They are for me. Anytime I'm on sketchy pavement I would much rather be securely attached to the bike.

There are times, especially when climbing, that if I wasn't attached to the pedal I'd probably fall. I can't be bothered to try focus on keeping my feet on a pedal. I'm just telling myself to keep moving. I can't imagine how much it would suck to ride platforms in these types of situations. Well, basically, I wouldn't be able to.

If you spend a little time on platforms it's really second nature to keep your feet on the pedals. The only time I find it rough is when it's wet out, cuz my pins are pretty worn out.

Maybe, but clipped in I can be "lazy" and just focus on moving the legs. Maybe that means my form is bad and that I use clipless as a crutch but I like them and will never ride without unless it's just a fun ride with the family or something but even then I usually use clipless because that's what the bike has. I can also "pull-up" to try and get a bit more power into a climb. I know people say it's a myth, but it can be done, it has an effect and my muscles get tired quite quickly so they must be doing something they don't normally do.

Yeah, that's how I did it for... uh... the first twenty years on a bike.

I didn't get nice BMX platforms 'til about 9 years in to my cycling life, at 15 years old. Up until then I had a lot of this kinda stuff on my cranks:


Currently I have one bike with touring platforms/clips/straps, one bike with 105 road pedals/clips/straps, two with BMX platforms and a couple with MTB pedals/clips/straps.

I mean, jeezus, did you think that the first time I rode a bicycle was six months ago? And some shop took advantage of my noobishness and sold me some clipless pedals and said I would be on the Tour in no time?

I started riding a bike when I was 7. I didn't use any foot retention until I was 27. I loved it. It made offroad riding easier, it made on-road riding easier. I really don't understand why I'm supposed to regress to plain pedals.

My commuter still has plain platforms. But, I don't bother using it for anything further than a few miles. If I want to, I can put some of my clipless pedals on it and take it for a long ride.

I honestly have no idea what you're on about. The point of my last post was that nice BMX platforms are WAY better than rat traps. Take that as you will.

And, no, I've banished toeclips n' straps from my bikes. Not even half-clips. Tried them both, didn't like them. To get a secure connection, I'd have to cinch them down -- which makes them harder to undo than clipless. If I want to get out of them easily, I can't cinch them down -- which makes them useless as a retention device. If I have to get going before I've flipped the pedal over and slid my foot into the cage without re-flipping them upside down again, leaving the cage hanging underneath, they drag on the pavement -- making my CB Mallet pedals seem like low-profile Speedplays by comparison. I've even wondered if the chrome MKS half-clips I used to use would make sparks when they dragged.

So sorry, it took me thirty seconds longer to write that post than you did to write yours, so yours appeared before mine. Golly.

And what I'm "on about" is your "If you spent a little time on platforms..." bit. Yeah, I have, from before puberty through college. I'll even count last Friday since I can't add in tomorrow morning when I ride to work yet again on my platform-equipped commuter bike.

Look, guys, I'm not being ignorant here. The only pedal variation I haven't used yet is toeclips and straps with dedicated, hard-soled, cleated cycling shoes. I hardly count Power Grips as different enough from regular clips with regular shoes, either.

Oh, gotcha. It is a skill you can lose. I rode from 1988-2005 with some kinda foot retention for practically every bike ride. Then I started buying cheap bikes and fixing them up and I did a lot of test riding and I did find it really sketchy at first. Then a couple of years ago I scored a bike with some nice GT platforms and that made it much easier.

The "spend a little time on..." post was in response to bikerjp's post about having trouble keeping feet on pedals, BTW.

In addition, you seem to be in mega troll mode. WUWT?

So I'd have to relearn pushing my feet onto the pedals on every upstroke... or unlearn the opportunity to lift my feet on the upstroke?

That still seems more like regression than progression.

I'm on a roll tonight probably because my wife's got a head start on Christmas vacation and, being home alone, I've got nothing else to do.

Yes, in my opinion, it's absolutely worth it.

I have clipless pedals on all my bikes except for my commuter/errand bike. I just want to be able to wear normal shoes on that one.

imo clipless pedals are one of the best upgrades you can get for cycling, of any kind.

Absolutely.
Old style toe clips are way better than nothing, and clipless are way better than toe clips & straps.


Yes, any sort of climbing will benefit greatly from "attached shoes".

If I were to putter around town casually on a bike for a few miles, then I can see riding in street shoes.

But doing 55 miles of hills yesterday would have been miserable and slower without clipless pedals. Being able to pull up while climbing makes a big difference.

No, they aren't.

I got 4th in a climbing race in loafers and Look Keo pedals a while back. If I had a brain and had remembered my shoes I might have won it. Sprinting was greatly compromised (though I still beat some guys), and climbing was no bucket of fun.

People pull out of pedals on the upstroke in sprints, you lose that power on platform pedals. When I do sprint and shorter distance events on the track I use clipless and toe straps. Huge amount of force generated there and even with the pedal adjusted to maximum resistance, I was still pulling out.

Let's see the studies.

I'm betting that you are referring to studies which show that you don't actually produce power pulling up on the pedal, but at most are partially unweighting it.

That's far from saying that in the real world you can't ride faster with your feat clipped in than you can with street shoes on platforms.

I can imagine if Hoy (or any other pro) doesn't use straps with clipless he would pop out the first couple of lunges off the line of a pursuit.

See post #34. I like Racer EX's anecdote better, though. He didn't even have good platforms OR good shoes and didn't being unclipped slow him down. I'm sure he would've been a LOT more comfortable and confident being clipped in or even just having good sneakers on good platforms.

I don't know anyone who rides platform pedals, clips or no clips, with carbon soled sneakers (or loafers ). When the sole flexes, power is lost. We don't need a study to determine that.

I ride platforms in boots with a steel shank on rainy days. Not very flexy but I'm pretty slow in 'em.

There are even platforms for weight weenies these days:

Yeah, it did slow me down. Might have cost me the race.

And any study that say you (well, me anyway) don't produce power on the upstroke is seriously flawed (see "pulling out during a sprint").

That said you can still go pretty good on platform pedals sitting down. Standing to climb or sprint is a different story. If you're a casual rec rider clipless might help, or it might be very bad depending on how you're set up.

That's why you use this type of shoe:

Yeah, I've got a set of Duegi's and a set if Diadora's from my 80's racing days at home. You missed the point. If you're going to wear cleated shoes, you might as well wear clipless.