I have a set of the Forte Campus and a set of the Shimano 324, SPD/platform pedals. I use them on my commuter bikes, it's 6~10 miles to work, SPD shoes work great for the longer ride. Then maybe at lunch I want a sandwich from a shop that's about a mile away, I don't change shoes. SPD surfaces aren't good for shoes, too dangerous for riding in traffic. I learned to ride many years ago and raced/trained with toe-clips so flipping a loose pedal is natural for me. It's as if my feet have little computers in them....

I see the Shimano 324s on-line for ~20% more than the Forte Campus, I'd get the Shimanos. OTOH, lots of people told the the Fortes would never last. I've hit curbs, bent the cages and bent them back with a hammer on anvil, yet the Fortes just keep on going.

My bikerides are never as simple as "hopping onto a bike".
If I can put on a helmet, I can kick off my shoes and pull on my bike sandals.
Likely there is also checking the tire air pressure, making sure I have my wallet/cellphone, keys all in the saddlebag.
For utility trips there is also the key/cable/lock.
etc...

Snug bike shoes sound problemmatic on cold days or for rides > 30 miles.

my forte campus pedals are weighted such that the pedal hangs vertically, so neither side of the pedal is ever up. my feet just know to tip the pedal forward or backward depending on the footwear i'm wearing. it really isn't a difficult, challenging, or thought-inducing maneuver; after 4 years of riding them, it just "happens".




but why would i want the clumsy solution of trying to ride a regular shoe on a SPD cleat when there are already several manufacturers who have brilliantly solved the footwear flexibility problem by making dual sided SPD/platform pedals? they work wonderfully well for me, why should i be trying to fix something that ain't broken?

Not true. Both my single sided road pedals and my platform/spd pedals hang the same way, - edge down, clipless mechanism facing the rear. Knowing that, it's pretty easy to clip in consistently without looking down. Do I get it 100% of the time? No. But I didn't clip in the first try every time with dual sided pedals either.

Yes you can ride on SPDs with regular shoes. You can also use any shoe with just a spindle. It's not how I like to ride however. Nevertheless, I can totally see how for some folks using cleated shoes 100% of the time works just fine. It's not a great solution for me so I like the idea of having a platform side even if my clip-in rate goes down from 95% to 92% on the first attempt (if it goes down at all).

I have the Shimano A530's on my commuter bike (the bike in my stable that gets the most consistent use, and most miles). I use the SPD side most of the time when commuting, which for me is 16 miles round trip per day, and tend to use the platform side when riding down the street to buy a tub of ice cream or such.

Either side of the pedal works with either cleats or street shoes, and it is not a big deal to flip the pedal over after you are moving, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

I do wish that they made a double sided pedal which had sealed bearings in it, I find that I end up cleaning and re-lubing the A530s about every 5,000 miles, which isn't terrible, but they could be better. No reason they couldn't make a pedal which lasts as long as a Chris King Headset or a Phil Wood bottom bracket between services.

+1

I find the Times to be a better ride. More stable.

Starting doesn't take any longer than with platform pedals once you have enough practice and either double sided pedals or properly weighted single sided pedals that rotate freely (single sided pedals that hang in odd directions take a hair longer for you to flip them around with your toe).

You stop in a reasonable gear with your clipped in foot in front and when re-starting stick the front of the cleat into the pedal and step down as it goes by.

It takes less than half a crank rotation.

When you put your foot on the pedal 'one side' if the pedal is up. Which side depends on a number of factors but always having the proper side for the shoe that you happen to be wearing is impossible if you wear two different kind of shoes. You have to flip the pedal depending on what shoes you are wearing and how the pedal is hanging.

I've seen, and tried, the combo pedals. I don't buy the argument that the pedals hang vertically. If your pedal is properly adjusted, i.e. has free spinning bearings, the heavy side will always be down. That heavy side is the one with the SPD clip. Just like old toeclips, it's going to be the one on the bottom of the pedal that will necessitate flipping the pedal.

Symmetrically sided SPD pedals, on the other hand, do always have the proper side up because there are two proper sides.

