60 yrs and 3million miles on clips and straps, 73yrs old NO knee problems at all, SO FAR. BUT I have said before, Clipless pedals are one of the best things to come to bikes in years, along with Ergo shifters, make cycling a LOT moore easy and FUN and better on the knees, So if you HAVE to be correct (WHO CARES) get clips and straps, BUT I do NOT reconmend it, Clipless IS the way to go. Martins tale about wood soles, brings back to me. when I started racing, shoes had leather soles with tacked on metal cleats. where all we had, we used to bend the toe and heal down on the shoes so they would bend around the pedals, to give a scoop effect, smoother pedaling??? I now see riders with the solid sole shoes. riding toes down with a hammer ettect, different strokes for different folkes I guess, BUT what ever works for you, Cheers, John CrumpOldnokneesBrit, Parker Co.USA