Flats or Clipless?

[smmokan]

What do you use and why?

I currently have clipless pedals on both of my bikes, a Santa Cruz Heckler for 90% of my riding in the Front Range and a Specialized SS 29'er when I want a workout. I need to buy new shoes, and it got me thinking.... should I convert to flats? Most of my riding is 10-20 miles with some decent climbs (under 2k vert usually) in Front Range terrain- some pretty technical, some smooth singletrack. I'm not worried about crushing the climbs or anything, I just don't want the benefits of flats on the downhill to outweigh the negatives on the climbs. Thoughts?

[toast2266]

Clips on the xc bike (hardtail 29er), flats on everything else. If I'm regularly leaving the ground on a ride, I dislike clips. I tend to unclip myself in the air, especially on hip-type airs, which is kind of disconcerting. I feel considerably faster in clips whenever I need to lay down power, but losing that ability usually doesn't really bother me. I like clips on the xc bike because I find myself in the air less often, and it's nice to keep my feet attached to the bike through jittery-hardtail-chunder. Flats are also nice because I don't have to worry about walking around in spd's at the post-ride bar.

[HankScorpio]

I rode flats for awhile, then went to clip less once I started doing more XC/AM riding. I feel the pedaling with the clip less is more effecient. It is cheating a little, with flats you're "riding" the bike a little more.

The selling point for me is with clip less you don't need shin guards. Riding flats with bare shins will munch up your shins pretty quick. All the scars on my shins are from flat pedal pins.

Reserve the flats for gravity riding.

[marshalolson]

personally, flats for DJ and bar cruising, clipless always, otherwise.

there is abosulty no chance you could EVER get me to think that riding flats on a 10 or 20 mile colorado XC ride is a good idea. been there, done that. it sucks ass.

[garuda]

I use flats on the full susser sometimes when I might be inclined to put a foot out around a corner. They are really nice in mixed snow/ice/dirt conditions like we have in the shoulder seasons in the front range.

But I can't imagine flats for the SS. Main problem for me is the lack of any sole support. My joints need a good supportive shoe when I am going to be putting in the effort that SS requires.

Flats for fixie city commuting for walkability and cred.

[Arty50]

personally, flats for DJ and bar cruising, clipless always, otherwise.

^ minus the DJ part since I'm a huge wuss. I ride clipless for DH because I vastly prefer them through the rough stuff. It's just much easier for me to keep the bike on line when the suspension is getting put through it's paces. It's especially noticable for me on shale. Also, I ride SPDs and keep them pretty loose. I haven't had a problem getting out in a long time, but they keep me in when I need them to. Plus they make me feel less like throwing up when I take the big bike uphill, which I do quite a bit.

[kidwoo]

Wait........what are the 'benefits' of flats on the dh exactly?

[Particle]

Really? This again?


But, I have a new take on this question after last year, when I pretty much rode flats all season out of sheer laziness:

• Flats for training/everything.
• Clipless for racing. Or I guess, long XC sufferfests.

[Sirshredalot]

Clipless for everything but my hipstermobile fixie commuter.

[toast2266]

Wait........what are the 'benefits' of flats on the dh exactly?

Troll.

....

[kidwoo]

Troll.

....

A troll who hasn't used anything but clipless pedals on his dh bike for 9 years

[altagirl]

I use flats on everything these days, including XC rides, except on my singlespeed and road bike.

The more I use flats on XC rides, the more efficient I am with them and I don't notice any loss of power or issues with them at all. And I don't use shin guards with them unless I'm doing gravity type riding. You get used to not smacking yourself in the shins for no reason with some practice.

So for me, it's become "why use clipless?". And I do like the ridiculously stiff soles/shoes I can barely walk in for efficiency on my road bike. But that seems kind of an unnecessary pain in the ass when I'm on my mountain bike. If I was racing XC, it makes sense, but I'm not. So I'd rather be comfortable and in the shoes/pedals I'm comfortable riding or walking anything in. I've been on trails where I regretted the clipless shoes (in an "I'm going to die trying to walk down this thing I can't ride in Sidis" sense, and in an "I can't get clipped back in once I unclipped" sense in really rough terrain.) But once I got efficient pedaling on flats, I've never regretted wearing the flats.

[toast2266]

A troll who hasn't used anything but clipless pedals on his dh bike for 9 years

soooo.... a slow troll?

[kidwoo]

Wait.....who's trolling who now?


Let me jar your memory a bit.

[huckbucket]

^^^^^

HOLY SHIT!!! Those wheels have no spokes!!!!

[toast2266]

Let me jar your memory a bit.

as long as we're jarring memories...

[Alaskan Rover]

There is no doubt that clipless gives you more power on the upstroke...clipless means that BOTH feet can share in the power transmission, not just the downstroke foot. More go power. But the fact is that I've never felt comfortable in clipless. There's some sort of psychollogical barrier there for me. Even on road bikes, I prefer a basket. It's just that one more step involved in clipping out that addles on me. Sure, I got so that it was second nature, but always in the back of my mind I think "what if I wipe and I forget how to unclip right then?"...or right then my brain freezes and doesn't tell my feet to unclip.

