To clip or not to clip…

I’ve surprised myself recently.
After riding clips for 10+ years my mallets destroyed themselves and during a day at Gawton. I quickly popped to lbs and got a cheapish pair of pinned flats to make do for the rest of the day.
The riding for the rest of the day felt a bit unsteady as I tried to get used to them. Drops and jumps especially.
Went for a local ride round the woods last night still with flats whilst trying to put off the expense of a new pair of mallet’s and the flats started to feel pretty comfy quite quickly to the point i wasn’t thinking about not being clipped in. Even on the long ups they felt fine where I would have thought I’d notice quite a bit.
I’ve not gone along any long rides yet though and not tackled anything much off the ground since.
I’m now thinking of trying to keep flats on and wonder if there is any general concensus about the best flats to buy to keep as much grip as poss.
My riding is mainly moors/a fan type stuff with a little downhill trails now and again. Anyone else stuck with flats after a long time with clips?
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No – tried flats for about 3m and went back to clips (Mallets as well)

I’ve tried V8’s which were OK but a bit small. I’ve now got Superstar Nano X which are a lot betterer. Fairly cheap too. Still clip in on the singlespeed but generally prefer flats after about 20 years on SPD.

I like the nanos esp when on sale and shimano saints which are pretty beefy with a pair 510’s or addidas terrex. Used egg beaters for a few years but prefer flats.

Really throws Roadies when I put saints on my road bikes.

Up to about a year ago I’d been using spd’s pretty much since they were invented but then I decided to try flat pedals for the sort of riding that I was doing in Greece. As I do far more riding there than here I’ve been using them pretty much all summer and yesterday’s ride on my singlespeed was the first time that I’ve used spd pedals for about six months.

The change back seemed stranger than the change to flats did – far from feeling more connected I felt less so and the whole “float” thing seemed really strange. I just like the whole feel and involvement of flats now and it feels more like being a trials rider again and, while I always thought that I was quick with a last resort type saving dab with spd’s, you can be a lot faster with flats and, even more importantly, have your foot back securely in a instant.

I’m almost a complete convert – and at my age too!

I can ride either. I find they require slightly different techniques, but now I prefer flats mainly although it depends on the style of riding.

I would say decent shoes make as much if not more of a difference than the actual flat pedal you chose to get.

I’ve got to admit that whilst I can bunnyhop etc. fine on flats, I prefer being clipped in, I expect this is because I’m used to them. I find I get bounced off on bumpy things, I’m sure this would improve with a bit of perseverance and I’ve considered persevering on the full sus but can’t see it happening on the HT any time soon.

Pedalling it’s very very rare that I’d get any real benefit out of running SPDs – maybe on a SS where you need a lot of low speed torque to keep the wheels turning they’d be useful.

It’s all about what you prefer as far as I’m concerned. Used to use clips, then tried flats and prefer them. But have done alps trips with mates and it’s spilt between flats and clips as each prefers one or the other. Always fancied trying clipped in again off road to see how I’d find it after years on flats! Still clip in for commuting.