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Clipless vs flat pedals on a MTB

snwbrdr

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NJ is called the "Rock Garden State" for a reason. Gotta deal with what's naturally there.

Downhill is a different discipline of mountain biking compared to cross county. Downhill is also a money maker for ski resorts, to keep money flowing year-round, during the ski off-season. Downhill MTB are not expected to climb up the trail to hit the downhill courses, that's what ski lifts are for.

I don't do downhill for the same reason why I don't hit up the park features on the slopes... afraid of killing myself
 
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crosscountry

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I'm not a fan of pedals that has asymmetric sides. Seems every time, my foot found itself on the "wrong" side.

For road/gravel, that's not too big a deal to quickly flip the pedal. But getting going on a rough trails on a mountain bike, there may not be the luxury of time to do the flip.
 

Bill Talbot

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I'm not a fan of pedals that has asymmetric sides. Seems every time, my foot found itself on the "wrong" side.

For road/gravel, that's not too big a deal to quickly flip the pedal. But getting going on a rough trails on a mountain bike, there may not be the luxury of time to do the flip.

But it can save your ass when you throw the wrong shoes in the car for the ride! ;)
 

Tom K.

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But it can save your ass when you throw the wrong shoes in the car for the ride! ;)

Oh, man, I used to have road and mtb shoes that were identical, save for the soles.

Let's just say that wasn't the best plan.........:geek:
 

Andy Mink

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In my admittedly limited MTB career in a very small portion of the world I've seen way more flats than clipless. I haven't had the pleasure or displeasure of riding with clipless so I can't compare. I've been rocking Origin8 Vex flats with 10mm pins as opposed to the 8mm that they came with. The pedals have taken a pretty good beating but hold up well. Between those and my Entries Culvert flat shoes (reviewed here) I do pretty well. I can pull up pretty far on the upstroke and rarely come of the pedals. It happens but it's usually a pedal strike or poor foot placement. I'm kind of lucky that I don't have a lot of experience with different shoes and pedals; I don't need yet another rabbit hole to fall into!
20220817_202414.jpg
 

Andy Mink

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Tricia

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Ride what you prefer, but this just isn't true.
I'm not sure that 90% is the number but between my time in the bike shop selling such things, riding my bike and chatting with people on the trails, and the two ski clinics I participated in, I see way more flats than clipless on mountain bikers. Road riding is a completely different story.
Unofficial survey of what I encounter on the trail.
That's pretty much my experience
In my admittedly limited MTB career in a very small portion of the world I've seen way more flats than clipless.
Yup.
 

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