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Back to the topic... Which BTW, in my opinion, seems to have generated some interesting participation...

I started riding back in '94/'95 with those spikey metal pedals, then quickly switched to Shimano SPDs (the old 747 version... great pedals) on the advice of one of the fellas that worked for the local bike shop that later sponsored me for a season. Clipless was what all better riders were using so I didn't think twice about learning to use them. There were other types in the market, like Frogs, Time Atacs, Eggbeaters... But I just stuck with the Shimano SPDs.

I had a couple of falls that may have been less painful had I not been clipped in, but I know that I may have had a couple of falls had I not been able to use the fact that I was clipped in to avoid them. One of these happened just last year up at Brushy Creek trail, at a section out west where the trail goes under a bridge I think. There's a dip before that you come into after going up and around a tree. Being the first time riding the trail I was looking at a rider I was trying to follow (not the trail) and took the turn around the tree too close. Soemhow I managed to kind of jump the whole bike to my right to avoid hooking my handlebars. Just one of those things I know can be done with clipless, but watching videos of riders on flats, I see them doing similar things (sometimes though, I'm not sure if they are wearing flats, or if they are shoes that look like flats but have cleats).

When I started riding again back in '09 I found Shimano M647s and they have been my pedal of choice ever since... Kind of the best of both worlds deal — platform and clipless.

But riding here in Central Texas, and pretty much most of what I see harder trails around the country have, one needs to learn to ride rock gardens, and I'm thinking that being able to quickly dab would be helpful. It's a bit of a want to, don't want to thing though, as I think I should be able to ride it without dabbing. When you're a big fella though, speed is your friend, slow not so much, and I'm not so speedy anymore. Or at least kind of choose not to be. Healing takes a bit longer these days.

I bought the flat pedals though, so I'm going to give it a try.

I do know that when my wife and I started riding again last year we rode with flat pedals (the spikey type) until I found some M647s on eBay. Neither of us were enjoying riding with sneakers though, and I got spiked a couple of times when I lost my footing on the pedal. So we'll see.

And that's "road", ATXZJ... Not "rode".

:-)

History with ATXZJ... Sorry... Just trying to get his attention as I have no desire to go down that road with him again.

Beyond me too... Except it seems to be a carryover from Mojo... I started a thread on a bike an independent bike designer came up with and all hell broke loose — a couple people in particular seemed upset by it and wanted to know if I was... Here it comes... Peddling the bike because I had shares in the company. I think there was somethng else too, regarding another thread I started. Or maybe it was all the threads I started. Shoot, I lost count of how many times these particulr folk seemed to have a seatpost up their butt over what I posted.

It's pretty amusing... And I can only hope they are trying to be funny.

While I agree that you don't need to justify to anyone why you posted this topic, the tone of your response here is completely uncalled for.   ..Al