Mountain Biking 2017!

[Monique]

yeha those M647 actually looks pretty good. Its two sided with a platform. The clip on one side/flat on the other side is useless but those pedals are not it.

Exactly. I had the other type on my road bike, and the pedals would simply flip heavy side down all the time. Dumb. And the flat side was super smooth metal - no traction whatsoever.

Needless to say, I'm not letting my Deity flat pedals sell with my bike that I'm selling as soon as my new one arrives
I'll be moving them to the new bike.

My Deity pedals are black and red to match my current XC bike! They'll stay put. I think I'll keep the XC bike for when my hill climber friends want to ride, but I should look at whether I can lighten it up. But .... I can't think of anything. Seat dropper adds weight, but if I'm climbing, I'm descending, too. Wide bars? I like those. Hmmm.

 

[coskigirl]

I ride the Shimano PD-M530 which are two sided with a platform. Personally, I want to get to riding clipped in all the time but my confidence is still fairly low so on certain things I want a free foot but with enough platform for me to feel solid when pedaling free.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Ready to take my bikes out of hibernation. Here's inspiration from my spirit animal.

 

[Crank]

Gonna add my personal story to the clipless v flats debate. I ride clipless, feel like I have so much more overall control with them. When I first got them the bike shop set them super tight which was not good. I crashed. I hurt myself and my new bike! I mentioned it to a friend and he loosened the pedals for me. Instant and amazing difference! I could suddenly clip in and twist out in a split second. I now spray my pedals with dry lube once or twice during my riding season. I ride an old shimano downhill pedal. They are heavy and have a full platform on both sides.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

How many here rode toeclips back in the day? If you never did, you have no idea what it felt like to be trapped in a pedal. Or how hard it was to start on a hill. Trying to get that pedal to flip back over while pedaling, while the toeclip is dragging grass or brush or whatever and refusing to budge. Clipless pedals were freedom! I remember well taking my new M737s out of their box, and putting cleats in my new Shimano M100 shoes. Later I had a pair of Specialized shoes (the black and red ones) that looked so cool. They were great until the cleat ripped halfway out and you could no longer dismount from the pedal. Had to get that warrantied a couple of times before I broke down and bought some Sidis. Sidis were great, the Dominator2s would last for years, pus you'd look like Tinker Juarez! The soles were hard, but there was a lot of riding on grass then and you could even add toespikes for slippery run-ups at races. I still have several sets of toe spikes in one of my tool boxes, sets for Shimano, Sidi, Gaerne and probably more. To me, the thought of riding flats verges on terror, I just picture losing my bike over every jump and rise although I can see how the spikes give you a bit more control to rotate the bike. Still, no thanks.

 

[AmyPJ]

Gonna add my personal story to the clipless v flats debate. I ride clipless, feel like I have so much more overall control with them. When I first got them the bike shop set them super tight which was not good. I crashed. I hurt myself and my new bike! I mentioned it to a friend and he loosened the pedals for me. Instant and amazing difference! I could suddenly clip in and twist out in a split second. I now spray my pedals with dry lube once or twice during my riding season. I ride an old shimano downhill pedal. They are heavy and have a full platform on both sides.

Yep, you sure can adjust the "float" in them, which I did. Another thing I remember now is that my knees feel better with flats.

 

[coskigirl]

Yes, definitely have mine set to the loosest setting. Which works beautifully when you haven't lost a screw in your cleat making it impossible unclip no matter how loose the pedal is set.

 

[Monique]

To me, the thought of riding flats verges on terror, I just picture losing my bike over every jump and rise

That's ... not a thing. I understand you're describing a fear, and fear doesn't require a factual basis. I'm just telling you that people ride jumps on flats all the time without losing grip.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

It's funny you guys are talking about running your pedals as loose as you can. I called Shimano to ask if it is possible to get a "green spring" version of their pedals.

Monique, you definitely can lose the bike over jumps. I'm going to try and find a video of Josh Bryceland doing exactly that over the finish jump at the World Cup in La Bresse a few years back. It pretty much defines what I picture happening the moment I leave the ground on flats.

edit: oops, not Lourdes

 

[Erik Timmerman]

OK, it was just a pedal slip, but still...

 

[coskigirl]

Oh, ouch!

 

[Monique]

It's funny you guys are talking about running your pedals as loose as you can. I called Shimano to ask if it is possible to get a "green spring" version of their pedals.

Monique, you definitely can lose the bike over jumps. I'm going to try and find a video of Josh Bryceland doing exactly that over the finish jump at the World Cup in La Bresse a few years back. It pretty much defines what I picture happening the moment I leave the ground on flats.

edit: oops, not Lourdes

I keep repeating that video, trying to figure out WTF happened. I can't figure it out. I suspect "what happened" was in the seconds leading up to the start of the video.

Anyway, if clipless works great for you, fantastic! I find myself happier with traction pins. It took some adjustment the first few rides - I didn't think I'd ever ride without shinguards - but now it's just what I prefer.

