dogwalker

I am not a clip-in shoe person...have already had that discussion among friends. What I'd like input on is whether bike pedals with toe clips and straps are considered to be a more of a safety risk in crash/accident situations. Some knowledgeable friends say yes and others say that I would actually be safer with toe clips and straps and benefit from a minor performance boost. Thanks in advance.

Edit, sorry if I wasn't clear: What I'd like input on is whether riding in tennis shoes with bike pedals with toe clips and straps is considered to be a more of a safety risk in crash/accident situations as opposed to, e.g., riding in tennis shoes on just bare bike pedals.

Kapusta

More of a safety risk compared to what?

flangehead

Safety’s a trade off. Restraint reduces risk of a foot slipping off the pedal at high RPM/speed. Risk is falling over at a stop.

I have had my feet slip off flat pedals so I like to use a “crutch”.

I use clipless on my road bike.
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I have toe clips on my commuter bikes so I can wear street shoes. I don’t tighten the straps. They give me enough restraint that my feet don’t slip off the pedals.

I disconnect one foot well before I stop to mitigate the risk. I feel more secure with restraints.

downhillmaster

downhillmaster

I have used toe clips for years and love them. You get almost all of the same benefits of clipless while being able to wear almost any type of footwear you prefer.
No fiddling with fit and they allow you to make slight adjustments to foot position which can be beneficial for multiple reasons.
They are certainly no more dangerous than clipless, unless you are that special type of person that can’t keep your foot on a pedal and somehow bash your shins?
A cool bonus is that they are old school.

chaadster

I would say that, yes, toe clips are more of a safety risk in a crash than clipless. Riders always come out of clipless pedals in a crash because the foot-twisting motion which releases the cleat, is virtually always present in the crash dynamics.

Toe clips, on the other hand, require a pulling back motion to remove the shoe from the pedal, a motion which is not common in crash dynamics. Further, depending on the pedal/sole interface, a lifting motion might be required before the pulling back motion can be effectively initiated, but a well-tightened toe strap can prevent the lift. The net effect is that toe clips can be more secure than clipless, keeping the bike attached to the rider, the weight and force of which can cause injury.

That said, I think the safety risk with foot retention is small enough to not even warrant concern for most riders. I’d even say that being clipped or strapped into the pedals will help prevent crashes because the risk of a foot unexpectedly coming off a pedal and destabilizing the rider, is removed.

I ride bikes with toe-clips, clipless, and regular flat pedals, and am comfy with all of them, although from the standpoint of pedaling dynamics, I prefer foot retention of some kind.

Kapusta

I completely understand where the concern about slipping off comes from, but times - and gear - have changed.

I suspect that people who are concerned about slipping off of a flat pedal in any road riding situation have not used quality modern flat mtb pedals. These are a very different animal from the stock
pedals that come with cheap bikes or the ones you rode around on as a kid.

These have large supportive platforms and steel pins that grip very well.

With even moderately adequate shoes, is is d@mn near impossible to slip off accidentally (even when wet) and with good shoes you could not slip off if you tried. In fact, they grip so well that people sometimes find they grip TOO well and lower the pins just so they can move their foot around a little.

Running toe straps would not be an option with these because you would have a heck of a time sliding your foot in or out.
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mdarnton

I used to ride with standard cages and straps, then SPD for a few years. However, when I discovered toe cups, all that was over, and I haven't ridden anything else for 10 year or more. The cups give me the stability I want, standardize the placement of my feet, and perform the usual service of pedal attachments (being able to pedal most of the way around the circle, easy repositioning of the high pedal at stops, pulling up over bumps, etc.) without being locked in. They fit everything I have including my winter hiking boots. They're dirt cheap and you should try them. It's less than ten bucks to throw away if you don't like them.

philbob57

I first started riding as an adult in 1972, although I've taken some extended breaks. I've ridden with clips/straps, clips/straps/cleats, half-clips, SPD 'clipless', and pinned flat pedals. Half-clips never worked for me.

Hotspots (pain on the foot from the parts of the pedal that the shoes contact) have been a problem for me with rat-trap and quill pedals (clips/straps w/ and wo/cleats) and SPDs. I've fallen with cleats and SPDs. I never fell with clips and straps. I don;t understand the fear of not being able to get out of the clips - just pull your foot backwards and you're out.

My favorite pedals are pinned flats. I know one can't pull those pedals up, as one can do with clips, but I'm not racing against anyone but myself. Besides, one has a much wider selection in shoes with pinned flats than with clips. I'l say this, though: if I had been able to buy 'touring' shoes when my last pair wore out, I'd still be using clips and straps; they're good enough.

Touring shoes have thin, stiff soles, sometimes with ridges built in to fit the back ridge of a rat trap or quill pedal. Here's a sample: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Proou-Lomba...wAAOSwWplfu7cq. They used to be pretty common and available at many price levels.

10 Wheels

Metal Half Clips worked for my size 13 shoes

Kimmo 

I started riding toe clips back in the day because I thought they'd be good for more power, but as it turned out, I like em almost entirely for the foot retention. And I definitely prefer the way they hold my feet to shoes and clipless pedals.

