Mountain Biking - Clipless Pedals on a MTB Rock!

So, I’ve been riding my mountain bike on the weekends as kind of a change from the normal long road bike ride, while still getting a great cardio workout. However, my MTB had platform pedals, which are obviously a completely different feel from the clipless pedals on my road bike. For Christmas, however, I got a number of REI gift cards and yesterday, I went to REI and bought some MTB shoes and MTB SPD compatible clipless pedals (Shimano M520).

Today, I went for my first ride on them, and wow, what a difference. Not only was the pedaling better (and much more like my road bike), but I had better control of the bike, since my feet were attached to the pedals. Made taking the downhill bumps a lot better, and more fun, as well as blasting through the downhill singletrack over at Ft Ord, the local area I MTB at.

Final verdict: for anyone who rides MTB’s, go out and get yourself a set of clipless pedals and shoes. You won’t regret it!

Wait, do I need special shoes to use my clip pedals then?!?

No thanks.

It's not that one pedal is better then the other, it's that YOU are use to your style of pedal.

Sure, if you say so.

clipless sucks for big air.

I'm not jumping or anything like that. I just MTB for some change of pace training, as well as practice for XTERRA tris, so the big air thing doesn't bother me.

Whether a rider uses clipless pedals or not is the best way to tell if they're "serious." If you want to be a serious rider you have to use clipless or risk me not taking you seriously. Seriously

Clipless is great for cross country riding.
I've been riding Ft Ord for years and it's perfect.
Sad they are doing away with some of the trails out there though.

I love cross country and I love my platform pedals. My feet don't fall off and I don't have trouble climbing technical trails.

To each his own. I have several bikes each has it's own different setup. Some plats, some clipless -some with different model clipless. I like them all. I just like to ride. If it makes you feel good then there shouldn't be a problem.

I like my time pedals in the rocks i feel more connected but it takes some getting use to.

There are plenty of people who run clipless on DH race courses. I don't see why you weenies claim you feel like you're going to die when you run them doing XC.

That said, I sometimes ride XC with platforms. 'Tis a different feeling.

I've got one bike with clipless and one with platforms, the variety is nice on the trails, but the real reason for the flats is because I don't want to change shoes at work.

Whether a rider uses clipless pedals or not is the best way to tell if they're "serious." If you want to be a serious rider you have to use clipless or risk me not taking you seriously. Seriously

I ride clipless, but this is ridiculous. Serious about what?

Technical riders, downhillers and jumpers do just fine with flats by angling the the pedals. Ever watch a trials rider in action? They use flats and they pull off impossible looking moves and stay perfectly attached to the bike.

If you're cross country or all mountain, clipless is the weapon of choice. On climbs, you just don't have the same pedal power on the upstroke with flats as with clips. If you tend to run high gears and climb out of the saddle, clipless is invaluable.

Finally, anyone who looks down on others because of their equipment is a serious tool.

I think maybe you missed the sarcasm in his post, indicated by the serious use of serious.... Seriously.

I just got my first set of clipless, I got a pair of inexpensive Ascent pedals and some Forte shoes from performance. Installed them tonight and went for a short ride. Wow I've never felt so connected to my bike, it's like we were one. (Corny I know but it's true.) I can't believe what I was missing, I can't wait to go hit the trail with them, I practiced in the yard for a while, and then set it up on the trainer and have been working on getting in and out of the pedals. I am really happy so far, probably should've spent a little more, but I did some checking online and for the price people seem to have really liked the pedals I got (about $20.) The shoes are nice and stiff, I got the ones with laces for a little under $50, all in all with shipping and tax I got it all for just a few bucks under $75. That 10% off new years deal was nice. The best part was I just happened to have $75 worth of gift cards to performance from christmas.