Toe Clips vs Clipless

rollingscone

So father bought himself a Carrerra Zelos and has been putting in a few KMs a week on it as the weather has improved, he's pretty fit for his age so it seems to be going well but one thing that has surprised me is that he's using the Toe clips provided.

Having gone straight from platform pedals to clipless I find myself a bit uncomfortable with the idea of using Toe clips...would he be safer with SPDs set to minimum resistance or is it better to let sleeping dogs lie?

doozerie

Six of one, a half dozen of the other, really. Strictly speaking clipless pedals are usually safer, I think, as you can clip out without having to reach down to undo a toe strap, plus the outward twist of your foot feels like what you naturally do anyway in an emergency to get your foot on the ground (though that view might be biased by many years of using clipless) but that outward movement is impeded by a toe strap. On the other hand, if he cycles around with the toe straps loose, or without any toe straps at all, then those shortcomings don't apply at all for the former, and apply less for the latter.

Another argument in favour of clipless is that it gives you better control of the bike as you are so solidly attached to it. That argument works for me, but on the other hand some of the best bike tricks you tend to see are done by people with flat pedals and no clips or cleats, so clearly some people can control a bike extremely well without any mechanical attachment.

I'm assuming here that he is using toe clips without cleats on his shoes. The traditional option was both, the cleats had a slot cut out which sandwiched the rear side of the pedal cage and thereby preventing the shoe from sliding back off the pedal, the strap prevented the shoe from lifting off the pedal and disengaging the cleat. With those cleats, and the straps pulled tight, your shoes is stuck to the pedal until you manually loosen the strap. I don't think there is any doubt that clipless pedals are a big step up in safety from those, but it's a much greyer area where toe clips are used without cleats.

Way back when I did a lot of mountain-biking I always used toe clips and straps and they were so familiar to me that when clipless pedals became popular I still stuck with what I had. I was used to pulling my feet backwards in emergencies, I reckoned I'd essentially have had to retrain myself with clipless. However, for road riding I moved to clipless as soon as I could and never looked back. I've not ridden off-road in years so haven't used toe clips in a long time, but if I hopped on a mountain bike tomorrow I'd be tempted to use toe clips again despite being wedded to clipless for road riding. Sometimes familiarity trumps everything.

Type 17

Toeclips & straps are great, even compared to clipless systems, once you're used to whichever system you're using. If you are used to toeclips, you'll pull out backwards when the situation demands, and once you are used to clipless, you'll twist out.

While clipless is the more efficient solution, unless you're only cycling for sport/recreation (rather than transport/commuting), it's a pain to have to change shoes every time you want to ride your bike for non-sport purposes, and it's not a great idea to mix the systems (eg: commuter bike with toeclips and road bike with clipless) because you'll probably end up twisting when you should be pulling out backwards.

However, you should check the quality of the toeclips and especially the straps on your dad's bike - a lot of the stuff that comes on new bikes is not great, and when I worked at my LBS, we had a few people come back in after the buckle tore off the strap-end because the rivet was too close to the edge or the nylon webbing was too thin and weak.

not yet

rollingscone wrote: »

So father bought himself a Carrerra Zelos and has been putting in a few KMs a week on it as the weather has improved, he's pretty fit for his age so it seems to be going well but one thing that has surprised me is that he's using the Toe clips provided.

Having gone straight from platform pedals to clipless I find myself a bit uncomfortable with the idea of using Toe clips...would he be safer with SPDs set to minimum resistance or is it better to let sleeping dogs lie?

Kudos to the aul man. My Dad is 75 and I cant imagine him cycling, he finds it hard enough to walk never mind anything else....

Unknown Soldier

I donated my Eurotrek Boss to my Da of 64 about 2 months ago.

He's on a Focus road bike now and SPD clipped in.

He's also a Premium Strava member.


I didn't see any of that coming

Fair play though, in fairness!

not yet

Unknown Soldier wrote: »

I donated my Eurotrek Boss to my Da of 64 about 2 months ago.

He's on a Focus road bike now and SPD clipped in.

He's also a Premium Strava member.


I didn't see any of that coming

Fair play though, in fairness!

Bottom line is Da's are awesome...

Highway_To_Hell

not yet wrote: »

Bottom line is Da's are awesome...

I know we are:D

Eamonnator

Yeah, we're deadly.

rollingscone

Went for a spin with my Dad yesterday, and was decidedly uncomfortable with the toe clips, he was leaning against fence posts to get his left foot into the straps and gets himself going with a push.

Was unable to sell him on just going to platforms or making the jump to clipless, however I remembered that I had bought a set of hard plastic clips back in my early cycling days when I had money but no knowledge on what to spend it on...gave him those this morning and my blessing to pilfer the steel pedals from my partial wifenbike build for the time being as I don't think the plastic pedals from halfords have the correct eyelets for fitting the clips.

rollingscone

Just to wrap up this tale. My dad went for a spin yesterday on the new steel pedals with rigid plastic toe clips I gave him and found no problems with getting his feet in or out so he's happy to stick with that combo.

outfox

I know somebody who uses those hard plastic toe cages without the straps. The cage seems tight enough to hold the show in place, without actually needing the strap. Thus the foot can be pulled back and/or sideways in an emergency. This might work for your dad.

Type 17

You can also leave the straps loose enough that the foot can be inserted/withdrawn easily, but that holds the top of the toeclip correctly - this is how I always ride - I almost always wear street shoes, except on longer or recreational rides when I use a pair of SPD MTB shoes with the blanking plates still in place (I want the stiffer sole on longer rides, but I prefer not having to change my shoes for everyday riding/commuting, which is why I never migrated to clipless)

rollingscone

outfox wrote: »

I know somebody who uses those hard plastic toe cages without the straps. The cage seems tight enough to hold the show in place, without actually needing the strap. Thus the foot can be pulled back and/or sideways in an emergency. This might work for your dad.

Yep. That's what he's using.