cs1

When I switched from black to red on my Look Delta style pedals I fell. I did not realize how much float they had before they unlocked. The black cleats twisted out with almost effort.

ButchA

I have toe clips and came close to falling over only once (quick, panic stop). Keep the straps slightly loose and AlWAYS remember to yank your foot backwards no matter what.

I wear a pair of Adidas running shoes and they fit perfect on my old Wellgo cage pedals with toe clips. Adidas are well known to run a little narrow in the foot, so they make excellent bicycle shoes.

Craigorock

I set up my pedals/cages around my foot/shoe choice and have never had any issues (unless i pulled the toe strap too tight). I have tried clipless pedals (Look and Campagnolo) over the years and still i prefer toeclips and straps, wearing my Converse or Vans slip ons. Someday Though i may go for a pair of classic cyclotourist style shoes.

In my experience, pedal width is important as there can be a substantial difference:


Mks has a great selection of toe clips in 3 different lengths, as well as the classic shape and a 'deep' size. This deep size i find has been perfect for any shoes I have tried riding in. They are taller at the toe to fit a larger shoe.

Here is as close to a comparison as i could find:

Classic shape


'Deep' shape


Hope that helps.

79pmooney

Yup. With steel inserts, better yet. (The shoes that set off metal detectors.) If they also have flat soles with Vibram rubber, they will be really good cycling shoes and allow you to pull the straps tight someday for almost all the advantage of the best clip-less setups (and be as good as any shoes on earth off the bike).

Shoes like that will pull cleanly out of toestraps every time (as long as you remember to loosen them if you tightened them). But you should also make it a point of putting real weight on your down foot when you stop if you have any balance issues, just so your fall doesn't happen. After you stop, if you haven't weighted your down foot enough, rock the bike back and forth a couple of times, steering like you would it you were parallel parking a car to move the front wheel an inch or so toward your foot on the bike. Or just steer toward that foot as you put your other foot down,

Those falls aren't fun. High side crashes. (High side meaning like you wiped out hitting a curb while cornering and went over the bike and fell to the outside of the turn. You go higher and fall further. Hurts more.)

philbob57

I, too, mourn the loss of the 'touring' shoes of the '70s and '80s. They had stiff, thin soles and leather or cloth uppers. You could have a shoemaker nail cleats into the soles. They only time I fell was when I first had cleats.

Current model road shoes without cleats are sort of like touring shoes, except that the soles are a lot more slippery. You can buy them cheap on ebay, or you can spend $100 for entry-level shoes from a Specialized or Trek dealer. The Bontrager entry level shoes of a couple of years ago have relatively big toe boxes, BTW.

BUT ... I used toe clips and straps for 30+ years and SPDs for 150-200 miles. I've ridden pinned flats for 500 miles so far, and they're the best I've used. I started with a $10 pair of plastic pedals with plastic pins, and they were great. I switched to DMR V12s, and I don't need anything better than that - but light, strong metal pedals are as low as, probably, $25.

I've ridden mine with training shoes, but they're even better with Five Ten SPD shoes (without the clips), and Five Ten has closeouts cheap on their website. I expect their competitors do, too.

Oldpeddaller

Now I've got "Shoe envy" - those shoes are just SO perfect!

sh00k

These are my sentiments to the tee. I have had scares like this too (about to fall over with my feet in the toe clips) but luckily it hasnt happened. i wear nike running shoes that also flare out so the fit of my feet in the toe clips is snug, even though the toe clips are loose.

The one thing i do is at low speeds or when i stop, right before i stop, i wiggle both feet out by going left and right and pulling back. This way, as i roll to a stop, my toes are on the edge of the peddles and can easily come out as i pull my feet back.

Maybe train yourself to do something like this? It does take time to get used to this and there are still times i dont remember to do this but the more i do it, the more it's becoming 2nd nature...

fwiw.

Salamandrine 

Me too. Green with it. Those Mamnick shoes look wonderful. I hadn't seen them before. The perforations are a necessary feature here in California, (and presumably in Texas too), and the other neo retro touring shoes don't have them.