You find it a brilliant solution and I find it to be an unnecessary compromise. Like nkfrench said riding a bike isn't just a hop on it and ride sort of thing. If I'm running errands on the bike, I have to carry a whole bunch of other stuff too so changing shoes isn't all that onerous. Carrying around a pedal that is futzy and I have to flip to get to the proper side that I might use in 1 out of 100 rides just isn't as useful as having a pedal that engages if I happen to put my foot on it. I did the toeclip thing for many, many years. Asymmetrical pedals is going backwards.

I hop on my bike all the time to ride to a buddy's house and watch my Bears, might stop at the store on the way over for provisions. Sometimes I hop on my bike and get groceries or a haircut, or get something from the hardware store, etc. All of this is within a mile of my house so I don't have a spare tube/tools/pump. If anything happens, I'll just walk home (or call home for a ride). Year round.

I've been riding SPDs with street shoes for about a year now. I just somehow got too lazy to switch into cycling shoes, and I didn't have any other pedals to swap them for. Now I am used to it and don't even notice.

you sure do enjoy blathering on, yet you seem to have difficulty answering very simple questions. so once again i ask:

dual-sided SPD/platform pedals work wonderfully well FOR ME; why should i fix something that ain't broken FOR ME?

I like double-sided SPDs with cycling shoes that have rubber in the arch. You can pedal through an intersection without clipping in, and not worry about slipping off the pedal. I do this on my road and commuter bike.

I also like regular platform pedals with toe-clips. If you want to wear regular shoes, that is the way to go. You can always tighten them on longer road rides. I do this on my treking/grocery bike (when I need to haul more than 30 lbs of stuff.

Combo pedals don't hang exactly vertically, at least none I've encountered. But combo pedals also don't all hang horizontally with the clipless side exactly upside down, which is what you seem to suggest.

On my modest Nashbar Rodeo combo pedals, while it is true that the clipless side is heavier than the rat trap side, it is also true that the back of the clipless mechanism, where the spring resides, is heavier than the front of the clipless mechanism. As a result, the pedal hangs at an angle. The back of the clipless side points down and forward, toward the bottom of the front wheel. The back of the rat trap side points up and back, toward the top of the rear wheel. It's closer to being vertical than horizontal, with the clipless side behind and rat trap side in front -- but enough off vertical to make them easy to use.

To ride with street shoes, you just put the middle part of your shoe on top of the back of the rat trap side that's up top, and move your foot slightly down and back, stepping onto the platform. To ride clipless, you put the toe of your foot under the back of the rat trap side that's up, and kick slightly forward and up (much as you would with a classic Look road pedal); the front of the cleat engages as the pedal rotates forward, and as it comes level the back of the cleat snaps right in.

Maybe you looked at some combo pedal with a clipless design whose mass is more symmetrical front-to-back. Such a pedal truly might hang level/horizontal with the clipless side down. It looks like the Shimano PDM324 combos have a more "balanced" design than my pedals, which might lead to the problem you described -- though David says his are fine. But my Nashbar combo pedals hang at an angle that's fairly close to the angle my old pedals with toe clips hang at, so all my pre-clipless muscle memory for flipping the pedal up serves me well for the Rodeo combos. With street shoes, they're easier than classic toe clips because you don't have to worry about keeping your foot far enough back to go under the strap or scooting your foot forward once the pedal has been flipped. You just step and go. The clipless side also works better than some double-sided pedals because the pedal hangs at a predictable angle. Some double-sided mountain pedals I've used have been light enough to not always lie horizontal, and with those tiny cleats (compared to Look and Time road systems), engaging double-sided mountain pedals sometimes means mashing down & twisting your foot around until the cleat engages. For cornering clearance, I'd never put combo pedals on a MTB, and double-sided clipless is hands-down better than clips & straps for MTB use, but double-sided MTB pedals aren't perfect. Surely that's a big reason eggbeaters have become more popular.

