Spd/flat combo pedals. Any recommendations?

I appreciate flats are better for flats and spds are better for spds but laddo after yesterday’s race is now going on more and more about needing to clip in during racing. He reckons there are times he should be pedalling but can’t. Problem is he uses the same bike at weekends and nighs when out with mates just dicking about and hitting the jumps so a combo pedal would be better if there is such a version that is usable for that. Thoughts?

Shimano do a few different pedal designs, I use a touring pedal which is flat one side and spd the other. They are quite good, they don’t have any pins on the flat side so not much grip. They do some xt trekking pedals but they are like £70.

Or these:

https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-parts/pedals-pegs/shimano-m324-mtb-spd-pedals-pedals

I have the XT trekking. The platform is really good and the clip side works as you’d expect. Expensive yes but really.good.

Problem is though.

They’re worse than both worlds.

On a commuter when you can afford to pick a side as you set off they’re fine. I didn’t like it much but i can see they”d have a benefit.

But hitting jumps to land on the wrong side of the pedal could have grim consequences. Even just thinking you are clipped in only to find your foot has slipped off can be a bit hurty.

Anythhing offriad or airborne* i want my foit to be in the pedal i expect everytime i stamp on them.

*Theoretical

You spend more time try to find the right side of the pedal and spinning it round, flat or spds for me, combo sounds like a good idea but a pain to use.

Came to say the above. Fine for commuting, but for racing/arsing about they really are the worst of both

Get a decent set of both types and a suitable Allen key. It’s a 5 minute job at most (draw an arrow with the direction of the on the back of the cranks if that’s an issue… 😀 )

Funn mamba one side pedals are pretty good. I got some as a birthday present last year as they were on sale at the time. Wanted the option same as your son, only ridden on them a couple of times, using spds and flats, but initial impressions were good. Clipping in and out is the same as my shimano spds. Can be a pain to get the right side mid ride but relatively easy to get it sorted. A good choice of colours too.

I would go with swapping the pedals. Plenty of coppaslip and its easy to do. I often swap pedals around on my bikes

Might be worth trying the Crank Bros Mallet E. I hate those that have one side flat, one side clip but haven’t tried the Mallets.

I use 324s for commute/training bike, work great but I wouldn’t want to use the flat side off road, too big a chance of not catching it.

There’s a Funn that looks suitably shin shreddingly pinned on one side and spd on the other, but I’d also suggest just having flats on the bike and putting spds on for proper riding. As above, it shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes with an Allen key if copperslipped.