For that I prefer baskets for both mountain and road. Plus that way, if it's beautiful out and I wan t to go for a quick 20 minute ride, I just wear what I'm wearing on my feet.

For very long roadbiking in low traffic situations, I'd go back to clipless. But clipless on the trail...with roots and bail-outs and whatnot...psychologically, that's just not for me. I'd rather have a little less upstroke power and feel safer.

The cool thing I saw was a one-legged rider who of course had to use clipless.

Big Question I'm sure has been answered here about a trillion times before, but WHY in HELL do they call them 'clipless' when you are clipping IN with them???? Somebody 'splain!

--

[El Chupacabra]

Big Question I'm sure has been answered here about a trillion times before, but WHY in HELL do they call them 'clipless' when you are clipping IN with them???? Somebody 'splain!

Because click-in pedals do not have "toe clips," which look like this:


The first clipless pedals were road bike pedals. IIRC, they were from Look, and based on ski bindings, sometime in the mid-1980s.

[kidwoo]

as long as we're jarring memories...

Never heard of 'em.



All I was asking was what the OP saw as the benefits. It sure as hell isn't going to define whether you can ride fast or not. In fact, the majority of the fastest dh racers on the planet right now AREN'T using flats. Relax.

[RedWolf]

Used to be clipless on everything, and then I didn't get out of them in time to bail on a skinny and ended up tearing my ACL and MCL in the carnage. I went to flats after that mainly for psychological benefit in those "oh, shit!" moments, but laziness and not wanting to buy new shoes kept me from switching back. I'm not trying to set any speed records, and I'm not racing, though I do tag my shins a couple times a year somethin' fierce... eh, maybe next season...

[Alaskan Rover]

Because click-in pedals do not have "toe clips," which look like this:


The first clipless pedals were road bike pedals. IIRC, they were from Look, and based on ski bindings, sometime in the mid-1980s.

Oh yeah, that's right. Thanks. I guess me and my friends have always called them baskets, and I guess I've been calling them baskets ever since.

[smmokan]

Never heard of 'em.



All I was asking was what the OP saw as the benefits. It sure as hell isn't going to define whether you can ride fast or not. In fact, the majority of the fastest dh racers on the planet right now AREN'T using flats. Relax.

The benefits are perceived to me, as I've never ridden with flats on a mountain bike. I've just read- and it's obvious from the replies here- that different people like different pedals for different terrain. I thought the answers would be more skewed towards clipless pedals on all bikes, but that's clearly not the case. I'm definitely partial to clipless pedals, I was just wondering if I'm missing something by not riding flats.

[kidwoo]

The benefits are perceived to me, as I've never ridden with flats on a mountain bike. I've just read- and it's obvious from the replies here- that different people like different pedals for different terrain. I thought the answers would be more skewed towards clipless pedals on all bikes, but that's clearly not the case. I'm definitely partial to clipless pedals, I was just wondering if I'm missing something by not riding flats.

If you've ridden clips forever then you probably don't have a problem throwing feet out and getting back in quickly which is a big complaint. The idea that one inherently makes someone slower is retarded though.

Personally, in pretty much every real life mountain bike scenario (not dirtjumping and just jumping off things) I like feeling connected to the bike in way that you will never get from flats. And I can move my feet MORE on my clipless pedals than I can with 5.10s, the shoes everyone on flats praises.

Just go try it. But give it long enough that you get past the phase of your feet flying off before you get used to them. If you've been riding clips for a long time, that WILL be your first few runs

But don't think you're missing something by descending on clips. Lots of people prefer them for a reason obviously. And pedaling is only part of it. With me it's almost none of it. It's being connected through eyeball rattling rough sections and all the little skips and hops that go along with it.

[deepsquat]

I had been a die-hard clipless for ages. Decades, almost. Call me old school. Call em old. But then I wanted to try something different, ya know. Something new. Something less endorphin, something more adrenaline. So I started looking and the cool kids they were all, you know, doing it. Doing it flat. So I thought that to be cool I'd have to do it flat too. So I got comfortable doing it that way too. Now I guess I go both ways. Now I see the cool kids are doing it clipless. I'm so confused.

[toast2266]

Never heard of 'em.



All I was asking was what the OP saw as the benefits. It sure as hell isn't going to define whether you can ride fast or not. In fact, the majority of the fastest dh racers on the planet right now AREN'T using flats. Relax.

No. YOU Relax.







kidding. I could give a shit less. I usually race on flats, but throw the clips on for pedally courses, especially if I need to be pedalling through rough stuff. Mostly I just have more fun riding on flats, but I go back and forth pretty often.

edit: as for being more connected with the bike, I both agree and disagree. Yes, I'm far more connected with the bike while running clips, but I don't think that's always a good thing. Really, I just ride bikes differently with flats or clips. Its the difference between finding a specific line and locking into it (clips) vs. coming in hot and loose and going with the flow (flats). Both can be fast, I just have more fun riding loose, especially on the trail when I don't really care if hacking into a corner with a foot off is slow.