I use cages. I can get out of them quick enough not to fall and they keep my feet on the pedals.

Oh, that is not my argument whatsoever. I really couldn't care less what anyone else is riding. It is your money and free time, do with it as you wish. My comment was in response to those who feel the need to tell me that I am doing it wrong, because I haven't bought into needing those expensive shoes and clicky pedals, and my advice now out there for anyone else who may be in a similar position in the future.

this thread is hilarious.

Who did that?

If someone shows up to a road ride on platforms? Frequently multiple people in the group.

I did it once. Drew about as many comments as when I ride this thing:

http://i.imgur.com/fS2sjUB.jpg

I did it many times. They complemented my strength more than once for hanging with them on platforms.

Actually, after a second ride, this is the definition I think fits most appropriately!

I'll start with the lady at the parking lot on Friday when I took the bike out with the MKS Quill platform pedals.

From there on back, it seems like many with clipless have just as much need to tell me how I am missing out, even more frequently than people want to let me know my shoes are untied. Friends that went to Iceland on a tour with me, who really didn't cycle before the trip, couple group rides I did this spring, few other cyclists at the bar I ride to after work.

If you ride fast - sprint out of the saddle, 100 RPM seated climbs, fast pace lines or technical singletrack - then you at missing out.

The incessant focus on pedaling efficiency in threads like this is part of the same blindness which causes those who discuss tires to focus almost exclusively on rolling resistance. Control is a better reason to use clipless, especially in the type of riding mentioned above, than is speed.

Mountain biking and riding fixed gear are perfect examples. Riding fixed on the road with no foot retention is suicidal. At high rpm the pedals can become egg heaters ant the Single speed/Fixed gear forum is full of stories.

It's fine if people who don't ride agressively want to use platform pedals but there are reasons why so many who ride hard like them and efficiency is low on the list. Those who ride hard and refuse to go cliess are missing out on the safety of extra control.

-Tim-

That may well be a legitimate argument (and makes a LOT better case for clipless, IMO), but it is one that is rarely articulated. If I ever become a prophet for them, it would be the line of reckoning I'd use.

FWIW, I gave it a go, one legged square pedaling was quite interesting!

Those who ride modern clipless pedals are vulnerable to messing up their knees if the cleat adjustment is wrong, and they're vulnerable to inability to get out of the pedals at a crucial time. I'm pretty adaptable, but I never could get used to the SPD pedals I tried. I fell half a dozen times in about 500 miles; I fell once using slotted cleats/quill pedals for years.

I lose maybe 5% of my speed, comparing SPD to pinned flats, but I don't lose any time to falls. OTOH, since I can move my feet, I can adjust to, say, ball-over-axle for accelerating and then switch to midfoot-over-axle when I reach my desired speed. I may have to use more energy on my rides, but I'm way overweight, so that's good. And if a knee even thinks about hurting, I can adjust my foot position and solve the problem. And it's harder to spin flats, but, then, I'm the one controlling the spinning, not the pedal.

True, most people learn to use clipless pedals so they don't fall. I'm in a minority.

I you read this while you're thinking about switching to clipless, consider the points above, do some research on mid-foot pedaling and spinning, and make your choice.

If you've already made your choice, great - ride what you like. I would appreciate your not telling me to go clipless myself, though.

I've been clipless with Look Deltas for longer than I remember.
I can't ride platform pedals above 10mph without my feet coming off the pedal. Climbing is impossible on platforms. Getting the platform in the proper place to take-off from a stop is a hassle on platforms. Platform pedals are a dangerous liability for me when cycling over 10mph. My beach cruiser has platforms, city bike has clips and straps.

This may be a stupid question but can you ride with tennis shoes on an SPD-SL pedal? I am just starting out and thinking of going clipless, but don't want to have to wear cycling shoes if I am just cruising around the neighborhood with my kids.

I laughed when you asked if it was "as easy as it sounds." :lol:


-Tim-

I've read this over and over but don't believe it is true for the vast majority of people. For those with preexisting conditions maybe but one would have to have the pedals adjusted really poorly to do damage.

Speedplay used to trumpet knee safety as a reason for their free floating design but many people find that holding their feet in a narrow range of motion helps with proper form when tired at the end of a long ride. I've abandoned free floating pedals altogether for this reason and enjoy the narrow 4° range of motion with SPD. My speedplay zero pedals are adjusted to a very narrow range of motion as well.

Never met anyone who had knee problems due to clipless pedals. I'm sure they are out there but I just don't believe that many have found them to be problematic in terms of knees.


-Tim-

Depends on which you get. Some are double sided, such as these. A couple guys on my last tour had those 530s which they seemed to like, running cycling shoes during the day and boots around camp at night:
Forté Campus Pedals
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001MZ2AGO...ing=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/Wellgo-Multi-...8VYAN24FF0WWJ8

You can ride anything with tennis shoes if you try hard enough.

