are on tight or I'll pull out of them.

They do create issue of course as well. I'm not going to wear my cycle shoes all day. Though honestly I could...if I replaced the neon green laces with black...they could pass for casual black leather shoes. I've got a set of work shoes sitting under my desk I change into.

for anyone who doesn't know about mini clips aka 1/2 clips, that what I like. not for everyone but works for me. have them on 3 bikes & use them year round for all kinds of shoes, boots & sandals. they come in plastic or metal. you can make your own by hacking a regular strapped clip









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can't imagine being limited to just 1 or 2 pair of footwear. I have so many useful things to wear

I gave up the SPD pedals when I quit racing. I now use toe clips run loose. I very rarely tighten them. I just wear tennis shoes when I ride now with no issues. I can still hammer in a heartbeat if necessary without any slippage. I just was going through my closet and I saw those SPD shoes. They have been there for twenty years.

Flats.
- Studies showed that clipless is not actually faster than flats for pro racers. Their might be a slight advantage in all out sprinting (higher total power output) or something who knows. Any tiny speed advantage would be lost with the time it takes to switch shoes etc.
- I was having pain in my feet with clipless. Tried a bunch of stuff including different shoes, pedals, inserts, and pro fittings. Went to flats and no more pain.
- I just find riding around town more enjoyable with flats.
- For commuting pedals with pins and five ten shoes have been very good for keeping my foot anchored on the pedal and not slipping.

Nothing wrong with clipless. If you're racing and doing wild all out sprints they'll have better foot retention. Probably lighter to. Some people have the opposite foot pain problem which they fix by locking their foot into position with clipless and a fitter, that's cool.

Things I think are awful:
- Those "flats on one side clipless on the other pedals". I always had to look down and sometimes flip the pedal to get back into them, right at the time when I want my head up at an intersection watching for cars. If you do clipless, go for 2 sided clipless on both sides. If you want to switch back and forth, go for EZAY pedals that let you switch the pedals by hand.
- Straps or toe cages. They keep your foot trapped on the pedal in an emergency, with no speed benefit.

All of this is more or less correct, though I will say the threshold for getting benefit from clipless is significantly below an all out sprint. I would say anything harder than an unsustainable long term pace can derive definite benefits from clipless. You don't have to be thrashing around like crazy as hard as possible.

Flat. Pinned Platforms FTW

I had SPD on everything, but when the shoes got tatty and I was looking around at how to replace them, I threw in the towel. I'm doing great with ~$25 Wellgo MG-1/MG-3 pedals off eBay that will probably never have to be replaced and ratty old tennis shoes from salvation army, happily knowing I"ll never have to drop ~$100 on a pair of SPD shoes every couple years.

The only thing I miss about SPD is sometimes on my hardtail, rocks can bounce me around/off the pedals, but with practice it's happening less, and I've never crashed because of it -- which I cannot say about SPDs, I've had a good half-dozen skinned knees because of not being able to unclip in time.

That's what I use and it works pretty well.


In fact I would say it has trained me to get use to twisting my left foot up and out, so I suspect I will have a smooth transition to clipless, when and if that happens.

Plain old flat pedals and sometimes loose fitting toe clips. I have tried SPD several times; but I am tired of crashing. I use SPD on my weekend recreational bike; but commuting and utility biking is just too unpredictable.

To those who say "you just have to get used to them (SPD), how many years and how many SPD induced crashes is an acceptable number?

I use SPD where it is appropriate; but I don't use them where they aren't appropriate. I have been using them since the 90s'. I don't find them appropriate for riding in traffic.

mostly flats with the pins. definitely for commuting. and .... "adventure" riding, just in case.
i have a couple set of Welgos and one set of Crank Bros that are spikey. My son has a set of Crank Bros platform with egg beaters in them, and they work great clicking in - put terrible as flat pedals.

trail rides and tri-hard rides with my tri-harder friends, I'll clip-in to the clipless pedals. and NEVER toe clips. for me, anyway....

ciao!

These studies completely miss one little point. Without really good foot restraints you CANNOT produce the power required to match the accelerations in a road race. And he who cannot produce that power when needed gets dropped or relegated to the group that gets left behind. This is racing 101. Road races are not about average speed, winning time or average power (or even total energy spent). Road races are all about putting out the required power at the right time. Someone goes. If you do an insane acceleration, you might get to be that person who went with him. Insane accelerations require foot restraints. Just standing with all your weight on the pedal won't cut it. If you don't quite get to that guy who took off, you sit out there as bait for the rest of the field. Bait gets swallowed. (You may also drag the field close enough to the guy who took off that he gets swallowed also. Result? Not good for you, him and your standing with him. He will do his best to make sure you aren't around when he goes next race. But make it up to his wheel promptly, ride the next 5-10 minutes at insane pace, hang on with him the remaining miles and finish one-two with him and you will be welcome aboard breaks in the future.

Point being - road racing requires real foot restraints. Racers figured that out 125 years ago. The recent studies completely miss that point. Those of us who have raced just laugh when we hear of them.

