It all started with Utah. He looked down at my bike and said "oh, you've got flat pedals. You aren't climbing anything." At the time, I begged to differ. I had been riding flat pedals and 5-10 shoes for years and never felt a disadvantage. I had done ok at a couple races and held my own riding with friends, but the seed had been planted. Although I was a loud n' proud flat pedal advocate, would clipless be better? What was I missing here?
Fast forward a few. I built the Ghettospeed, a racy, rigid singlespeed 29er. All throughout the build I was debating what to use for pedals. Klunky flats didn't feel right for something so Whippet-like. Via a nearly ridiculous chain of events including multiple board members, I wound up with a near-new pair of Giro shoes (thx Jumpa + Jmanic) for virtually nothing out of pocket. Clipless it was. Is. Help me out with tense here...
Enough story, buttmunch. What's the deal? Well, they are faster, like quite a bit. I've been setting uphill PR's regularly, which was NOT a strong point before. I thought that was due to an increase in overall fitness, which I'm sure it partly was. But there's such a marked difference it has to be pedals too. I have clips on the road bike and being able to switch muscle groups while climbing really spreads the load out while maintaining pace. They make all the difference on the single speed, that bike almost requires them. You can churn some torque. During the Short Track Pudding Bowl race, I was going maybe .002 mph yet still was able to grind along and stay upright.
Another advantage is less pedal strikes. Although I use a fairly low profile flat pedal they are still taller and obviously much wider than the clips. It's a very big difference on the trails and it's not like I'm bashing my feet up now. The entrance to Stevens takes you on an angled concrete underpass. I almost never rode it as I'd grind the uphill pedal and had to ratchet to keep moving.
The biggest surprise is churning through rock gardens. It's actually kind of nuts how much momentum you can keep while still in a low gear. There's a gnarly rock section on Blue at Wildcat, (ok, the whole place is a rock section) it's man made but tough and it's kicked my ass every time. I made it for the first time last week. I've had some Tiger Blood, Karate Kid-montage style training recently, but the pedals definitely helped. Which leads me to...
The downside. Aside from the fact I suck at clipping in, and probably always will suck at clipping in, they are Pretty. Damn. Scary. The very places they excel, like technical climbs, tricky rock moves and rock gardens are where they scare the whee out of me. It's as much mental as actual but when some moves require just as much confidence as skill, that's a fairly big deal.
The other issue is not just clipping in, but re-clipping on an obstacle. With flats you can generate an awful lot of power just by jumping on the pedal hard and it's mostly hard to miss it. It may sound like hair splitting but there were plenty of times I made a move because I could just dab then smash pedal again. Again, some of this comes down to confidence.
Lastly, my cornering slightly sucks now. I'd adopted a foot forward/pivot around it MX corner style that I was very comfortable with. Yes, lots of DH and Enduro racers run clips now, but those guys are awesome. I'm not. I have to focus and concentrate on where and what I'm doing mid-corner now, which is a distraction I could do without.
Side note: I've read articles regarding flats being better for your knees as you can move around on them but I've found the built-in float sufficient. And I've got crappy knees.
Overall? Clipless. Wait, can we call the Industry and switch nomenclature from clipless to clip-in, or snap in, or something less dumb than the term clipless on pedals that you absolutely 100% do clip into? Sorry, tangent. At least for now, the power advantage outweighs the confidence issues. I've had a few bad crashes of late so I'm ok with going more fasterer instead of more hucky-er. And that's my experience.
Fin.
Fast forward a few. I built the Ghettospeed, a racy, rigid singlespeed 29er. All throughout the build I was debating what to use for pedals. Klunky flats didn't feel right for something so Whippet-like. Via a nearly ridiculous chain of events including multiple board members, I wound up with a near-new pair of Giro shoes (thx Jumpa + Jmanic) for virtually nothing out of pocket. Clipless it was. Is. Help me out with tense here...
Enough story, buttmunch. What's the deal? Well, they are faster, like quite a bit. I've been setting uphill PR's regularly, which was NOT a strong point before. I thought that was due to an increase in overall fitness, which I'm sure it partly was. But there's such a marked difference it has to be pedals too. I have clips on the road bike and being able to switch muscle groups while climbing really spreads the load out while maintaining pace. They make all the difference on the single speed, that bike almost requires them. You can churn some torque. During the Short Track Pudding Bowl race, I was going maybe .002 mph yet still was able to grind along and stay upright.
Another advantage is less pedal strikes. Although I use a fairly low profile flat pedal they are still taller and obviously much wider than the clips. It's a very big difference on the trails and it's not like I'm bashing my feet up now. The entrance to Stevens takes you on an angled concrete underpass. I almost never rode it as I'd grind the uphill pedal and had to ratchet to keep moving.
The biggest surprise is churning through rock gardens. It's actually kind of nuts how much momentum you can keep while still in a low gear. There's a gnarly rock section on Blue at Wildcat, (ok, the whole place is a rock section) it's man made but tough and it's kicked my ass every time. I made it for the first time last week. I've had some Tiger Blood, Karate Kid-montage style training recently, but the pedals definitely helped. Which leads me to...
The downside. Aside from the fact I suck at clipping in, and probably always will suck at clipping in, they are Pretty. Damn. Scary. The very places they excel, like technical climbs, tricky rock moves and rock gardens are where they scare the whee out of me. It's as much mental as actual but when some moves require just as much confidence as skill, that's a fairly big deal.
The other issue is not just clipping in, but re-clipping on an obstacle. With flats you can generate an awful lot of power just by jumping on the pedal hard and it's mostly hard to miss it. It may sound like hair splitting but there were plenty of times I made a move because I could just dab then smash pedal again. Again, some of this comes down to confidence.
Lastly, my cornering slightly sucks now. I'd adopted a foot forward/pivot around it MX corner style that I was very comfortable with. Yes, lots of DH and Enduro racers run clips now, but those guys are awesome. I'm not. I have to focus and concentrate on where and what I'm doing mid-corner now, which is a distraction I could do without.
Side note: I've read articles regarding flats being better for your knees as you can move around on them but I've found the built-in float sufficient. And I've got crappy knees.
Overall? Clipless. Wait, can we call the Industry and switch nomenclature from clipless to clip-in, or snap in, or something less dumb than the term clipless on pedals that you absolutely 100% do clip into? Sorry, tangent. At least for now, the power advantage outweighs the confidence issues. I've had a few bad crashes of late so I'm ok with going more fasterer instead of more hucky-er. And that's my experience.
Fin.
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