One who rides a bicycle or other form of human-propelled wheeled vehicle. E-bike riders qualify too
Performance gains of road pedals
- Thread starter blimpnoddle
- Start date
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slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
Well! He's not at all proper! He can't possibly ride that bike without SPDs.
MacB
Lover of things that come in 3's
- Location
- Farnborough, Hampshire
Oh Crankers, and this thread was going so well - the bit I've highlighted has no scientific evidence backing it and plenty of ex SPD users that say the differences are miniscule. The only area I would agree that differences are huge is in the professional arena where seconds matter, in our arena they don't, despite what people kid themselves re Strava etc.
My longest ride, inside a 24hr period, was 167 miles - the first 22ish miles were on my own then I met up with a couple of other riders for the last 13ish miles to HPC. Where I met up with a flock of the weird and wonderful night time riding variety and then pootled down to Brighton. After breakfast in Brighton 3 of us rode home accompanied for the first chunk by a 4th rider. My home was first en route so I completed the last 2 miles on my own. So I can say that 143 miles were in company and at no point did I feel disadvantaged by using flat pedals. Though when we hit some of the hills towards Hazelmere I was very glad tht I had a triple chainset. In fact the only time pedals even crossed my mind was when someone had a clipless moment as we were leaving London. All I remember thinking was that I was glad I had flat pedals.
I can travel far enough, at a pace that works for me, have never suffered foot/pedal slippage, can wear whatever I like and don't get sore feet - so why would I change this?
Cyclist33
Guest
- Location
- Warrington
What gains?
Are there any losses on the other side of the scales?
Is that the sole criterion for a proper cyclist? Have you got a user guide which defines that term?
Are clip in pedals suited to all riders?
Have you any basis for the veracity of the general statement about being able to go further and faster?
nickyboy
Norven Mankey
- Location
- You want hills? We got hills
Clip ins only give two advantages
1) They guarantee that my foot is in the most efficient position on the pedal
2) On the very rare occasions that I really go for it up a short, steep hill they allow me to pull up as well as push down
1) They guarantee that my foot is in the most efficient position on the pedal
2) On the very rare occasions that I really go for it up a short, steep hill they allow me to pull up as well as push down
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
I think the OP is about the difference between "road" clipless pedals and SPD clipless pedals. Not clipless v flat. Or have I missed the point?
oliglynn
Über Member
- Location
- Oxfordshire
The simple fact that you can pull up on the upstroke with your leg as well as push down on the downstroke gives you an advantage. You can utilise different muscles for power gain on an all out sprint, or to reduce fatigue over longer distances. For comparison, try pedaling with one foot only. On a flat, aside from being a little jerky trying to catch the upstroke through its momentum, you are completely unable to lay down any power at this point. Your foot just follows the pedal. With a cleated pedal / shoe, you can maintain power throughout the revolution, even top and bottom dead centre by pushing forward and backward.
Indeed, one footed is a great way to practice with cleats, as it builds technique, smooths your pedal stroke, and applies power more evenly leaving you more power available from you muscles. This is especially noticeable when sprinting and climbing steep hills out of the saddle.
Add into the equation the stiff soles of the shoes, and this gives you even more efficency as you're not using some of your power to bend your sole.
I'm not going to get into the argument of what a proper cyclist is, each to their own and all that, but I believe anyone doing decent distances on a half decent bike will benefit from cleats.
Indeed, one footed is a great way to practice with cleats, as it builds technique, smooths your pedal stroke, and applies power more evenly leaving you more power available from you muscles. This is especially noticeable when sprinting and climbing steep hills out of the saddle.
Add into the equation the stiff soles of the shoes, and this gives you even more efficency as you're not using some of your power to bend your sole.
I'm not going to get into the argument of what a proper cyclist is, each to their own and all that, but I believe anyone doing decent distances on a half decent bike will benefit from cleats.
Globalti
Legendary Member
If you pedal correctly with a smooth powered stroke all the way (or most of the way) around the circle, clip-in pedals are definitely good for your technique and for efficient power delivery. SPDs are just as good as road pedals for this but the shoe and pedal setup is approximately twice the weight of a road shoe setup and road shoes and pedals give you a flatter stiffer platform on climbs.
U
User169
Guest
Well exactly! As I read the OP, he's not comparing flat vs cleat: he's comparing SPD vs SPD-SL.
Racing roadkill
Guru
In the real world (not on a treadmill in a lab), you'll find that most of the gains are from being able to accelerate without the foot moving around, and being able to smooth out your power graph. Under ideal (lab) conditions there is evidence that the efficiency gains of clipless pedals are minimal, but unless you spend all your time in a lab, on a treadmill, or on a turbo trainer / parabolic rollers, then you'll probably find that clipless pedals are much nicer to use.
And when you compare SPD to SPD-SL, again the difference is down to the relative amounts of float you get. SPD's are a better option if you are only doing off road stuff, because the terrain problems will overcome any advantage of the foot position, but on the roads, you should notice a difference.
And when you compare SPD to SPD-SL, again the difference is down to the relative amounts of float you get. SPD's are a better option if you are only doing off road stuff, because the terrain problems will overcome any advantage of the foot position, but on the roads, you should notice a difference.
I think the OP's post is ambiguous. First paragraph states switching from the despot pedals that came with his road bike. Second paragraph refers to performance gain between SPD's and Road pedals.
Road bikes don't usually come with SPD's so I think he is comparing to flats?
blimpnoddle
Well-Known Member
also a rigid shoe means less energy being absorbed by flexing and more being transferred to the pedals.
Thanks for all the feedback from everyone. I thought my post was clear enough but, to avoid any misunderstanding, I would like people's thoughts on performances gains (if any) between flats and road pedals AND between SPDs and road pedals.
PS - from my own experience switching from flats to roads has given a significant performance gain (the computer doesn't lie), consistently around 1.2 MPH ave speed increase over all the 40-50 mile rides I've done since switching.
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U
User169
Guest
I think you need to be clearer as to what you mean by "road pedals"!!
blimpnoddle
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure how much clearer I can be than by giving the manufacturer and model (see first post).
The difference between SPD and SPD-SL is even more miniscule than between flats and clipless.
I have both SPD and Look Keo on my bikes and the only difference is that I find the Looks to be a bit more comfortable over longer distances, as the contact point on the pedal is wider.
When riding a tour, it`s the SPDs every time though. Walking on metal car ferry decks in SPD-SL or Look cleats is dodgy to say the least
I have both SPD and Look Keo on my bikes and the only difference is that I find the Looks to be a bit more comfortable over longer distances, as the contact point on the pedal is wider.
When riding a tour, it`s the SPDs every time though. Walking on metal car ferry decks in SPD-SL or Look cleats is dodgy to say the least