Ben

Toeclips and sneakers. I commute on a FG so foot restraint is extra important, but I run the straps loose. I can wear sneakers at work but I keep a couple pairs of nicer shoes in the office just in case.

it's always interesting how two people can have such RADICALLY divergent experiences with the same exact thing.

i've been riding on combo SPD/platform pedals just about every working day (and many non-working days too) for the past decade. i absolutely love them. i can be clipped in when i want to, and i don't have to be clipped in when i don't want to, all on the same ride without needing to change pedals. and i can ride any of my bikes, at any time, with any kind of shoe i might be wearing without having to change anything. the versatility of combo pedals is marvelous. no other pedal style that i'm aware of affords so many options.

was there a learning curve at the beginning to figure out how to get on the correct side of the pedal that i wanted to be on? i suppose there probably was, but it was so long ago now that i have no real memory of it. riding nearly every day on combo pedals for 10 years has trained my feet to simply "know" what to do all by themselves. it's 2nd nature, there's no looking down at the pedals to get on one side or the other, it all just happens automatically, instinctually.

i'll never bike commute with anything other than a combo pedal for as long as i live.

qft

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I like to have flexibility in shoes (I do keep a pair of sandals at work), I've come to like these more than the traditional straps (not quite as strong a fit; but sufficient).

I suppose I should invest in some modern clipless; but my reflexes are already set for these ;>

I started riding because it was more convenient than driving. Given that, I like rubber block pedals and have never had a slipping problem with them. Another benefit is that they don't scratch the dress shoes I normally wear while cycling.

When I was commuting I found some Bontrager shoes that were SPD compatible, but had more flex and a full rubber sole compared to what you’d find on a MTB shoe. There are a few brands that make shoes that are SPD compatible that are also ok for walking.

My commute was 4 miles, 30 min train ride, 1 mile.

My commutes have generally not been on busy city streets with lots of stops and have been a minimum of 9 miles. My current commute is 22 miles and 16 of the miles are on a route I would take for weekend rides. So I use my road bike for commuting and it has clipless pedals. Works for me.

I would never ride a bike with flat pedals because I fear what might happen if a foot slips. Toe clips are a good compromise. These offer easy in-out (https://cdn.mos.bikeradar.imdserve.co...u8r-630-80.jpg) or you could get regular ones and remove the straps (https://cdn2.bigcommerce.com/server2...0.1280.jpg?c=2).

Agree: clipless spd; my commuter bike (single speed Lemond Filmore) is also clipless one side, flat the other. Its nice to have full locker room and showering facility at my place of work.

Right now I have 4 bikes. A garage sale find/commuter fitted with cheap, ancient Wellgo rubber platforms (seized pedals - can't get them off), A carbon road bike SPD clips, A fat bike Race Face Chesters and my go-anywhere Salsa Vaya with combo flat/SPD Shimano A530 Sport/Touring Road Pedals.

I like all of them, but am considering going to flats on everything but the road bike. Just a lot more convenient.

+1 for Wellgo flats with pins. Never any slip when wet or when rear wheel spins unexpectedly on leaves, etc

SPD's and Pearl Izumi shoes. Change into scrubs/clogs at work.
Commute through city and may clip in/out 50 times one way -- I don't care, it's still worth it.
Use Shimano PD-T700 CLICK'R Clipless MTB Pedals | Chain Reaction Cycles because the reflectors give that little touch of Fredliness. Highly recommend this pedal.

*Tried dual sided and gave up on them with all the fussing to find the "correct" side.
*Not an SPD snob. Have pinned platforms on another bike.


-Kedosto

I rode with my sneakers in clips/cages for a long time, then tried riding flats and have not turned back. My flats have what are commonly known as "pins" on the surface that help keep my feet from sliding when the pedals are wet.

Switching to platforms was just one part of an ongoing effort I've made to keep cycling easy and less stressful. With platforms, you just get on and ride. At a traffic light, you just put your feet up and start pedaling, never worrying which stop is going to be the one where you lose your footing and plant your face on the pavement in front of all your fellow commuters. And when you get off the bike, you don't hobble around like you've got a load in your shorts.

For some, especially those who have longer, more challenging commutes than mine, I'd say clips and clipless can be very helpful, if not necessary.

I use SPDs on my gravel and mountain bikes, which tend to be used for more dedicated riding. I use Zefal Mini Clips on my folders which tend to see more versatile use. Still have a new set of Power Grips that just don't fit/mount on the pedals that I've tried so far.

I use Power Grips on my commute.
I have a lot of stop signs and traffic lights on my route.
I need foot retention for left below knee prosthesis, and wearing tennis shoes means I can have the custom orthotic for my remaining foot inside the shoe. My commute is less than 10 miles each way - when I've had 10+ mile commute I use clipless pedals, keep a pair of shoes at work, and carry the orthotic in pannier.

Zefal half-clips with rat-trap pedals are surprisingly secure (half-clips are pretty much strapless toe clips). I used to use SPD pedals but got tired of the shoes issue. I need SOME kind of attachment to the pedals to get my left pedal ready for the launch from a complete stop.