Flat pedals?

[KelOnWheels]

In the interest of not dredging up the pedal thread from last year, I shall start a new one!

So I'm thinking of getting flat pedals to put on the Horse for around-town riding, now that I am car-free in the PDX and all.

Looking at Velo Orange (mostly because I wanna order a fork crown eye bolt thingy from them) but open to suggestions.

What do you think? Will my feet slide off to certain doom? Will I die? Will my bike hate me?!

[83(b)]

I've got a pair of VO touring pedals on my around town bike and am very happy with them. No slippage issues, even in dress shoes in wet weather. The only problem has been that the platforms are made of a softer metal, so one got mildly bent when I clipped it in a corner. Though that hasn't affected performance at all.

I tried a pair of their road pedals and hated the single-sided platform. Not recommended (nor intended) for a town bike!

[TwoWheelsDC]

Flats are probably best for year-round/all-weather use...I recently started riding clips/straps on one of my bikes and like it, but the clips aren't big enough for winter shoes/boots. But for JRA, it's nice to be able to wear regular shoes and still have foot retention.

I use:

MKS Urban Platform Pedal + MKS RD STL Toe Clips + leather toe straps.

[mstone]

Flats are probably best for year-round/all-weather use...I recently started riding clips/straps on one of my bikes and like it, but the clips aren't big enough for winter shoes/boots.

SPD boots FTW!

[dkel]

SPD boots FTW!

Till the cleats get packed with snow. Learned that the hard way this winter; makes it almost impossible to keep your feet on the pedals.

[kwarkentien]

Till the cleats get packed with snow. Learned that the hard way this winter; makes it almost impossible to keep your feet on the pedals.

Never had that problem with my Lake boots with SPDs. Maybe I've just been lucky?

[Phatboing]

What do you think? Will my feet slide off to certain doom? Will I die? Will my bike hate me?!

You'll get a lot of people talking to you about why you don't use clipless and OMG why don't you believe in foot retention?

I like (i.e. have):
1. MKS Lambdas, which would look really spiffy on the Space Horse. Though they do get slippy in the rain, if you wear the wrong shoes. Rivendell has a hack for making em grippier.
2. VP-001. So many colors.
3. Crank Bros 5050, in Red.
4. VP Push, which are nylon composite things. I had them on the winter studly singlespeed, and the nylon stuff has the advantage of not conducting away what little heat you have in your feetses, too.

I once rode briefly with someone who had the VO Sabot pedals - I'd have gotten those if the three above weren't significantly cheaper.

If you get pedals with pins that you screw in yourself, you can leave just 3-ish mm exposed - it doesn't take much exposed pin for adequate grip, and it doesn't take much more before they get shoe-shreddy.

[Brünø Moore]

Heard some great things about the MKS λ, especially with the extra Rivscrews added. I used to use MKS Sylvan Touring pedals before getting my dual-sided PD-A530s; loved them to death, except that, for everyday long commutes, the lack of proper platform started to hurt my feet. Might work for you, though.

[dkel]

Never had that problem with my Lake boots with SPDs. Maybe I've just been lucky?

I only had the problem twice last winter, and only one of those times was it such a problem that I had to bail and get a ride. Both were during heavy snow, so there was fresh, untreated snow on the road. If you never have to stop, it isn't a problem because you never put a foot down, of course! The shape of the tread on the shoe might make a difference, too, I suppose.

[vvill]

I have one bike in the fleet with flat pedals. I use MTB style ones with the little screws for retention (these ones actually), they're great in the winter if you're wearing winter boots, etc. Later on I bought a pair of grippy Five Ten shoes. Before those two purchases I used whatever street shoes with regular stock nylon pedals.

I'm actually tempted to switch out another bike to flats, but will probably just use regular flat pedals on that one if I do. The retention screws work great but also hurt and cut you up if you get them wrong. With the grippy shoes, I think stock pedals will be fine. One day I may even want to hipster it up and get some toe straps.

I like the look of some of the xpedo pedals but haven't ever seen them in person.