Mountain Biking - Pedals (all bikes have them)

Just got a new Hi Fi Gary Fisher to cross train (I am a roadie) and took my first longer ride and found it should improve my bike handling skills riding on loose sand and riding over other things but have a pedal question. I found that the "free pedals" I have started with to be a bit too free and think the clip pedals (like my road bike) may be too restrictive. Should I give it time or is there an alternative

BTY I like the road pedals and the extra control you get of the bike does clipless mountain pedals do the same and what do you reccomend in a mid price range.

Egg beaters, mx version or whatever the cheapest ones you can find are.
They don't clog up, and I've ridden them in street shoes, not a biggie. It's a mental thing about the size of them. And release requires lower effort than on road pedals. My Ultegra's with the tension backed off completely required a lot more effort to get out of than the egg beaters.

I broke my ankle last winter and in the spring, I needed to assist my left foot out of the Ultegra's but could manage to clip out without the having to pull my heel with my hand when I was on my mountain bike.

If you like and are used to clipless (cleated) pedals on your road bike, you will probably like them for MTB. In my experience, they are not restrictive at all once you are used to them. If you use LOOK or similar pedals on your road bike, most MTB clipless pedals will be a LOT less restrictive.

Here's a great value in a tried and true Shimano clipless pedal, PD-M520, for $50:http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/PE703A07-Shimano+Pd-M520+Pedal.aspx

http://www.jensonusa.com/store/imgWrapper.aspx?img=/27/27044.jpg&type=2

crank bros ftw, i like egg beaters for xc riding, they require less force than shimano pedals (spd or spd sl) and yeah they are totally worth it for mtnbiking especially xc riding, you will get some guys who are more into freeriding and the gnar ect or will say you don't need clipless just run mallets with good spikes, but for xc riding you do really want clipless (and i'd use clipless for anything short of dj maybe 4x w/e)

Egg beaters, mx version or whatever the cheapest ones you can find are.

People have lots of positive experience with Crank Brothers/Egg Beaters pedals. The least expensive ones......not so much.

^thats a good point get the c or the sl models (if you want budget get the "c" model)