Steel toe shoes on platform pedals on my 10 mile round trip commute. Work boots in winter, low shoes in summer. Less hassel this way and I don't have to worry about my toes if I have a mishap. :D

Bent.

Clipless pedals and regular street shoes. I ride like this so much I still have trouble clipping out at stoplights even though it's been 6-7 years.

Clip.less. I've eggbeater candy C pedals.

I ride clipless, and tend to wear my spd shoes while at work.

I'm in the same boat. One of my coworkers asked me why I wear my spd shoes, is it to let everone know that I road my bike. What I think is funny is I'll be standing there wearing my SPD shoes, helmet on top of my desk, gloves on top of the monitor, Timbuk2 bag hanging off the back of the chair... and people will still ask if I rode the bike.

That is part of the problem with having our bikes geared for serious riding. I presently have no utility bike. My wife ran over it with a car. So I have to walk about stores in Look shoes. Might as well completely look the part of a cyclist. Look shoes and jeans would really look weird.

Same here. I also shower at work when I ride in.

Howdy y'all. Have you considered Power Grips? Its a strap that is easily atached to you existing pedal and you get that connected to your machine feeling and control but in your street and/or work shoes. I was skeptical when my LBS suggested them when I switched to full time commuting. I love them and I don't have to carry extra shoes. I also like that off stop signs and lights I can get going quickly with a quick stomp on the strap or the strapless side without the hassle of finding the clip or having it scrape on the asphalt. I like my dress shoes shiny at work and the strap has not messed them up yet.

I have to change shoes when I get to work anyway, so yes I do wear MTB shoes with SPD cleats to commute. I would probably ride clipless and change shoes even if I could wear athletic shoes at work since I have a 30 mile round trip.

Clipless SPD, but I'll prolly switch to ATB Pedals soon.

clipless always.

I consider their safety value to be worth far more than the inconvenience of having to change shoes.

On that note, I am a fan of SPD or eggbeater style cleats, compared to the giant road-cleats out there. For daily duty, I found that mountain "sneaker style" shoes are more comfortable.

I commute 10 miles over hilly terrain on a racing bike. Ain't no way I'm riding with anything but my cycling shoes. I only commute once or twice a week by bike (that's the max I can do because of family obligations-I trade off picking up my son with my wife so she can work out on the days I don't ride) and I take my clothes in the day before so I'm not lugging a 5-6 lb pack on my back.

Sometimes I try to sprint the distance if I'm feeling good to try to lower my time (of course, lights and traffic always seem to conspire against me). :D

I ride with SPD-SL, Dura-Ace 7800 pedals and Specialized shoes...full spandex kit of course. :D

To say nothing of nailing dogs with those boots :crash: I've tried riding with safety boots and felt they were too heavy and stiff. What kind do you use?

Indeed they are not the same thing. A platform pedal is technically a type of pedal designed specifically for use with toe clips. They are one-sided use only, with a platform on the toe clip side for the rider's shoe. Most high-performance pedals of the toe clip era were platform pedals. Nowadays, lots of people use the term to refer inaccurately to plain pedals, which are your basic pedals without toe clips, to the point that platform and plain pedals are now pretty much synonyms. In other words, they weren't the same thing, but now they are, so I guess you can keep calling them platform pedals if you want. :D

Um, anyway, I used toe clips while I commuted to my part-time job, and when cruising around campus. Now that I don't have that job and don't need to go more than a mile or so beyond my campus on a regular basis except by bus, my touring bike is at my parents's house, and I'm cruising around campus on my beater, with plain rattrap pedals. I love toe clips, and will soon be making the transition to clipless on my nice bike (thanks, max-a-mill!), but I actually prefer the plain pedals on campus, where I don't need to worry about getting in and out of clips every two minutes or so.

Same here. When I think of it -- and that's not often -- I leave my shoes and clothes at work the day before I ride. I only commute two days a week so far because of client calls that require the car, but I always change at work (Shimano Look-style pedals and cleats).

