Dam..I gotta agree, no doubt everyone is free to have an opinion and I claim no particular expertise but the negatives expressed in 'antiaverages' post bear no resemblance to my experience using these suckers to pedal my bike...none.

Diagonal straps or no, every stroke up, thru, over and down simply gives me no sense that "no..not as 'efficient' as it could be". Once I get my feet in, from my perspective during my employment of these pedals I'm putting out the power across the entire rotation, works for me. Keeps me connected yet when I decide or circumstances dictate that I slip out NOW, I slide out nice and easy. I tried this route after a few close calls with my crank bros mallets. Great pedals, but for me in a congested MUP with folks doing strange and often dangerous-idiotic things, forcing you to stop on a dime, slow to a crawl, duck, dip and dive a few times I've needed to immediately diengage from the pedal and I almost got caught in the typical 'didnt unclip and going over' scenario. No fault of the pedals but for me I needed a truly 'brainless' solution, I've honestly only been using them for about a week and beside the small challenge of mounting my foot in once in motion they have been great. Frankly I have little to no complaints about them.

Overpriced? Maybe I dunno..seems to me that everything cost more than it's worth. I have Azonic Pookies on my mtb, I think they are superb but cost 'a grip', so did the Mallets, my MKS Lambda's on a hybrid cost about the same as the "high performamce" powergrips. Frankly I think it's all overpriced but the cost is the cost and my powergrips were on the milder side when compared to my other/prior pedals.

I'll admit to liking what I'm hearing about the Holdfasts and if I find negatives enough about my current setup to go and look for a better solution in greener pastures I'll surely give them a go, but so far so good..yet admittedly early days thus far.

There is nothing wrong with enjoying what you have, but the negatives I expressed are because I have tried the alternatives to Powergrips and found them to be superior.

Those are late model TA track pedals... they are rather exceptional.

Was working out in my shop today and mounted up those SR 100 Al's to my 1954 Raleigh road bike... as a purist I should be using some English made pedals and I have some sand dust caps but from a functional point of view these are quite beautiful and suit the old girl.

They are also lighter than the old track pedals I was using.

In cleaning up my shop and going through boxes of parts I found another set of SR 100 pedals which are just a little narrower than standard road pedals, but wider than track pedals, and would be quite nice on a fixed gear.

When one is riding pulling up on the non driving leg is not very efficient for any period of time unless one is really hammering hard on the pedals as when they are sprinting or hill climbing... for skidding and brakeless adventures I can see the benefit of doubles as if one strap snaps you have a backup.

If a strap breaks while you are road riding you will just be inconvenienced... I often carry a spare strap as although I may never need to replace one on a pedal you can use them to lock a brake or secure a front wheel to the frame when you are making repairs.

Another interesting use for a toe strap was done by Sheldon Brown who used one as an actuator for a centre pull brake which would make one compliant with most brake laws... I tried this and it actually worked rather well.

A few points...

It has been pointed out that clips/straps with proper cleats offer at least as much retention as the best clipless set-ups. And yes, people do still use cleats -- head down to the local velodrome and watch the sprinters at work.

I'm not sure that there is any point in discussing "best clips and straps" if they are going to be used with tennis shoes. No clips and straps will retain the shoe/foot at all well without cleats.

Beyond that, I will note that the trend for clips "designed" for doubles is foolish. Assuming a traditional clip with one loop holding a single toe strap, placing an additional toe strap ahead of the first one results in very little additional security: your toes aren't really contributing to the pedal stroke. The place to put a second strap is behind the first one, behind the ball of the foot. This is best accomplished by threading the second strap through the rear pedal cage plate and then attaching the top of the strap to the front one so that it doesn't flop around. There are fancy leather do-dads that perform the function but electrical tape works just as well. A pedal so set up will offer unbeatable retention with proper cleats -- even crashing won't often pop you out -- and probably offers the best (still inadequate) retention with tennis shoes.

It's also worth noting that the great majority of toe straps currently on the market are trash for most purposes. That includes all straps made out of a single piece of leather or nylon. These stretch under force -- even if you get them as tight as you can by hand they will still allow your foot to come out with little effort. Laminated straps are the only straps that can truly offer retention -- and most of the currently available laminated straps are no good. I've seen them delaminate after a few uses, I've seen buckles that don't grip well and buckle rivets that snap, and I've seen leather so soft that the serrations of the buckle tear right through it. I am sure that there are several good ones available, but the only ones I know for a fact to be world class are from Toshi.

