Gravity Aided
Legendary Member
- Location
- Land of Lincoln
I generally use bear trap or mountain pedals, sometimes with clips and straps, using golf shoes with the spikes removed, which make fantastic biking shoes.
Do you ride a road bike on flat pedals?
- Thread starter Banjo
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Old Plodder
Living at the top of a steep 2 mile climb
- Location
- Surrey/Hants border
I use BMX flats, rat traps, or touring pedals; I even ride on those cheap plastic pedals!
What I do ride in are MTB type shoes, the cleated soles grip the pedal surface & you can comfortably walk in them anywhere.
(My bikes are never fitted with 'clipless' pedals as my knees don't like them.)
What I do ride in are MTB type shoes, the cleated soles grip the pedal surface & you can comfortably walk in them anywhere.
(My bikes are never fitted with 'clipless' pedals as my knees don't like them.)
Supersuperleeds
Legendary Member
- Location
- Leicester
I'm still using flats, longest ride to date is just shy of 130 miles
KateK
Well-Known Member
- Location
- cambridgeshire
I'm still using flats, with walking trainers as they have more stiffness. I've had half toe clips on for the last year and a half and they are really great, particularly in the wet. They reduce the amount of ankling you need to do to keep your foot on the pedal. They feel fine about town as you can slip a foot out easily and can pedal away from lights and such before flipping it back on. I do about 500 miles a month and the longest rides I've done are 70 miles. It's nice to be able to shift your foot about a little from time to time.
Hey guys! First post! I ride 34 miles a day. I have a full carbon trek madone and i ride with the v12's. I rode with spd's and keo cleats for years. my knees and constant adjusting of the cleats began to get me down. I'd have an ache across my knee all day when sitting at work and i just found switching to flats especially in london traffic just felt a bit safer and a bit more, dare i say, organic!
I have a tethered spinal chord which means i have no real strength in the calf on my right leg so I had to drill my cycling shoes in order to attach the cleats in the middle of the shoe, what i understand is called the mid sole cleat position. This was pretty cool but eventually i just developed knee problems. Flats mean you can 'mooch' about a bit with your foot on the pedal and i find that using your toes (at the front of the pedal) on hills and mid sole for cruising is the best way forward. What would be a revelation would be clipless shoe, pedal, that you could somehow move forward or back then secure while riding. Now there a challenge!
I have a tethered spinal chord which means i have no real strength in the calf on my right leg so I had to drill my cycling shoes in order to attach the cleats in the middle of the shoe, what i understand is called the mid sole cleat position. This was pretty cool but eventually i just developed knee problems. Flats mean you can 'mooch' about a bit with your foot on the pedal and i find that using your toes (at the front of the pedal) on hills and mid sole for cruising is the best way forward. What would be a revelation would be clipless shoe, pedal, that you could somehow move forward or back then secure while riding. Now there a challenge!
RebornBumbler
Senior Member
- Location
- Barnstaple
For me the advantages are in being able to apply more power over more of the crank's rotation to help get up some of the insane hills around here, and being able to safely change gear or brake without being concerned about what my upper body's doing (standing, sitting, somewhere between the two...)
I can imagine crash scenarios where being clipped-in would probably help, and others where it most certainly wouldn't.
Having tried both, I'm sold on cleats (SPDs - not into the 'duck walking', and like double-sided) on my Sunday club-run/sports/race Felt, but I'm sticking with cage/track pedals with toe-clips on my all-purpose/messing/city-shopping ancient hybrid Ridgeback.
And after just a few weeks, I don't find mixing the two a problem - the radical posture difference probably helps with that though.
I can imagine crash scenarios where being clipped-in would probably help, and others where it most certainly wouldn't.
Having tried both, I'm sold on cleats (SPDs - not into the 'duck walking', and like double-sided) on my Sunday club-run/sports/race Felt, but I'm sticking with cage/track pedals with toe-clips on my all-purpose/messing/city-shopping ancient hybrid Ridgeback.
And after just a few weeks, I don't find mixing the two a problem - the radical posture difference probably helps with that though.
RonnyRaygun
New Member
Interesting thread. Hope I'm not too late to add my thoughts. I've ridden on flats since I learned to ride a bike and only used spds a handful of times, usually when racing.
I have never felt there was any advantage to be gained by being clipped in, while there are obvious disadvantages.
I've heard the arguments for riding clipped in - more power & more efficiency, more control with feet no longer able to slip off pedals - but I have never felt any of these arguments have enough weight to convince me to change.
The first argument that more power is generated may be true to an extent, however my argument is that the amount of force generated on the upstroke is tiny compared with the force generated on the downstroke - probably somewhere in the region of ten percent. Also remember that force and power are not the same thing - power is the act of a given force acting over a given distance over a given period of time. Therefore no-one should jump to the conclusion that more power is being generated simply because force is being applied on the upstroke. It may be that less force is applied on the downstroke or fatigue is reached sooner, both of which would reduce power output.
