Clip-in or Flaties?

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May 22, 2012, 01:46:41 AM

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Total Voters: 287

[Vic-Tim.com]

Here is a question for the Commençal owners out there. I spent yesterday sessioning some silly downhill sections at 'The Gasnach' in North Wales ( nr Ruithin ). Anyway, I was clipped in to the Supreme MinDH and got on fine. However, one other guys on spds took a spill and swore to never again ride with them and it seems that more than ever people are fitting fancy flat pedals on their bouncy bikes.

CG and the Athertons clip in ( but current World Champ Mr Hill doesn't....)

So what is better? and lets not say clip-in is better for XC and flats are best for freeride...if you have to stick with one set of pedals on your bike for the rest of your riding life...what is it going to be?

The choice...as they say...is yours....

[steveb]

Erm, sorry about this, but....

For longer day rides, where there is a lot of pedalling and not much rough stuff, I go clipped in (Eggies). For the rufty tufty stuff, I go flat.

[russ0228]

i would have to agree with that one.   but if it was one pedal only though, it would have to be my trusty shimano dx flatties mated to either a pair of osiris or nike 6.0shoes .  they stick like "poo to a blanket"

[mc]

Would have to be flats for me.

I rode SPDs for a couple of years, until an accident caused an injury soley due to the fact I was clipped in - I came of the back of the bike, and as I came of, my right ankle jammed against the chainstay, and my foot got  twisted due to still being clipped in.

Took a week for the swelling to go down, could ride the bike two weeks later, but it was to painful to unclip, and I had 10 under the ben the next week. So I fitted a set of flats, bought some 5.10s and shin guards, and the SPDs have been on the shelf gathering dust since.

Plus flats are far better for raised wooden stuff ;-)

[GinjaNinja]

I have ridden Foel Gasnach three times (badly on each occasion) and always use SPDs (Shimano PD-M647s), finding that I can still clip out and use the platform on the difficult stuff.  I too ride a Supreme (6.2 - 2005)

[beechill_banty]

SPD's on my road bike but on my Meta 5.2, Specialized Lo Pro Mag 2 which fulfill the aforementioned poo/blanket standard of grippiness http://www.specialized.com/bc/SBCEqProduct.jsp?spid=25241 I also think the colour brightens up my bike a fair bit 

[suspectmonkey]

Havent posted here in awhile    Flatties for me, but its a tough one.  I ride mainly XC based stuff on my 5.2 and I can see how clips would be of benefit, but I just cant bring myself to using them.  I bought a set and ended up selling them a few months later without even trying them outdoors.  Im not worried about the clipping out malarky when you are expecting it, I just dont fancy being clipped in if happen to fall off unexpectedly.  I think for all the extra pedalling efficency I would rather be able to seperate from the bike at will 

[lamby pie]

I have a set of V12's in permanent residence on my miniDH. I don't do clipped in for DH but that's probably down to the size of my town halls.

I use SPD's but only for my road bike and some long XC rides.

[Playford]

Since going to SPDs over a year ago, it feels really strange not to be attached to the bike.

I always find that my feet somehow manage to come out when I crash anyway!

[MikeA]

It's amazing how quickly you can get out of spuds when you need to.    I can't really attribute any stacks to being clipped in apart from the 'early' days. Had a pair of pedals flat one side and spd the other but too much faffing about trying to find the right side.  I guess it comes down to what you're riding on and confidence levels.  I know some DH'ers practice on flats and race clipped in.  So that proves it.

I dinnae ken

[suspectmonkey]

I am tempted to get another set of SPDs and actually try them out this time!  I had bought Crank Bros Smarties before but think might go for one of the bigger platform Shimanos.  Speaking of which, can you use the bigger cage Shimanos as flats, or is there a pedal out there you could use as either flat or clipped in?  And are they any good?

[MikeA]

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_188227_langId_-1_CarSelectorCatalogId__varient__categoryId_31556_crumb_33980-33971_parentcategoryrn_33971

I've a pair of these from Bikehut at Halfords. Used them when I started riding clipped in, it was good to switch to flats when I wasn't too confident tackling skinnies etc. clipped in.  Good quality and super smooth but can be a bit annoying trying to find the right side. 

[WildCards]

Since going to SPDs over a year ago, it feels really strange not to be attached to the bike.

I always find that my feet somehow manage to come out when I crash anyway!

What he said ^^^ Being clipped in just feels right and more stable for me, and I almost always manage to come away from the bike when I spill. It's always an option to loosen the pedals slightly so they aren't as stiff.

[TrixR4kidz]

Flat pedals always and forever.

[windscale]

For general riding I prefer clipped having migrated to clipped-in pedals from good old fashioned toe clips and cleats.  (Fell over on bike at junction 'cos couldn't get the straps undone quickly enough at an unexpected stop and got my hand run over by a nice big lorry!  Fortunately no more damage than a bit of bruising!

If I was trying to do stuff where I felt I was likely to come a cropper I'd probably switch to flats until I was happy I could pull the stuff off without any worries.

W.