Clips or flats?

As a kid in the 70s/80s with toe clips; 80s/90s/00s SPD-cleats I switched to flats around 12 years ago when I bought my first ebike. I got my first pair of good flat pedal shoes, a pair of 5.10 around 2013 long before Adidas bought the company. Nowadays there's a lot of great flat pedal shoes from different brands and pros are even riding flats and winning. GCN, GMBN and EMBN have all done comparisons and there's not much between them. I think there's a little more power clipping in, but for for me there are drawbacks for how and where I ride.

Like saddles, bars and grips, ride whatever suits you.
 
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This is a Coke/Pepsi or a Sprite/7Up discussion. To each their own. I am definitely in the clip zone as it keeps the feet planted when riding the rough stuff (think tree roots everywhere...Vancouver Island).
 
Time Atacs with Time easy cleats are the best clip in combo I’ve tried. used To use flats but I got sick of my shins looking like they'd been savaged by a pack of rabid jack russels..
 
Flats here.

I raced on clips for many years. But prefer the freedom of flats in the tight, steep, gnarly tech.
 
Clips remove the temptation to dab. Dab is walking, not riding. Clip in. Resist the urge to unclip. Ride the bike into the ground. This is the only time you unclip ...... :cool:

It's funny. Had a mate who water-skied on a fence paling. Said people who use bindings had poor technique. Reminds me of the comments in this thread ....... :ROFLMAO:
 
Clips all day on all of my bikes including my DH bike. I still don't understand this idea of people developing "bad habits" with clips. Using you clips to move your bike around is not a bad habit. It allows me to have a level of control that just doesn't exist with flats. The only reason you see your "bad habits" is that with flats you can't do some of the things that you can on clips. This forces you to jump and move your bike a different way not a better or proper way. The same argument is used about FS bikes when compared to hardtails. Racers of all disciplines use clipless with very little outliers. It's not really an efficiency issue for me it's the additional security and control that gives me confidence and confidence=proper send!
 
TwoWheeln said:
Clips all day on all of my bikes including my DH bike. I still don't understand this idea of people developing "bad habits" with clips. Using you clips to move your bike around is not a bad habit. It allows me to have a level of control that just doesn't exist with flats. The only reason you see your "bad habits" is that with flats you can't do some of the things that you can on clips. This forces you to jump and move your bike a different way not a better or proper way. The same argument is used about FS bikes when compared to hardtails. Racers of all disciplines use clipless with very little outliers. It's not really an efficiency issue for me it's the additional security and control that gives me confidence and confidence=proper send!
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What Twowheelin said. It’s not bad habits really, it’s just a different style and technique for a different tool.
I’m a flat pedal rider and I think the reason I took tonsils quickly was because even on flats I wasn’t really much of a ‘dabbed’. My first run clipped in was Les Gets Red while on holiday, my other 5Tens were soaking wet and I thought “Fuck it, might as well try these evil clippy shoes out properly”. I did end up glueing my forearm back together (the advantages of being a paramedic trained and experienced in wound closure), but then my mate stayed on flats and I ended up giving him 4 stitches that holiday.

I’m back to flats now as they’re more comfy and I never really got any better and faster clipped in after a solid year b
 
When I did the Megavalanche race, 16 years ago, I did the qualifier on flats and the race clipped in. Cool, true, story.
 
Always used flats...............tried clipless for a couple of weeks. If you ride natural trails they change from one visit to the next and often a feature needs an inspection before hitting it...........thats when I found out clipless shoes not only make you walk like you have Sh1t your ass but have zero grip on steep terrain when on foot. On one occasion I had to take the shoes off and go barefoot just to climb back up the trail!!
I have never had a problem using pinned pedals and 5-10s........and I dont understand why some say you can get bucked off the pedals using flats......if the terrain is tech and rough you are standing on them with the biggest shock absorber of the bike....your legs!!
 
Mikerb said:
Always used flats...............tried clipless for a couple of weeks. If you ride natural trails they change from one visit to the next and often a feature needs an inspection before hitting it...........thats when I found out clipless shoes not only make you walk like you have Sh1t your ass but have zero grip on steep terrain when on foot. On one occasion I had to take the shoes off and go barefoot just to climb back up the trail!!
I have never had a problem using pinned pedals and 5-10s........and I dont understand why some say you can get bucked off the pedals using flats......if the terrain is tech and rough you are standing on them with the biggest shock absorber of the bike....your legs!!
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You really need to give clipless a year or two to get really good at them.

But I do agree, hike a bike with clips sucks walking up or across a rocky stream or over rocky terrain.
 