The other argument, that being clipped in offers more control - I have never had any problems with my feet slipping while riding on the road, and only rarely while riding technical mountain bike trails. Being able to get my foot down quickly and not having to worry about clipping back in for me far outweigh the benefits.
As for racing, mountain biking always on flats, road racing always using spds. Until recently I have always used spds for triathlon. Before my a race last year (a sprint with 20km cycle) I tried to weigh up the perceived gains from additional power output from being clipped in, against the time lost having to change my footwear. I decided to ride the 20km cycle section in my running shoes. The result was the quickest cycle on the day by a clear minute.
Checking against my previous triathlon times the cycle time was almost identical and the transitions were considerably quicker.
There is an obvious argument that I don't ride with spds often enough to get the benefits, but my cycle times are consistently in the top one percent whether using spds or not. Could I really go much faster?
It would be interesting to see scientific evidence either way if anyone has a link.
PS. Also cycled across the USA on flats - average of 100 miles a day and maximum of 150.
I have never felt there was any advantage to be gained by being clipped in, while there are obvious disadvantages.
I've heard the arguments for riding clipped in - more power & more efficiency, more control with feet no longer able to slip off pedals - but I have never felt any of these arguments have enough weight to convince me to change.
The first argument that more power is generated may be true to an extent, however my argument is that the amount of force generated on the upstroke is tiny compared with the force generated on the downstroke - probably somewhere in the region of ten percent. Also remember that force and power are not the same thing - power is the act of a given force acting over a given distance over a given period of time. Therefore no-one should jump to the conclusion that more power is being generated simply because force is being applied on the upstroke. It may be that less force is applied on the downstroke or fatigue is reached sooner, both of which would reduce power output.
The other argument, that being clipped in offers more control - I have never had any problems with my feet slipping while riding on the road, and only rarely while riding technical mountain bike trails. Being able to get my foot down quickly and not having to worry about clipping back in for me far outweigh the benefits.
As for racing, mountain biking always on flats, road racing always using spds. Until recently I have always used spds for triathlon. Before my a race last year (a sprint with 20km cycle) I tried to weigh up the perceived gains from additional power output from being clipped in, against the time lost having to change my footwear. I decided to ride the 20km cycle section in my running shoes. The result was the quickest cycle on the day by a clear minute.
Checking against my previous triathlon times the cycle time was almost identical and the transitions were considerably quicker.
There is an obvious argument that I don't ride with spds often enough to get the benefits, but my cycle times are consistently in the top one percent whether using spds or not. Could I really go much faster?
It would be interesting to see scientific evidence either way if anyone has a link.
PS. Also cycled across the USA on flats - average of 100 miles a day and maximum of 150.
Last edited:
mygranwasapunk
New Member
RMurphy195
Well-Known Member
- Location
- South Birmingham
I use flat pedals on the Brompton, both the pedals and the frame configuration make for a different riding experience than my Tourer - slower, and more suited to hop-on hop-off as it were. And I use of course just normal shoes (with firm soles, not trainers)
I use SPD's on the tourer - with the tension set to its minimum. This gives me all the advantages of the clipless pedals that I need, but at the same time I clip-in, clip-out almost without thinking when riding around town. I use MTB shoes which are comfortable to walk in, bu the clips do grind on every bit of uneven pavement or piece of grit, so along with the frame configuration not as relaxing for hop-on, hop-off riding but nicer for wizzing around.
The tourer does have single-sided SPD pedals (Shimano M324) so I get the best of both worlds, but I rarely ride it without using the SPD's.
I consider them both to be "Road Bikes"!
I use SPD's on the tourer - with the tension set to its minimum. This gives me all the advantages of the clipless pedals that I need, but at the same time I clip-in, clip-out almost without thinking when riding around town. I use MTB shoes which are comfortable to walk in, bu the clips do grind on every bit of uneven pavement or piece of grit, so along with the frame configuration not as relaxing for hop-on, hop-off riding but nicer for wizzing around.
The tourer does have single-sided SPD pedals (Shimano M324) so I get the best of both worlds, but I rarely ride it without using the SPD's.
I consider them both to be "Road Bikes"!
youngoldbloke
The older I get, the faster I used to be ...
Maybe I'm just used to being clipped in, but if I try to ride without my feet lift off the pedals, and I'm all over the place. Even the last time I used clips and straps on a vintage ride I had great difficulty keeping my feet in the clips - they would pull out unless I really tightened the straps - to the extent of having to reach down and flick the QR before stopping. I definitely pull up and back on the pedals, especially on short sharp hills out of the saddle. But then I haven't ridden a bike without my feet being attached to the pedals in some way for over 50 years. Just do what suits you.