Originally Posted by
Trakhak
The videos I've seen that made that comparison tested the two types under conditions of steady cadence and power. Not surprising they didn't find a difference. Where clipless shines is in fast accelerations and climbing efforts.
Certainly works that way for me. On the rare occasions that I take a bike out that has conventional pedals and toe clips, I'll usually experience, at least once, one foot violently flinging backward and up when I'm putting power down with the other to, e.g., sprint up a short hill.
Toe clips work best with some sort of cleat-like thing fitting into the rat-traps. I used toe clips for years and wore tennies which develop a wear slot in that soft sole and thus one cannot pull one's foot out, no matter what, which once in a while, has its downside. I once went headfirst into a telephone pole, bike still attached.
Yes, clipping in takes practice. In a group ride, one can always tell who rides a lot by how they leave a stop - do they hit the clip first try, no coasting? On our tandem, I use double sided SPDs to make that more reliable. The captain can't ever miss because the pedals keep going around. Stoker has single sided because she never unclips.
I've tried riding the tandem not clipped in and kept getting hit by the pedals because my foot would come off unless I really concentrated on keeping weight in them. That hurt. So much for "there's no difference."