Going after work for a quick play at my local spot which has some twisty turny stuff (we are only talking south east here so nothing dramatic)

have been clipped in forever as have roadie roots and mtb flats were rubbish and slippy in the mid 90’s!

just been for a spin round the carpark and feels a bit weird but ok…

Drop your heels, heavy feet and light hands. Go round corners with your foot out and make motorbike noises.

just realised I already posted this question! but haven’t had time to go riding since….

anyway brmmmmm brmmmm here I come

I suspect it will be hard to learn.

You need to keep supple so you are always pressing on the pedals.

keep your feet on the pedals.

Try not to stick one of your feet through the front wheel, especially if you’re doing about 40 at the time……. 😆

do not put the balls of your foot on the pedal

Take the cleats off your shoes.

yeah just stick with it, dont sack em off as death traps after one ride because thats how you’ll feel later!

do not put the balls of your foot on the pedal

I think that’s exactly what I would have done 🙁

Just remember that if you can’t ride on flats, it’s because you can’t really ride on SPDs and the pedals are stopping you from crashing. So even if you don’t like flats, and instantly want to go home to SPDs, it’s still worth fixing all that- everything that makes you ride with the bike on flats, makes you ride with the bike on SPDs

Lower your saddle a bit

When you’re freewheeling/descending drop your heels (and wrists) so that you are pushing into the pedals/bike and you’re less likely to bounce off the pedals………………

Put some antibacterial wipes and Germolene new skin liquid plaster in your backpack 😀 😆

Don’t overthink it.

Shin pads……

Make up far fetched stories about your shin scars.

Ignore all the crap about where you put your feet on the pedals, and just ride where it feels comfortable.
Been riding flats on all sorts of stuff for over 20 years, and I ride with a definite bias towards the ball of my foot.

I rode SPD’s for decades… only changed to flats when I started riding with the 5yr old youngster 2-3 years ago. (On/off/push etc)

I could have put em back a year ago… The shoes and pedals actually sat in my boot until a fortnight ago. Stuck them on the XC bike for a short run but don’t feel in any great rush to put them onto the trail bike. Possibly because the shoes look horribly antiquated 🙄

In exactly the same boat – 20+ years on spuds and was only prompted to try flats by going on a DirtSchool course 2 weeks ago.
Look up the Ryan Leech 12 week flat pedal course, and get some sticky shoes to go with the pedals. I tried with my Shimano AM9 spud shoes and thought they were ok, then got some 5 tens – like night & day, so can safely say you won’t get the proper flatty experience without committing to it. You could say you need to jump in with both feet 🙂

Rob

Rob’s answer could be mine. Skills training two weeks ago showed up my lack of obvious skills. A desire to learn to manual made me decide to switch to flats, at least until I’ve nailed that skill.

I’m three rides into the Ryan Leech course. I will stick it out despite desperately wanting to go back to spds right now. I’m a stubborn bugger and understand one step back to go two forwards. I just wish the step back didn’t seem to have taken me quite so far right now.

Ignore all the crap about where you put your feet on the pedals, and just ride where it feels comfortable.
Been riding flats on all sorts of stuff for over 20 years, and I ride with a definite bias towards the ball of my foot.

Just because you don’t follow the advice doesn’t make the advice crap.

Just because you don’t follow the advice doesn’t make the advice crap.

Just because people on the internet have advice, it doesn’t mean it’s the right advice for everyone.

I’ve just gone the other way. Ride spd since they came out in the ’90s, up to about 5 years ago when I changed to flats.
Now I’ve gone back to spd & I think having the time on flats has definitely improved the way I handle the bike so even if it’s not a change you stick with try it for a while.

Moving to flats recently, I found I needed to time my shifting better, or at least not try and shift while putting a lot of power down, as the shift would cause my unloaded foot to slip on the pedal. Moving your feet around on flats is a bit of an technique in itself, with grippy soles really locking my feet in.

Took me a few rides to feel where the right place is for my foot. It still feels alien for the first few minutes until my feet remember what to do. I am really enjoying it though, and has already improved my technique.

Started with flats on my daily commuter bike at the start of this year. Just stuck some on the FS MTB too now and prefer the feel of the platform under my feet.

My tip: ride daily.

jedi – Member
do not put the balls of your foot on the pedal

thats actually quite tricky. if you have small feet and big pedals you could be pedalling with yer heel!

i tend to have the ball on my foot over the leading edge of the pedal (or thereabouts). size 9`s

Look up the Ryan Leech 12 week flat pedal course

cheers – I’m going to give this a bash and see if I can improve my confidence riding on flats

What’s the issue with flats ? I almost feel like i’m missing out on something here as i only ever use flats.

where should you put your feet if not on the balls.

ooh err missus 😀

p.s. serious question.

Ask the High Priest of Flat

Though obviously foot position does vary:

Have to say that for me, a little further back feels more natural- I rode spds (and clipped flats!) for a long time so maybe it’s just that. But more in the middle does seem to work better.

More to the middle if listening to certain training people…

Although i do wonder if that’s more for jumping rather than XC and then people take the words to mean it should be for all aspects of riding ?

Me personally, i’m closer to balls of feet.

When I switched to flats I kept slipping pedals on rough descents, moving my feet further forward really helped. Five tens cover up a multitude of sins.

I’ve switched between flats and SPDs and still ride both occasionally, and I don’t get the big fuss. Even after 3 years solely on SPDs I couldn’t really tell a huge difference in how I rode. (Not a brag, more a warning not to panic yourself into an accident).

Don’t overthink it, just ride as normal but be cautious on log/ditch hops etc as you will probably not even get the back wheel off the ground. Decent shoes and pedals are a must though.

What’s the issue with flats ? I almost feel like i’m missing out on something here as i only ever use flats.

For me it’s down to anytime the bike leaves terra firma, I feel like I lose the pedals – not a problem for those occasions I want red streaked shins.

LittleNose – Member

For me it’s down to anytime the bike leaves terra firma, I feel like I lose the pedals

This is kind of what I alluded to earlier- this isn’t a flats thing, it’s that you’re not riding with the bike whether on SPDs or flats. It’s just that with SPDs, you can drag the bike along with you (or it can drag you). That’s not ideal, it stops you from falling off but it’s still pulling the bike around and means you’re working against each other not together, giving the suspension and tyres a harder time

Really good SPD riders (which I was absolutely not, I should say, I learned all this the hard way) can jump onto flats and just ride. See: Gee Atherton, rides SPDs, can jump off the bike, borrow some five tens from a spectator, and race a dh world cup . Because riding with the bike is always best. So if you learn that on flats then take it back to SPDs, it’s a win.

(you don’t need to learn it on flats, you can learn it on SPDs. It’s just that flats will **** you up if you don’t learn, so you don’t really have the option not to learn)

Or, obviously, you can just carry on- it obviously works reasonably well so why stress? Nothing wrong with that approach

Totally agreed Northwind, which is why I’m going to have a pop at that 12 ride course.
I do know the issue is with my riding, and I’m looking to learn how to ride better.

I think sometimes I come across a bit zealoty on that… In all honesty if it was me and I switched from SPDs to flats and found it hard I’d probably just go **** it and go back to spds 🙂

I’d go back to spd’s if I wasn’t worried about being stuck on the bike again after fluffing a little hop with spd’s, resulting in skiers thumb.

Ive just gone back to flats and the biggest problem so far is working out how to move your feet a little bit on the pedal. A combination of pins and sticky soles means I end up lifting my foot off to move it which Im sure isnt the best approach