MTB shoes have been great for me. The soles are stiff so you don't get the fatigue in the foot and calf. I buy them either off eBay or on sale somewhere, I'm on my 2nd pair both cost < $40. The first pair (Shimano) lasted about 18,000 miles. The 2nd pair (Sette) are at 10,000 miles and appear to be in better shape than the Shimanos did at that age.

They are not light weight.

You can find mtb sport shoes that have a stiff sole. They have a piece on the sole that can be removed for spd's or left on for platform/ toe clip riding. Also they make spd pedals with a wider platform, shimano and eggbeaters make some. Good for when you have size 15 shoes :eek: .

I like Adidas Sambas. I use them now with a true platform (no clip at all), but they're also good for toe-clips because they're pretty low profile. (I have a 12 mile each way commute, which isn't 40 k each way, but still reasonably substantial.)

I have Shimano double-sided pedals. I ride with MTB shoes using the spd cleats 90+% of the time, but when I'm in heavy start n stop traffic, I'll ride the flats until the road opens up. I also ride the flats in street shoes for short errands or quick pleasure rides with the family, etc. If you do this, try to train yourself to use a heel first clip out motion every time you dismount, whether you are clipped in or not. Helps prevent embarassing moments when you forget if you are clipped in or not. I also found that multi-position cleats helped prevent clipout failures even in panic stops.

+1
While I like clipping in with my spds, during steady paces over relatively flat ground, I don't think they make any difference over riding the platforms. The only place I find them to be an advantage is in climbing and sprinting.

for the way most of us commute, i don't think that using platforms is putting you at much of a disadvantage power-wise.

the reason i ride clipless isn't because i fancy myself as some TdF champion or anything silly like that, i just like being physically attached to the bike. it makes me feel more in control of the bike and more secure on it when i'm up out of the saddle hammering my legs off to catch a green light.

Update (not that this issue will ever be closed for some people)

I accidentally ordered m530 spd pedals -- twin-sided spd -- instead of dual paltform/spd a530's I thought I'd purchased. Tried them anyway.

Compared to having to flip the pedal, having the cleat lock on either side -- and having a shoe that doesn't just skid when you put it down on the pavement -- was quite a revelation. Digging it a lot.

Now I've received platform/spd a530's after all, and will be trying them on my other main bike. Thanks everyone for sharing their experiences, Bikeforums FTW again

I use toe clips, no straps, and I have a pair of bike shoes with no cleats on them. It makes a significant difference over street shoes, although I still sometimes ride with street shoes.

Winwood 'decksters', take a spare cleat and so turn any double sided pedal
into one with a platform. QBP

$38 for these? That would be too high even if it came with cleats, and it doesn't?

I do this too i ride my 10.75 one way clipped in and then when i hit downtown stop and go traffic i just flip the pedels over. leaving one
foot clipped in and the other on the pedal until the next stinking light. . worst part of the commute is the lights don't line up right.

about trackstanding I am afraid to do this sometimes because I am afraid i won't be able to clip out and I will fall right in front of some cars.

practice at home on the sidewalk.

You could unclip one foot or both feet before you start the trackstand.

I'm still terrible at it. That's probably because I'm good at keeping one foot clipped in and leaning on my other foot, then taking off and clipping the other foot in very quickly.

If you want cleats for clip+strap pedals, three sources are:

Exustar cleats: http://www.velodromeshop.net/index.php?p=product&id=464

Dromarti cleats: http://www.dromarti.com/index.php?ma...products_id=18 (shoes are beautiful but expensive, for me anyway)

and

http://www.yellowjersey.org/tocleat.html

What kind of shoes are you wearing? Most cycling shoes that I know of (and pretty much all of the ones that I have owned) have zero heel-to-toe drop, which means that they are essentially flat-soled shoes. If you are wearing shoes with a significant heel-to-toe drop, it may be putting your feet in an uncomfortable position on the pedals, which is exacerbated by time and distance. I wear Chuck Taylors while riding my crosscheck, and I have never had a problem.

a little aluminum diamond deck plate and a drill press with a drill and a countersink bit,
and there is a DIY way too

I wear these with my MKS touring pedals and clips - no straps. They are plenty hard soled. I stand on the pedals alot on hills, and these feel great. I weigh 165 lbs.
http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/59314...t-mocs-leather

I really like my Shimano M424's, set quite loose. In a scramble I can easily ride with one foot clipped in, and I just pop the left foot in or out as necessary without it feeling too awkward. I use multi-release cleats, and a couple of times I have been glad to be able to just yank them out vertically.

