Nobody told me about any performance advantage, so I had to "misinform" myself about how much easier it is for me to ride with them.

Heck, I started misinforming myself about benefits on my first bike with toeclips because the shop never told me how to use them ineffectively.

My comments about performance were more in response to the posters in this thread who have indicated that there is a performance advantage. I am amazed and how often that same misinformation gets repeated, bu I guess I shouldn't be; this is an internet forum after all.

Okay, so I won't tell you about how I don't get as worn out when I'm using clipless pedals. I don't want to be called misinformed.

I don't believe there is any performance advantage, as has been stated already.

But they're safer. I believe this is the primary reason to ride clipless. Tipping over at a stop light will result in minor bruising, but having your feet slip off your pedal can be disastrous.

Look at it like this--without foot attachment the power of your pedal stroke is from 1 to 5 o'clock, which means that until the other leg can kick in, the only thing getting the crank to 7 is momentum. Likewise, the other leg is basically useless between 11 and 1. Furthermore, you are pushing down with the "slack" leg just trying to keep the foot that isn't doing anything from flying off the pedal. That means your legs are working in opposition, sort of like people who drive with one foot on the gas and the other on the brake.

With attachment, pulling back (wiping your shoe) adds about 60 degrees to the power stroke, which is enough to push the other leg to the start of its power stroke.

Also, while few riders using foot attachment actually pull up with strong, consistent force, they do unweight the slack foot and follow the arc of the crank with it. This means the two legs are not working against each other.

And excuse me for using the ambiguous term "foot attachment," but whether you use Looks, SPDs, clips and slotted cleats, or medical tape like Dave Stoller, it's all the same.

It sounds logical, but studies have shown this to not be true. You can do all of this without attachment.

If you want to find the studies, look up the work done by a guy named Cyrille Guimard. He was Lemond's DS. And...now that I think about it I don't know if he actually did the studies or just popularized them via Greg and that book he wrote.

Then why didn't Renault/Gitane/Elf back up his research and start riding without attachment?

They probably like clipless better even if some study says no performance benefit.

Common sense says to me that the crank arm and pedal don't need much help being efficient on the upstroke. Even though there is a minute dead spot, research just doesn't point to an advantage. Here's a study I ran across recently: https://www.thieme-connect.com/ejour...s-2008-1038374

Cuz they're better for other reasons. Safety primarily.

More comfy too, stabilizes the foot.

When you stand to climb you can pull "up" from 6 to 12 on the pedal stroke with clipless... It feels like you like you are running on top of the bike (i.e. not just pushing down from 12 to 6..)

You can rationalize cages/platforms till the world ends but clipless is still better all day every day.

So, is the fact that if I apply any effort to any part of the upstroke my foot comes off my platform pedals all in my head and only my imagination? Man, I'm so misinformed.

You are stating opinion as fact. Not helping your point. Nobody is saying platforms are better than clipless. Why's everybody so defensive?

It probably just means you have horrible form when pedaling. My feet never lift off the pedal no matter how hard I ride.

Umm, yeah. You don't really want to pull up when you're on platforms, just trace circles with your feet.

You want to pedal efficiently?

You can do the footscrape at the bottom to help alleviate the deadspot, other than that forget about consciously pushing or pulling at any point in the stroke.

So a piece of gear that lets me ride longer and more easily is a bad thing.

Okay. Got it. I've deluded myself all these years. I can't wait to make things more difficult again. I'm glad you saved me from being another idiot. I kiss your feet.

Heh...uh, drink less. Read more.

Then you must be right.

For the record, virtually all competitive cyclists used toeclips until the 1985 season. Greg LeMond and Bernard Hinault were teammates, coached by Guimard through 1983. Hinault joined La Vie Claire in 1984 where he tested and endorsed a new product developed by the Look ski binding division, the step-in pedal. Greg joined him in 1985. By early 1990s the majority of the pro peloton were using some manner of clip-in pedal. Sean Kelly, who retired in 1994, was the last significant holdout for toeclips.

Anybody who rides must see that getting to the podium of the 1989 world championship road race absolutely required some way of keeping the feet attached to the pedals. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I4Snyzw2IM...989_worlds.jpg
Note the belt-and-suspenders approach (Looks and toe straps) taken by the winner, LeMond.

No, it's not bad. It just hasn't been shown to offer performance benefits in some studies. There are other good things about clipless, however.

Quite a few track riders run clipless AND straps to this day.

Or.... you are confusing fact for opinion.

It's pretty much 100% for those of us who started off with old fashioned clips and straps. That was a pain in the ass: either learn to trackstand or plan ahead to reach down, loosen the strap, wiggle your toe out, and then come to a stop. The switch to clipless was easy peasy. You mean all I have to do is kick out my heel a bit? Sweet!

Smart. Looking back, I think I had more power with toeclips. In fact, the float on my Speedplay Zeroes is set to simulate a slightly worn cleat in a Campy Record track pedal.

Of course, the new shoes are a lot more comfortable after 50 or 100 miles. But I often wonder if they could be made better by moving the ratcheted buckle up where the strap used to go.

Somebody recently asked Eddy Merckx what he thought were the most important technological developments in road cycling. Clip-in pedals and indexed shifting, he said. I'm with Eddy. I've seen too many triathletes on the side of the road trying to pull their running shoes out of their spokes.