I
went on a group ride recently, which unlike other group rides I’d been on was
filled with the somewhat charming sound of people clipping in and out of their
pedals and placing their hard cycling shoes on the pavement to balance, like
the sound of horses on cobblestones. It cemented an answer to a question I had
been asking myself ever since I started riding my bike around.
Should
I go clipless?
I
don’t even have clips or cages or whatever the other alternative is either. I
just have some stock black plastic pedals that I guess I was supposed to
instantly get rid of as soon as I bought the bike. But, they’re still on and
they work.
It
seems that most everything I read in books or on the internet usually reads
something like “well platform pedals are fine, but once you get serious you’ll
want to go clipless,” then it will say something about power and efficiency.
I’ve even read this in books on commuting. “Just bring a change of shoes,” the
books will read.
It
all sounds well and good I thought to myself. I love efficiency and more power
sounds good. It will probably make cycling easier. I love easier. This was
until I had actually seen them in action and decided that they were probably a
huge waste of money, for me at least.
I
feel that the disadvantages to cycling shoes and special pedals outweigh any
supposed pluses that they may have as far as speed and efficiency, and I don’t
even think they have that in all situations.
Let
me start off by saying that I think that clip-in pedals are probably awesome
for racing. No foot slipping, no adjusting, you are forced to keep an efficient
pedal technique. “Yay, whatever is good for racing is good for me!”
Well,
not really.
Where
the clips fail is anytime you actually have to stop, like for traffic lights.
This is what I usually see. A guy pulls up to a stop light unclips no problem
the light turns green immediately and he pedals forward with his one still
clipped shoe and moves to gracefully clip the other shoe in, misses, misses
again, fumbles, looks down and stalls out while trying to clip his foot in and
then off he goes for twenty yards and then gets stopped by another light where
the process repeats itself. This doesn’t seem very efficient to me, but what do
I know, I have platform pedals.
I
don’t really believe the efficiency claim either. Yes, I guess you could
technically pull up on the pedal to get more power, but you can also push, pull
and add resistance at any point in the pedaling process that works against the
actual pedal stroke. If I’m on my platforms and I pull up too much then my foot
is lightly lifted from the pedal and all I get is air resistance. It even makes
it easier for the other foot to pedal because there is less resistance. If I
were wearing special shoes and I lifted up too much I would be applying
pressure to the top of the shoe and the pedal it is attached to adding more
resistance to the other foot and causing my leg to fatigue faster from
resistance that just doesn’t need to be there.
What
really kills their efficiency for commuting, or rather not riding on a closed
course, is their deficiency when starting and stopping. On my last ride, I
cruised gently by all the guys using clip in pedals because all I had to do was
just get any part of my foot onto the pedal and off I went while everyone else
was trying to hit a moving target with their big toe.
They’re
also very limiting, impractical and expensive. I can wear any kind of shoe I
want. I’ve worn my dress shoes, clogs, sandals, flip flops and hiking boots all
while cycling. It’s also easier to walk in all of that footwear while it seems
to be extremely annoying to walk around in cycling shoes.
“But
you could get used to all of those and it would be just as good.”
Yes
I could, or I could spend no money, not look like an idiot at traffic lights and
wear whatever I want.
I
will therefore not be spending any money on special shoes or pedals.
Not
that you really cared.
Go
mash some pedals.
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