Don't bogart that **** my friend,........

What ^^^^he said.

And:
What he^^^^^ said, though I'm an avowed clipped in rider.

If someone tells you you can't ride techy stuff with clippless pedals, they are full of ****.

Yes, then we will toss seats, handlebars, derailleurs, brakes and cranksets. "Ridiculous" doesn't come close to describing how stupid this question is.....

I probably can but I don't like to. Does that make me full of sh|t . . . or just an ordinary hack?

all i know is that I'm a roadie/cyclocross racer who has been on a mountain bike maybe 8 times in my life. i ride clipless in full kit on the trails and it seems really odd that people wear baggy shorts, dont ride clipless, etc... I am new to mountain biking though.

I also ate **** on a rocky descent last week that shook me pretty good.

For comparative purposes, can you please explain what the alternatives are to: seats, handlebars, brakes, & cranksets? For clipless pedals, it's platform pedals. For derailleurs, it's SS. I can't quite figure out how the other items you mentioned fit into this category of optional parts though...

No clipless pedals, no derailleurs...and no saddle! He's still got bars and a crank though.

Of course not - but you know that isn't what I meant.

I don't think anyone would say it is impossible to ride technical stuff while locked in, just that on such trails it is much more confidence inspiring to be able to snap your foot down in a 1/4 second and go about your business, rather than fall over. There are lots of obstacles I've crossed, just barely having to touch a foot down at the last second, and then immediately getting my foot back in place to start cranking. I don't think that is possible with clipless pedals, especially after putting your foot down in mud and such like I have.

Again, not that clipless systems don't have their place, more just that so do platforms.

I haven't tried anything but platforms in 18 years of bicycling and I can easily imagine their advantages, but I can also easily imagine (and have seen) their disadvantages. Thus, for me, while I might eventually try them just to see for myself, it isn't something I'm dying to do, nor do I feel like it is something that would better my personal riding experience.

Ya know..just used my Vans...didn't have Five Tens..i know Five Tens are pretty Dialed...but i already have my Clipless shoes...probably wont invest in another bike shoe for a while to be honest.

Damn! Knew someone was going to call me out on the trials bikes

You're right of course but if I didn't twist what you said, it would be harder to stir the pot.

To be completely honest, I wish I had gotten confident enough with clipless a long time ago to ride/race downhill and other gnarly stuff clipped in. I probably would be faster and maybe more fluid; but I just couldn't bend my mind past the pucker factor to get comfortable.

I can absolutely +1 this!

Exactly what I was thinking.

Clipless a rage? Since they first came out over twenty years ago? That's a long run for a "rage"!

This is absolutely possible with clipless.



To me dminor, you're no ordinary hack. You're a truly extraordinary hack.

For many of us SPDs are as indispensible as any modern improvement. I would gladly give up index shifting rather than my clipless pedals.

Cool story. Wasn't my question.

Would you give up your handlebars & crankset for SPD's? Where would you put them?

Depends on your perspective. I, and most of the people I ride with - ride all sorts of nasty stuff, and have no issues putting a foot down when needed, and getting it right back to being clipped in.

Just like any other personal preference with bike setup, it just takes getting used to.

I'm the other way with flats: have played around with them a couple times, and just really disliked them. Stick with what you like, and don't worry so much about what the other guy is running.

Not calling out, I just thought it was an interesting thing I found a while ago.

Though if you want me to call you out...that's not a trials bike.

Double damn! I noticed the knobby tires & high-rise bars, but I didn't know seatless BMX bikes were ever made.

Fixed.

There's room in my world for both. I ride clipless right now, but I wouldn't mind having a Straightline/661 combo to go with it.

Hey now, how am I supposed to know whether or not trials races existed when I was two years old? And I suppose this would be the first time a magazine had a front cover of something unrelated to the original topic of the magazine...

I have SPD's on my mtb right now, but I am kind of falling out of love with the whole "clipped in" thing. Especially since I came to a dead stop when my back wheel hit a root a few weeks ago, and promptly fell over. I was standing and climbing at the time, so it kinda sucked as you can imagine. I am thinking of ordering a set of low profile platform pedals. I used some regular thickness platforms when I first got my mtb, but it seemed like I hit them on every single root, lol. Some wide flat ones would do the trick I bet.

On the road though?? SPD/SL's, or road SPD's all the way. Shimano road SPD's are actually nice looking pedals IMHO. They're my favorite, since I can actually walk when I get off my bike, hehe.

https://www.ae7.com/components/com_vi...7c5c9ea743.jpg