Pedals(Clipless) - 101

[Wahine]

I am another Look fan. I don't like speedplays... call me weird.

[OakLeaf]

Another Look rider here, although my opinion doesn't count since I've never tried anything else.

Had a pair of Look-compatible Mavic's on my old road bikes back when Look and Time was all there was. When I got my new bike last year, I tried a pair of Eggbeaters and I literally could NOT get my feet out of them on the trainer in the shop. Like, I'd rotate my ankle and knee to the limit of my pretty normal ROM, and my feet would not come out. So it was back to what I know, "back" to Keo's. My knees are tetchy, but that just means that I have to spend a little extra time with a new bike or new shoes, getting the cleats positioned exactly right. I'm fine with no float.

There's still something I'm not getting about these discussions though, probably because I was on hiatus for so long. I asked before and I think people thought I was being sarcastic, but really I'm serious, it's just I was away from cycling for a long time. Can you still even buy toe-clip style cleats, outside of maybe NOS on eBay? They used to come with shoes, but none of the shoes I've looked at recently had them.

Are you-all talking about going straight from riding in sneakers with toe clips, straight to cycling shoes with a clipless setup? Because that's really two transitions, a transition from a shoe that's just not appropriate for road cycling at all to one that is, but is pretty much useless for anything else; and then a transition from one style of locking into the pedal to another. The latter ought to be a no-brainer IMO. With a toe clip, you need your hands to get out of the pedals, and the pedal has to be somewhere near the top of the stroke. So you can't make hand signals, brake with both hands or downshift at the same time you're unclipping. Why would you want that?

[Starfish]

Oakleaf, when I first started riding, I had a bike with toe clips. Cages actually. My hands were not required to get my feet in and out of them, because the plastic cage provided some structure. Now, I could tighten them up or down, and for long rides, it took extra oomph to pull my feet out (when I had the straps tightened up), but I could still remove my feet without my hands. I started in this setup with regular tennis shoes.

Then, I got some mountain bike shoes. These had a stiffer sole than tennis shoes, but it was optional to use the SPD cleats. I left the little rubber plate over the cleat area for a while, and continued to use the toe clip cages.

Then, I finally got SPD pedals and went clipless. And, I wondered why on earth I had not just started clipless on the bike from the very beginning. MUCH easier than toe clips, IMO.

Now I use Ultegra road pedals and have road shoes.

[HillSlugger]

I have a similar pedal history to Starfish's, except that I've stayed with spd's. I used cages on my old 10-speed and put cages on my hybrid 4 years ago. I never tightened the straps so much that I couldn't easily slip my foot out. Of course, this means I was losing some of the mechanical advantage but they still kept my feet well positioned on the pedals and prevented them from slipping off the front. Having to flip them up to get your foot in is not much different than having to flip over a single-sided road pedal. For someone who may be afraid of clipless, cages are definitely an advantage over platform pedals.

[Starfish]

Having to flip them up to get your foot in is not much different than having to flip over a single-sided road pedal.

for me, getting in and out of clipless is vastly easier than the toe clips...both with the SPDs and the new road pedals.

[surgtech1956]

Are the clipless pedals better for your knees or is there one clipless better on the knees than another? Do I buy the shoes than get the pedals or the other way around? I like the mtb shoes(I like the hiking shoe look) better than road shoes - would this matter on my road bike? Thanks

[KnottedYet]

Get whatever shoes you want. Mountain shoes/road shoes, it doesn't matter as long as they do what you want and you like them. I have mountain shoes and Speedplay Frogs on my road bike.

Buy the shoes and pedals at the same time. By buying the shoes and pedals at the same time, you can be sure they match. If your LBS can't make the cleats fit the shoes you've chosen, you can make the decision right there how you'd like to proceed. (different shoes or different cleats/pedals)

Frogs are often recommended for folks with knee issues, because they are passive release (no pressure required) and have huge float (20 degrees). There are no moving parts or springs or anything on Frogs. It's like a pickle jar (pedal) and a lid (cleat). Extremely simple.

[OakLeaf]

Okay I understand now. With a cleated cycling shoe, there was no way to get your foot out of a toe clip unless you loosened the strap. Guess no one remembers those The cleat was just a channel maybe 3-4 mm deep that locked your foot onto the rear edge of the pedal. Thanks for the explain.

[Meaux]

I have the Keo Classics on my bike, I like them a lot. I use them with the red cleats because there's a lot of float on them, which I like. I had the SPD's on my mountain bike shoes, they were okay, but I really like the Keos.