Mountain Biking - toe clips

hey, i took my bike out jumping today and i fell twice and both times i stayed with my bike because my feet were in the toe clips (the kind of toe clips that u slide ur toes into). I thought i might hav been able to avoid these accidents (cause i broke my finger) by not having toe clips? but i have heard that toe clips can be helpful to get more air of jumps. should i take em' off or leave them on? also one time when i fell the gravel chewed up the shifter caseing on the handle bars...can the caseing be replaced?thanx

Yes, the cable housings can be replaced. I would also replace the cable inside while I was at it. Very little expense.
As far as toeclips, not many people use them anymore. Clipless pedals are very common now and you can un-attach yourself much easier than with the toe clips. I would remove them if it were me.

Its false air. Jumping with flats takes actual skill and your jumping will be much better and safer than using clipless or toe clips(aka throwing the bike away)...

Maelstrom is right - you definintely want to learn how to jump with flat pedals first. If you start with clipless pedals or toeclips, you won't be able to do anything once you go back to flats because you automatically pull up with the feet into the clips/jaws when riding attached to the pedals. I go back to flats now and then just to play around so I keep my ability to bunnyhop with flat pedals. You would be surprised how quickly you "forget" to jump without straps/clipless after riding with them for a while. That said, I wouldn't be jumping with clipless/toe straps anyways. I would want to be able to throw my bike away if something were to go wrong in the air. Clipless would probably be better than toe clips because you release almost like ski bindings in a crash, but it's not gauranteed. For jumping, I wouldn't use either.

-Moab

If you are talking about the housing, it can be replaced at a very nominal cost. If you are talking about the shifter body, I wouldn't worry about it as long as it still works. I don't think you can buy replacement bodies for the shifters because of the complex mechanisms inside. If you can't stand the appearance, you'll just need to buy new shifters.

-Moab

thanks you guys, yeah im gonna take them off, but they are nice for overal position of the feet while pedaling..oh well they are comin off!:)