Clipless pedals?
“Clipless pedals”: but shoes do clip into them. How is that?
Well, they don’t have toe clips. Language has inertia. The name “clipless pedals” reaches back into the past, like “horseless carriage”. I prefer “pedal binding system” to avoid confusion, but I’m not going to go to battle over that.
Why this article now? A CyclingSavvy subscriber commented that the only information on clipless pedals on our Web site was advice to not use them in a CyclingSavvy on-bike session. This article says more about why. It also serves as expanded content for our Bicycling Street Smarts booklet.
The subscriber’s point is well taken — buying and installing pedals for one-time use is a nuisance.
That said, we recommend against clipless pedals in our courses for three main reasons:
- We repeatedly mount and dismount, and walk to gather into a group.
- Cleats for some systems protrude from the soles of the shoes, making walking very awkward.
- Though other clipless systems are walkable, students may not have mastered them or adjusted them.
Hint to instructors: bring plain pedals and a pedal wrench to the on-bike session. Hint to students: check that the instructor will bring flat pedals. Wear shoes that work with them. Shoes from a clipless system with recessed cleats do, no problem. Go to a bike shop if necessary to make sure your clipless pedals are not corroded in place. Removing and replacing pedals yearly after greasing the threads is good practice in any case.
What do clipless pedals offer?
Why might a cyclist want clipless pedals, anyway?
In my experience, the main advantage is that they eliminate the need — consciously or subconsciously — to steady the feet on the pedals. Riding on a bumpy surface with clipless pedals is easier and safer. A secure connection between feet and pedals promotes a higher pedaling cadence.
It is common to imagine that securing the feet promotes pulling up on a pedal during the upstroke, but research has demonstrated that this is counterproductive. I can gain about 10% more power at a given cadence by pulling up (measured by comparing speeds uphill). But I find it more comfortable to shift down and pedal faster.
Some people use clipless pedals because everyone else in the bike club does. Well, OK, but in any case it is important to learn how to use them expertly. Read on.
Clipless pedals: advantages
With double-sided clipless pedals, properly adjusted, and if you have mastered them, the shoe just clicks in and out. You never have reach down with a hand, hook a foot underneath to backpedal, or start out with a metal cage scraping the ground.
The feet stay warmer in winter without toe straps to restrict blood flow. Sandals are pleasant in hot weather. Sandals that take cleats are available.
If you ride a fixed-gear bike, you can’t stop the pedals turning to adjust a toe strap, and clipless pedals are the only good option.
Some systems are walkable.
Clipless pedals: downsides
Clipless pedals do have some disadvantages.
Aside from the sandals, the only available shoes are road racing shoes and mountain-bike shoes. You may need to change into other shoes when you reach your destination.
Clipless pedals, shoes and cleats can be expensive.
As already mentioned, only some systems are walkable. And even then, walking wears down the soles of the shoes until eventually, a walk becomes a tap dance that can mar flooring. Then it wears down the cleat.
Many clipless pedals can’t take pedal reflectors — though reflectorized shoes or ankle bands can substitute.
The Shimano SPD walkable system sheds mud and snow reasonably well. I’m not familiar with how well other systems handle this.
Cleat adjustment
Unless a clipless system has free “float” (ankle rotation), cleats need to be adjusted to toe the feet out — almost always out — at the angle they take naturally. A bike shop may have a professional fitting system to determine that angle. You can determine it yourself by trying out your bike shoes on metal-cage plain pedals. Marks that the pedals leave on the shoes can show the angle. You could place duct tape on the soles to make more distinct marks.
I toe out Shimano SPD cleats nearly as far as they will go, as shown in the photo below. Their default straight-ahead orientation quickly leads to knee pain for me. If this continues, you may wear out the cartilage on the underside of the kneecap, and need knee surgery. I learned the hard way. Don’t let that happen.
Cleats also adjust forward and back (toward the toe or heel). I place the cleats as far back as they will go, so the foot is forward.. Standing too much to pedal gave me Achilles tendinitis– a squeaky feeling and pain at the back of the ankle. I was able to heal while still riding, with my feet farther forward on the pedals, and light pedaling at a high cadence.
Listen to your body. Pain is a message of tough love from your body to you.
Toe clips and straps, the classic option
Toe clips and straps are the time-worn way to secure the feet. Why did clipless pedals replace them?
It’s mostly about convenience and simplicity. Starting and stopping are tricky with toe clips and straps. When starting, you have to flip a pedal up with the toe of a shoe, or else the pedal is upside down as you gain speed. After inserting the foot, you need to pause pedaling to tighten the strap and get the best advantage.
The strap must still be loose enough to allow yanking out the foot in an emergency.
Only the complete (and obsolete) racing setup — with slotted cleats on the soles of the shoes — completely secures the foot, but then it is necessary to reach down and loosen a strap before putting a foot down.
Toe clips and straps work with almost any shoes other than sandals or thick boots, but we don’t recommend toe clips and straps in our courses, unless you are an expert with them.
Double-sided track pedal (no quill), usable with or without toe clips and straps.
