clipless vs flats

Dudleyadam
Dudleyadam Posts: 23
edited November 2010 in MTB beginners
I am sure this question has been asked a dozen times, but what are the pro's and con's of clipless pedals?

Comments

  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,673
    depends on what you are riding.
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • Dudleyadam
    Dudleyadam Posts: 23
    I am intending riding places such as Cannock Chase and some longer routes
  • Atz
    Atz Posts: 1,383
    Most impartial advice I can give is give both a try and see what you prefer (I ride both).

    Now I'll stand aside and let the people who treat this like some sort of holy war come in and tell you that their particular favourite and all the pros who ride with the same setup prove they're right.
  • Atz
    Atz Posts: 1,383
    Most impartial advice I can give is give both a try and see what you prefer (I ride both).

    Now I'll stand aside and let the people who treat this like some sort of holy war come in and tell you that their particular favourite and all the pros who ride with the same setup prove they're right.
  • Thewaylander
    Thewaylander Posts: 8,593
    Yup try it and see,

    I'm a flatties boy myself, but I see an equal smattering of both on the trail.
  • dav1
    dav1 Posts: 1,298
    I am a clipless fan personally, the pull up allows me to increase power when pedaling quite a bit.

    I do like to put the flatties on occasionally though to make sure my technique is still correct, or if I am riding something quite technical that I have not tackled before.
    Giant TCR advanced 2 (Summer/race)
    Merlin single malt fixie (Commuter/winter/training)
    Trek superfly 7 (Summer XC)
    Giant Yukon singlespeed conversion (winter MTB/Ice/snow)

    Carrera virtuoso - RIP
  • dweben
    dweben Posts: 34
    I'm in the clipless camp myself -- much more power on the ups and you can really get yourself out of some holes when climbing technical stuff if you stall a bit. Also added security when hairing down fast bumpy bits -- I don't even think about my shoes slipping off the pedals. You can still do dabs with clips once setup, you get used to quickly popping out just like on flats and popping back in.

    Takes maybe 5/6 rides to get comfortable with being clipped in, but once on the go I've only met one person who didn't say it was a massive improvement.

    Oh and I regularly ride Cannock as it's my local. Clipless is great now all the braking ruts are appearing everywhere. :twisted:

    Just don't lean too far forward while working on the pull stroke! I've accidentally popped out once and gone over the bars!! :oops: All good experience!
  • Thewaylander
    Thewaylander Posts: 8,593
    Dav1 wrote:
    I am a clipless fan personally, the pull up allows me to increase power when pedaling quite a bit.

    I do like to put the flatties on occasionally though to make sure my technique is still correct, or if I am riding something quite technical that I have not tackled before.

    Its a circular motion system you pull up at teh back you remove a equal amount of force from the front foot, But you can push fwd at the top easier to be mroe pedal efficient if thats what you mean?
  • Northwind
    Northwind Posts: 14,675
    Atz wrote:
    Most impartial advice I can give is give both a try and see what you prefer (I ride both).

    Now I'll stand aside and let the people who treat this like some sort of holy war come in and tell you that their particular favourite and all the pros who ride with the same setup prove they're right.

    I like this guy, he's got the moves.

    Personally I recommend you spend ages riding on one sort of pedal, ideally with really top end kit, then one day decide to "try" the other one and buy the cheapest ones available or better yet borrow some knackered ones off a mate, and then go for one ride and fall off then declare that type of pedal to be completely s**t, like everyone else does.
    Uncompromising extremist
  • juankerr
    juankerr Posts: 1,099
    I ride both. clipless is more efficient and for longer rides it aids good technique I find. Plus it makes bunny hops easy.

    However as I am a pussy, I've gone back to flats so I know I can get a foot down in an instant if I mess up. Also, the years of clipless means my feet stay in the right position on the pedals now. If I was doing a long XC ride I'd probably switch back to clipless if I could be bothered gettin the spanner out.
  • thebikeschool
    thebikeschool Posts: 39
    I think SPD pedals work for me its all down to preference at the end of the day, try them and find out if you like them.

    I use Shimano DX pedals with the shoe good quality stuff works well and its cheap!
  • cmm303
    cmm303 Posts: 59
    I second the earlier advice to try both, though keep in mind that clipless can be used with either the standard cleat or multi-direction release cleat. However I definitely recommend that you get used to clipless on road or track before going into something more exciting.

    Personally, as a relative novice and of sufficient years not to bounce and repair like I used to, I have had too many "SPD moments" off road for my own confidence and now always use flats on trails and in the hills. I had my SPDs (M540) adjusted to their minimum force but have not tried the multi release (gold coloured ?) cleat. I fully agree that SPDs give more pedal power/efficiency.

    An alternative is to consider the hybrid pedal, flat one side, SPD the other. They have critics and followers.

    btw, love the Chase. Have taken my bike in the car a few times when up in the area for work and had a good blast instead of queueing on the m'way to get home.

    Chris
    ChrisM

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