Flat pedals.

[gorehound]

are fekking shite! Tried them today to see what they're like and NEVER AGAIN. the worst ride I've ever had. Give me spds any day, at least you can keep your feet on them. anyone who recommends them needs to go sh17 a hedgehog, A BIG FAT HEDGEHOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[xendistar]

I would rather crap a hedgehog than look like a fish out of water flipping and flapping around in the middle of the trail because I fell over as I could not get me feet out me pedals.

Maybe we should go the whole hog and clamp your your wrist to the handles bars for that full locked in feel

[steve_sordy]

I guess that you are feeling somewhat bruised and bloody to spawn such venom. When I first started with MTB, I used the open metal pedals that came with the bike. No probs, they were lighter than the specialist ones with spikes on (and I didn't like the look of them at all, not one bit). As time passed I became convinced that not being on SPDs was holding back my development. So I set it as my New Year's resolution. I had the usual problems, falling over without apparent reason etc, usually in the worst place (mud, nettles, many witnesses etc). However, I swiftly became a convert. I wavered once when I first went to Cannock on a maiden voyage on my new bike. Not only was it my first full suss, but I was nervous about what I had heard about Cannock. So I put my old pedals back on. The big mistake was to still use my shoes with the cleats exposed instead of going back to my manky old trainers. (OK, I was a stupid boy, but those shoes were expensive). Oh boy did my shins and calves get scarred that day! So back to the SPDs, I was fully converted and believed that there was nothing I couldn't tackle on SPDs (more foolishness).

Then, earlier this year, I went on a three day ride in the Yorkshire mountains on my Kona Dawg. Every single day, I longed for flat pedals! Every single day was an "over the bar", "round the bar", "off the bar" experience. One morning I'm sure I even went under the bar! So I bought some Kona Wah Wahs and some FiveTens. They sure took some getting used to. For a start the combined assembly is heavier. However, the grip is very good indeed - in fact I have only lost a pedal once; I'm healing nicely thanks. My main problem is that I don't always get my foot planted in the right place first time. FiveTen users will know that once planted you can't shuffe the foot around to a better position, you are stuck with it unless you lift off and try again - looking down this time to make sure. Obviously this second chance cannot be taken straight away, you have to wait until its safe/convenient/possible. Until then my knees are being stressed by all the out of line forces generated by my poor foot position. Have you tried limping on both legs? Its not a good look.

What I have come around to is to use SPDs for most of my riding, but to revert to flats for the tricky stuff (but how will I know its coming?) But I haven't made that leap yet because I still need to get more experience on flats. For example, even though I'm on flats I still try to unclip when in difficulty, or stay with the pedals when maybe I should be putting a foot down. Both these traits need to be unlearned. I suppose its a bit like being able to move from a car with an automatic gearbox to a manual and back without constantly driving as though I'm in the other car. When I can move from SPDs to flats and back again without upcocks, then maybe (just maybe) I will be able to say I have developed a bit more.

[Rob_A]

Flats rock, specially some decent ones with decent footwear (five tens are pure witchcraft!).

Flats make you develop technique much more rather than just hauling the bike around because you are attached to it.

Does take some getting used to though.

[Tango]

with you on that Rob

[oblaen]

it ride SPD's for XC they are great, being able to pull on the pedals can be a great help

[gorehound]

not having your feet bounce up off the pedal everytime you hit a slight bump also helps.

[fredmundo]

I have to say that that very rarely ever happens with decent flats and five tens. Gore if you were just using a normal hiking shoe or similar then I'm not surprised you felt like you were getting bounced about. It really makes a massive difference riding with the right footwear.

[gorehound]

Was wearing shimano mp90 shoes, designed to be used with flat pedals.

[MTBLeague]

Something is wrong there gore, 5.10's make a huge differance but so does decent amount and depth of the pins, doing most of the decending with weight on them also stops the bouncing off, never slipped off mine mid flight.

I know the pedals I use have more than normal pins but not as long as others, so can move around a bit, no idea what the mp90 are like but they should do the job if they are advertised as such.