I can't give advice on proper technique, so I'll advise a different system altogether instead.

I bought my CL bike with the original Shimano 600 strapped pedals, and I hated them. First thing I did was swap them out for the SPD clipless pedals. I can ride with regular shoes on the platform side, or use my clipless shoes on the other. Easy to clip in and out, it's becoming second nature now.

It cost me $190 for the pedals and shoes, so it's definitely not as thrifty as learning to use what you've got, but it works for me.

I skip the straps and go one better by hack-sawing off the upper part, so I keep only the part that goes around my toe

Just to update on my progress, I did practise using these strappy pedals in the garage. Got the hang of it after about 15mins of !@#^&%) <BEEP!>. Stupidly I practised it with a different pair of shoes that I would've used when biking. So when I decided to try it on the street, my riding shoes were bit bigger. So more $#%*(^ <BEEP!> :mad: later, I managed to go riding with it. And I did fall one time because my chain dropped off the chainring and I lost momentum. Unable to unstrap quick enough. Looked like an idiot. Luckily I was in a empty park except for a girl and her dog. :innocent:

Anyhow, got it in again and decided to go for a real ride to forget about the whole experience. Hmm... maybe I am still not used to it, but I find that the placement of my foot in the pedal cage is different from regular pedals. In the past, my foot rests in the middle section of the pedal. But now with this one, on my front half of my foot is on the pedal. Am i using it right? Well I managed to ride for about 20km without issues though.

I have power grip too. I love em on my commuter.

the ball of your foot is what should be making contact with the pedal not the arch of the foot

Yup, what rumrunn6 said. You'd lose efficiency by pedaling with the arch of your foot (even worse if you tried to pedal with the heel).

Have pedals that are made for them( have a tang at the back), leave the straps loose, and the most important....practice.

You should be on the ball of your foot.

Clips come in different sizes.

You can fine tune them by moving them a bit by moving them from the outside to the inside of the pedal.

Just my $.02 but I always vary what foot I clip/unclip (whether or not I use clipless or clips) because if I need to get out of them in a hurry I want to be able to do so with either foot.

Next time you are at your LBS, check out the position of a clipless pedal and the shoe. Those are ideal placement. Aim for those placement give or take a few cm with toe clip. YMMV but that seem to work best for me for maximizing my efforts.

If you have large feet and want them forward, you can insert spacers (rubber or plastic) between the front of the pedal and the clip. In an emergency you can get your feet out by pulling your foot hard up and back, without loosening the strap.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/pedals.html
The MKS-GR9 pedals and the ones shown below have the tab at the back which helps to flick the pedal up so you can slide your foot easily into the clip.

I've gone clipless but, I rode straps and toe clips for years. I don't use them as much for efficiency, as much as I like being able to "pull" the pedal up at a stop light or sign to a "push off" position. One toe clip with no strap would be enough for what I want.

The Pedals cages/ straps do come in various sizes, I just put some MKS XL's on my Schwinn Traveler, my size 12 shoes like it much better...

Can you control the bike well at low speed using platform pedals?

Toe clips work best when you consider the whole system of pedal/clip/strap/shoe. You dont need to use cycling shoes but you need a shoe-pedal combo that gives the right amount of grip, not too much or too little.
Toe-clip cycling shoes used to have a slotted cleat that you attatched to the sole; this slotted into the lip of the pedal. Aligning the cleat was a bit tricky and you stayed stuck in the pedals. Some Shimano leisure shoes come with a series of slots moulded intot he rubber. These are not aligned and are bad news for toe clip users.
I prefer metal clips to plastic, I can bend them out for boots.
Leather straps hold their shape better than Nylon ones. Thread them correctly with a turn inside the cage to prevent slippage.
I never cinch them tight. With lose straps yu get a huge improvement in efficiency over plain platforms but not as much as with clipless. If you need more efficiency, it is safer to use clipless than tight toe clips.

I'm definitely going to try this. a quick test on my bike makes it look like the hacksawed toeclip wouldn't scrape against the ground even when the pedal is "upside down". is that your experience rumrunn6?

Just point your toe down, tap on the edge of the pedal with the ball of your foot, then pull foot back a bit to rotate pedal back up, then wiggle your foot into place, then grab the strap and pull tight. Dunno if that makes much sense, but that's the best way I can describe it.

I route my straps with a twist in between the inner and outer pedal slots to help keep the strap pulling through the pedal and winding up with the buckle right up next to the toe clip. I love the little plastic strap ends especially with winter gloves on. I hope they still make 'em cuz I just broke one of mine.

mtalinm - pretty much. when you cut off most of the clip there is less to scrape on the ground. however that's not my motivation for doing so. I have one bike where I didn't cut the clip but rather just use them without a strap. those still scrap until i get my foot in place but usually that's less than a single rotation. I'm pretty good at flipping that pedal around and getting the foot into place. especially in traffic! :-)

Uh, no. You won't. There's nothing wrong with pedaling with your arches, and if it's what you prefer, you should stick with it. Having the pedal closer to the front of the foot makes it easier to pedal at high cadences, having the pedal under your arch tends to make it easier to put down more torque. That's really it, and it's relevant for roadies and road racers, not so much for commuters unless they are also roadies or bike racers. Even on my racing bike, I tend to slam the cleats back as far as they will go on my shoes to get a position somewhere behind the ball of my foot, but ahead of my arches. Works for me.

aha. well I wish I would have tried this just w/o the strap first instead of cutting it - I don't feel any lift in the toe at all, it's as if the clip isn't even there. I'll probably just take it off but let me try it a few more miles.

well actually it's pretty good when there's a full toeclip on the other pedal. the half-clip helps me at least keep my foot placed properly

I like my toe clips, they do seem to increase my pedaling efficiency. I sometimes have a bit of a problem getting into it after a stop. It's just a matter of practice, I imagine.

One thing I've noticed is a difficulty getting my foot out in an emergency situation. It caused a spill which resulted in a nasty bruise. Sort of a "right of passage'?

I fell over too b/c I couldn't get my feet out quickly enough. I never really got the hang of it despite weeks of practice. now I roll with a toeclip+strap on one pedal and a "sawed off" toeclip and no strap on the other. see rumrunn6's post above for a picture. this works pretty well for me; I just leave one foot in the toeclip+strap all the time and put the other on the ground when I need to stop.

I'm not sure how much benefit there is in the sawed-off toeclip though; I may remove it. maybe stiffer toeclips work better than way

I use a similar movement as releasing from clipless. Twist your heel out as you pull your foot out. This helps if you have lugged soles as the lugs won't hang on the pedals as much.

Originally shoes designed for toe straps had a cleat on the bottom of the shoe with a grove that allowed the pedal cage to slip into so that your foot would not slide out if the the strap was a bit loose. To get your foot out you had to lift your foot up then slide your foot out. You can also cinch down the strap for more security like when climbing, but for normal riding you don't need to cinch down the strap so tight that you can't get your foot out. Regardless you should never ever have to cinch the strap so tight it cuts circulation off to your feet unless your track racing then your not in the pedals long enough for that to be a concern.

AndrewP is correct, the strap needs to point upward so that it's easier to grab the strap and tighten it, then to get out just hit the roller tab upward and pressure is released from the strap. Also leather straps work better because they are stiffer and will stick up whereas nylon straps just flop down make it more difficult to grab the strap quickly.

What is a good stiff shoe to use with toe clips?

I use a hiking shoe ~ looks like an MTB shoe. MTB shoes are supposed to be good. But that's the beauty of clips - you can use sandals to boots and everything in between, even rubber overboots for the wet months