I most often leave the straps fairly loose; I just like them to stop my feet moving off the front or side of the pedals, which I've come to really kind of hang off of in some situations, usually negotiating obstacles. Never realised that was happening until I hopped on a bike with flats, and felt dangerously handicapped.

With the straps loose, getting out of the pedals is easy as thinking about it - point your toe up and put your weight on your heel.

DeadGrandpa

I also started with toe clips and straps. I used the Look pedals with the protruding clips on the shoe sole for a few years but have gone back to the toe clips. Straps are not pulled tight, so it must be about foot retention. In fact, one of my straps broke recently and I've been too busy to replace it. I'm thinking about it, but in the meantime, it works great for each foot: one strapped and the other unstrapped. Keen sandals in the summer, Adidas casual/tennis/walking shoes in the winter.

Ah, but that's my road/touring/gravel bike. On my bikepacking bike, I use flats with the protruding pins and wear trail running shoes.

As for getting in or out of them, it's second nature. I never think about it.

79pmooney

Real tennis shoes (what we used to call sneakers) suck with toeclips and suck with rattrap pedals. The soft, grippy soles are hard to get into the clips. The soft sole means that the pressure from the pedals go to two lines across your foot, especially from the rear rattrap. Stiff soled leather dress shoes are far better, especially if they have a slightly grippy soles with little pattern. The same shoes with steel shanks and uppers that take kindly visually to the abuse from the clip and strap work really, really well,

JohnDThompson 

No, not really. It's not hard to pull your feet out of toeclips when you use uncleated shoes. But uncleated shoes offer only marginal advantage over bare pedals. Toeclips and slotted cleats are just as efficient as modern clipless systems, but take some training to use effectively.

LesterOfPuppets

Depends on some variables:

Are you going to actually tighten the straps?
Are your shoes' soles going to have lugs, eg trail runners?
Which plain flat pedals are you going to use?

I have a road bike with BMX flats on it, great for riding to a hiking trail, hiking, then riding home. Good for errands also. Cornering is a little sketchier as you have to remember not to lean as much as you would on a bike with road pedals.

I have a couple of road bikes with mountain bike SPD clipless and some walkable shoes which works great for limited walking, but I'd never go on a hike in them.

eduskator

I would say yes. It could cause more harm than good to an inexperienced cyclist who crashes or gets in an accident. It also depends on how much the straps are tighten (probabilities of the feet getting stuck).

79pmooney

This depends on the shoe and whether you are willing to pull the straps tight. I rode the LL Bean Ranger Oxfords for many years until they discontinued the smooth sole. They were a moccasin construction shoe with a steel shank and soft, non-shiny uppers. Soles would wear a groove that worked really well. I could climb some of Seattle's steepest hills in a 42-17. Fix gear so I never cheated. If LL Bean would bring those shoes back, I'd buy several pairs in a flash.

chaadster

I agree and think this is the correct answer.

colnago62

Toe clips aren’t dangerous. When in traffic, don’t pull them tight. This is what people rode before clipless came along in the mid 80’s or so. I road them for years. The first time you come to a stop, you will probably fall over because you forgot to loosen the straps, but that is part of the learning curve.

chaadster

The question is whether toe clips are more of an injury risk in the event of a crash than riding flats.

seypat

You can't have one of these discussions without mentioning Power Grips.

On a serious note, it depends on the definition of "more dangerous." With flats and pedals/pinned pedals your foot might slip off somehow and your shins/legs get scraped by the pedals. But other than that, not really cause a serious accident. I generally ride in clips and straps. No problem with those unless you have a shoe with grooves in the sole that extend up the side. I've went down a couple of times riding with Merrell sandals because a strap caught in one of the grooves while trying to release from the clip/strap. The straps weren't very tight either.

Leinster

If they are a risk, it's marginal.

When I were a lad and 'twas far from clipless pedals we were reared, it was the accepted wisdom among road cycling coaches, bike shop mechanics and owners (who were all probably the same person, tbh) that toe clips were a safety feature, as the foot retention would prevent a stray leg being stuck out away from the bike, leading to possible leg-breaks, dislocations, etc. This was counter-intuitive to all the mammies who brought their little angels in looking for a fast bike, but it seemed to persuade most of them. When mtb coaching started to be a thing, this aspect of not having an outstretched leg catch on a passing tree-limb got played up even more.

The kind of fall that most people are afraid of with foot retention, usually only happens at low speeds, and the resulting lasting injuries of any significance would generally be mostly to pride, dignity, and other abstract concepts.

Iride01 

Just being on the bike is more of a risk than the type of pedals.

If you don't pedal at cadences that make it hard to keep your feet firmly on the pedals throughout the entire revolution of the crank, then you probably don't need toe clips or clipless pedals.

If you do ride at cadences that you can't keep your feet securely on the pedals, then you might be at more risk for a injury or accident. So if that is you, get some SPD's or SPD-SL's.

chaadster

There’s a distinction going unrecognized here, between talking about the pedal type causing a crash, and talking about what happens when the pedal type is in a crash.

The following paper addresses some of the injury risks specific to feet being secured to pedals during a crash. They looked exclusively at mechanical cleats, but their determination that the fixed foot was the cause of the studied injuries makes it reasonable to extend the findings to any pedal system which retains the foot.

https://clinmedjournals.org/articles...-Ujo_rvqwej-7Q