I've also been using Chrome shoes as a temporary measure with my toe clip bikes, but they are heavy and a little uncomfortable after 50 miles or so, but overall not bad. They are basically like Vans with a shank. Entry and exit is easy enough.

RE the OP - Any kind of leather shoe tends to work pretty well. Old cycling shoes of course, if you've got 'em. Deck shoes or other smooth soled athletic shoes are ok also as far as entry and exit. Any shoes with lugged soles (ie running shoes) are going to cause problems.

I've actually only fallen over once when I couldn't get my foot out in time. It was the very first time I rode with slotted cleat cycling shoes. I was doing fine, but when I got to about the third stop sign i spaced the strap, and fell over like a sack of potatoes. Felt like an idiot, but it hasn't happened since. (several decades now...)

bulldog1935

3rd choice, nylon half-clips that don't use straps, much easier to get in and out.
My daughter used them awhile on MKS city pedals on her upright


she has Fyxation platforms now and likes them better on that bike


though she still prefers toe clips with straps on her go-fast

Jadesfire 

I currently use my old Merrell Pace Glove shoes with toe clips and straps. They are probably a little too flexy for any serious riding i.e. distances over 40 miles), but I'm toying with the idea of adding stiff insoles. They have a Vibram tread and a narrow toe box, and are very comfortable to walk home in- in the case of a mechanical issue.
Unfortunately, after ~3 years of use (2.5 years as my every day shoes) they are starting to fall apart. But I like them so much I am going to try to hold on to them as long as possible.

crank_addict

No glamor but I still use these atb Suntour XC pro pedals, nylon clips and vintage SuperStrap ratchet straps. They work just like a ski-boot clasp. Holds shape vs. leather that fatigue over time. Easy to dial in with micro tension and for release, flip up tab. Excellent.

[IMG]suntour xc pro ATB by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

Grand Bois

Power Grips and Vans work for me. I never have trouble getting in or out. They tease me at work for wearing skate shoes at my age, but that's okay.

Power Grips

CliffordK

I've got half-clips on my nephew's bike, in hopes to help train him to use toeclips. Mom's bike also has the half-clips, so my niece gets to use them whenever she borrows the bike. I'm not sure either really like them. Hopefully I'll get my nephew using real toeclips shortly.

As far as the toeclips, I don't think I've ever had any problems with shoes coming out. Of course, the shoes with cleats and toeclips need a little twist to pull out, just like the modern clipless shoes.

Before I stopped using toeclips, I migrated to plastic ones, primarily because I thought they tended not to scratch the shoes as much as metal clips. But, if your clips are catching, perhaps consider broad base plastic clips, perhaps with two loops for the straps.



The other thing is that I always disliked nylon straps. I think the nylon straps would last a bit longer than leather ones, but they always felt a little flimsy, and would twist up, while the leather ones seemed to stay where one wanted them.

79pmooney

The flip side of all this: if you lock your feet in, whatever the system, the day will come when you stop and cannot get out. Happened to me today. Threw the chain on my fix gear while strapped in tightly with deep cleats. Locked up going 20+. (Long time fix gear rider who's done plenty of long rides on those beasts since long before cell phones. I learned how to baby the bike to a stop years ago so I had a better cahnce of not having to walk or hitch hike.) First reflex: get my weight forward so the tire survives the skid and I do the least damage to my jammed chain, spokes, etc. As I slow, "oh yeah, I'm locked in solidly. I gotta release a strap." Get the left released in time, but don't quite peg the stop. Need that front wheel a 1/2 " further right. But the rear isn't going anywhere and therefore, neither is the front. I look at the roadside, specifically for a curb. No curb. Relax and just plop down to my strapped in right side, kinda rolling with the attached bike. Completely unhurt. Then and now 4 hours later.

I think that being able to do that fall and relax is, in the big picture, far more important than getting the pedal system perfect so it doesn't happen. Bicycles are inherently stable only when moving and undisturbed by outside forces. A little like airplanes. Good thing is we can do most crashes, get up and keep on riding with minimal injuries IF WE ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN. Tensing up and fearing that crash is one of the most certain ways we can set ourselves up for a lot more injury.

