What pedals for touring?

[samid]

I'll start: I have been using Time ATAC clipless for many years now, for all my riding including touring. Now I'm thinking to maybe go back to basics and just use regular, flat, without any attachment system, pedals. So what do you all use and why?

 

[defy-one]

I would have thought flat regular pedals would be just fine for touring. Peddle stroke efficiency isn't the highest priority when touring and you can swap shoes easily if something fails/gets wet etc

 

[mcshroom]

I use SPDs because that's what I use on everything else so flats feel a bit weird. My cycling shoes look and feel like walking boots so the SPDs don't annoy me too much off the bike.

I wouldn't use road cleats as I do a fair bit of walking around on tour and wouldn't want to have to keep swapping shoes.

 

[oldfatfool]

I use speedplay frogs, double sided pedals so no faffing and the cleats are particularly hard wearing for walking around.

 

[HLaB]

I don't know how good they are for anything over 150 miles in one go but touring pedals seem to fit the bill well, I use A520's (single sided SPD's) and you also get A530's (Double sided, spd/flat).

 

[middleagecyclist]

I would have thought flat regular pedals would be just fine for touring. Peddle stroke efficiency isn't the highest priority when touring and you can swap shoes easily if something fails/gets wet etc

+1

 

[psmiffy]

I use double sided shimano XT mtb - having ridden with clips and straps from an early age when I got my first proper bike I dont feel safe if my feet are not connected to the pedals - especially when the weather is wet - pedal efficiency does come into a little bit - being able to unweight the pedal on the return stroke allows me to keep a relatively high cadence all day or when slogging up the odd col mitigating against fatigue and allows for the really big effort when lugging a loaded bike up the steeper bits.

 

[Pottsy]

Time ATAC for me. Simple, reliable and lots of float.

After years of being clipless I don't like the inefficiency of flats for rides of any reasonable duration, however I can see the advantage of flats when spending time off the bike in normal shoes and also therefore less to carry.

Perhaps if your idea of touring is 80-100 miles a day with the primary reason being the cycling, then you want to go clipless. If you do 30 miles a day with your main pleasure being lunch, farmers markets and walking around nice buildings, then I think flats are better.

 

[Teuchter]

I came across this a few years ago, which puts forth an opinion on exactly this...
http://www.rivbike.com/kb_results.asp?ID=45

FWIW, most of my bikes have MTB SPD pedals fitted (except for one with flats for convenience) but I am yet to do any real tours.

 

[Sara_H]

If you do 30 miles a day with your main pleasure being lunch, farmers markets and walking around nice buildings, then I think flats are better.

You just described me! And my "tourer" is also my everyday bike which I hop on and off numerous times a day in whatever is adorning my feet at the time, so flats it is for me!

 

[samid]

I came across this a few years ago, which puts forth an opinion on exactly this...
http://www.rivbike.com/kb_results.asp?ID=45

Funny but yet another read of Grant Petersen's writings on this subject was what prompted my question/poll here. I have been a fan of Grant's since the days of nntp newsgroups, in fact my tourer is a custom Rivendell (but I was not the original "customer" - got it second-hand). And recently I bought his book ("Just Ride", very nice reading BTW) where he also goes on about the pedal attachment thing so I thought maybe he's right on that issue as on many others.

 

[BalkanExpress]

I use flats, in large part because the bike I tour on has 20" wheels and so I don't get out of the saddle much. I have thought about adding toe clips but as my foot slips of the pedal about once a day this has not been a priority.

I use A530s on my commuting bike and would happily tour on these as they give the choice of SPD on one side and flat on the other depenidng upon footware or just how you feel.

 

[Teuchter]

Funny but yet another read of Grant Petersen's writings on this subject was what prompted my question/poll here. I have been a fan of Grant's since the days of nntp newsgroups, in fact my tourer is a custom Rivendell (but I was not the original "customer" - got it second-hand). And recently I bought his book ("Just Ride", very nice reading BTW) where he also goes on about the pedal attachment thing so I thought maybe he's right on that issue as on many others.

He's got quite distinct views on this and diverse other subjects but they do make a lot of sense.

 

[Yellow7]

I use PowerPlay 'Dual' (double sided); flat one side, clips tother side. Best of both worlds then.

 

[Bodhbh]

Flats. I rode clipless for a couple of months on the commute but never really got along with them and never found much of an improvement. It probably depends where you're coming from - I never road anything but flats as a kid and have not really got much history doing any other type of cycling. The DMR V8 are seriously grippy anyhow, only problem is they tend to shred trainers and sometimes calves and shins.