It gives you a secure connection and in my mind, they just look better.

Do they?

When you're clip-clapping your way on the cafe floor or sliding your way to your bike, do they actually make you look cool?

But Conor, do we ever look cool?

A little bit of inconvenience off the bike is worth it because they perform better.

How much better though?

Do you actually know the difference over a decent pair of flat pedals and shoes?

Not really, but in this video, we're going to find out.

For those of us that got into cycling in the last 30 years, it seems like clipless pedals and performance have always gone hand-in-hand.

They actually only caught on in the mid to late 80s.

Before that, pros always used toe clips and straps.

In fact, Stephen Roach won a 1987 Tour de France in such a setup.

Now, it has to be said, this is an experiment we have done a few times.

A few years back, Dan and Si did this experiment in a controlled environment at Bath University.

Then recently, Manon and I attempted to shed a bit more light over the difference.

It was under that video that you guys left us a whole heap of comments.

We felt it was only right to listen to the GCN audience and swap out a pair of rubbish flat pedals for these.

Yes, and a pair of running trainers for a pair of specific cycling flat shoes, which have a lot more stiffness to them.

Yes, they do.

As you can probably tell from the size of them, I'm going to be the guinea pig today.

I'm going to conduct a few experiments.

Yes, I would actually be able to row a boat in them.

This is my normal setup, my Orbea road bike with clipless pedals.

It's what I'm going to be using for our experiments today.

They're going up against the flats on my specific flat-pedaled shoes.

A bit different to what Hank and Manon used during their experiments.

The shoes I've brought today, they've got a much stiffer sole, they've got ankle support, and they're designed for this purpose.

The pedal is made of metal rather than plastic, so super stiff.

They've also got these pins in which will keep my foot firmly in place when I'm applying the power.

You're probably wondering right now what experiments we've picked today.

We can probably judge from the sign.

He's about to get steep.

Our first test is on the steep gradient of 12%.

How do you think he's going to get on?

He's heading off first in the clipless pedals and then on the flats.

Good luck, Connor.

Right then, I've got my heart rate strap on.

We've got my power meter fitted, so we're going to track a load of metrics, including things like my cadence, across all the different efforts.

Right now, there's only one thing for it.

Time to give this climber a whirl.

Starting off on the clipless pedals, what I'm used to.

Here we go.

Three, two, one, let's go.

Straight into it out of the saddle.

The reason I like clipless pedals so much is my position is the same every single time I'm on the bike.

I just don't need to think of it.

It is what I'm used to.

In fact, I really do believe carbon shoulder shiking shoes, one of the biggest upgrades I ever made to my riding.

First time in a while I've gone hard like that.

That's first run done.

While Connor's taking a breather so that we get a good test so he's well rested, I'm going to change his pedals onto the bike.

In the last video, we spoke to Brian of The Bike The Body.

He was saying that the efficiency in the pedaling technique isn't actually that different.

It's not as different as we first thought, I guess, because us cyclists don't actually use the upstroke of the pedal as much as I thought in the first instance.

Putting a pair of grippy and stiff pedals should mean that he actually has quite an efficient pedal stroke with good pedals or good flat pedals.

It feels all right, actually.

It feels quite good.

Right then, time for the flats.

First impressions, not that bad.

Let's see if I feel the same on the climb.

Here we go.

Three, two, one.

We're off.

All right.

A little bit different finding my position.

A lot stiffer than running shoes, though.

Here we go.

Focus now, Connor.

Proper effort here.

All right.

I'm on the steeper bit now.

As the saddle for the most part.

I think this is where the flats will struggle.

It's a little burner of a hill, that one.

Nasty little kick at the top.

One of those ones you just don't notice on the way down, but you do on the way up.

Shoes felt remarkably better than I expected, actually.

I think it's time I caught my breath, though.

Let's just examine those two runs and see where the differences lie.

Connor's first two runs are complete and the results are in.

They make for a 3.5-kilometer run on clipless pedals.

You did it on a time of three minutes and nine seconds.

Interestingly, you did it on the flats in three minutes and seven seconds.

That's faster.

A little bit faster.

Two seconds faster, so negligible, but still faster.

Which is interesting.

We could go into a little bit more detail on that.

Your average power was 429 on clipless and it was 415 on the flats, so less power on the flats.

Your cadence was pretty much similar, 69, 68.

Then your average heart rate was 145 on the clipless and 150 on the flats, meaning you have to work that bit harder.

Your max heart rate was 158 on the clips and 165 on the flats.

It shows, I think, you are having to work that bit harder.

The interesting thing is you did less power, but yet you went faster.

I think the key takeaway from this, it was quite a short climb.

I think I got going a lot quicker on the flats because I was straight into it as soon as I set off.

No clipping in.

I actually had a bit of a bad moment clipping in at the bottom of this one and it just wasted a bit of time.

I had to work hard and then get back on top of things.

