This is an "it depends". If you need more float, good advice. If your knees are like mine (I have to set my shoes with forced toe-in to get my knees to track properly), this is very poor advice that had I followed it, I would have had two knee replacements decades ago.

I can ride SPD cleats but I have to crank in max toe-in for the right cleat and while it works, it is by no means "good" and far, far from "best". Black Look Delta cleats work really well for me as do the ancient slotted cleats for toeclip pedals.

I have shoes that take the slotted cleats. To make them walkable, I brought them with cleats mounted to a cobbler and had him put on tread abound them to make them walkable. Not cheap, but he did really good work and I have done nothing burt replace worn cleats in the years since. For my knees, the right shoes and cleats are a small investment. I do have to block out the "expert advice" I hear so often.

Ben

That study certainly has supported a lot of poorly informed arguments about pedals. A more accurate summary of the findings would be - if you are just tootling along (submaximal efforts) you probably won't see any benefit from clipless pedals. For anyone who ever exerts a maximal effort , whether climbing, sprinting, or tting, there is a clear benefit.

Most beach cruisers don't need clipless pedals.

I guess the counter argument to that is most folks I see on drop bar road bikes will rarely be at maximal effort, either.

It is not so much whether there are gains to be hand, moreso whether the gains are anywhere near as beneficial to an average rider as they think.

Technically, that is a counter anecdote, but it may represent real data where you ride. Staying with personal experience, when I ride a racing bike there are almost always portions of the ride when I am at or near a maximal effort. I feel I benefit from clipless pedals, ymmv.

The only point of my earlier comment was to respond to the many folks who seem to need to tell those of us who use expensive shoes and clicky pedals that we are doing it wrong and have been brainwashed by those nefarious manufacturers.

The question I have always had is not so much "do you pull up", rather "how much efficiency is actually gained by pulling up". If I have my 215# body pushing down on the downstroke, how much extra am I really getting out of lifting the other foot?

You can really experience it in spin class when a real cyclist-instructor takes the class up to 120 rpm and holds it there. Your legs need to work together maintain a nice smooth stroke without bouncing, and you need positive control during the upstoke.

I like both, clipless for fast bikes, platform for everything else. Switching back and forth is a little dangerous at first, you tend to forget the proper muscle motion coming to a stop.

Each has its place; I wouldn't ride platforms 20+ and I wouldn't wear clipless commuting or sightseeing.

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:

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."


-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.

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.