Cycling
Clipless Pedals Are Optional and Nobody Will Check
Being attached to the pedals helps in specific situations, most of them competitive. For riding to work, the case is much weaker than the marketing suggests.
The options around pedal choice are set out side by side below, with the conditions that genuinely favour one over the other.
The difference in one place
- The pedalling efficiency claim is weakly supported by research.
- Attachment mainly helps with foot position and rough surfaces.
- Walking, stopping and traffic all favour flat pedals.
What the system actually does
A clipless pedal holds a cleat bolted to the sole of a stiff shoe, releasing when you twist the heel outwards past a set angle. The name is a historical accident, since it distinguishes them from the toe clips and straps they replaced rather than describing anything about them. The attachment keeps your foot in one position on the pedal and stops it bouncing off on rough ground or at very high cadence.
The shoe's stiff sole spreads pedal pressure across the whole foot rather than concentrating it under the ball. Those are the genuine mechanical effects, and they are worth having in some kinds of riding.
The efficiency claim
The common belief is that being attached lets you pull up on the backstroke and therefore produce more power for the same effort. Studies comparing pedalling with and without attachment have generally found little or no improvement in gross efficiency for trained riders.
Riders can be coached to pull up, but doing so tends to cost more metabolic energy than the extra force is worth. What most riders actually do is unweight the rising leg rather than pull, and unweighting is possible on flat pedals too. The honest summary is that attachment improves foot security and consistency far more clearly than it improves efficiency.
Why the city argues against them
A commute involves stopping every few hundred metres, and each stop means unclipping one foot and clipping back in while accelerating away. That is a learned skill and becomes automatic, but it adds a small task at exactly the moment you most want to be watching traffic. Slow-speed manoeuvres, filtering through stationary traffic and unexpected stops all become slightly more demanding when your feet are attached.
By the second week of riding, every rider who has used them has also fallen over at a standstill at least once, which is comic and occasionally injurious. None of this is a reason to avoid them, but it is a reason not to assume they are an upgrade.
The walking problem
Road cleats protrude below the sole, so walking in them is awkward, noisy and slippery on smooth floors. Recessed cleat systems solve most of that by sinking the cleat into a walkable sole, which is why they dominate among commuters who use them.
Come the wet months, even so, the shoes are stiff, and a day at work in cycling shoes is uncomfortable unless you keep other shoes at your desk. That means carrying shoes, changing at both ends and remembering the cleats are worn out before they let go unexpectedly.
For a short commute the whole apparatus can easily cost more time than it saves.
What flat pedals do well
A grippy flat pedal with pins and a shoe with a firm rubber sole holds the foot securely enough for almost all transport riding. You can ride in whatever you are already wearing, which removes the largest single barrier to using a bike for a short trip. Putting a foot down instantly is genuinely useful in traffic, on ice, and in the moment when something unexpected happens ahead.
Flat pedals also let you shift your foot position mid-ride, which some riders find relieves hot spots on long days. The main compromise is that a very soft-soled shoe concentrates pressure and will make your feet ache on longer rides.
Frames, sizes and riding positions vary enormously; borrow before you buy wherever you can.
Choosing between them honestly
If your riding includes long distances, steep sustained climbs, rough surfaces or any racing, attachment earns its place quickly. If your riding is under half an hour each way through traffic in ordinary clothes, flat pedals are the sensible default. Many riders end up with both, using one bike each way, which is a perfectly reasonable answer to a false binary.
If you do try clipless, set the release tension to its lowest setting and practise repeatedly on grass before riding in traffic. Nobody riding past you has any idea what is on your pedals, and the ones who care are not worth impressing.
Side by side
| Consideration | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| What the system actually does | The pedalling efficiency claim is weakly supported by research. |
| The efficiency claim | Attachment mainly helps with foot position and rough surfaces. |
| Why the city argues against them | Walking, stopping and traffic all favour flat pedals. |
The takeaway
Attachment is a tool for particular riding, not a rank you graduate into.
The bike you ride daily beats the better bike you keep indoors.
Questions readers ask
Do clipless pedals make me faster?
Not measurably through pedalling efficiency, according to most comparisons. They help by keeping your foot in a consistent, secure position, which matters more on rough ground and at high cadence.
Are they dangerous in traffic?
Not inherently, but they add a step before you can put a foot down. Learn them somewhere quiet, run the lowest release tension at first, and give yourself a few weeks.
