Cycling shoes and pedals together provide you with more efficient, more comfortable and more interesting riding. The pedals you buy will depend on the style of your riding shoes, and your riding shoes will also depend on how you ride. There are three main types of pedals, with some exceptions, each of which can be paired with specific cycling shoes.

Platform pedal
Platform pedals are mainly used for urban and mountain riding. When you use the mountain bike platform, you need to wear flat-bottom mountain bike shoes. These shoes have special rubber and non-slip patterns that can help you keep your cycling shoes on the pedals when you are speeding on the mountain. For beginners, platform pedals are usually ideal, because if you start to tip over, it will be easier to support with your feet.
advantage
• Can be used with any type of shoes
• No learning curve-you can ride on and go
• Very suitable for learning mountain biking, especially when paired with MTB shoes
shortcoming
• Your feet may slip off when experiencing bumps or riding on rugged mountain roads and highways
• Unable to maintain a very smooth pedaling rhythm, namely cadence

Pedal with toe clip
Platform pedals with toe clips and buckle straps are used for city cycling, leisure cycling and road cycling. You can also see them on the dead fly bike. They are convenient because they can be matched with any shoes you are wearing right now, including sports shoes. Toe clip used to be the preferred style for road cycling and competition, but now self-locking cycling shoes and self-locking pedals are more popular. However, you can still find cycling shoes specifically designed for the use of toe clips and buckles.
advantage
• More controllable than platform type
• Compared to using a platform pedal alone, your feet can be more fixed in place
shortcoming
• Buckles or shoe covers are sometimes dragged on the floor, and it is annoying to turn over
• They still can’t keep your feet aligned and fixed in place

Self-locking pedal
The cleat pedal is also called a self-locking pedal. They are called self-locking (no clip) because they do not use toe clips. They work by clamping the cleats of the soles into compatible pedals. They can be used for all types of cycling, including road, mountain, gravel, travel, commuting, mixed off-road and competition.
advantage
• The pedal stroke is more efficient because you have the ability to lift the pedal
• Once clamped in, your feet can stay in place — no need to realign or adjust
• Your feet will not bounce off the pedals when riding on rough terrain
shortcoming
• Clamping and unclamping safely takes time and practice to adapt (but this is not a very difficult technique)
• You cannot lift your foot directly off the pedal