You've complained in this thread about using toe clipped-pedals, so I think it may just be that you never got the hang of pedal-flipping. Maybe some people never do/did. But for some of us, flipping the pedal up is no big deal. If you always hated flipping pedals with toe clips and were never good at it, then, yeah, I think it's likely you won't like combos (though maybe you'll think the versatility is worth it). If you never had a problem entering toe clips, then you have nothing to worry about with a well-designed combo pedal.

-Peter

My self I went with the best Shimano XTR mtb pedals to start off with that was over two years ago and I have never look back and never had a problem either.

The heavy side on a combo pedal (at least mine) is the edge of the pedal that has the spring loaded mechanism:



The pictures are a little disorienting since the bikes themselves are hanging vertically from my garage ceiling by their rear wheels. The silver bike is one I'm building up for winter and has A530 pedals on it. The blue bike is my road bike. It has single sided pedals which also hang mostly vertical (but tipped back a bit).





I have no idea which combo pedals you've tried, but these actually work pretty well. It also took a break-in period for them to consistently hang like this.

There you have it SOME people like spd/platform and SOME people like spd/spd. I guess you'll have to figure out what works for YOU

I have a pair of ancient Shimano M505 pedals on my bike. They've seen duty on four different bikes, and I've owned them for over 7 years. In that time, I've never had to adjust them once, but they still work perfectly. The only issue about them is they are a little on the heavy side, but I'm not a weight weenie so I don't care. I'd definitely go with SPD again if I ever have to replace them - but I'd probably buy a pair of the double-sided pedals so I could ride my bike wearing regular shoes if I really wanted to.

I have the double, SPD on one side and platform on the other. I have never had any issues with it. The cycling shoes I use are the Shimano MTB boots, they don't care which side the pedal lands on. When I am wearing my Sperry Topsider, if the pedal winds up on the SPD side they can handle it until I get a moment to flip the pedal.

Yeah, it is true, sacrilege, I don't wear Lycra every time I get on a bike, I might have on 511s or Dockers/slacks and Sperries and a nice cotton shirt. Commuting is not exercise, it is transportation.

Now, when I ride for fitness and use real cycling shoes, I would as soon not have SPD at all, I like the Time or Shimano with the larger mechanism.

I found the post informative and not blathering. If it works FOR YOU, I'm happy for you. But I am NOT YOU and appreciate what other people have to say.

And for some topic related content.... I have double sized SPDs and commute on roads with cars. At lights I leave one foot clipped in. 95% of the time, the second foot is clipped in half a rotation. If you don't want to unclip, learn to trackstand :-)

Sounded like blathering to me also. The double side platforms are great, love them, bought a spare set. My wife loves hers and my niece loves hers on her campus bike. Probably not the best thing for The Tour but I am not racing, just riding to the store. Weight, who cares, most people would do better worrying about the weight on their bellies and aXX than their pedals.

I often find myself in agreement with cyccommute and I don't think I'd describe his post as blathering but I can also understand Steely Dan's reaction. If someone is insisting that something must be a certain way, when you know for a fact it isn't, it get's a bit frustrating.

I've really underestimated the degree to which pedal flipping has become automatic for me! I went to take a pic of the Nashbar pedals and noticed that while they hang as I described, my old-school toe clip pedals hang perfectly upside down. I must flip those platforms at least a dozen times a day (my current commuter has toe clips & straps), yet it doesn't seem like a big deal. No wonder I don't remember having any trouble with these combos -- as you can see, they're far from horizontal, and clearly easier to deal with than cyccommute suggests.

lol. I guess you just like to rant.

And now for something completely different. I'm a 20 year commuter. I used clipless for a few years then switched back to platforms and have absolutely no regrets. So much simpler and easier and no loss of function or speed. Unless you're racing, most of the supposed benefits of clipless are imaginary. Yet it's like a religion where people have strong beliefs and will burn you for heresy if you question the dogma.

Or, unless their experience has been different than yours and they WOULD lose some function and/or speed by switching to platforms.

For me personally I have not seen the huge gains that some people have said they've achieved by going clipless. In my case the performance improvements are more situational, but I have found that I do like being clipped in. I feel I have more control of the bike, - like it's more an extension of me rather than something I'm riding on.

That being said, I ride on platforms about 30% of the time. They have their advantages too.