Toe-clip-and-strap adjustment
Some cyclists — especially mountain bikers — do prefer toe clips and straps over clipless pedals. So, here are some tips on getting the most from toe clips and straps with ordinary, walkable athletic shoes.
Pedals with a metal cage work best with shoes that have stiff soles. Platform pedals, with a flat surface, are more forgiving.
Toe clips should be a bit long so the toe strap falls just behind the widest part of the shoe and holds it in. Also, toe clips often must be placed outboard of their normal location on the pedals, to accommodate a normal toe-out of the feet.
Leather toe straps hold their shape, making it easy to insert the foot. It is not so easy with cheaper toe straps made of synthetic fabric.
Threading a toe strap so it is easy to adjust is counterintuitive. The photo below shows a correct installation, with the end of the strap sticking out like a floppy dog ear..
Many cyclists use toe clips that are too short, or leave the straps loose, and never get the full advantage. Some cyclists leave off the straps. They get all of the inconvenience with none of the advantages. Other cyclists overtighten the straps and fall down because they can’t get a foot out. I hope that the advice here will spare you those difficulties — if you use toe clips and straps.
My choices
Having mastered their adjustment and use, I have Shimano SPD walkable clipless pedals on all of my bicycles. The ease of raising a pedal for the power-pedal start settles the matter for me. But then, I work from home. I do not have to show up on the job in work boots or dress shoes. My Shimano SPD sandals and MTB shoes are spiffy enough for most places I go.
The pedals on one of my folding bikes take Shimano SPD cleats on one side and are plain on the other. These pedals are less convenient when starting up, but I do a lot of walking at the Philly Bike Expo. I wear my walking shoes and don’t have to pack another pair.
Practice
If you are getting started with clipless pedals — or toe clips and straps — test their adjustment, and practice with them while leaning against a wall, or with the bicycle mounted on an indoor trainer. Many clipless pedals have an adjustment for tightness of the connection to the shoe. For riding with many starts and stops, you will want the pedals looser and to be more careful about accidental release.
Always leave one foot clipped (or strapped) in when you stop and restart during a ride. That makes it easy to raise a pedal for the power-pedal start. You will develop a preference for which foot you put down. Which foot doesn’t matter much, but you will find that the cleat for that foot wears more quickly. When a cleat gets too badly worn, it will become difficult to insert and secure. You may wish to switch the cleats from time to time to equalize wear, or train yourself to use either foot. .
More details, and especially about how to install and adjust cleats, pedals and toe clips, are at https://sheldonbrown.com/shoe-pedal.html
All good information as usual John. For years IPMBA required use of some sort of pedal retention device, even during training. Often it was an old fashioned toe clip, either with the strap VERY loose, or removed all together. So-called “city clips” are made for use w/o straps. The purpose was, as you say, to keep the foot on the pedal. This is crucial when riding up and down stairs or ascending/descending curbs. I found using Power Grip™ pedal straps very useful. They mount to the pedal in slanted direction (\ or /) so you put your foot in “pigeon toed” and when you mo ve your heel in and straighten your foot on the pedal it snugs down. Adjusted correctly, they hold the shoe as tightly to pedal as a clipless pedal. No special hardware under your foot, no special shoes. They could even be adjusted to accommodate boots. Twist your heel outward and they loosen back up for fast, easy exit. I always used them on duty on a mountain bike, but there is no reason they couldn’t be used on a road bike or commuter bike! I just searched the web and Power Grip™ pedal straps are still available.
For several years now the use of “flat pedals” with retention pins has swept the mountain bike, and public safety cyclist, world. They do require special shoes designed for use with flats, to be most effective. If they work for professional trials riders like Hans Rey and Danny McCaskill, they will work for most everyday cyclists.
Great insights, Kirby! Thank you!
I was dimly aware of Power Grip, but your explanation is helpful.
I think cyclists should learn how to put either foot down. In the US or another country where cars and cyclists ride on the right side of the road, if you are stopped in the bike lane at the right side of the road, you should put your right foot down most of the time. That simple action puts your body 8 to 10 inches away from a vehicle, their mirror or the fender if they turn right while you are stopped. However, if the road, bike path or shoulder is steeply banked, putting your left foot down will better prevent you from falling.
Still in a right side of the road driving country, if you are two by two in a left turning land and need to stop, you should be away from cars passing to go straight, and be away from them near the center of the lane without interfering with the partner on the left, which may mean putting your left foot down to move your body away from cars passing on your left. Note that your partner on you left will also be moving to center of the lane so they have safe space to indicate left turn with their left arm and hand.
Reverse the foot down for people cycling in countries where cars drive on the left.
The principle is simple, know which foot to put down to move based on the roadway and traffic pattern and anticipate stopping with the best distance away from passing cars.
(Unless the road is steeply banked there.)
Great article, John!
Remember when I used to be your copy editor? If I still had that job, I would have changed every reference to “clipless pedal” to “pedal binding system” after the second paragraph. ;-)
I’d strongly recommend adding a bit on “clipless” system maintenance, even though I have no personal experience with clipless. I have a couple scary anecdotes about friends who encountered real trouble – fatal for one of them – when they could not free themselves from their clipless pedals. Also, I think its’ a good bet that every new user of clipless pedals will fall at least once!