I rode with clipless from day 1 of mountain biking. Then switched to flats. Then switched back to clipless (those M647s with the platform). Then switched to flats. I prefer flats these days. Among their many virtues, I can grab a bike with flats and go pick up my car, regardless of what shoe I'm wearing.

 

[Josh Matta]

doesnt bryceland mostly ride clips while racing now?

 

[scott43]

How many here rode toeclips back in the day? If you never did, you have no idea what it felt like to be trapped in a pedal. Or how hard it was to start on a hill. Trying to get that pedal to flip back over while pedaling, while the toeclip is dragging grass or brush or whatever and refusing to budge. Clipless pedals were freedom! I remember well taking my new M737s out of their box, and putting cleats in my new Shimano M100 shoes. Later I had a pair of Specialized shoes (the black and red ones) that looked so cool. They were great until the cleat ripped halfway out and you could no longer dismount from the pedal. Had to get that warrantied a couple of times before I broke down and bought some Sidis. Sidis were great, the Dominator2s would last for years, pus you'd look like Tinker Juarez! The soles were hard, but there was a lot of riding on grass then and you could even add toespikes for slippery run-ups at races. I still have several sets of toe spikes in one of my tool boxes, sets for Shimano, Sidi, Gaerne and probably more. To me, the thought of riding flats verges on terror, I just picture losing my bike over every jump and rise although I can see how the spikes give you a bit more control to rotate the bike. Still, no thanks.

I started with these:

Nail-on cleats. I liked the security to be honest. When you were strapped in you knew you weren't coming out of them generally. Then I flipped to Time, Look, Onza, SPD, Ritchey, Frog, etc. SPD's work pretty well to be honest and I'm using those now. I wouldn't go back to clips but they weren't terrible..except off-road..

 

[scott43]

That's ... not a thing. I understand you're describing a fear, and fear doesn't require a factual basis. I'm just telling you that people ride jumps on flats all the time without losing grip.

Red Bull Rampage...

 

[Jersey Skier]

That's ... not a thing. I understand you're describing a fear, and fear doesn't require a factual basis. I'm just telling you that people ride jumps on flats all the time without losing grip.

Sure it does, unless you are totally used to riding flats. I've been clipping in for 25 years. I used to try to switch to flats for my couple of days of DH'ing a season. Last time out I had done 2 runs where I had no problems because I constantly thought about not being clipped in every time the bike left the ground. Run number three I hit a small table top and totally forgot I wasn't clipped in. As I slightly kicked the tail out on take off, the bike just faded away from me. Not much to do but thank my full body armor as I continued over the table top while my bike floated away. Seemed to take forever, but this was all in a split second. This was with 5 tens and some super grippy Straightline pedals. Sticking to SPD's.

 

[Monique]

Sure it does, unless you are totally used to riding flats. I've been clipping in for 25 years. I used to try to switch to flats for my couple of days of DH'ing a season. Last time out I had done 2 runs where I had no problems because I constantly thought about not being clipped in every time the bike left the ground. Run number three I hit a small table top and totally forgot I wasn't clipped in. As I slightly kicked the tail out on take off, the bike just faded away from me. Not much to do but thank my full body armor as I continued over the table top while my bike floated away. Seemed to take forever, but this was all in a split second. This was with 5 tens and some super grippy Straightline pedals. Sticking to SPD's.

Hm. I dunno what to say. I didn't find it difficult to transition. However I'm not kicking tails out or getting much air. Gets back to - whichever you prefer, use that! Vive la difference!

 

[Erik Timmerman]

doesnt bryceland mostly ride clips while racing now?

He was the season that he was winning. Last year he seemed to be "free-racing" and ran flats most of the time.

 

[Superbman]

If you already own pumping, manualing, rear-wheel drift and skid maneuvers, and legit bunny hops at will, than that added security and efficiency of being clipped in (up and down the hill) is the icing on the cake (Aaron Gwinn, Richie Rude, and Nino Schurter ain't wrong, of course!).

However, if you are the sort of person who started mountain biking one day Long ago without a BMX/ MX background in early adulthood and have been clipped in for most of that time....you probably have no idea how weak your skills really are, and what's more, how nearly impossible it is to learn and master those skills on SPD's.

I'm mostly pointing a finger at myself here. As someone who made it to DH late in the game, I've had a painful few years finding out that what I thought was skill was really very well mastered bad technique, toughness, and above average fitness. I'm trying to get back to the basics and really learn the skills, so for the next few months I'll probably be all flat pedal all the time. Chances are, full time/ long time SPD'ers on this forum are in a similar boat as me...and haven't realized it yet.

Not you, though @Jersey Skier, I know you got mad bike skills (I'm being serious here-Jersey Skier kills it on a Bike...probably on skis, too, but I don' t have any first hand verification of that!).

 

[Monique]

My skills on all of the above are pretty pathetic. That's one reason I'm doing a weekend clinic again this season. I think I got tired of improvement for a while and just wanted to ride. And then injuries have eaten up my last two summers. Now I want to build up to where I was, and (I hope!) go beyond that.