MTB pedals: flat or clipless?

[FastforaSlowGuy]

My wife just got a MTB. She rides clipless on the road of course, but I see a lot of folks with flat MTB pedals. Is that just a downhill thing or are folks using them for general trail riding? She’s a newbie to MTB.


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[quickfeet]

For newbie trail riding they aren’t a terrible idea, but if she is proficient with road clippers she’ll likely prefer them on mtb too

[colker]

You can have both on the same pedal.

[Kirk007]

With good flat pedals with and the right shoes that provide a good connections to the traction pins I don't think flats give up much if anything at all for the casual mountain bike rider particularly if they're not real confident on technical terrain. One less thing to think about.

[yakstone]

You can have both on the same pedal.

I went this way on my latest MTB and could not be happier.

[JAGI410]

I use both, but it depends on the day. Flat pedals (Race Face Chester) and 5.10 shoes is a great combo for days when I’m working on skills, like skinnies and jumps. For days when I’m riding long/fast, I greatly prefer clipless (XT trail pedals).

[Don49]

Maybe Shimano SPD pedals with SH56 multi-release cleat. That's what I use for technical terrain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJBEkKK5liY

[simplemind]

To OP, personal opinion, NEVER start out in clipless on a MTB. You want her to have the best experience possible and a MTB trail has many more unknowns than the road. She can progress easily to clipless when she has some skills down pat. As said, get some good flat pedals and some 5-Ten shoes and she'll have more grip than she knows what to do with.
Interesting read on the subject here (https://www.bikejames.com/strength/the-flat-pedal-revolution-manifesto-how-to-improve-your-riding-with-flat-pedals/).

[MikeD]

Maybe Shimano SPD pedals with SH56 multi-release cleat. That's what I use for technical terrain.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJBEkKK5liY



Don't you come out of them when you don't want to? I've never used these cleats, but from what I've read, that is the criticism of them.

[Davist]

get some shin guards if you're going with flats.. (re)learning curve

[simplemind]

get some shin guards if you're going with flats.. (re)learning curve

+1 :eek:

[cp43]

get some shin guards if you're going with flats.. (re)learning curve

I would recommend shin/knee pads for any beginner. They've saved me from injury several times.

Chris

[benb]

I've been riding clipless since shortly after I started riding, as in like 1 month. I was riding MTB first, and got a road bike later in the year that first season.

I don't have super crazy technical/trials skills but I can't give up my clipless pedals. I set them relatively loose on my MTB and it's been a very very long time since I had a crash that could be linked to being unable to clip out in time. (more than 10 years certainly)

I feel like some of the current backlash against clipless has to do with it seeming like MTB is more about gravity riding than it ever has been. That's not what I do, I don't want to give up the clipless pedals for actual "pedaling". Climbing, going fast on easy sections, not getting smashed up shins/knees from pedal strikes, etc.. It feels like X/C is almost dead these days, anyone who was doing that has been isolated off to the point they ride a gravel bike instead. Some of the gravel rides I've done are basically X/C MTB on drop bar bikes anyway. No one is doing flat pedals on gravel bikes.

And if you are actually pedaling around AFAICT the flat pedals and the associated shoes seem to be heavier to go with the heavier bikes so even less fun when the road turns easy or uphill.

Just me though, I'm way more about "how fast can I ride through here" and "can I get up that hill without having to put a foot down" than I'm about "how high can I jump off that rock", "where is the best place to set up the camera", etc..

[DRZRM]

This, jumping with my kids, going to the skills park, or very technical days, flats, XC and faster, clipless. Horses for courses. If she is just starting MTB, even if used to clipless on the road, I'd get her some good flats and some FiveTens.

I use both, but it depends on the day. Flat pedals (Race Face Chester) and 5.10 shoes is a great combo for days when I’m working on skills, like skinnies and jumps. For days when I’m riding long/fast, I greatly prefer clipless (XT trail pedals).

[Johnnysmooth]

Just starting MTB - then 2nd other recommendations to start with flats. After a season, she can graduate to clipless.

Why flats, simply easier to put foot down when you hit a rock on a climb and stall.

[benb]

Just starting MTB - then 2nd other recommendations to start with flats. After a season, she can graduate to clipless.

Why flats, simply easier to put foot down when you hit a rock on a climb and stall.

When I started riding this kind of thread would have been just about unanimous in terms of, "if motivated to get good get on clipless ASAP."

The other thing here is if the person is already used to clipless from riding road clipless is going to feel natural and easy and it's not an extra new thing to learn.. and the double sided MTB pedals are easier anyway. It depends on the locale but around here there's a good mix of easy/medium/hard trails in terms of technical skills so you could easily pick either type of pedal and progress carefully by choosing trails that are appropriate for your difficulty level rather than select pedals as if you're going to really push it immediately by riding really hard trails, assuming you're going to have to take your feet off the pedals so much due to a lack of skill that clipless vs flat will matter.

OP didn't say anything about an 8" travel bike and plans to start going to Whistler to ride the lifts every weekend (I couldn't get my wife to do that in a million years) and did mention previous clipless experience.

Now on the other hand my wife has mostly given up clipless due to not being able to solve knee issues caused by poor fitting shoes with cleat mounting plates, same issue as poor fitting women's bikes which is also an issue for her.