SPDs for everything here, including last weekend’s uplift day at the Forest of Dean. I’ve been riding SPDs for so long I just don’t feel safe on flats. On the very rare occasion I ride a short distance using the flat side of the touring pedals on my commuter I feel very vulnerable.

I dont think the argument of “technique works both ways”is true at all. I am very confident that 99% of people who can ride flats correctly would be able to ride with spds. From what I have seen it doesnt work the other way round. Some shoes are better than others but any old flat shoe is perfectly fine for flats. As for descending on flats requiring a seat drop, surely you seat should be dropped on every single descent of trail set piece?

John

I’m in the ‘SPDs for everything’ camp.
The only time I struggle is when trying to mimic Danny Macaskill….

DrP

SPDs for everything here, including last weekend’s uplift day at the Forest of Dean

And I kept the saddle at normal pedalling height throughout.

SPD’s for everything. Alps, DH days, Chicksands jumps and gaps.

Feet dont bounce off, always in the right position and I can unclip fast enough to bail out mid crash 🙂

And I kept the saddle at normal pedalling height throughout.

Why would you do this on an uplift day?!

I see lots of people disliking flats because they struggle to stay on them, someone even said you need shin pads to ride with them? I think this sums up the problem really, if you really can’t keep your feet on flats then you are lacking in your bike skills. I am no bad ass on a bike but to me this is technique that really should be learnt but I see a lot of people go atraight to spds to mask there lack of technique rather than persevere in order to get better. It always amazes me how many people jump to spds before they can even bunny hop. There is nothing wrong at all with using spds if you prefer them or use them on race days but using them because you can’t ride properly with flats is a bit of a cheat that wont do you any favours in the long run.

Bottom line riding properly on flats then deciding you prefer spds = cool.
Not being able to ride flats and then using spds to mask this rather than getting better = not cool.

Just my opinion but I think any negative comments about spds stem from the above.

I’m going on a 5 day skills course in July where I would like to learn how to bunny hop properly without pulling bike up via spds so am currently awaiting delivery of flats and Teva links.

I’m 100% comfortable on spuds but I know that they are masking some serious skill deficiencies.

I’ve considered giving flats a go but there’s a cost to buying pedals and shoes. It would mainly be for practising technique, control, etc, etc.

I’d still no doubt wear SPDs. I’ve been wearing them for 10+ years now and have only found they’ve hindered me when hike-a-biking and some tricky steep stuff when tripoding your way down or bailing is the preferred option. Which doesn’t happen that often for the majority of my riding.

Plus I find my riding more limited since the arrival of my daughter last year so I’m mainly riding local in West Yorks and the Peak on my 9er on familiar routes. So in moving to flats I’d be relearning to ride and risking overall enjoyment in the limited time I have in the saddle. If that makes sense??

Will get round to it at some point I’m sure.

Anyway who cares. Ride whatever you’re comfortable in and what brings you the most enjoyment.

chiefgrooveguru – Member

And I kept the saddle at normal pedalling height throughout.

Why would you do this on an uplift day?!

Dropping the saddle is something else that just feels wrong. I’ve tried doing it previously and didn’t feel I gained anything.

Dropping the saddle is something else that just feels wrong. I’ve tried doing it previously and didn’t feel I gained anything.

It’s the best thing you can do to improve your cornering and descending, let alone jumps & drops. Well worth persevering with. Feeling uncomfortable with your saddle dropped is like feeling uncomfortable when you take your stabilisers off for the first time – you have to trust your balance and then it’ll all be better!

I don’t get why you’d want to use flats? Much prefer the feeling of clicking into the bike like a pair of skis and not worrying about my feet bouncing off on technical stuff and getting smashed in the shins.

johnnyboy666 – Member
I see lots of people disliking flats because they struggle to stay on them, someone even said you need shin pads to ride with them? I think this sums up the problem really, if you really can’t keep your feet on flats then you are lacking in your bike skills.

I think the opposite, if you can’t unclip quickly when/if you need to dab, then you need to work on your skills.

