Moving to the flats

steamsey

I've been riding clipped in for most of my time on mountain bikes and it's time to give flats a try. Main reason is to to try something different and get used to it to see if it's a better option than clipped in. I fell into clipped in when my first real MTB came with Shimano SPDs - so never made a conscious choice. Also was watching my foot position on a spin recently and noticed how far forward my foot is when clipped in - I reckon if I had the freedom, my foot would naturally be more central on the pedal.

Any recommendations on flat pedals and shoes that people have found work well?

Was looking at a pair of Spank Oozy trail pedals and Five Ten Freerider Pro (good sole grip and decent grip when hiking).

QueenMTBee

Five tens are the business. At least 90% of people I know who ride flats wear them. The sole is sticky (it gets re-sticky if you put them through the washing machine every now and then).

I combine them with really spiky pedals. Just be prepared for holes in your shins and calves as you get used to riding flats! I usually go for reasonably cheap pedals as, when I had an expensive pair, I didn't notice any difference. The bigger and sharper the spikes the better!!

Lemming

steamsey wrote: »

I've been riding clipped in for most of my time on mountain bikes and it's time to give flats a try. Main reason is to to try something different and get used to it to see if it's a better option than clipped in. I fell into clipped in when my first real MTB came with Shimano SPDs - so never made a conscious choice. Also was watching my foot position on a spin recently and noticed how far forward my foot is when clipped in - I reckon if I had the freedom, my foot would naturally be more central on the pedal.

Any recommendations on flat pedals and shoes that people have found work well?

Was looking at a pair of Spank Oozy trail pedals and Five Ten Freerider Pro (good sole grip and decent grip when hiking).

I've recently moved to a pair of DMR vault pedals with Five Ten low impacts to go back to basics to remove some bad habits and just try something a bit different as like yourself I've been riding clipless for years. The pedal/shoe combination of platform size, pins, and sole seems to act like glue when riding so it's all good so far.

xxyyzz

Dmr vaults and 5 10's. Personally I like the freerider pros.

Have a look at this free online course for tips and techniques on getting started with flats. I never looked back after switching from spd's.

https://learn.ryanleech.com/p/the-flat-pedal-challenge

Also as mentioned above, your shins will take a pounding, I have scars on my scars

Even pushing the bike you'll get scrapes.

rizzodun

Checkout the Nukeproof Electron pedals too, had DMR’s and Nukeproof, preferred the Nukeproof.

sparrowcar

Glad to see I'm not alone here.

Have ridden clips for years. Raced gravity enduro's etc for the past few years but always seemed to get spooked on wet slippy roots and rocks. Crashed a few times in those conditions and always feel it was hesitation that caused the crashes.

Decided to give flats a go last winter for night rides etc but never really bonded. Also some really silly thing inside me thought I might loose some respect from fellow racers as riding clips had that air of cool. Didn't want to be seen as a joey. Flash forward a year and I realised there's more to life than that crap, biking is about having fun and who's gives a fook what anyone else thinks.

Anyway I have spank spoon 100mm pedals with 5.10 freerider contact and i now don't think I'll go back to clips. Took some time and still learning but have noticed my confidence on the slippy stuff has gone through the roof. Still getting use to jumping in flats but just prooved how lazy I'd become on flats. Love trying little trials tricks and stoppies/wheelies/manuals etc that I only ever half arsed in clips.

Anytime I find a downside to flats I say to myself if Sam Hill can ride anything and win multiple discipline world championships on flats then it's my technique/ability to blame and not flats.

steamsey

Pulled the trigger tonight on Five Ten Freerider Pro shoes and Nukeproof Horizon pedals - black edition. Should be here early next week so will be riding on flats next weekend hopefully. Looking forward to it. If nothing else, it's good to mix things up to see if you were doing anything wrong. Probably 10 years straight clipped in so should have already tried flats by now.

Just hope the sizing is OK with the Five Tens - Shimano's sizing was a joke - I had to go 2 sizes up from normal.

I did jump a few times with flats on a friend's bike and it was not fun, but the shoes weren't right so I'm hoping for plenty of grip with these especially while jumping

rizzodun

You'll probably find the problem is not grip, it's the tendancy to pull up the bike with your pedals.

Mate borrowed my new bike over the weekend to give it a go, I wear clips but have them very loose, he unclipped twice trying to pull the bike up with his feet.

sparrowcar

rizzodun wrote: »

You'll probably find the problem is not grip, it's the tendancy to pull up the bike with your pedals.

Mate borrowed my new bike over the weekend to give it a go, I wear clips but have them very loose, he unclipped twice trying to pull the bike up with his feet.

Yep Steamsy this
Once you realise it's you and your technique that's trying to kill you every jump you quickly rectify it

rizzodun

sparrowcar wrote: »

Yep Steamsy this
Once you realise it's you and your technique that's trying to kill you every jump you quickly rectify it

By going back to clipless.... :pac:

Lemming

steamsey wrote: »

Just hope the sizing is OK with the Five Tens - Shimano's sizing was a joke - I had to go 2 sizes up from normal.

The one brand of shoe I've found near 'normal' sizing is Five Ten. Either a straight like-for-like conversion, or a marginal upwards adjustment with half sizes. I have two pairs of Five Tens (the aforementioned Low Impacts above, and a pair of Hellcat pro SPD shoes) and both were consistent with their sizing. Unlike my Mavic Scree spd shoes; as good as they are, took me 3/4 rounds of ordering sizes to get the right fit.

QueenMTBee

steamsey wrote: »

Just hope the sizing is OK with the Five Tens.

I go up a 1/2 size but only because I like to wear thick socks. Otherwise they are pretty true to size.

rizzodun wrote: »

You'll probably find the problem is not grip, it's the tendancy to pull up the bike with your pedals.

This is why I was told to ride flats from the start - so I wouldn't learn sloppy techniques even if it's taken me longer to learn some things than friends who ride clipped in.

rizzodun

QueenMTBee wrote: »

This is why I was told to ride flats from the start - so I wouldn't learn sloppy techniques even if it's taken me longer to learn some things than friends who ride clipped in.

You've gone from starting out to riding downhill races in little over a year if I'm correct, that's hardly slow progress!

In the end, for most people, as long as you're having a ball, nothing else matters.

xxyyzz

QueenMTBee wrote: »

- so I wouldn't learn sloppy techniques even if it's taken me longer to learn some things than friends who ride clipped in.

The thing is, they probably didn't learn these techniques properly. Clips will let you get away with murder but if you are pulling up with clips rather than a proper rear wheel lift technique then you will be limited in the scope of what you can do

LagunaSeca

I go up one euro size for five tens and they fit great. Good pricing available at the moment on CRC for a bunch of the freerider models including the kids version for €29 which is a steal if you have a junior shredder.

steamsey

Shoes and pedals arrived. Five Ten sizing seems bang on so happy with that. Went for a spin with them and felt pretty good. Definitely a difference - I wasn't sure where to position my foot on the pedal - with clipped in you've no real choice so was messing around with that a bit. Did one or two very small jumps and no issues to looking forward to the Gap soon to try out some bigger ones and see if I can stay on the bike.