^^^ Agree. Those pedals will make marks you don't come back from. Insane.

There's a learning curve with good platforms too, but you can use shin protection until your comfortable getting off the pedal without shredding your calf. 661 makes lightweight Velcro guards that work good. Definitely pros and cons to each system

This is what I get for not looking at threads when the subject bores me. Ancient thread gets revived and starts to take on new life with a page of posts. Holy crap. Thread closed.

boo

I just put a plug in for one of your sponsors too.

Flat pedals are great for technical riding and if you have to get a foot out to turn really quick. Also if you do a drop or hit a log, its a lot easier to ditch your bike and prevent yourself from getting racked by the seat or handle bars.

However, remember with flat pedals your only getting half of the efficiency since only down-strokes count. And its a lot easier to lift your bike up when hoping instead of trying to bounce up and explode forward. Most you can pop out of fairly easily, but when it comes down to split seconds it can be tough.

Personally I disagree with the idea they are safer. They might prevent your ankle from getting scratched, but if you go off a drop and your going to crash or you botch the landing, you either ditch your bike and roll with a few scrapes and bruises, or stay with it and end up in a stretcher. But if your not doing jumps and drops, and your not dodging trees clip-less are great.

OK, will people please stop "helping" so this thread can go back to archive land?

Why?
This thread has over 4000 hits so I guess people wanna know.

Who cares?

Who caaaaares

edit: oops, double post, but irony & lolz @ adding insult to anti-archiving injury

c
Please don't close the thread. Lots of people are either getting clipless pedals or having problems and if it wasn't such an issue, then people wouldn't be searching for information from people who actually have experience with them.
I posted on this thread when I had just got my clipless pedals and after falling off several times, I was wondering about going back to my trusty toeclips.
Yay! I haven't fallen off in two weeks and it's really worth the effort; more power and getting easier by the day. Toeclips are still good though.

It's so odd to read about people falling off on clipless pedals because it is such a foreign idea, being someone who has never used clips much, lol!!
You can kind of mimic clips if you have pegs in your pedals though, even though it's more of a dragging your foot motion than a lifting your leg motion

Back in 1996, I had a problem with sticky cleats and could not unclip in time. I fell over on my left side and fractured my left hip. I still have the three pins in my femoral neck. I now have platform pedals with strapless toeclips on all six bicycles. For the type of recreational riding that I now do, safety trumps efficiency. I get the occasional odd look when I show up for a club ride on my expensive bicycles, though.

It's only odd if you are one of the lucky people that hasn't ever, or doesn't ever fall off. I discovered that when I got the new pedals, my brain was wired for the toeclip movement (to pull my foot out rather than move it sideways) and that's what I tried to do when I stopped and thus fell over several times. I was very frightened because my feet were stuck on to the pedals and I wasn't sure how to get them out in a hurry. It's o.k. on the trainer in the shop, but then you are not going to fall off on a trainer, are you? It is now about 3 weeks from last Saturday that I got the new pedals and I'm getting better every day. I still have to think consciously all the time when I'm going to stop and mentally rehearse the movement. It's getting smoother and I haven't fallen off since the first week. I wish I was one of the people who never fell off, but having fallen, I've learned that I'd rather not have fallen off!!! it hurts, Lots!

Maybe I'm gonna be the odd man out, but there's no way I'd ever use anything that stuck my feet to pedals on a bicycle. Second nature or not, the moment it takes to unclip could be the difference between a life and death situation (stopping for a car...) or breaking an arm.

I guess I'm just of old-school "BMX philosophy;" get some "bear-traps" and hope your shins don't make contact with them.

This from a guy whose longest ride is 15 miles. You might want to get a little experience before you start bustin' loose with all the 'tude, sparky. You're trying to pee all over the place and you don't even know where your zipper is yet.

Way to make an attempt at ruining another thread. You're just gonna run your mouth all over this forum, aren't you? I made a statement, nothing more. How'bout if you wanna start an argument, you keep it in one thread, eh? You see any attitude? I don't, and it's doubtful anyone else sees any attitude with my post, either.

Get a life. Clipless pedals have nothing to do with how far someone's ridden a bike, and why do you care how far I've ridden a bike?

you guys do realize you're fighting over pedals, right?

The only problem I've ever had on clipless was when I lost a cleat bolt on my SPDs which caused the cleat to stick in the pedal and not rotate with my shoe so that I couldn't unclip. I ended up on the ground, which wasn't a big deal because I frequently end up on the ground anyways because I'm a hack. That's the only time that my clipless pedals have caused me to fall or contributed in some way.

Before I got 'em however I can't count the number of times my feet slipped off the pedals causing me to take a seat nose or top bar to the pills...

Actually, what he's upset over is the fact that I bashed his spandex shorts in another thread, then posted a picture of Milli Vanilli. Therefore, he's found it necessary to stalk me into any thread I post in and try to attack me.

It's okay, his spandex shorts are just a little too tight, and they're cutting the circulation off to his uh...brain.

Let's not entertain him by allowing him to ruin another thread. I'm interested in hearing more about the clipless pedals.

I've just added the fool to an ignore list in effort to alleviate the problem. Just a suggestion, but you may want to consider the same.

Apple, you must ride some seriously gnarly trails, dude!

I like clipless mainly for this reason -- when I'm 'attached' to the bike, it's like it becomes part of me, the feedback is exponential. With platforms, I'm just 'on the bike', and don't feel that level of control, or even of being part of the ride. It's just exercise.

It's synergistic, for me -- a bike with clipless is: 1+1 =>3; a bike with platforms is: 1+1 <2.

I have the same aversion to being attached to my bike. That said, competent clipless pedal riders can clip out as fast as we can get our feet off of our shin killers. With practice and use unclipping becomes second nature, and you don't even have to think about it, anymore. Or, so I've been told by BMXers who run clipless.

Well, that's what they say about clipless, but I still don't know how willing I'd be to entertain the concept of literally being locked to my bike. I'm comfortable with the basic method of riding on flats, and I can certainly appreciate some of the claimed advantages of clipless, but I guess in the grand scheme of things, I'm not all that interested in the risk of breaking an arm or a leg while trying to pull my foot from a pedal. It just sounds really dangerous. There are too many variables; "What if I'm sailing towards traffic and my foot doesn't engage? What if I'm heading for a tree and my foot doesn't engage? Etc."

Part of my problem, too. That, and you need special shoes. I always just wear my regular clothes, when I'm on my bike.

Same here. I guess I'm just not dedicated enough to spring for the expense of special shoes just to ride a bike. If I were just heading to the trail, or going for a fast street ride and just heading back home, maybe I'd consider it, but if I stop somewhere, I'm not going to be changing shoes just so I can walk into a Quickie-Mart to buy a Slurpee.