…Also, I detest trainers when off the bike, so I don’t want to wear them on the bike either.

Mostly Balanced

Dropping the saddle is something else that just feels wrong. I’ve tried doing it previously and didn’t feel I gained anything.

Wow, do you not move around on your bike very much when DHing then?

RE:SPD/FLATS. I was a long time SPDer, coming from a XC race(ish) background, but about 3 years ago i made a conscious effort to move to flats and nail my foot technique properly. Well at first, jeez, my feet were all OVER the place (including through the front wheel on one memorable crash……..) but with some coaching, i think i’ve got it sorted now, and even when i move back to SPDs i am definitely more fluid on the bike and less rigid (something that flats encourages i think)

I still ride both, but i tend to now use the flats for riding when i am unsure or at the limit of my technical ability. If you work hard on a proper smooth circular pedalling technique (which it has to be said, most MTBers don;t have) then i don’t find flats much less effective for XC work. No you probably wouldn’t want to actually do an XC race on flats, but you could………..

I’ll be running flats at the start of my Alps week this year, because i find the first few days can be a bit of an eye opener after being used to a year of “flat” (groan) UK riding. Generally, after a couple of days getting dialled in, i’ll be back to SPDs for the rest of the week.

Really what all this rambling tells me is that it is not necessarily an finite “OR” choice, you can pick and choose, but you need to be able to ride comfortably on both to do that, which means at least trying both! 😉

@chiefgrooveguru, I guess it’s a case of each to their own on saddle dropping. I’m far happier riding with my saddle up and within the group I was riding with (all of whom are veterans of annual alpine trips) I was thoroughly midfield. We all had bikes with 140-160mm travel (140 on mine).

I’ve been riding flats since I started riding, but since my freeriders have worn out, I’ve decided to give platform SPDs a go, mainly because I want to see what I’m missing out on. When I race enduro I seem to be the only guy on flats, and SPDs don’t seem to hold world cup racers back.
I ride a fair bit of downhill and xc, so it’ll be really interesting to see how they are, I like the idea of not losing a pedal and have it spin round and **** you in the knee too.
I’ll probably have them pretty loose so I can tripod if needs be.

How the **** can choice of pedals make you a better rider?
Get off the internet and get more ride time in!
Then you will be better… Simple…

@chiefgrooveguru, I guess it’s a case of each to their own on saddle dropping.

It isn’t though is it? If it was then you wouldn’t see all DHers riding with their saddles dropped and all pro enduro racers using dropper posts!

Lots of riders (and drivers) drag their brakes through corners too but it doesn’t mean it’s a good thing.

@Maxtorque, I do move round on the bike, I just don’t find myself wanting to place any part of me where the saddle is. I’ve spent a lot of time XC racing so am used to just hitting stuff without stopping to faff with the bike. When it comes to downhilling I do it as a bit of fun, not as if I’ll be dissappointed if I don’t wring out every last bit of speed or inch of air. As long as I can join in the ‘chase me chase me’ games with the lads I ride with I’m happy.

Everyone was using cycle-cross clips and straps until SPD’s came along, then serious and casual MTBers switched to Shimano’s great offerings. The reason was, with no suspension it was just impossible to ride fast technical trails as your feet would quickly lose contact with the pedals.
Now we have sensational suspension you can use flats or SPD-style pedals. The choice is yours, but I personally switched to flats in year 1998 after 20 years of clips, simply because it suits me better with decent travel bikes….it’s more ‘fun’, especially in the Alps.

@chiefgrooveguru, I never said that saddle dropping was wrong for everyone, it just doesn’t fit in with what I want out of my riding. I’ll probably never race an enduro because I’m not prepared to take the risks that would be needed to get the best result but that doesn’t mean that I can’t enjoy letting gravity do the work occasionally.

I’d say 2 things:

If you race XC you tend to ride SPD as you want all the power you can get.

Flats give you a bit more security as you can bail out more easily.

