Greetings. Hope everyone is having a nice holiday. Happy New Years.

I've been riding less and less these days. I couldn't figure out why until I was looking at my bike sitting forlorn in the garage. Pedals. It's a 2011 Trek Madone 4.5. Now that I'm about to hit the big 65, I think I'm less inclined to clip on or in. Just the preparation to get on the bike takes more time than the ride (just kidding).

So, with 2017 looming and me wanting to ride more, I'm thinking standard pedals. Is this taboo? I'd love to just hop on the bike and pedal away without prep. Pop on a good pear of sneakers and off I go?? What's a good alternative to clipping in? Any recommendations on a good ole pedal?

Thanks, Ron

You will Love Half clips

VO Deep Half Clips





Size 14 Shoes

I like the pedals shown in the picture above this reply. It's what I generally use. I never have been a fan of clipless pedals and buying special shoes for cycling. I like to be able to hop off my trike and walk normally. I use the nylon mini toe clips (no leather straps) shown if you follow this google search https://www.google.com/search?q=mini...utf-8&oe=utf-8 The XLC toe clips sold at REI for $5 is what I use. Bought my pedals and toe clips from Niagara Cycle. I have them on all of my bikes and recumbent trikes. They last many thousands of miles in spite of the low price.

Half clips look like a good alternative.

Or if it's simply for a grocery or coffee shop run, get a singlespeed with flat bars, and keep the Madone for longer roadtrips.

Or just remove the strap from a set of toe-clip pedals and off you go.

Only issue I can see (and this is the 50* forum) is aggravating the tendons/ligaments, etc.. in the front of the foot or developing plantar fasciitis, all due to poor foot support from soft soled shoes. Most riding shoes are stiff enough typically to do a good job of supporting the soft tissue on the bottom of the foot. You can use an SPD mt. bike style shoe on open pedals that helps with support.

I get "hot foot", a pain in the nerves under the outer ball of the foot, caused by (as I discovered) age related stretching of the tendons that connect the toes to the foot. The stretching transfers pressure to the outer toe area with significant pain resulting. Pads placed under the middle toes helps alleviate the problem, so does a wider pedal cleat, and I'm now using SPD-L Look style pedals. I will shortly be moving to carbon soled road shoes as well. This is all so I can up my weekly mileage over 150.

Get double sided mountain bike pedals. I use these on bikes I ride in the winter so I can unclip but still pedal when the surface gets dodgy. Works in the summer, too, when I just need to take a short, quick trip. They have 'em for SPD, Crank Bros, and ATAC. I ride mountain bike pedals on all my bikes.

I am using MKS GR9 pedals and have been using them for years. Sheldon Brown referred to these as the last, true platform pedals. I use the hard plastic "toe cages" with straps.

I've had good luck with this configuration, 53,000+ miles. I use cycling shoes for the hard soles.

I'm using Ergon pedals, wide, curved to do the foot centering, and huge reflectors to keep the visibility at night High.

My studded tire bike, (for Ice on the street) has platform pedals with traction spikes to grip my boot soles..






'/,

Pedals like these are the 'standard pedals' on my 3 bikes. I'm clipped in >95% of my riding time.

too have the Ergons on my Hybrid. Love em. Velo Orange has a chrome over aluminum light weight (200g) retro road bike pedal that I'm going to replace my old steel pedals on my road bike with. I'll add the half cages too. Good compromise for stop and go riding imho.

I'm 72 and have been riding with Speedplay Light Action (now called Ultra Light Action) pedals since 2012. I love them. They're two sided and VERY easy to clip into and to get out of.

SPEEDPLAY : HIGH PERFORMANCE PEDALS

Several Aluminum ATACs, want to buy them?

Touring pedals with half clips are a good option.

Two of my 3 bikes have modern thin, spiked platform pedals.
I have Blackspire Big Slims on my Raleigh International - these are nice pedals for a low bb, with a width of 92mm



If you have really narrow feet, Blackspire El Gordos are only 74mm wide - have a pair for my daughter that she sometimes wants on her road bike.
I put a bunch of miles on these myself before retiring them to her - I have ice-skate feet.
These are maximum clearance pedals.

On my CX frame, with it's taller BB, I'm running Raceface Atlas, which are monstrous big pedals.

Modern thin, spiked platform pedals are so thin you actually have to lower your saddle.

Merrells, running shoes, sandals - you can wear any shoes with modern platform pedals.

When my buddy's daughter built up an 80s Shogun road bike, she began with clipless and soon swapped to AEST Butterfly spiked platform pedals
AEST Pedals, Magnesium Pedal, AEST Oil Slick Pedals

I did toe clips with cleated Detto Pietros on my road bike in the '70s. That locked position had advantages and disadvantages. When I had knee pain, tough luck, no way to move the foot for that ride. Turns out the one-size-fits-all conventional wisdom back then was wrong, and not everyone should have the cleat set to center the ball of the foot over the pedal axle.