Time ended up being roughly the same.

I was working hard, as you can see from my heart rate.

It felt harder.

It felt like my muscles weren't in the right position.

I had to think a bit more about where to put my legs.

When I got out of the saddle, especially, I felt like I was losing my foot a little bit.

Must be said, specific mountain bike flat-pedal shoes, a lot better than running shoes, plus with the pins on the pedals, it did feel pretty solid when I was in the saddle.

Hank.

I think this still opens the door.

It is still really quite close.

I think this means we have to do another test.

Conor.

I think we need a longer effort.

I've got an idea.

Follow me, mate.

Hank.

Job done.

Conor.

You're going to have to walk there.

Second test.

Let's go.

Our second test.

Now, this is a rather longer effort.

It's around five kilometers in length.

To start off with, Conor's going to head off in the flat pedals.

How's he going to get on?

We're going to find out.

You ready?

Yes.

It's a bit different to the climb because that was an all-out effort.

There was no hiding whatsoever.

Here, any differences are going to become really apparent.

Any discomfort is going to be amplified.

On that note, count me in.

Three, two, one.

Off you go, Conor.

Straight out of the gates.

As on the climb, no messing around clipping in.

Got the tailwind now.

Time to embrace the mountain biking shoes and send it.

Brief wrap-up of that.

Howling headwind.

Didn't feel too comfortable in there.

Felt like I could have done with being a bit more secure in the pedals.

Just felt a little bit all over the place in terms of my form.

Crushed it on the way back then, the tailwind.

I think I was hitting about 54K an hour.

Felt fine there.

Nonetheless, time to swap the pedals now.

Back on to the clipless.

Oh, jeepers.

A little bit of recovery first.

Three, two, one.

We're off.

Weird being back in my usual shoes.

Every pedal stroke feels so responsive.

Definitely don't feel like I'm wasting energy at that top of the pedal revolution.

Legs hurt just the same though.

Clipless done.

Solid effort that.

I was hurting, I'm not going to lie.

Felt way more comfortable, but I'm really not sure if it was any faster.

I've actually forgotten what my time was on the first run, so I hate to run it down.

You get the data from that run, catch up with him, and see what sort of conclusion we can draw from experiment number two.

Before Hank revealed the results of test two, however, he had one final challenge up his sleeve for my big feet.

A max power test, meaning we should cover a climb, flat run, and sprint in today's comparison.

Right then, here we go.

What have I got left in the jambons?

Hopefully, not a ham and cheese sandwich.

All right, three, two, one.

The flat pedals are back on.

Let's see what magic they have in store.

Okay.

Get myself up to speed, roll into it, and then hit it like a coconut at the fair.

Oh, all done.

Let's go and see how that stacked up.

The results are in.

It's the moment you've all been waiting for.

Thank you so much for being my guinea pig.

You smashed it.

Let's kick off with the 5.5 kilometer flat run out and back.

You started off on flats.

You did it in 9 minutes, 22 seconds.

Interestingly, on the clipless, 9 minutes and 20 seconds.

There's only two seconds in it.

So close, nothing really, isn't it?

Max speed, you're looking at 54.5 kilometers per hour, 53.8 kilometers per hour you did on the clipless pedals.

You did faster on the flats.

Normalized power, your average power, you did 355 on flats, 371 on clipless, so a little bit on the clipless pedals.

Max power, 725 on the flats, and you did 853 on the clipless.

Cadence, quite similar, 83 on the flats, 86 on the clipless.

A bit higher on the clipless.

Then max cadence, 108 on the flats, 113, so a little bit higher on the clipless.

Then heart rate, 166 for the flats, 171 on the clipless.

Pushing on there, yes.

Hank.

Max, 178 on the flats, 182 on the clipless.

Conor.

On the clipless, yes.

Hank.

Which is mad.

Can you believe how close that is?

Conor.

Well, it's interesting because I really thought the clipless would smash it on that run, but I think once I got up to speed, the shoes felt surprisingly good and the power transfer felt good as well.

I probably lacked a bit on the little bits of gradient that kicked up and getting back up to speed on the turn, but when I was up to speed, I felt there wasn't a huge amount of difference.

That is absolutely crazy.

Let me know in the comment section below if you thought these were going to be as close as they really are.

We genuinely did not expect it, so we set him out again on some power tests, but this time we did it up to 20 seconds.

This is your max power where the clipless should be the one that wins out.

Should be the one.

I did three sprints on each pedal, and I just went as hard as I could for 20 seconds, and I just hit the best values from those sprints, best overall values.

I think I was better on the clipless, but tell the audience the results.

The clipless, three seconds, 1189. 1,189 watts.

On the flats, 908.

There's a big difference there.

Big difference there, yes.

Five-second power, 1154.

Clipless, 906.

Another big power difference.

Then the 20 seconds, 880 on the clipless and 740 on the flats.