But, yes. As clipless pedals go, SPD-SLs are actually bizarrely competent as platform pedals. The shape provides a wide enough support to get comfy, and they grip soles quite well. Not as good as a quality dedicated platform pedal, but they do the job.

OP, I was also pretty underwhelmed when I first went clipless. (Never mind all the fallovers at stops. lol.) But I kept with it for a couple of years, and just stopped noticing it.

Then I got a fat bike--which I ride with platforms--and realized that being clipped in not only felt more efficient for me, but also felt far more secure--as in not worrying about my foot coming off the pedal if I hit an unexpected bump, or whatever, and being able to spin higher cadences without risk of same. Yes, I realized I no longer even *liked* riding platforms anymore!

Also, high cadences are much smoother with clipless.


I'd never go back to platforms or straps.

[MENTION=465888]northtexasbiker[/MENTION] is talking about 3-bolt SPD-SL, not 2-bolt SPD.

I agree that 2-bolt SPD is a pretty bad platform unless you're using a pedal with a platform side. I've ridden M520s in the rain on running shoes before; absolutely terrible.

Are there any SPD-SL pedals that are double sided? Or is it just the SPD (mountain bike clipless)? I would guess the double sided SPD pedals would be optimal, I just don't know what I am sacrificing over road pedals. Anything other than weight?


I mainly cycle for fitness and fun, but I don't have a need to walk around unless I am with my kids and would likely just be sporting some normal athletic shoes then. I just figured that road pedals were better suited for road cycling (which is what I do) vs MTB clipless pedals being better for mountain biking (which I don't do). The main reason I read people using clipless mountain bike pedals on their road bike is because mtb shoes are a lot easier to walk around in, but that wouldn't apply to me.


So I figured a standard clipless road pedal looks big enough that you could comfortably pedal without clipping in with a regular shoe for light around the neighborhood stuff.

Whoops, my bad on the SPD mixup. Still trying to sort out the different styles!

And that is one conclusion I am coming to myself. IMO, it is a much better selling point, than the rather ubiquitous talking point I get about being able to pull up.

Yes. You can ride a SPD-SL pedal like a platform with rubber soled shoes for easy riding around. I do it all the time. Note for commuters: don't try this with a leather sole dress shoe.

Yes. By far the main reason I use clipless is confidence and security.

Even when I'm pedaling hard out of the saddle, it's not the pulling that feels like the main benefit; it's the fact that I don't need to worry about what my foot is doing, especially if I do stuff like shift.

I think the "pull up" argument became so dominant because it's a punchy sales point, one of those things that's very easy to make extremely convincing. Kind of like how everything associates the feel of a lightweight lowish-trail bike with "frame stiffness."

I'll chime in here to say that switching to clipless pedals solved my knee problems which were aggravated by riding with platforms. Restricting my foot movement seemed to be the key to that.

It's possible, but I don't enjoy it. I'd rather swap pedals or just keep two bikes around, one with clipless, one with platforms.

I went on my first real ride with clipless and didn't fall even once. I was so excited when I got home I was planning to tell my wife about it. As I came to a stop I had a nagging feeling that there was something I was forgetting. I thought "Shut down Strava? Turn off the bike light? Open the garage door? Oh wait, the pedals!" as I toppled over into the garbage can.

But that was it. After that I remembered and didn't fall anymore. Quick study, I am.

And they never messed up my knees.

Do people really tell you what kind of pedals to use?

I find your username hilarious and satisfying(w/ the unlimited drinks included). :D

Back on track:
MKS makes removable pedals. You can have platforms in the morning, road clipless(Look) in the afternoon then mountain clipless at night:
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4226/...137c914a_z.jpgMKS ESPRIT SUPERIOR PEDALS by 1nterceptor, on Flickr

I can't speak for Philbob, but once again, I get unsolicited advice from strangers on needing to switch from platforms regularly, the most recent of which was Friday afternoon, and while spending a week on bikes with two guys earlier this month who didn't even own bikes before the beginning of the year. FWIW, they also thought I was insane for not using Chamois Butter, because that is what real cyclists do, but that is a discussion for a different thread.

If I don't take this bike to a mass ride I am doing the first weekend of August , I am sure I'll get the comment multiple times there too. It is a very real thing.

Weird. I've never had people tell me what pedals to use. I can't imagine why anyone would care.

Oh, I fully agree. For some reason in the biking community, if someone isn't doing something the same as you, many take is as a personal affront and must teach you the light!

Actually to be fair, it is pretty much that way in all my hobbies. For some reason, particular "truths" become "known", and those that don't adhere to them must be "taught" the truth. I've spent the better part of two years shrugging this one off, now I only have to bother half the time!

Actually, I suppose now I only move on to shrugging off downtube over STI shifting. I suppose I can argue this bike is at least indexed...

So ... just published yesterday on Youtube, a GCN update on the subject which seems to indicate that, in real world conditions, clipless generate significantly more power in certain situations. I find myself in agreement with all their conclusions.

Huh, the most I ever get is people asking if I have knee problems when they mistake my platform/SPD combos for regular platforms.