Toe clips? Plastic sucks. Aluminum works fine until it breaks (it will). The steel ones are mostly all the same, but Campagnolo clips seem to have heavier chroming and don't rust as quickly as Christophe and MKS.

The purpose of the toe clip is really just to hold the straps up so you can slip in. Plastic/polycarbonate clips are just fine for this purpose, and they don't rust. Otherwise, I'm 100% with you.

This man knows of what he speaks.

Of course retention is better with cleats. However, I'm pretty sure the OP rides in the street rather than the track.

I use clips and straps with no cleats and must have foot retention because of nerve damage in my back that affects my left leg and foot... without this my foot will often slip out of position or lift off the pedal as the motor nerves are affected. I like to be able to get off my bike and walk and cleats or straight up clipless road shoes hamper my walking ability.

My right leg sometimes does nearly 100% of the work and with the right shoes cinched down snugly I can still pedal very efficiently without my feet slipping out the back... my left foot gets locked in first as I cannot always feel the pedal.

Adidas Stan Smith tennis shoes are my preferred shoe and have been for 20 years... the hold quite well and don't slip and I have some Uvex shoes which have also been quite decent... these are also leather with a nice shape for clips and straps.

I also use clipless pedals which are better when I am dead legging it and have an ever growing collection of shoes and pedals... clipless mtb and touring / commuting shoes are my favourites as they are comfortable enough to stand and work in and I also have straight up road pedals for long road rides where there will be no off the bike time.

Riding fixed also makes me more efficient as sometimes my left leg just needs to go for a ride and after some time it will usually wake up a little and do a little more work.

Anyways... I have been doing one legged drills for a few years now and can still spin things like a gerbil on crack and have not blown out of a clip yet... part of that also stems from knowing how to pedal efficiently... this is something many cyclists do not do.

You just need a bigger tab on the pedal to make it easier to flip it up:

After a few times you don't even need to look anymore. It helps to put end buttons on the straps to make them easier to grab as they go by:

Good quality straps with rollers on the buckle help as well. I usually leave one foot clipped in at stops; then I only have to deal with one foot when I start again.

And I'm not convinced that clipless saves much time, either. During group rides with clipless users, I'm still routinely one of the first to be fully engaged after stops. Plenty of people still have trouble lining up their feet on clipless pedals; the only real difference is that once they do get clipped in they don't need to snug anything up. On the other hand, I can still pedal without having to snug the straps.

I broke a pedal cage last year by twisting with slotted cleats:

Granted, the pedal was about 30 years old and the cage plate pretty worn by then...

Campy toeclips also have a ramp that helps guide the shoe into the clip rather than snagging on the pedal:

hmmm... well for starters i clearly don't have mine threaded right -- i over-undered the tab for fear it'd loosen up. silly me, going to fix that right now...

Those Bindas, BTW, are very good straps. The Binda Extras with two layers of leather sandwiching a non-stretch liner are even better -- but any strap with the word "Binda" on it is a collector's item and can go for more than $100.

I use single layer leather straps (usually Christophe) with touring shoes having a plain rubber sole. These work fine for what I do (cruise around all day at 17 MPH) but are a far cry from anything I would term actual retention, and would be next to useless for "performance" riding. In my racing days I depended upon wood-soled shoes with deep slotted nail-on cleats, along with Campy Super record pedals, Campy clips, and Binda Extra straps (doubled for track racing).

I suppose it is all relative, but compared to the former, the latter was vastly superior in every way -- except, as you point out, for walking. I think your note about "clipless pedals...are better when I am dead legging it..." is illustrative: proper retention is proper retention. Tennis shoes aren't, though they may be "good enough" for individual circumstances.

Wow, those are some serious tabs:



That would be far more convenient than the little nubs I have on mine.

I decided to go with this set up. The pedals were N.OS in a bag at my LBS, given to me (with cages and hardware) for free. You can't beat that deal. They are a little tricky to get into, which should be easier as they stretch and get broken in.

Those are Lyotard mod. 23 pedals, designed way back in the 1930s by French track champion Marcel Berthet. They were in production for over half a century (mid-30s to late 80s), but alas, Lyotard is no more. They turn up on eBay fairly often, but tend to be pricey. You also have to be careful because they were available in 3 different threadings: 9/16" x 20tpi, 14mm x 1.25mm, and 1/2" x 20tpi.

The Sakae-Ringyo SP-11 appears to have been inspired by the mod. 23, as is the White Industries Urban Pedal.