I call them snap-in pedals. I’m almost never talking with people who know clips anyway, and calling them snap-ins avoids the long explanation of toe clips.
I agree with the main advantage being not needing to steady the feet on the pedals, but I take that quite a bit further. Without an attachment, it’s necessary to put some pressure on the rising pedal, which is wasted effort and must be balanced with still more wasted effort from the other leg.
The secure connection doesn’t just “promote” higher cadence, but enables it. Friends with no attachment have trouble maintaining more than 70 RPM, but I’m comfortable at 105 RPM for hours and can spin 130 for a few seconds. I’m definitely not coordinated enough to do that without the attachment.
And with the attachment, it’s much easier to practice the “spin circles instead of push-push” that’s widely recommended.
I do think that toe clips without straps also somewhat enable higher cadence and smoother spinning, while being acceptable to some riders who are scared of any kind of attachment.
I use Crank Brothers Eggbeaters. Because they look cool.
John:
Great article. When I started mountain biking over 25 years ago, I was hesitant to go clipless. Now, I wouldn’t think of riding flat pedals and make sure I am clipped in when I come to a sketchy section of trail. Clipless pedals allow me to pedal more efficiently (up and downstrokes), and have more control of my bike. Since my foot is positioned exactly on the pedal every time, I can transfer more energy to the cranks.
At our shop when we install clipless pedals for a first-timer, for practice sessions we recommend putting the bike alongside a curb and, while keeping one foot solidly on the curb, practice clipping in and releasing the other pedal. Reverse direction and work with the other foot.
My right leg is stronger than my left, so over the years, I will subconsciously unclip my left pedal and place my left foot on the ground. This allows me to restart with a hard pedal stroke using my right leg to get started on a grade.
I like and use Crank Brothers Eggbeater pedals on all my bikes. They provide some lateral float and shed dirt quickly. Shimano just released their CL-MT001 cleats. These cleats provide multi-directional entry for easier engagement. With a unique design, riders now have three distinct clip-in options: traditional front first then rear, rear first then front, or simply by stomping straight down. Now it’s easy to quickly get into your pedals, no matter the situation. These cleats are great for all types of riding.
One more thing: as some cleats wear, they will become more difficult to release from the pedal. Others, like Crank Brothers, will release prematurely when worn.
Clipped on pedal mechanics allows a human to use both legs to move forward. This is a great advantage that’s not available to stompers, walkers, runners or riders that only push one leg at a time.
Being clipped on, in high load situations like starting or climbing allows you to pull up agains the other legs push down and reduce or eliminate pulling through the back and arms to apply more pressure to get more work into the job at hand…
We have two legs why not use them. Granted at cruising speeds the up stroke is less effective but under loads like climbing or touring it’s so nice to sit in the saddle and use two legs .. it’s also good for the cardio vascular system.
Other advantages are security, pedal slips are eliminated. Bunny hops and pedal raisers are easier. You just need a little practise to be able to instantly release.
Racing clip systems are for racing, don’t use them for daily riding.
Recessed cleat shoes are walkable and some are fashionable. On the other side of a SPD pedal system you can click in a flat platform, (with a reflector front and back), so you can ride in civilian shoes or bare feet.
Utilise all the mechanical advantages of the bicycle, that is the wheel, gearing, a seat, and opposed crank arms rotating on a shaft. It’s a complete package. A miracle of design. A true human machine interface…. Clip On Ride On !
A needed and timely article John! Thanks!
To piggyback on what Kirby mentioned on what IPMBA requires, linked here is their position paper on flat pedals: https://ipmba.org/blog/comments/use-of-flat-pedals-by-public-safety-cyclists-board-position-statement-2016 (good additional info for any cyclist!).
Let’s talk Electric Bicycles and Flats vs Clipless: Flat pedals are often preferred and recommended when operating e-bikes, because of an e-bike’s:
– Higher speeds
– Much greater weight
– At times less nimble
– The need to step off more frequently and quickly — including from “lurching”
– A full pedal stroke is not essential riding e-bikes
As Kirby mentioned, flat pedals must be equipped – especially for off-road/trail riding — with removable/adjustable pins and used with compatible footwear (with a tacky sole, like the material from Vibram).
Bottom Line: “flats provide freedom!”
Wonderful article John, filled with good information. I have one concern. Having taught Cycling Savvy for five years and Traffic Skills 101 for two years before that, I always wanted my students to wear whatever pedal arrangement to class (including parking lot training) that they wore on NFBC Club rides.
The theory comes from my military training, “You train like you’re going to fight.” I wanted them to learn everything that we taught them, with the equipment that they use on the road. Especially the emergency dismount associated with the emergency stop. I never had any complaints and in the seven years that I taught, I only had one student fall because he couldn’t unclip. The student that fell was standing by his bicycle with one foot clipped in. He was not executing any maneuver. And I got zero pushback from my students, ever.
I once had to use the emergency stop for real on a Club ride. It kept me from going off into a ravine. And it was flawlessly executed.