To cleat or not to cleat?

[JasonM]

At first I've been using flat pedals. But most of my friends are shifting into clipless pedals. They suggest that i should change too since its more efficient especially on long rides and uphills. they i get used to it a couple of tries then im confident enough for long rides with clipless pedals.

[Trek420]

Thanks for the bump.

All 10 (yikes. How did that happen?) of our bikes are platform pedals, various and sundry brands and kinds. I had to give up on clipless because of a foot injury. My road bike shoe days are over.

I don't miss it. All of our platform pedals are grippy, steady, can even stand on a hill or to accelerate. The only time I miss clipless a teeny tiny bit is on descents. With clipless there's little to no risk of loss of contact with the pedal when you hit a bump. I really felt connected with the bike. That can happen with platform but has not yet.

OTOH or foot, OTOF with platforms I can just grab a bike and go. I never even have to change shoes though sometimes do for footwear that's a little stiffer and or more grippy.

[ny biker]

Hi Trek!

I put platform pedals on my mountain bike after I hurt my ankle so I could do short rides around my neighborhood without having to twist my foot to clip in and out. I found it very hard to get started, especially on a hill, after using clipless pedals for years. Did you have a similar problem when you switched back to platforms?

I don't ride the mountain bike much and since my ankle is better I'm back to riding my road bike which has clipless pedals. But I might be getting another bike and am considering putting platform pedals on that, for a few reasons.

The clipless pedals do help me when riding up steep hills, because that's when I am consciously pulling up through the pedal stroke. Other than that I really don't know how much difference they make. I'm an average-speed rider, not trying to race or anything.

I have had trouble finding road shoes that are comfortable, and in cold weather those cold metal cleats make my feet cold. Also I have to be careful when walking on unpaved surfaces in them to avoid getting dirt in the cleats. I've done a few century rides lately that required walking in grass, dirt and mud in my bike shoes, which was not fun.

[Crankin]

I absolutely hate riding on flat pedals! I can barely get started, let a lone on a hill! I wish I didn't get the dual sided pedals for the Ariel. It comes down to just not feeling safe on the flat pedals.

[north woods gal]

As most of you know, I converted over to quality flat pedals with pins for all my riding on all my bikes, some years back. Honestly, going back to clipless would be a huge step backward in performance for me. Going flat pedal has allowed me to do things when riding trails that would be impossible with clipless, not to mention my feet are far healthier, much warmer in the winter and injury free, thanks to flats. You could hold a gun to my head and I still wouldn't go back to locking my feet to the pedals.

[Trek420]

I absolutely hate riding on flat pedals! I can barely get started, let a lone on a hill! I wish I didn't get the dual sided pedals for the Ariel. It comes down to just not feeling safe on the flat pedals.

I had the dual sided pedals on my GT Outpost trail and never liked them. Always a struggle getting to the "right" side of the dual side. First 50 yards or so were flipping the pedal over over and over till I land on the flat side. Same thing if I happened to ride clipless, just getting it to the clip side on the other foot was a pain. Never again.

Just taking a look: I have Redline pedals on the Salsa and Motobecane. Lambda pedal on the Soma and Mondonico. https://www.treefortbikes.com/MKS-La...latform-Pedals

[Trek420]

Ooh, while I have the plain lo profile alloy platform, I just noticed the colors. Might have to change pedals on the bright green Salsa Vaya to this;

http://redlinebicycles.com/parts/mon...atform-pedals/

[Crankin]

It's not the annoying pedal flipping that I dislike... it's the actual riding on flat pedals. Feet flying off occasionally does not help the general feeling of discombobulation I feel. Add to that the pain in my feet from continually scrunching them to help them stay on the pedals.