That’s about the strength of it for me..

spd’s aren’t advertised as much in mags either by companies or in articles. Don’t get why this is such a big argument though, its just another component on the bike.

when i had a DH bike id ride clipped for fast, rocky tracks. off-camber, muddy and steep and i’d be swapping to flats.

I am a recent convert to flats -last year – after twenty years on spds. Why?, just fancied a change and rather to my surprise, I have become a flat enthusiast even swapping the spds on my more long distance HT. It would be nice if there was a genuine clipless flat to give you the choice ( and use up the spd shoes I have ). I have tried various ‘caged Spds ‘ but they all have a lump in the middle that make them uncomfortable in flat shoes. The one side spd, the other flat pedals suffer from the same problem as road pedals e.g. It’s always the side you don’t want that comes up first.

I started with clips and straps, went to SPD when they came out and now run Time.

This is for everything from XC, trail centres through to gnarly stuff. Never really caused me an issue.

SOAP – Member

How the **** can choice of pedals make you a better rider?
Get off the internet and get more ride time in!
Then you will be better… Simple…

I’m worse with flats

https://www.bikejames.com/strength-training/barefoot-pedaling-flat-pedals/

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Shoe-Pedal-Foot-Placement-Tips-Flat-Pedals-2012.html

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/interview-gee-atherton-on-flat-pedals-and-his-win-at-the-cairns-world-cup-dh-2014.html

Xc racing-clipped in

Arsing about in the woods-flats

I ride SPDs only because I feel more confident on them over flats…this is not because flats are any worse or better but because I’ve pretty much only used SPDs for the last 20 years. I’m guessing if someone only used flats for 20 years of biking, they’d feel more confident on them. I’m sure I could learn to ride with flats but can’t say SPDs have held me back or slowed me down so I really can’t see any compelling reason to try.

Exactly. I don’t anyone who rides flats down here.

Macavity – Member
https://www.bikejames.com/strength-training/barefoot-pedaling-flat-pedals/…

Thanks for those links. Confirmed more than a few things I have been thinking about techniques/fit etc when applied to the non-pro rider.

I recently tried flats again and baulked at jumps and drops I’d otherwise be comfortable with on a 4x cross course here. I’ve jumped and dropped on flats in the past at Chicksands, so I know I just need to regain my confidence. When I could ride either before, I found SPD could help by forcing me to commit, whereas flats could hinder me in making it too easy to chicken out. That said, there was bigger stuff (for me at any rate) that I was only prepared to ride or try on flats.

The Link to pinkbike about shoes and pedals is a load of rubbish. You don’t need specific bike designed shoes to ride on flat pedals. How on earth do they think we managed before 5-10s? It’s clear riding in high heals will be less than ideal but what about all those riders with Vans or other makes of skate shoe that they have been rocking for years?

It’s stuff like this that advocates you must have £70s worth of special shoes to ride with flats that contributes to driving people away from flats and cycling in general. Whilst on this subject I always find it annoying that mountain bike mags try to tell you that unless you are riding in a special expensive base layer, fancy socks and shorts etc then you may as well not bother. What happened to just shorts and t-shirt and a pair of old skate shoes?

Never had old skate shoes as I have never skated !

I never skated either but always had a set of relatively flat bottomed trainers kicking around. If you don’t then £20 often bags you a set of Etnies or similar in TKmax.

Other brands are available 😀

rOcKeTdOg – Member
Xc racing-clipped in

Arsing about in the woods-flats

Pretty much this 😀 (bearing in mind I don’t race)

Though racing even DH has its share of spuds.

For me, I really just arse about in the woods. I do ride with more racy types also, really just for extra exercise and social benefits beyond the usual weekend warrior stuff. The racy folk are mostly spuds and talk is often where they may find it odd if you’re on flats. Though also get the “isn’t it about time you got a 29er” 😉

I’m happy with what I ride with and I do chuckle on the rides with spuds guys where they’re unclipping round something a bit tricky and struggling to get back in. Not that you should need to put a foot down, but it does happen from time to time.