Bogley

[Sombeech]

What's your preference?

After breaking my ribs twice, I went back to platforms. Never looked back.

[Skylinerider]

I currently ride with "clipless" but am thinking of going back to platforms. I don't race, and I usually am riding alone.

[johnnyspoke]

Pedals, that is, not tires.

I'm not terribly coordinated, and I have a LOT more confidence with platforms. I tried clipless for a while and hated them. I have one leg that's a little "off". I need to periodically move where my foot contacts the pedal front to back or I have knee problems. The key is good platforms-ones with pins. Put that together with a good pair of shoes like 5.10's and it's pretty dang hard to slip off a pedal accidentaly.

The downside is if you do slip a pedal, you'll have shin scars for life. But scars make good stories.

[tallsteve]

Egg Beaters all the way baby! If you actually like to climb like I do then it's the most efficient way to go. 'been riding clipless for many, many years.

[shagster]

tallsteve wrote: Egg Beaters all the way baby! If you actually like to climb like I do then it's the most efficient way to go. 'been riding clipless for many, many years.

I agree I ride egg beaters and love em. I don't know that I would go back.

[glasscutter]

Yeah shagster, and how many times have we seen you tip over!

[ogdmfg]

I actually use both, platforms on the dh sled platform/clips on the xc

[live2ride]

I am going to have to jump on the egg beater bang wagon. I bought them when they were first released and have never looked back and now I am on my third pair, and my first set are still in great working condition. I will never switch to a platform pedal again, I love my pedals!

[greyhair biker]

I will ride anything but the ole strap pedals :lol8:

[accadacca]

greyhair biker wrote: I will ride anything but the ole strap pedals :lol8:
Oh yeah the ole strap pedals were awesome. :lol8:

I ride clipless. Time Atac to be exact.

[shlingdawg]

Lock 'em in. Tie me to the bike so when I eat sh!t, it can stay closeby to hit me in the back of the head when it comes back around.

I started of w/ platform and just don't like the all around performance. Then I switched to clipless. It took 1 spill because of them, but since, I feel quite proficient with the clipless pedals. I won't go back.

[fourtycal]

I rode clipless for several years, then I went downhillin Deer valley with Greyhair and freinds one time :eek2: , I ordered platforms as soon as I got home!

I just bought a hardtail bike again, I put Time Atacs on it and I'll probably keep platforms on the heavy rig or maybe change out every now and then depending on the trail.

[TreeHugger]

Definitely clipless - Time Atacs. Love 'em. One thing I do like about these over eggbeaters is that you have a bigger surface area so if you want to not clip in over a section you can still get some power on the pedal, so to speak.

I much prefer clipless for the uphills they allow me to get a complete pedal rotation of work, not just a push down, but a pull up as well. Much more efficient in my opinion. I also feel like I can manhandle my bike more, like to move it around and around on it while being "connected", not sure if that makes sense... but to me it does. :-)

I've never had trouble coming out of my clipless either, even with crashes when I wasnt trying.

[SprungShoulders]

From Brian Lopes and Lee McCormack:

If you can learn to ride with flats, it’ll definitely improve your riding. Here are a few ways:

Hopping and jumping
Clips let you cheat by pulling up. Not only does this limit your lift, it makes you suseptable to getting bucked. With flats you must generate upforce by first pushing down — and that’s the right way to do it. Also, in the air, flats force you to be lithe and let the bike flow its own path. Also good.

Overall smoothness
The key to staying on flat pedals is maintaining constant pressure on the pedals — and avoiding harsh hits. You basically have to keep your feet moving with your bike. This forces you to actively absorb round bumps and preload/unweight over square obstacles. If you’re doing these things, you will be riding smoothly.

Confidence
In some situations — skinnies, jumps, national monuments — you’re more confident knowing you can drop a foot or abandon ship in an instant. In the book Brian suggests pushing the limits on flats, then racing in clips for ultimate pedaling speed and control. Curtis Keene has raced pro downhill with both flats and clips, and he now sticks with flats — he says he can push it harder in the corners.

Learn to flow effectively on flats and you'll be both more confident and a faster/smoother rider, clipped or not. The converse is not true. As I argued ad nauseam on utahmountainbiking.com - and as Brian Lopes also preaches - if you race, train in flats and race clipped-in. If you don't race, ride flats.

And I don't care how fast you think you are at unhooking from being clipped-in. Even a 0.001sec delta can make the difference between whipping a foot out and catching yourself and picking your teeth out of the rocks. Picking your teeth up off the ground during a race makes you cool. Doing so during a group fun ride makes you a tool (and probably pisses off your mates for having to end the ride to bring you to the emergency room). :wink:

Cheers.

[accadacca]

I had platform back in the BMX days. . .15-20 years ago. Yep, I could do all that stuff with them too, including bunny hopping in the back of a pickup truck with the tailgate down. :cool2: