P4D 

The fancy clothes thread got me thinking about this a bit. I use SPD clipless pedals, and really dislike riding toe clips or flat pedals with regular shoes. I'm thinking maybe this is uncommon, and not that many C&V people use clipless shoes?

EjustE

I don't use them for a couple of reasons (or so) :

a. I am lazy to learn how to use them and for my life of me I cannot balance a stopped bike at a stop sign or a red light without taking one foot off the pedal and planting it on the ground
b. I like to wear shoes on a bike, that I can walk on if I need to without dealing with all that cleat stuff. Same argument, I like to pop into a bike on a spare of the moment situation, like driving into a new place and exploring an interesting path in the weekend (and I don't want to deal with hauling different shoes to do that). Yeah, I am a freak: I mount my bike on my car carrier when I go for pointless country drives on sunny weekends, just in case I see something I cannot explore with a car.
c. I even race with platform cages (triathlons). Use running shoes on them and I save a good couple of minutes in transitions

auchencrow

I'm thinking you are right !

Shp4man

I use SPD's on my bikes, with mountain bike style shoes. The torque multiplication effect from pushing one down and lifting one up is the biggest reason.

frpax

I've got a mixture of SPD-R (3 bikes), SPD (1 bike), and will soon have quill pedals and toe clips on another.

CV-6 

I use them. I find them more comfortable than clips and straps.

RobbieTunes

Clips and straps have moving parts that confuse me, and cinching them down makes my feet go numb.

I'm addicted to the increased efficiency of somehow tying the foot to the pedal, so it's clipless for me. I need all the help I can get. Concentrating on the "pull" part of the stroke seems to help me on hills and/or to relax.

Just like shorts, though, my road shoes, once off the bike, are pretty ridiculous.

Thanks to nine14six, txvintage, High Fist Shin, and a couple others, I have enough old-school Looks (Delta cleats) to properly "accessorize" my red bikes.

91MF

i used to use track pedals w/clips and double straps and now use time ATAC. on my bikes i actually go fast on i'll never go back. night and day.

mkeller234

I am using SPD-SL pedals for the first time this year and I really like them so far. I was having toe numbness issues with toe clips on longer rides with our local bike club. The SPD-SL pedals are nice because the cleat is huge and it offers a nice large platform for the ball of your foot. Grant Peterson has doubts as far as riders using clipless pedals to lift the pedal on the up swing. I think he is probably onto something with that but so far clipless seems to offer a level of comfort that I had not had with toe clips. My club bike is not a C&V trophy so I guess that it doesn't really matter what pedals are on it.

For my commuter I use plain old MKS touring pedals and will probably add either power grips or half clips. I have toe clips on two of my nice C&V bikes but I don't put major amounts of miles on them.

Rabid Koala

That pretty much sums it up for me, too. One of my favorite destinations, Cabrillo National Monument, is one where I do a bit of walking once I get there. I want the option to walk comfortably.

frpax

I will disagree with this. I've been using clipless pedals in some form or other since the late '80s and have never had an issue with pulling up on the up swing of the pedal stroke. Pro racers have been using them since their inception (except Sean Kelly ).
Perhaps Mr. Peterson just doesn't like them personally... But everyone is entitled to their opinions..

frpax

Also, I've never had any problem with getting on any of my bikes with street shoes, tennis shoes, whatever, and riding 6~10 miles... regardless of what pedals they have, even little stubby mtn. bike SPD's.

svt4cam

Use Spd's and Mountain bike shoes for several reasons. 1) Very hard to find old school cleated shoes in 12.5-13 size. 2) Much more efficient for climbing and out of the saddle work. 3) SPD mountain bike shoes aren't to bad to walk in.

Flying Merkel

I'm using Crank Bros Candy pedals and Shimano MTB shoes on my Univega. Much more comfortable than the original toe clips. My feet would go numb in the middle of a ride. Pushing down and pulling up makes stops & starts in traffic that much easier. Looks like poopy

bigbossman 

Look Delta cleats and road shoes.

I seldom ride a bike on the road to "just go down the street". If I do, any of my walking shoes will work well enough on clipless pedals designed to take a Look Delta cleat.

On the mtb (offroad), I wear day hiking boots on big platform pedals with pins - downhill or BMX pedals, I think they are. I tried spd's, but my mtb handling skills are iffy on the rough stuff, and I like to be able to get off and walk if the trail is too steep. Plus, the spd's gave me wicked hot spots after a lot of riding.

But I always wear a helmet.

mkeller234

Yeah, I am sure he does not like them. In his article he refers to studies where results show efficient peddlers simply push down less than novices on the upstroke. I wish he would have provided links to the studies to back up his claim. I am personally excited about clipless pedals so I do not share the exact feelings. I do feel it was worth mentioning though. Here is a link to his article in case anyone is interested: https://www.rivbike.com/article/clothing/the_shoes_ruse

Anything under 10 or 15 miles I can ride in toe clips pretty comfortably, I usually start having trouble with numbness on anything beyond that. I have had different results with different shoes, the wider and looser shoes have been the best.

luker

but of course! speedplays on the road and eggbeaters on the trail. I have used speedplays since the 1980's. Vintage in their own right. I still have a pair of the originals, and use 'em.

thirdgenbird

look keo classic on the "vintage" and fixed gear

eggbeater sl on the xc bike

i do have a set of mks platforms that may see use for summer commuting, but looks and my asics marathon flats does alright bumming around town

repechage

I use both types. Even when using clipless I still have the muscle memory to reach down and let the strap go before a stop, old habits die hard.

On the track, I still use clips and straps with deep cleats. A friend used clipless and pulled out, (probably twisted his foot while pulling up hard out of the saddle starting a jump) Big Ouch for a long time.

When clipless first came out, I did not adopt them as the shoes were not up to the task and not designed to take the stress of lifting on the uppers without a strap, shoes were coming apart. I set some guys up with a strap I came up with that bolted under the shoe, adjustable, and took the load off the upper. Too bad I could not find a interested company at the time.

cudak888 

I've seen - first hand - a BF member go down on a restored Specialized Allez at 25mph thanks to a pair of old Look pedals and its cleats. Neither bike nor rider seriously injured.

-Kurt

retrofit

Speedplays for the road bikes; I unclip at stop signs--no fancy track balancing act here-- and have "coffee shop" cleat covers if I need to hobble about. For tooling around town-- the library, the market (it's a small town , or riding with my son to school, I ride my Specialized Hardrock with Zefal mini toe clips.

Hey luker, post some pics of your vintage SpeedPlays!

toytech

I used to use them, no I find I prefer touring pedals on my road bikes (maybe with straps) and BMX pedals on my mountain bike. A nice set of Easton BMX or some knockoffs of the old Hutch beartraps. No issues on 15 mile mountain bike ride, have not done many miles on the roadies yet (need to htfu )

Ex Pres 

SPD-SLs on the road bikes. I have picked up some SPDs from a flip bike, and am going to try them out on a (new frame) Nexus7 build with some walkable shoes. Sometimes I would like to be able to ride somewhere and walk once I arrive.

JohnDThompson 

I use toeclips, straps, and slotted cleats on my fixed gear bike. Toeclips and straps with street shoes on my commuter. And Look clipless on my road bikes.

McStuff

The Trek Elance 400T I'm looking at has clipless, but I'm going to replace them because I don't want to buy the shoes for them and deal with them.