GravelNerd on Nostr: Flats vs clips post I swore by clipless pedals for decades and close to 200,000km of ...
Flats vs clips post
I swore by clipless pedals for decades and close to 200,000km of riding. mostly between SPD and Crank Brothers Candy series, both which allowed lots of float and were low maintenance.
All that changed during the lockdowns when I was doing a lot of indoor riding and had time to experiment. At that time I was plagued by a persistent callus on the sole of one foot that was painful to walk on. After much trial and error it seemed like the culprit was my highend (Sidi) cycling shows. There was a very small raised gap where the insole met the side of the shoe near the ball of one foot. Over time this tiny iratant cause the callus to forms under the skin. I had switched to their wide shoes a few years ago so began a hunt of a even wider show to solve the issue.
This led to a rabbit hole of flat pedals and street shoes and sandals. Coming from a road cycling background this was completely new to me but old school for bmx and mountain bikers.
I decided to try and test it semj-scientifically using my indoor training bike that was connected to Zwift. I could see if power output at the pedals was being affected by the pedals and shoes. I did lots of structured interval training, long rides, long steep climbs and races.
Results: I could ride in open toe sandals (berkenstocks) very comfortably and with no noticible loss of power except in full out sprinting. There was a very large loss of 20%+ in sprints (20-30 second full gas efforts)
Out of the saddle climbing led to some slippage with the sandals too.
Based on this I decided to try some dedicated flat pedal shoes and settled on some 5-10 (now owned by Adidas) Trail shoes. The rubber on the sole is like glue to the pedals and the shoes are comfy for all day rides and walking like regular shoes. I did a weekend tour recently of 180km per day and had zero issues with comfort, power or control.
All this to say that I can never see myself going back to clips again. I would guess that over 90% over serious rec cyclists would also be better served by flat pedals but on the weekend tour with a couple thousand other riders, I did not notice anyone else riding on flats. Unless you are racing or doing narly downhill mountain biking give flats a go. the pedals are so much cheaper as are the shoes and no cleats are needed. Bonus is being able to walk like a normal person at the cafe stops or not slipping on tiles at the office building.
I swore by clipless pedals for decades and close to 200,000km of riding. mostly between SPD and Crank Brothers Candy series, both which allowed lots of float and were low maintenance.
All that changed during the lockdowns when I was doing a lot of indoor riding and had time to experiment. At that time I was plagued by a persistent callus on the sole of one foot that was painful to walk on. After much trial and error it seemed like the culprit was my highend (Sidi) cycling shows. There was a very small raised gap where the insole met the side of the shoe near the ball of one foot. Over time this tiny iratant cause the callus to forms under the skin. I had switched to their wide shoes a few years ago so began a hunt of a even wider show to solve the issue.
This led to a rabbit hole of flat pedals and street shoes and sandals. Coming from a road cycling background this was completely new to me but old school for bmx and mountain bikers.
I decided to try and test it semj-scientifically using my indoor training bike that was connected to Zwift. I could see if power output at the pedals was being affected by the pedals and shoes. I did lots of structured interval training, long rides, long steep climbs and races.
Results: I could ride in open toe sandals (berkenstocks) very comfortably and with no noticible loss of power except in full out sprinting. There was a very large loss of 20%+ in sprints (20-30 second full gas efforts)
Out of the saddle climbing led to some slippage with the sandals too.
Based on this I decided to try some dedicated flat pedal shoes and settled on some 5-10 (now owned by Adidas) Trail shoes. The rubber on the sole is like glue to the pedals and the shoes are comfy for all day rides and walking like regular shoes. I did a weekend tour recently of 180km per day and had zero issues with comfort, power or control.
All this to say that I can never see myself going back to clips again. I would guess that over 90% over serious rec cyclists would also be better served by flat pedals but on the weekend tour with a couple thousand other riders, I did not notice anyone else riding on flats. Unless you are racing or doing narly downhill mountain biking give flats a go. the pedals are so much cheaper as are the shoes and no cleats are needed. Bonus is being able to walk like a normal person at the cafe stops or not slipping on tiles at the office building.