Lately I've been digging the platform pedals with a fixed drivetrain. It seems to be the best of both worlds. I can wear my "normal" shoes and still enjoy the speed mod. benefit of the fixed gear.

Thanks to this thread I bought a pair of powergrips this weekend and used it on my commuter this morning. It does make a big difference. My feet used to lose contact with my flats when the road is bumpy and I have to keep readjusting my foot position on the pedals to save my knees. Now, I no longer have to do any of that except maybe for the initial slide into the grips. Thanks everyone for this excellent thread. :D

I have had power grips on an old hybrid. I liked them.

I use platforms all the time and like them well enough. Perhaps one day when I get a road bike I'll try the new fangled pedals, but I enjoy my rides (which are all less than an hour anyhow) just fine the way they are.

The limitation of my platforms is slipping at high cadence. I lose grip when I try to pump it up above 85 rpm or so for anything over a couple of minutes. I tend to go btw 65 and 75. I know that's not optimal, but I just can't get going for long in a nice cadence above that. I brought it up in case others have different experience--do you regularly crank at higher rpm with platforms? Any secrets to share?:D

Just wondering, are you using the platform pedals that were stock on your Breezer?

Yes.

I think that might be your problem. I really disliked those pedals and slipped anytime a drop of rain fell from the sky. I even slipped in good weather. The teeth on the MKS sylvan tourings I replaced them with has made all the difference, even without the PowerGrips.

^+1

theDave...I came upon this wack methodology during my Fixt commupance.
Can you imagine an old Bio-Pace chainring from the early 80's ? Painful, but try :roflmao:
I tilt my feet at about a 47 degree angle and spin in ovals. The power/downstroke starting
at 2 o'clock sort of 'pulling all the way to the 7'oclock are where the opposite foot picks
up again with a down stroke. After a while it becomes very mechanical and smooth.
Did that make any sense at all ? :rolleyes:
Using the circular/ oval method with pinned BMX pedals I can flat out haul on a bike that
gets laffed at about twice a week :D

I'm the techno-type, being an engineer and all, yet I will never, ever, get out a protractor to measure my foot angle on my pedal stroke. :eek:

Besides that, I don't get the rest of your message either, despite the fact that I speak fluent English and I've been posting here for two years.:eek: :p :eek: :rolleyes: Funny! No offense, mind you, it's just not sinking in.

:lol: that's precise dude

Doc says it is a nerve I've aggravated, in between my outer toes (actually the 2nd and 3rd toes). Since it's healing she recommended some toe stretches, and a small pad to put in my shoe to get some pressure off the affected area. She said I can ride clipless as long as the pain doesn't return...

The wonderful suggestions in this thread led me to pickup some MKS touring pedals and Powergrips. I got the XL straps fearing my size 12s would be too much for the normal length straps. As another poster noted earlier, I probably should have got the regular straps. I have the XLs at the tightest setting, and I could still probably punch an extra hole or two. I've put these on the Breezer for now, and I really enjoy it. It's a little loose for some of my shoes, but fits the wider ones pretty well... time to drill some holes and try to tighten them up.

As soon as I can get the straps a little tighter, I'll give this setup a try on my fixed gear commuter. I also have some XL toeclips on the way, going to give those a shot and compare the different platform options. I really hope I can move over to some of platform pedals for my daily city bikes and leave the clipless on my weekend warriors.

I have never clipped in, I ride fixed, geared, everything. I'm still waiting for a good reason why I should clip in. I saw a mate of mine go flying ass over off road while still clipped in and it wasn't pretty. I ride an easy gear fixed and don't skid much but I don't see what the fuss is 'you must ride clipped while riding fixed...'. I commute to work in the shoes I wear into the office so platforms help there too.

thanks again for the tip. Maybe I only need normal size now. Crap, this sux. I wish I could find a shop here that sells them so I could check them out. Oh well, I'll just have to suck it and see.

and you don't have to wear those pixie shoes and click-clack everywhere and walk like you have a frozen chicken stuck up the proverbial.

pixie shoes :lol:

I like my pixie shoes. Yummy sidis.
It helps that I rarely walk around. Heck, I'm thinking of replacing my MTB shoes.

I don't think it's a coincidence that the biggest supporters of platform pedals in this thread have never tried clipless.

I only use my pixie shoes on my road bikes when I don't plan on walking. If I'll be walking, I take my fix with MTB pedals. The MTB shoes are not obviously bike shoes at all, and don't click much. Sometimes I wear them all day.

I couldn't agree more.

I just don't get why what I do doesn't work. I guess I have a shorter commute than most--6.5 miles, but even if it was a bit further--why bother? I want my half hour of exercise. Shortening it doesn't help. I feel safe and comfy as is and I have no pixie shoes to mess with. :D (I like the pixie shoe comment.)

I think you're right. I haven't.

After riding clipless exclusively for the last 4 years, I decided to give power grips and platforms a try. I really wanted to like it, but I just didn't. Even when I twisted my foot into the grips as tight as I could, my foot still lifted off the pedal a bit on a hard upstroke. I don't know how anybody rides brakeless with them, they feel way less secure than clipless to me. They are also a pain to get into, where clipless has become second nature to me. I'm glad so many people are happy with them, but its clipless all the way for me.

I was the same way with Powergrips. I'd been with eggbeaters for about 2 years - I wanted to be able to ride with regular shoes though and I really really hoped I could make the switch. I could never get comfortably happy with the Powergrips though unfortunately. They were kinda secure I guess, but I didn't notice any kind of pull up benefit.

Just this last week though, I think I've managed to make the switch back to bare platforms which is kinda weird I guess considering my experiments with the Powergrips. I had always enjoyed clipless primarily because of the hills but also because of the "attached" feeling.

Honestly, with platform pedals with studs I don't feel insecure at all. I think it might be an issue with a slick shoe in the rain or something like that, but in the dry it really feels surprisingly great after readjusting to the different feel. I missed pulling up on hills for a couple days, but I don't even notice it now. I haven't noticed a drop in speed either, but maybe I'm trying harder to justify the pedals.

One of the big things that made me want to switch, other than being able to use any shoes, was that I kept reading that even "trained" professional cyclists barely pulled up a noticeable amount. I figure I'm not pulling up for ****, even if it sometimes kinda feels that way.

toe & heel
 

Tell your father in-law to stop toe & heeling. It's an orthopedic injury waiting to happen. (I read that somewhere.)

Caged or quill pedals are not platform pedals; I have Performance Campus pedals on my 'bent and I use the SPD side almost all the time but occasionally use the plain cage side to ride in sneakers. I also put Campus pedals on my singlespeed hybrid that get ridden short distances and use the plain caged side most of the time.
I used Power Grips for a year or two (with caged pedals) as a transition from toe clips (on a variety of traditional platform and caged pedals). Using Power Grips or toe clips would be a step backwards.

I went from spd/platform (same pedal) to MKS touring pedals. I could never get the spd's dialed in where my knees did not hurt or my feet had issues w/numbness, hot spots etc. I went through 3 pairs of shoes and one pair of sandals, adjusted my saddle up down back & forth etc.

The thing I noticed on the first ride with the platforms was how much I moved my foot around while riding. I was always moving my foot for and aft and in and out. I am not a performace oriented rider and average 13-14mph on my commute (30m RT). I can say that I have had not comfort issues of any kind since switching over to platforms. I do miss the feeling of security of being attached to the bike, especially in the the big rainstorn I rode through last week. That said, I just slowed down a bit and was able to pedal with no problems. YMMV