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Flats, or clipless?


Seths Pool
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Yeah, do what works for you. When I first started mountain biking, it was assumed that everyone rode a clipless system and riding flats was for dirt jumpers and beach cruisers. I was pressured into it and kind of appreciated it for a while. I think the days are gone when that kind of pressure is placed on new riders, which is a good thing.

I also recently concluded that riding a mountain bike with a rigid fork is just not for me, in spite of my efforts for years to be hardcore enough to use one. I'm over it, but if that works for some of you, go for.

Motors on bikes? No, respect my authority! That's not allowed! (I kid!)

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I tried the "Twelve ride flats challenge" after reading the manifesto. Meh. Most of that was learning how to use the flats, since I'd never mountain biked with them (started with toe CLIPS, then clipless.) I  used 1/4 Notch (Mulligan/Peddlers/Picnic) as testbed. Yeah, I learned to "lift" instead of "pull", but shins sure paid a price. After those twelve rides, went back to SPDs. If I ever end up with an "urban" bike, I'll at least have new shoes and pedals to ride with.

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learning how to control your bike without the assistance of being attached to your pedals is pretty darn helpful. I would not call lifting your pedals "cheating" at all, but relying on that attachment allows you to become complacent. you might hate it on trails, but practicing some maneuvers on flats could be worth the time spent doing so. I have no problem bunnyhopping over logs on the trail with flat pedals because that's how I learned to do it when I was 12. if you can't get both tires off the ground without being clipped in, you're denying yourself a useful skill that will open up a lot of options on the trail. some people say they can do this because they are clipped in and that's all that matters, but it's not the same thing and I can't explain to you what that means until you experience it for yourself.

I just highly recommend learning to control the bike with flats and learn how to bunnyhop up onto a curb, at the very least. It will do wonders for your experience on the trail when you apply those skills to a bike with clipless pedals.

Edited by mack_turtle
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45 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

learning how to control your bike without the assistance of being attached to your pedals is pretty darn helpful. I would not call lifting your pedals "cheating" at all, but relying on that attachment allows you to become complacent. you might hate it on trails, but practicing some maneuvers on flats could be worth the time spent doing so. I have no problem bunnyhopping over logs on the trail with flat pedals because that's how I learned to do it when I was 12. if you can't get both tires off the ground without being clipped in, you're denying yourself a useful skill that will open up a lot of options on the trail. some people say they can do this because they are clipped in and that's all that matters, but it's not the same thing and I can't explain to you what that means until you experience it for yourself.

I just highly recommend learning to control the bike with flats and learn how to bunnyhop up onto a curb, at the very least. It will do wonders for your experience on the trail when you apply those skills to a bike with clipless pedals.

I agree with this.  This is why I bought flats, shoes, and shin guards.  Just to re-learn how to J-hop.   It's something I used to be able to do but lost it while doing my time in Dallas without riding much other than Rowlett Creek.

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2 hours ago, jcarneytx said:

 If I ever end up with an "urban" bike, I'll at least have new shoes and pedals to ride with.

Bah, I have Keen sandals with cleats for my urban riding. I have a pair of flats that I can toss on a spare bike if a friend is joining me, but honestly, having clips on my city bike makes life a lot easier, especially when I need power to get up hills in traffic.

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I started out clipless (Crank Brothers Candy) when i began mountain biking 3 years ago.  Fairly quickly realized I hated it and went to flats.  Loved me some Chesters!  Then I took up road biking (on a flat-bar rod bike) too, also in flats.  Switched to clipless (Look Keo) due to peer pressure and also having bought a proper drop-bar road bike and was a convert.  Road riding was new and exciting so i was off the MTB for a few weeks.  When I got back to MTB, the very first little hill I went up had me thinking "uh-oh".  My feet wouldn't stay on the pedals.  I was used to making circles.

So I went back to clipless on MTB (Crank Brothers Egg Beaters) and realized pretty quickly that a large part of my dislike of MTB clipless was actually dislike of Crank Brothers.  I just never could get the hang of clipping in.  I expected to be able to slide my foot over the pedal and if I hit it too far back, it would flip forward 90* and "help me out".  It never did.  I had to aim, step down, and then forward.  SO I gave SPDs a try and they behaved like I expected them to.  Slide your foot over the top of the pedal with a little downward pressure, and CLICK you're in.  Never looked back.

The only time I think flats might be better is sometimes when I try to rail a turn, my inside foot comes unclipped as I point my toe on the pedal into the turn.  But I don't know if I should or shouldn't be turning my foot like that.  I try to concentrate on stomping my outside foot down into the turn, but the inside foot has a mind of its own sometimes.

-cls

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Something I had to unlearn when switching to flat pedals was pointing my toes down. I don't know why I did that, but I can't think of a situation when it's useful to point your toes down. Dropping your heels plants you foot on the pedal better and makes it easier to rock you center of mass around the bike. Pointing toes down is also MURDER on my calf muscles.

 

What's the wisdom on ankle orientation? 

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Clips are usually used with straps. The clips go over the front of the toe and straps go around your foot. I had a near-death experience with these in traffic.

There are also nylon straps that don't use clips (I have a pair of these that have never been used, don't even know why I got them) and clips that don't use straps. I've tried it all. Straps are scary but the standalone clips are kind of nice on an urban bike that does not have spikey pins that you might wear regular sneakers to ride.

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Well, it's interesting doing a search for the origin of the word.  It seems like "why are they called clipless if you clip in?" is a very popular question.  And all the sites with answers do go on to mention toe clips.  I personally hadn't made the distinction between the clips and the straps, so what you point out is exactly what I've been reading about as well.  To go further, why are the clips called clips?  I had to go to the dictionary to look up clip.  Basically, to grip, clasp, or hook.  Now it all makes sense.

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