I believe the first question you should ask yourself is this: Is some marginal perceived effiency gain worth the added risk of injury that clipless pedals provide? EVERYONE (including most of the posters in this thread, and surely any comments to this post as well) will give you dogma about how clipless pedals are better, more efficient and the defining trait that separates the amateurs from the pros. This is at worst dangerous misinformation, and at best a coercion of a preference. I asked a question earlier about any scientific sources backing up the claim that clipless pedals are more effective than flat pedals, but the data that is available seemed to conclude that this is not the case, and pedal choice does not dictate the effectiveness of the pedaling.

Another spokesperson for using flat pedals is James "Bikejames" Wilson who has been a proponent for the use of them for a long time. He has compiled the self-titled flat pedal revolution manifesto which is a compilation of some of his blog posts about the subject of clipless and flat pedals. It is definitely worth reading for some good arguments for using flat pedals.

I personally believe that clipless pedals are best suited for racing, and that strapping yourself to such a finicky machine as a bicycle is an inherently bad idea. Searching through the databases of scientific journals does also give you quite a few hits in medical journals about studies of injuries related to the use of clipless pedals, something which I have yet to see for flat pedals. Judging by your post you do not seem to want to use clipless pedals for other reasons than the societal pressure to do so. I think you should give it all a good thinking, read the arguments, and then decide on what you feel is best for you. You should not let anyone persuade you to do something you are not comfortable with doing, if you do not feel that it makes sense for you. The type of bicycle pedal is one of the most important choices you can make in your life, and you should not leave it up to others to decide it for you. :)

I believe the first question you should ask yourself is this: Is some marginal perceived effiency gain worth the added risk of injury that clipless pedals provide? EVERYONE (including most of the posters in this thread, and surely any comments to this post as well) will give you dogma about how clipless pedals are better, more efficient and the defining trait that separates the amateurs from the pros. This is at worst dangerous misinformation, and at best a coercion of a preference. I asked a question earlier about any scientific sources backing up the claim that clipless pedals are more effective than flat pedals, but the data that is available seemed to conclude that this is not the case, and pedal choice does not dictate the effectiveness of the pedaling.

Another spokesperson for using flat pedals is James "Bikejames" Wilson who has been a proponent for the use of them for a long time. He has compiled the self-titled flat pedal revolution manifesto which is a compilation of some of his blog posts about the subject of clipless and flat pedals. It is definitely worth reading for some good arguments for using flat pedals.

I personally believe that clipless pedals are best suited for racing, and that strapping yourself to such a finicky machine as a bicycle is an inherently bad idea. Searching through the databases of scientific journals does also give you quite a few hits in medical journals about studies of injuries related to the use of clipless pedals, something which I have yet to see for flat pedals. Judging by your post you do not seem to want to use clipless pedals for other reasons than the societal pressure to do so. I think you should give it all a good thinking, read the arguments, and then decide on what you feel is best for you. You should not let anyone persuade you to do something you are not comfortable with doing, if you do not feel that it makes sense for you. The type of bicycle pedal is one of the most important choices you can make in your life, and you should not leave it up to others to decide it for you. :)

I believe the first question you should ask yourself is this: Is some marginal perceived effiency gain worth the added risk of injury that clipless pedals provide? EVERYONE (including most of the posters in this thread, and surely any comments to this post as well) will give you dogma about how clipless pedals are better, more efficient and the defining trait that separates the amateurs from the pros. This is at worst dangerous misinformation, and at best a coercion of a preference. I asked a question earlier about any scientific sources backing up the claim that clipless pedals are more effective than flat pedals, but the data that is available seemed to conclude that this is not the case, and pedal choice does not dictate the effectiveness of the pedaling.

Another spokesperson for using flat pedals is James "Bikejames" Wilson who has been a proponent for the use of them for a long time. He has compiled the self-titled flat pedal revolution manifesto which is a compilation of some of his blog posts about the subject of clipless and flat pedals. It is definitely worth reading for some good arguments for using flat pedals.

I personally believe that clipless pedals are best suited for racing, and that strapping yourself to such a finicky machine as a bicycle is an inherently bad idea. Searching through the databases of scientific journals does also give you quite a few hits in medical journals about studies of injuries related to the use of clipless pedals, something which I have yet to see for flat pedals. Judging by your post you do not seem to want to use clipless pedals for other reasons than the societal pressure to do so. I think you should give it all a good thinking, read the arguments, and then decide what on what you feel is best for you. You should not let anyone persuade you to do something you are not comfortable with doing, if you do not feel that it makes sense for you. The type of bicycle pedals are one of the most important choices you can make in your life, and you should not leave it up to others to decide it for you. :)

I believe the first question you should ask yourself is this: Is some marginal perceived effiency gain worth the added risk of injury that clipless pedals provide? EVERYONE (including most of the posters in this thread, and surely any comments to this post as well) will give you dogma about how clipless pedals are better, more efficient and the defining trait that separates the amateurs from the pros. This is at worst dangerous misinformation, and at best a coercion of a preference. I asked a question earlier about any scientific sources backing up the claim that clipless pedals are more effective than flat pedals, but the data that is available seemed to conclude that this is not the case, and pedal choice does not dictate the effectiveness of the pedaling.

Another spokesperson for using flat pedals is James "Bikejames" Wilson who has been a proponent for the use of them for a long time. He has compiled the self-titled flat pedal revolution manifesto which is a compilation of some of his blog posts about the subject of clipless and flat pedals. It is definitely worth reading for some good arguments for using flat pedals.

I personally believe that clipless pedals are best suited for racing, and that strapping yourself to such a finicky machine as a bicycle is an inherently bad idea. Searching through the databases of scientific journals does also give you quite a few hits in medical journals about studies of injuries related to the use of clipless pedals, something which I have yet to see for flat pedals. Judging by your post you do not seem to want to use clipless pedals for other reasons than the societal pressure to do so. I think you should give it all a good thinking, read the arguments, and then decide on what you feel is best for you. You should not let anyone persuade you to do something you are not comfortable with doing, if you do not feel that it makes sense for you. The type of bicycle pedal is one of the most important choices you can make in your life, and you should not leave it up to others to decide it for you. :)