I can't imagine riding more than 100 feet without clipless.

I've been using platform pedals for almost 6 years now. All of my 3 bikes have platforms. I can wear any type of shoes I want. Clipless pedals are just a gimmick, absolutly unneccessary for daily commuting/errands.
I have even done a few 100 milers on my platforms with no problems. I just don't want to be attatched to my bike, I want to be free to get off my bike and walk or hike if I want to. Walking with cleated shoes is just stupid.

I have the BMX style platform pedals with the little pins sticking out of them. As long as I'm wearing a shoe with a soft sole at least 1/4" thick, the studs dig in and give me almost as good a grip as SPDs. What I like about them is that I can wear hiking boots in the winter, which are much warmer than any cycling shoe I've ever seen. And of course, I can walk places on my lunch hour in the same shoes or boots - no need to keep an extra pair under my desk just for that purpose.

This is a thread that could go on forever, and each view is valid. I am a study in clipless and platforms (as I'm sure many other are also). When I started commuting in the mid 1970s I rode platforms, and it was no big deal. In about 1982 or 1982 I started using clips and straps (because my nerdy roadie friends talked me into it), which worked great for me also. In 1997 I made the big jump to SPDs and rode with them until August of 2011. That's when I made full circle and began to ride platforms again, and the year since then has been a wonderful riding year. Each method has its own application and purpose. I don't think either way is right or wrong, just different and equally valid application. For me right now, as an official city/urban/flatbar/commuting/sidewalk bomber, platforms work. For me in the recent past, highway/long desert rides/metric centuries/club rides/long stretches with no stopping clipless was better. It's like arguing the difference between road tyres and mountain bike tyres.

LOL, Or arguing about singlespeed vs gears, backpack vs panniers, messenger bag vs backpack. It never ends. Every person needs to follow their own path and do what works best for them.

+1:)

+1

I do exactly the same thing. I have a pair of Lake MTB shoes that work great and keeps me from grinding the cleat on the pavement. I also have egg beaters on my SS/FG and so far I love it.

Besides, egg beaters are simply some of the best mud-shedding pedals out there. Not that this is an issue on the road, but you could walk through the mud and still clip in to them.

I went to SPD with double-sided MTB pedals and a Shimano MT32L MTB shoe. I've never had a problem with quick starts/stops or getting off the line quickly with this set-up. My bike is a hybrid anyway, so it doesn't look too funky.

SPD's are the way to go. I have eggbeaters and have a pair of mountain shoes and a pair of skate-style shoes that I can walk in without the cleat scratching floors. It's easy to clip in and out because they're double sided pedals. Also, if I want don't want to clip in I don't have to. With mountain shoes and (especially) those skate-style shoes I have, my feet won't slip off even if I'm not clipped in.

The shoes I have are something like these: http://www.jensonusa.com/!9!44o5KFMU...FY1DMgodenIAog

The biggest problem I see with trackstanding is that it appears to cause motorists some anxiety in terms of what the cyclist is likely to do -- will they attempt to cross the intersection against the light? are they going to fall? Will they move in an unpredictable direction?

Don't get me wrong: Trackstanding is far better than one of the other alternatives I see a fair amount of here, which is riding in small circles while waiting for the light to change. That's just bad for everyone, I think.

I really don't find clipping in and out to be that difficult, and have never understood folks who trackstand for 20-60 seconds (or more) waiting for the light... and almost invariably creeping closer and closer to the flow of traffic. I get it if the light is 10 seconds or so from changing, but really: The 60 second trackstands I see from time to time? I admire the skills, but I question the judgement.

You're right, Captain John! This happened to me yesterday. I was behind a car which was stopped at a stop sign. I saw the driver in her rear view mirror, trying to figure out what I was doing. I realize that a track stand is not something a car driver sees often. Food for thought!

That's very true, I trackstand a lot when riding my fixed gear and I noticed that most drivers are a little confused when they see me do that, some get angry, some just shake their heads. I still believe that trackstanding is much better then riding around in circles. I've seen this too many times...I'll stop at the light and trackstand and all of a sudden some guy with clipless pedals comes up ahead of me and starts wobblying and riding circles all over the place, they look so dumb when they do, I just shake my
head. If somebody doesn't know how to trackstand then they should unclip and put their foot on the ground and wait, don't wobble and ride around in circles because it just looks dumb and idiotic.

Oh whatever. Let people ride the way they want to, as long as it doesn't impinge on someone else's riding.