I don't ride hard enough now to get any advantage from that, and I prefer to be free to move my feet around as needed, and wear any shoes I like for the day. If I feel a knee twinge I reset my foot position for awhile. For sprinting on flats and downhills I move the ball of the foot closer to the pedal axle. For climbing hills or grinding into the wind I prefer to center my arch over the pedal axle.

The weekend before Christmas the temp dipped to 20F, fairly unusual for this part of Texas. So I pulled on two pairs of socks, my 40 year old Herman Survivor winter boots and went for a ride. Made it an hour before my toes began to sting. Christmas weekend was in the 70s so I wear lightweight Merrell cycling/walking shoes. Same pedals, only thing I needed to do was adjust the seat post up/down 1/4" to suit the thickness of the soles -- I've marked the seat post with a permanent marker so it's quick and easy to adjust to suit whatever shoes I'm wearing that day.

My early '90s mountain bike has Stolen Thermalite platform pedals, which are cheap, grippy and apparently tough enough for BMX... another thing I'll never do. I like 'em well enough I plan to get a set for the comfort hybrid, which is currently wearing a grinding set of old Sakae Low Fats that desperately need an overhaul.

MKS lambda (or Grip Kings, as they are called by Rivendell). I'd like to try the Thin Gripsters also sold by Rivendell. On the flat there is no difference between being attached or not. Maybe a well trained cyclist might climb better with clipless pedals, but I still manage to get up all the hills I encounter. I'm seventy-five and I don't care if someone passes me.

Krank Brother Mallets offer a nice option. Pearl Izumi makes nices mountain bike shoes or just wear your sneakers of choice.

I gather you only have one bike. If a second bike is out of the question, i believe you will want more than just pedals to make your Madone more inviting. You probably don't want to get all kitted up with shorts so you need a less aggressive seat. Maybe a Brooks C17. Replace your bars and shifters with a swept back model and bar end shifters. I FD this to a roadbike of mine and it is very handy. I can turn it back into a more serious road bike if I want. I am very happy with my MKS Sylvans.

Both are pretty bad about pedal strikes on low bottom bracket, though the thin gripsters (VP001) are worse, and they have wasted aluminum that sticks out past the actual platform and spikes (it's only good for strikes).


The MKS lambda are slippery when wet, and have big Q because of a long cantilevered axle combined with their thickness.



That's why I like narrower spiked platforms like the Blackspire.

I have been through a bunch of platform pedals - MKS Lambda, VP-001, Raceface Atlas, Straitline Amp, Blackspire.
I'm most impressed with the Atlas and Blackspire, but the Atlas are probably the wrong pedals for a road bike.
I had a click under warranty on the Atlas that proved to be a brinnelled axle. Raceface honored their warranty and sent me the rebuild parts. 8000 mi later they're still going.
I'm sure I've got 5000+ miles on a pair of Blackspire with no worries.

If you check reviews on Blackspire, they seem to be everybody's old reliable.
Flat Pedals for Touring and Bikepacking - BIKEPACKING.com

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/Blacksp...view-2010.html

If you compare width to length, the Blackspire are the most versatile, and you can find them all over for $75 or so.

Shimano (probably others) make a pedal flat on one side and clipless on the other.
Is that worth considering?

my buddy has those across the board on his bikes and likes them (he's Mr. Shimano everything)

Yup, I have dual platform Mtb pedals on all of my bikes except my Roubaix and my tri bike. Even have them on my Kestrel road bike with Campy Super Record. I just like the versatility and in general find mtb shoes more comfortable than road shoes. But if I just want to do a quick 2 mile ride to the grocery store or hardware store I can ride in whatever shoes/boots - as long as the laces can be secured away from the chain.

again, consider the clearance of whatever pedals you try on your road bike.
Older thick MTN bike pedals, especially with wide Q, have really poor clearance on road bikes.

Wow thanks for all the great suggestions. I'm a bit on info overload at the moment, but I plan to sort through it all and give a set of platforms a try. I have the Shimano clip ins with the flat on one side, but I need a bit more area for my size 13's. For now I have a great pair of shoes to start the journey, but as time progresses I'll take a look at options. I can always go back to my clip-ins should I decide it's my preference. Again thanks for the help. Ron

https://id-live-03.slatic.net/p/xpedo...-1-product.jpg

Xpedo C260

Material: Aluminum Extruded

Size : 90mm (3.5") x 66mm (2.59") x17mm (.66")

Weight: 197g/pair

Features:

Body : Aluminum Extruded

Spindle: Ti, 9/16"

Bearing : Sealed

Axle: 9/16"

Get a trail running shoe with the stiffest sole you can find.