:)

I don't know. I rode with clips for many many years and switched to clipless a few years ago. It didn't take much to get used to them but I did fall over once due to my own stupidity by not clipping out early enough one time as I pulled to a stop in my own driveway. I think it's inevitable that you will fall over while clipped in.

clipless.....tried to use platforms with powergrips early last season and screwed up my left knee. Keep the dress shoes at work.

I do. They are more efficient and they keep your feet in the right place. Just don't get pure roadie clipless pedals. You probably need shoes you can walk short distances in. I use Shimano touring shoes most of the time and Lake 301 MTB shoes when it gets below 40F.

But if you haven't used them before, you will fall over at least once when wearing them because you forget to unclip as you approach a stop.

My pedals showed up today, so I just had to take them out for a test ride this evening. After getting familiar with them in the basement and doing a few clips in and out, I took off across town and didn't look back.

I did 13 miles in an hour of moving time and it felt great. I'm riding a retro-direct bike, so I do a lot of pedaling backwards. I've been running toe clips and straps on quill pedals for a while now and couldn't get a lot of power spinning backwards. I think the strongest part of my backwards spin is oulling up and back, because I was able to *easily* hop the front wheel all over the place coming out of stoplights by cranking backwards in my low gear. Best of all, I never had to worry about wiggling my shoes around to get them snugged back into the toe clips tightly again, and my problem of clipping my heels on the cranks and chainstays is gone now.

No problems getting clipped in and out whatsoever, so I guess my one requisite slow-motion fall is yet to come... :D I had allen wrenches in my pocket to adjust the cleat postitions and spring tension if need be, but I didn't need to make any adjustments.

This was also the first real test of my dual beam geeklight setup. Cars had no problem noticing me and giving me a wide berth when I clicked on the 50 watt flood. Now my rear blinkie seems inadequate; need to homebrew up something killer. I actually had two 12" red cold-cathode tubes mounted to the seat stays for a few days and tried them out once, but I fried something in the inverter after the first ride. Probably moisture-related, since it was snowing and slushy out that night.

I'm really looking forward to taking this bike to work this coming week to see how my commute time/speed changes with the new pedals.

I've discovered that a messenger bag works reasonbly well to keep my back cool. It hangs a little lower on the back.

I have a rack and trunk, but that's only on one of several bikes I commute with. The bag is easier than the trunk in my experience.

RFM

Oh, and in response to the initialy inquiry: Yes, I wear clipless on my commute. I keep shoes at the office and to a Mister Rogers.

RFM

Yup, clipless all the way! Keep all my clothes at the office and change. Speedplay pedals

m520's on bike, wear clipless all day.

I find the shoes comfortable

yep - imagine the answer to this all depends on the distance of the commute. For me 13 mi is enough to force this issue.

+1 on the Performance Campus Pedals. Even though I have the clipless available, I tend to wear tennis shoes and use the platform side. I have MTB shoes that I wear when it's really cold since tennis shoes don't fit inside the neoprene booties.

I suppose that I might get some cheap road type of spd shoes and clip in. I have 2+ mile climb on the way in and think that would help. I would wear the MTB shoes, but I hate the "rainbow puked on my shoes" look.

I think I saw a performance email this morning where they have road shoes on sale this week... Guess I gotta buy more bike stuff :)

I keep dress shoes at work, haul clothes daily, and shower and change when I get in [on company time no less]

clipless - 10 mile commute - wouldn't think of it without my atacs especially in London traffic

Word to ATACs....and I leave a pair of shoes at work, carry the rest in a big rock climbing bag. Lock stays on the bike rack at work.

I've always used toe clips until this weekend, when I tried "Power Grips." It's a pair of diagonal straps about an inch wide that hold your foot in place. I found them very comfortable, easy to use, cost-effective, and snug.

no--hiking style shoes for me.