On my IGH commuter I have platform/SPD Wellgo's from Performance, they have worked well for 3 years and survived several cage-bending pedal strikes, some report they don't last but that has not been my experience:
https://www.performancebike.com/bikes...1586500_400916

I have the Shimano M324, similar to the Wellgos only much better quality, I would buy them instead of the Wellgos today (and I did when I needed a set for my Pugsley).

Advantage of the platform/SPD pedals is there's always a surface to put one's foot on, not the case with toe-clips or single sided road pedals. I also like them for when I don't have my SPD shoes/sandals on and want to take a quick ride to lunch or run an errand.

I also have a set of A520's on my road bike, they are like having old fashion toe-clips, one has to be good a flipping the pedal to the correct side, it can be distracting on the street.

What frame is this? Got a full size pic? Cant tell if this is the case, but it looks like you're running a normal rack, disk brakes and FFF says some flavor of Surly so its steel. Doesnt look like a 29er though, if it was, it'd be my ideal setup.

It's the Surly Troll set up as a 29er (I have the 700c Mavic Speedcitys with road tires, so technically it's a 29er). The frame is actually designed for 26" wheels, so sorry to get your hopes up. It is documented here with lots of pics: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ht=surly+troll

I'll take a look, thanks.

I'm new to a lot of this and still trying to figure stuff out so I have a noob question. Can you tell me more about touring shoes? I hear a lot about MB or road shoes, but this is the first reference to touring shoes I've seen. I'd like to know more.

You know what? I ride a touring bike for long distance commuting and own regular clipless biking shoes. But I swapped out the road metal clamps for the mountain biking ones and couldn't be happier. Road clips require you to twist your foot a particular way when dismounting. Who needs this headache? I certainly don't... particularly if I'm riding in the city. Mountain bike road clamps release from the pedal whether you twist in our out. When I'm in downtown traffic, often I just want to get out of it -- RIGHT EFFING NOW! I'm sure there is a good reason some smug biker out there has as to why road bike shoes are this way -- undoubtedly it has to do with some historical spin or something that originated for racing -- but I don't give a rip. Gawd. Look at me babble. Anyway, get the more jagged pedals for the simple reason that the smoother ones -- the ones I stupidly purchased because I thought they were more elegant and better -- greatly hold your foot to the pedal much better when it gets wet.

I like the Time ATAC pedals. They also have a set that has clipless on one side or regular on the other. The problem with all of these is that they are heavy.

So, I have these - winwood decksters:
https://www.amazon.com/Winwood-Deckst...owViewpoints=1

They work great. What they are is a platform that accepts an spd style cleat on the bottom. Mount the cleat to them and then pop them into the clipless pedal. It takes some work to twist them out (it won't happen accidentally in my experience) and if you want them to be really tight (if your pedals allow it) just crank the release force up. I've even used these for mountain biking (non technical) and they worked fine.

So when you want to use street shoes, just snap them in. Here's a good review of them that matches my experience.

https://nuxx.net/blog/2009/04/06/winwood-decksters/



J.

I like smartys for dual sided entry and a sudo platform for reguar shoes.

I've wasted my money buying these, and there is *no way* you did any sort of real mountain biking on them. They constantly squirm under my foot, and while they never came off on a half hour ride I felt like they would if I actually put full power on them.

The double sided clipless with the platform around the clipless part aren't great for longer riding, but even those are better than the above than the decksters in my experience.

+1

I have them on two bikes. Although on one of the bikes, one of the pedals, with only 4,000 miles on it, is squeaking and when I get some time I will be relubing the pedal - this seems early for that.

Absolutely did. Not terribly technical (pretty straightforward stuff) but it was just fine. Maybe you didn't have then set up right? You have to make sure you use the appropriate parts (there's a block you have to add for certain pedals). Never had them release.

J.

530's.

One day I'd left my spd shoes at work. Rode in with casual shoes. Sucked, but worked. Didn't mind the flats at all, just would rather have been clipped in. Better grip would have been appreciated.

530s are lighter than 324s. Gonna guess the 530s are better, lower-profile in a pedal on the inside down while turning situation.

Was commuting on Speedplay Frogs. Liked them well enough, but spds are more universal and provide more than enough float. For me.

if you already have spd compatible pedals, you can just use an adapter instead of getting new pedals.

M324s for years of commuting and touring, and they've worked great or me. After a while I got used to which way the pedal sank a light, and the 'hunting' wasn't a problem. YMMV.

I often wear regular shoes on that bike, so a flip-flop pedal was essential. (Well, I could have done what fiets suggests, but the M324 fit the bill.)

I'm as sure as I can be that I had them set up right. They're almost possible to remove by hand. I didn't actually have them come off, they just squirm once you put any real pressure on them. Also:
- The surface of the platform is slick, where on a decent platform pedal it's grippy
- Unless perhaps if you buy 2 of them, they're only on one side of the pedal and since they're heavier than the unweighted side, once you take your foot off the pedal they end up on the underside of the pedal

I have the 2nd pair. They work great, no complaints.

Just weren't a problem for me. I like them and recommend them. I found them to work well and they exceeded my expectations.

J.

As I said, I found them clearly worse than riding a 2 sided pedal with a large platform, which also isn't great but worked better in every way.

Should we go through this another few times just to make sure?

J.

I recently purchased the black Shimano PD-A530. Love them!

https://www.amazon.com/Shimano-PD-A53...6703287&sr=8-1

+1.