(My big, big fear riding fix gears is pulling one foot out of the pedal going fast. Going fast means pedaling 200 RPM plus. Doing that one footed while waving the other leg in space very close to a bare pedal going that same 200 RPM and driven by a geared up 200 pound machine spells a big time injury I won't forget for months. And that's before I even hit the road. My cleats and toestraps are secure. Close to velodrome sprinter secure. No, I cannot pull on the straps like they can. But I can and do spin faster and go faster. Sometimes, like today, I pay for that security. When I remember "of yeah, I just made a fool of myself" and relax, no big deal.)

Ben

rekmeyata

I didn't like nylon straps either because of the same reason you mentioned, they felt flimsy and they dug into my shoes to the point where my feet would ache where the strap was. Leather didn't last long though but they were much more comfortable than Nylon, but they lasted about a season. There was also a plastic strap but it was horrible as well. The best strap I found that would last several seasons and be comfortable as leather because it was leather, was a laminated strap, this had a very tough anti stretch material that was sandwiched between two pieces of leather, this kept the leather from stretching and only lasting a season like the leather ones.

I rode on toe straps for over 40 years and I liked them, on my main bike I have clipless now, but I don't mind either. The biggest problem with clipless is that the whole system from the pedals to the shoe cleats don't last anywhere near as long as the old school toe clips. The shoe cleat should be replaced about every other season, the pedals use springs that are known to fail, the only thing that would fail on the toe straps is the strap but they were cheap compared to shoe cleats...use to be cheap, today they want a lot of money for toe straps when all I use to pay was 8 bucks, now they're like $50! which is just insane for a small strip of leather and a laminated material inside, but that's where the cycling world is going. If a pair of dress shoes cost as much to make as a leather toe strap shoes would cost a minimum of $3000 for a pair! that should tell you something about how far prices have gone on cycling related crap. Even with inflation when I paid $8 should only cost about $18 to $23 for straps today.

As far as falling over due to being strapped in, yes that can happen but I've seen it happen with clipless too, so I don't see any advantage on that aspect. You shouldn't have to tighten up the strap so tight you can't pull your foot up and out unless you're track racing, I use to race all over So California including mountains there, and I never wasn't able to get my foot out but nor did I pull my foot off the pedal by accident either. Even with some clipless designs i've seen people become disengaged from the clipless pedal when they didn't want to.

rootboy 

It's bicycle riding. Sometimes you fall down.

bulldog1935

yes, but our OP has done the fool me once, fool me twice thing.
He's onto a pattern and wants to change it.

And actually, in 40 years I have never fallen over with toe clips. Knock on wood, I'm taking the bike out tomorrow...

rootboy 

Practice, practice, practice.

67tony 

This.

MKS Urban Platform.
I've got 'em on about half my bikes...

79pmooney

rekmeyata, one way to cut down your toestrap costs - if your town has a good leather shop like Portland Leather here in Porland, OR, you can have them cut straps from quality leather. Rivet these straps to your favorite buckles with pop rivets.


Ben

gomango

Stuff happens.

I ditched straps twenty years ago, but certainly respect those that keep it going.

I managed two trips to Moab with SPDs and I still have most of my teeth.

crank_addict

I don't like the way the nylon ones look (the SuperStrap posted above) but have had them since 1990 or 91! By far the best design. As for longevity, been using them off-road before SPD existed.

bulldog1935

That is the same pedal (in black) with nylon half-clips that is on my daughter's silver Cafe Express above. They have good clearance, will take any shoes, and have a really big toe tab on the back that flips the pedal straight to load.

non-fixie 

Find your old ballroom dancing shoes, punch a few holes in them and you get something like these:

drlogik 

I, to, have ridden with clips for years. When I started we used to nail cleats on the bottom of the leather sole so that we really didn't come out. Crazy. Anyway, be sure to tuck the laces under the lace-ups so that they don't catch on anything. A rubber band can help with that but I don't use one. I like the idea of one system for all bikes but I certainly don't do that. I have Look road pedals on my Pinarello, SPD's on my fixie and and mtn bike and toe clips on my old Raleigh. It's been years since I tipped over but, like you, it was for the same reason. I got stuck. Em-bare-assing when you're with a group, for sure.