TwoWheeln said:
Clips all day on all of my bikes including my DH bike. I still don't understand this idea of people developing "bad habits" with clips. Using you clips to move your bike around is not a bad habit. It allows me to have a level of control that just doesn't exist with flats. The only reason you see your "bad habits" is that with flats you can't do some of the things that you can on clips. This forces you to jump and move your bike a different way not a better or proper way. The same argument is used about FS bikes when compared to hardtails. Racers of all disciplines use clipless with very little outliers. It's not really an efficiency issue for me it's the additional security and control that gives me confidence and confidence=proper send!
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In my opinion flats jumping technique is the correct and better technique to learn. Don't rely on pulling directly up like what can be dont on clips which makes for poor overrotating jump technique. Learn to jump on flats and take that technique to clips. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

I also agree that clip rule racing. They are more efficient and if you can hold a line down the entire track without dabbing that is the fastest way down the hill. Most xc, enduro and dh racers don't have section that tight and tech that demand dabs. They are all for the most part faster style of tracks that have chunk and big features. On those race tracks clips rule supreme.

However get into the mountains on some diss used hiking trail jank and its a different story. Tracks can be tight and slow and slippery and steep and an immediate dab is what's required on some of those situations. For the tight steep jank i much prefer flats. Even just getting on the bike on some rediculious steep weird angles is just better on flats.
 
The Hodge said:
Are you re-inventing English Language ?
What the hell is Jank ?😂
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Jank is the opposite of Flow -- it's "unnatural" or "technical" moves that are tricky to pull off and interrupt the flow of the trail. Think quick directional changes at low speeds, roots at weird angles, off-camber turns, etc. It's pretty common to need to put a foot down on a janky trail, hence the desire for flat pedals in those situations.

Jank can be extremely fun and is sadly lacking in a lot of trail systems today, but you can find a ton of it in places like Whistler and Squamish.
 
charleyc said:
Jank is the opposite of Flow -- it's "unnatural" or "technical" moves that are tricky to pull off and interrupt the flow of the trail. Think quick directional changes at low speeds, roots at weird angles, off-camber turns, etc. It's pretty common to need to put a foot down on a janky trail, hence the desire for flat pedals in those situations.

Jank can be extremely fun and is sadly lacking in a lot of trail systems today, but you can find a ton of it in places like Whistler and Squamish.
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Must be a new thing ..in 30 years of riding mtb I've never seen or heard of it ..
I'm feeling very left out ..could you send some over the pond please 🙏 😂
 
Jank, Gnar, double black diamond, black diamond, red, blue, green …and any features imaginable. We seem to have all that in BC.

Then one day I told my fellow trail builders that I was building, and working on, a double green …🤯
 
Stihldog said:
Jank, Gnar, double black diamond, black diamond, red, blue, green …and any features imaginable. We seem to have all that in BC.

Then one day I told my fellow trail builders that I was building, and working on, a double green …🤯
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yep....you can really only classify manufactured trails..............one natural trail can often be a mix of all trail grades and go from easy to extreme in 20 metres!!
I assume a double green is actually a "gotcha" trail :LOL:
 
I have only ever ridden Flats,since I started serious mountain biking back in 1990.I tried clips once and hated it ,so learnt how to ride and jump properly on flat pedals and have never gone back.
 
I rode BMX as a kid, all flats, then went to a road bike with toe clips and straps (!) then onto mtb where it was flats again.

Then I got into xc mtb racing and it seemed to be the done thing to have SPDs so that’s what I got too. I’ve gradually migrated to a mix of flats and SPDs, so ride both but I do find clipping in sometimes a pain, especially on the Hope trail pedals which I don’t find as flawless as plain old Shimano SPDs.

But heck, as long as I’m riding something and having fun I don’t really care what pedals are on! I’ve been impressed with some cheap flat Rockbros Amazon specials, the alloy ones, they’re cheap and light and work pretty well in my humble opinion.
 
Strong feelings on both sides about what peddles are best. Seems a lot like saddles lots of people like hard light carbon rail
saddles. Others love softer form fitting heavier saddles. Personal preference rules.
I ride both kinds of peddles and have 6 different variations in my parts box. Normally I would ride clips all summer and dry months and I always raced with clips. They just feel faster. In the winter when it's muddy and sloppy I always ride flats. not a fan of cleats covered in mud. I don't need extra speed on my ebike so I always ride flats. Currently I rarely use my clips due to a pretty major foot injury. After 3 surgeries it just feels funky and painful to clip out. No I didn't break it while clipped in, unrelated accident. Kind of seems like a baggy or spandex short controversy, I like baggy shorts does that make me slower or less talented?
 
charleyc said:
I rode clips for the first ~20 years that I mountain biked, mostly Crank Bros. I switched to flats on a whim on my main bike and discovered how bad a lot of my technique was. After about a month I was comfy on them, and I started to switch all my bikes to flats. My DH bike was the last bike that I switched over because it took me a long time to feel confident that I wouldn't lose the bike on a big jump.

I now ride flats exclusively and it's tough to imagine going back. For the kind of riding I do (mostly very tech-y tech) it's just a PITA to get clipped in (or clipped back in) quickly enough, even with 20 years of practice. It also feels pretty risky in the event of a crash -- being able to instantly throw the bike away from myself has saved me from serious injury more than once.

The biggest downside of flats, IMO, is getting stabbed in the shin if you slip a pedal. I haven't found shinguards that are comfy for pedaling (I've tried a few) and so, in the immortal words of IFHT, there are more scars on my shins than stars in the sky.
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