Efficiency of Flat vs Clipless Pedals

[Wendy]

One Legged Average.

You should still be able to hold an average easy pace riding one-legged in a middle cog, it's working up to smoothness in the large ones and strength in the small ones that is going to be tricky.

I suck at interpreting acronyms.
I’m going to try this tomorrow AM, and I’ll report back.

 

[cantunamunch]

And now I realize why these won't work for me. You have to be in clipless pedals. (Also, I don't own a road bike - they irritate my knee for some reason, always have.)

Same thing with Powercranks - they will work with clips/cages tho.

 

[Monique]

Same thing with Powercranks.

Yes - that was what I meant (both, whatever).

 

[cantunamunch]

Naw.

Because my issue is quads - posterior chain is just fine - and pulling up is a posterior chain thing. (Right?)
.

Have you ever worked on the 10->2 part of the stroke? Short leg, foot moving forward?

 

[Wilhelmson]

I rode Doug Briggs' Perry Hill in Vermont with clipless pedals and boat shoes, no socks. Pretty sweet setup.

 

[Monique]

Have you ever worked on the 10->2 part of the stroke? Short leg, foot moving forward?

Hmm. Not sure. Why do you ask?

(I've tried to pay more attention, recently, to actually using my left leg on the downstroke, and on noticing that my knee is turned slightly inward and pushing it "out" (it feels too far out, but is actually then in alignment).

 

[Wendy]

Hmm. Not sure. Why do you ask?

(I've tried to pay more attention, recently, to actually using my left leg on the downstroke, and on noticing that my knee is turned slightly inward and pushing it "out" (it feels too far out, but is actually then in alignment).

You can “cant” your bike shoes by placing a bit of duct tape under the inside heel and toe of your footbed. It does work. But if it “feels” too far out, don’t do it. We aren’t all perfectly aligned. (Inserting laughter at myself here). After tons of work by coaches on my track bike pedals (which were clipless, but could have no float or rotating movement whatsoever because that created loss of power in sprints), I learned that attempting to align knees perfectly can result in pain, or worse, injury.

Seems like one-legged pedaling would better serve you in developing quad musculature. Better yet, a fixed gear would do the trick.

You live near Boulder. Perfect place to ride a fixie.

 

[Monique]

You can “cant” your bike shoes by placing a bit of duct tape under the inside heel and toe of your footbed. It does work. But if it “feels” too far out, don’t do it. We aren’t all perfectly aligned. (Inserting laughter at myself here). After tons of work by coaches on my track bike pedals (which were clipless, but could have no float or rotating movement whatsoever because that created loss of power in sprints), I learned that attempting to align knees perfectly can result in pain, or worse, injury.

Seems like one-legged pedaling would better serve you in developing quad musculature. Better yet, a fixed gear would do the trick.

You live near Boulder. Perfect place to ride a fixie.

One-legged pedaling might, but I'm not road riding and not interested in going back to clipless on my mountain bike. And fixies sound like an "excellent" way to damage my knee further ...

So we'll never know.

 

[cantunamunch]

Hmm. Not sure. Why do you ask?

Because you expressed concern about quadriceps strength, because that section of the power stroke really works the rectus femoris, because it is generally the last segment of the stroke to be addressed, including in people who reckon they have a "good" stroke, and because it doesn't require clipless or cages.

"Swiping gum off the shoe" is a cliche, yet no one talks about the opposite side.

 

[Monique]

Because you expressed concern about quadriceps strength, because that section of the power stroke really works the rectus femoris, because it is generally the last segment of the stroke to be addressed, including in people who reckon they have a "good" stroke, and because it doesn't require clipless or cages.

"Swiping gum off the shoe" is a cliche, yet no one talks about the opposite side.

Yes - I hadn't thought of it. Thank you. (I had thought of pushing down, but not that upper part .. sort of a dead zone, to your point.)

 

[Ron]

Ride an hour at a relaxed pace, enough to get an average speed on your comp. Finish the hour near a flattish 1-2 mile section.

Now, with only one leg clipped in, ride that mile while sustaining your average speed. Do NOT let the speed drop below your average. Turn around, ride back with the other leg.

an hour out at a relaxed pace would be about 15-16 miles. There are several 7-12% climbs in those miles that I cant keep my average speed with 2 legs at all times. I am usually happy to climb 7% at 7 mph But it get the point

 

[Rod9301]

It's really all personal preference I think. I personally can't stand riding without clipless. I get it though if you don't like it. I don't really think that any of us (or most of us anyway..) are really worried about 315w vs 310w. If you feel comfortable on flats, go for it. Will that extra 0.2% of power get you over that rock garden?? Maybe..but maybe platforms will give you the confidence to try. It's really like the bar-end debate..use what works for you.

Is anybody still using bar ends?

 

[scott43]

Is anybody still using bar ends?

I do.

 

[newfydog]

As far as platform pedals, well, just look at the cadence and motion of the people with flats vs the the riders clipped in. The clipped riders are much smoother, and use a higher RPM.

If you want to learn a nice turn, don't copy the park rats, copy the racers. Same goes for pedal stroke.

PS: We use bar ends all the time. Much better for my wrist shoulders and back to have different options, plus better pull out of the saddle.

 

[Tom K.]

I did that one-legged stuff back when I was competitive. It would do me good to build up to being able to do it again. These days, I ride my hard tail mountain bike most of the time.

Same.

Now I do them for a few weeks before going somewhere like Moab, that includes a lot of low rpm, high torque technical stuff.

Seems to work. At least, it doesn't hurt!

@newfydog, I gave up on bar ends for fashion reasons, when I retired from 100 mile mtb racing. I'm a little embarrassed.

If I ever jumped back in for one last 100, they'd be back on the bike without reservation.

 

[scott43]

For me, if you're standing up on the pedals on your road bike, are you grabbing the flats or the levers?

 

[cantunamunch]

For me, if you're standing up on the pedals on your road bike, are you grabbing the flats or the levers?

Dood. Drops.

 

[Primoz]

Food for thought]

Realistically I don't think there's any discussion needed if it's about performance. If there would be question, we would see, if not roadies, then at least mtb guys running flats. But even in DH, when tracks require just a bit of pedaling, most of guys put clipless pedals on, and I don't think we ever saw any racer on XC/XCM race with flats If it's about comfort then it depends on person. For me, I feel much more comfortable with clipless, even on extreme terrain, but some are opposite.
As far as GCN goes, it's complete BS. They "test" stuff for the sake of Youtube clicks, and their results are completely useless and irrelevant, as their methods and ways of testing things negates all results before they even do test. With today's technology it would be so easy to properly test stuff and have results that would actually tell something. But these guys are either A. too stupid to do this. Considering number of followers I doubt that would be true and they make good living out of it, so I'm sure they are not stupid, B. they have never ever heard about proper testing procedures, or C. they just don't give a fu**k about what and how they test as long as people click their link and it makes sound of money in their valet. Personally I would say it's B and C all together.

 

[Ron]

Love GCN!

 

[Wendy]

I suck at interpreting acronyms.
I’m going to try this tomorrow AM, and I’ll report back.

One-legged pedaling after a warm up on my morning ride. I started with my left foot clipped in on a mostly level section of road, made it nearly a mile before I started getting really inefficient and felt the bike start to lurch a bit. Surprise was my right leg....it tired faster than my left and I made it about 3/4 of the distance.