sounds like a good time, right?

after way too many years on a bike (35+) i bought my first set of toe clips, and man i am so mad i waited this long. i love the damn things....took me about 20 seconds to get comfortable with them, and i could not be happier. dunno if they added any speed (damn sure feels like it tho), but just having my feet not all over the pedal is nice. don't have to break cadence and adjust every so often, depending on the shoe i am wearing. (i own no cycle-specific clothing)

thursday morning my origin8 space bar came in. i saw a set of those on the commuter pics thread, and they stuck in my mind. got it installed, and i love 'em!. semi-stache style bars? on-one mary clone? deformed north road? dunno....
still have to adjust the angle a bit more upward to even out the hand pressure, but i am really diggin what they do for comfort and a better ride. can really dig in and pull on 'em for sprints and hills. $23+shipping, cannot go wrong.

still unclear on the aliante carbon saddle. oddly, it feels better with the new additions, but not too sure how it feels vs. my specialized rival. still waiting on feedback from a few who have had great success with those thrones....we'll see.

all i have left to do is replace my fork, and some new feets with some vittorias, and i should be set for a looong time

pics when i can (hopefully, fork will be done soon enuff for that to be relavent )

Welcome to the future, Anaheim Flash.

Glad you have found comfort and excitement in bicycling hardware.

I have to ask, though, when you say that you are using "toe-clips", do you mean the old cage and strap toe clips or do you mean clipless pedals and bike specific shoes?

In either case, legend has it that you should see an increase in speed of about 3 miles per hour. You will really notice an improvement going up hill.

I'm the opposite. The bike I have now is the first one that I've owned (except for when I was a young kid), that didn't have toe clips. I'm waiting to find "Power Grips".

Welcome to the future, Anaheim Flash.

Glad you have found comfort and excitement in bicycling hardware.

I have to ask, though, when you say that you are using "toe-clips", do you mean the old cage and strap toe clips or do you mean clipless pedals and bike specific shoes?

In either case, legend has it that you should see an increase in speed of about 3 miles per hour. You will really notice an improvement going up hill.

no, cages and straps. i have no cycling specific clothing or shoes. i am car free, and unwilling to change clothes or shoes for work, shopping, or just generally running around.

You said toe clips and you meant toe clips. That's refreshing. Lots of people are confused by pedal nomenclature.

Do you ever go cycling just to go cycling, and not as transportation? "Going on a bike ride" might be a good time for cycling-specific clothing/shoes. As opposed to "Riding to work" or "Riding to the grocery."

Cool. Glad to know you are car-free.

I too like the flexibility of the old-school toe clips (cages) with straps. I like the fact I can wear a $10.00 pair of Walmart junk shoes or my best leather dress shoes.

Happy pedaling.

I'll be a counterpoint to the OP. I just spent two weeks trying to get happy with toe clips and finally switched out the pedals for BMX-style platforms. Shoe selection with toe clips is like color selection with the Model T... you can wear any shoes you want, as long as they fit in the cages and actually grip the pedal. Power Grips are supposedly even worse. I have Speedplay Zeros on my road bike and would love some eggbeaters on my commuter, but have a cash flow constraint.

Personally if I can't do clipless I'd rather just ride platforms with no retention.

i like some of the bmx-style pedals, but they were way more than the ones that i bought.

Most of my bikes still have clips and straps... I ride the fg bikes a lot so these are essential and although I could use one of many pairs of spd's I have (that re gathering dust) I prefer these with nice pedals.

My mtb and touring bike have half and half pedals so I have the option to go clipless or wear other foot wear.

Most of my bikes still have clips and straps... I ride the fg bikes a lot so these are essential and although I could use one of many pairs of spd's I have (that re gathering dust) I prefer these with nice pedals.

My mtb and touring bike have half and half pedals so I have the option to go clipless or wear other foot wear.

Clips/straps with cage-style pedals on my MTB commuter. Clipless on my road bike. Happy with both.

The OP is to be congratulated for being on the cutting edge of early-to-mid-twentieth century cycling technology!

I recently took off my Toe Clips on my pedals and am trying to decide if I want to put them back on.

Without toe clips, I have to monitor my position of my foot on the pedal and it does slide around a good bit. So that is annoying

But with toe clips, I am constantly struggling to get my foot into the clip whenever I have to come to stop (have to take my foot out so I don't fall). This is very frustrating to me since I ride in traffic a lot, etc. Lots of times I find that I can't get my foot into the clip in time, and traffic is behind me, so I just have to start pedaling on the back of the pedal (Usually I keep one foot in the clip when stopped).

Hmmm, I must have got a defective pair, I don't notice near that much difference

I never liked toe clips. Power Grips were an improvement over those. Clipless has different pros and cons but overall I prefer them to Power Grips or clips.

Plain old platform works pretty well if performance isn't a big deal to you and hill climbing isn't a major part of your life.

It's good to have choices.

well, i still use the space bar and clips, but have not changed the fork yet. the aliante went on my daughters bike, as her saddle was terrible and i wanted to make sure she was set. she loves it. i am still on the rival, and still fighting with it. the fit of this frame has always been kinda odd at best, and am thinking of a new ride tomorrow, something better fitted (i hope, anyway)

Ummm.... You do realize we're all riding bicycles, right?

That is the direction I'm about to go, mostly for winter. I love my SPD sandals for summer. I think the hot days are about gone and now I'm gearing up for cooler weather. I'm thinking Power Grips for some oversized boots or clips and straps.

By the way anaheim flash, perfectly understandable why one would wait so long. I don't like carrying extra stuff (like shoes) to work any more. Although there is a huge difference between no clips/straps and clips/straps or cleats, the convenience of just hopping off the bike when I get to work sure is nice.

Jerry H

I recently put a Soma Fab "Clarence" handlebar on one of my bikes and really like it. It's another Mary bar clone, I think it's slightly wider than the Mary/Space bar. The bike came with riser bars and I had been getting pain in the meaty part of my hands when riding farther than 4 miles. I did a 29 mile ride with the Clarence bars and it was quite tolerable. Ergon grips are next on the list for that bike.

There's plenty of inexpensive BMX platform pedals out there under $20

Cutting-edge 19th century technology, I guess.

I am thinking of changing out my Power Grips for toe clips and straps. I actually haven't decided yet. My bike is about half old school/ vintage gear anyway.

I like my toe clips.

I've used both and I can't say that I liked toe clips very much. I found PowerGrips easier to get my feet into and less annoying when I couldn't.

If you're after a vintage look though, nice shiny metal toe clips are definitely better than Power Grips.

Lots of MTB clipless shoes look just like normal shoes, and are comfortable like normal shoes. There shouldn't be a problem if you ever consider going clipless.

Cages were a great transition for me to clipless. When I switched to cages I felt the same way you did, and when I switched to clipless it was the same thing, but magnified. YMMV, but it's worth checking out for longer rides.

Have the cages changed your foot placement much?