voyager1

I have a Trek 1200, and it has the Clip/Strap style pedals. I have thought of just replacing them with a pair of mountain bike pedals, but I am reading up on pedals on the Shimano site and Amazon.

My question is this, would be it smarter to get one of those dual sided pedals where one could clip in or wear street shoes or is it better just to get the mountain bike style pedals and just wait and upgrade to nicer pedals that are just clip in?

If there is simple explainer on pedals that anyone knows of on the web, that would be great. This is my first road bike so I am wanting something that allows me to get off the pedals easily till I get more comfortable riding. I haven't had a bunch of time to play with the pedals on the bike currently, but from the times I have they are kind of a pain.

Psimet2001 

As someone who has gotten a ton of riders into pedals over the years let me start by saying you're thinking about it too much. If you get clipless pedals you'll have clipless shoes and you will always grab them to go riding. If you are going to spend most of your time walking and little of it actually riding then yes - get some spd style mtb clipless. You can get the ones that are platform on one side and clipless on the other. These are commonly referred to as "campus" pedals

There are also systems that are great for both. Shimano made an iClic series of pedals and shoes that do what you're looking for really well. Just not readily available everywhere.

In geenral though - get an inexpensive paird of spd compatible shoes and some spd style pedals and you'll discover what you like and what you don't like for the future. BTW - just because it has a clipless pedal platform you can still pedal the bike without having the cleat and shoe for it on. It just isn't super comfortable but fine for short distances.

woodcraft

If you have toe clips, you can just take them off & use the platform pedals.

IME, the combination pedals end up being slightly annoying (& heavy) for road riding,

& it's better to go with the regular mtn bike pedals.

The tennis shoe-type cycling shoes work well for around town riding.

Getting used to clipping in doesn't take long.

mcours2006

I'd go for just SPD pedals, and as @Psimet2001 said, you can ride the bike short distances even if you're wearing street shoes. How much riding do you do?

voyager1

Right now about 30 mins about 3-4 days a week. I am slowly working my way up getting the confidence on the bike and hope to ride a century this summer.

bruce19

Speedplay Frogs

mcours2006

Personally I wouldn't bother with the platform on one side. MTB pedals are relatively easy to clip in (and out) because of the two sided clips. I have a couple of pairs of these on my commuters:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005DVDCVK...ter_B005FIHK2I

They're inexpensive. I bought them together with a pair of Shimano shoes for less than $100 CAD new.

caloso

SPD-SL pedals, like DA/Ultegra/105 have a big enough platform that you can ride them fairly comfortably for short rides. I do this all the time. I usually go for a longer training ride in the morning on the way to work where I am wearing bibs, jersey, and cycling shoes. In the evening I just ride home in my office clothes and don’t bother changing shoes.

lyrictenor1

Yup, +1 here!

Additionally, you could get a set of Pedal Dabs for SPD-SL. Easy to use for around-town stuff.

Jakedatc

Crank brothers Candy's are like SPD but have a more flat platform than Shimano. I find them easier to clip in and out of too.

PaulRivers

Straps on the pedals, imo, are the worst of all worlds and I don't recommend them to anyone.

I spent years biking with clipless but switched back to flat pedals with pins + five ten shoes. Studies showed that clipless is not actually faster. It just makes riding more enjoyable for me to be able ride somewhere and step on/off the bike in regular shoes and not deal with constantly changing shoes.

If I went back to clipless I greatly prefer the dual sided pedals as with practice you can clip in and out without looking down.

Bob Ross

qft

caloso

You could just keep the clips and straps, then go all in and get some old fashioned wood soled cycling shoes with nailed on cleats, and use those clips and straps the way God intended. You'll become a real expert at slowing down at every light, reaching down to loosen the strap, and hoping you can wriggle your foot out before you get to the stop line and/or fall over.

Do this for a few months, and then get a pair of clipless pedals and shoes, and you'll be amazed at how incredibly simple it is to merely rotate your heel a few degrees and, voila, disengage.

Bob Ross

^^^This. True story:
- it took me ten years to get completely comfortable riding with toeclips and straps.
- it took me two weeks to get just as comfortable (if not moreso) riding with clipless pedals.

practical

I use dual-sided pedals on the bike I mostly ride in town and commute with. I want to be clipped in most of the time but I like the platform side when I'm starting from a dead stop as getting clipped in then can be a pain. For me, clipping in is easy when I'm stopped or when I'm going, but those times when you're just pulling away at an intersection is the hardest so a few strokes on the flat side and I'm ready to clip back in.

Iride01 

Doesn't take much time to unscrew one set of pedals and screw another set in. So get whatever clip-less appeals to you. Then if you think you want to bike in regular shoes, you can swap out for true platform pedals.

I currently use SPD or as many call them mtb bike pedals on my road bike. Shimano PD-A520's to be exact. They don't make them anymore but they marketed them as for road bikes.

Now that Garmin's Vector 3's are calling to me, I guess I'll have to change to the Look Keo type cleat. Hope I can find shoes that won't make me walk like a duck or bust my ass. People say there are some shoes out there like that.

So what am I saying? Hmmm rambling mostly.

Like a bike, you should buy the shoe that fits you best. This includes considering how it walks. Not saying it should walk great, but how much do you need to walk during your cycling "fun"??? After you've decided on a shoe, then your choice of cleat type and pedals are narrowed down.

Why did I go spd on a road bike. Because just before I went to clipless I watched a guy at the bottom of a long hill get off his bike to take a picture of some cows. He immediately slipped and busted his ass. As I was asking him if he was okay, I saw he had spd-sl's.

It probably prejudiced me against typical road bike shoes for anyone but a competition cyclist needing that extra bit of power transfer from the foot to the pedal.

CliffordK

Getting the feet out of toeclips (without cleats) is easy. Just push the feet down and back, and they pop out. Loosening the strips really only makes it easier to get the feet back in once you start rolling again.

With toeclips and cleats, you can also generally do emergency extraction, similar to clipless by twisting the feet.

I think toeclips do help the learning curve for clipless. If you like toeclips, you'll love clipless, and the transition can be quick.

If you can't get the hang of toeclips, then you may not want to go clipless.

As far as benefits... there is a lot of debate. I do think the clipless is better for instantaneous power surges. But, some data indicates they don't help a lot with overall efficiency.

I hit 160 miles Saturday, with a late start, riding until quite late (or early). My thoughts is that the clipless cleats (SPD) keep the feet on the pedals and turning as the legs might have been too tired to do so.

Going from toeclips to clipless, I decided I didn't need flats, and went with basic double-entry SPD, and couldn't have been happier. Or, in some cases, single-entry SPD for a bit more aero look, although perhaps not much actual performance gain.