To cleat or not to cleat?

[Crankin]

I absolutely hate riding on flat pedals! I can barely get started, let a lone on a hill! I wish I didn't get the dual sided pedals for the Ariel. It comes down to just not feeling safe on the flat pedals.

[north woods gal]

As most of you know, I converted over to quality flat pedals with pins for all my riding on all my bikes, some years back. Honestly, going back to clipless would be a huge step backward in performance for me. Going flat pedal has allowed me to do things when riding trails that would be impossible with clipless, not to mention my feet are far healthier, much warmer in the winter and injury free, thanks to flats. You could hold a gun to my head and I still wouldn't go back to locking my feet to the pedals.

[Trek420]

I absolutely hate riding on flat pedals! I can barely get started, let a lone on a hill! I wish I didn't get the dual sided pedals for the Ariel. It comes down to just not feeling safe on the flat pedals.

I had the dual sided pedals on my GT Outpost trail and never liked them. Always a struggle getting to the "right" side of the dual side. First 50 yards or so were flipping the pedal over over and over till I land on the flat side. Same thing if I happened to ride clipless, just getting it to the clip side on the other foot was a pain. Never again.

Just taking a look: I have Redline pedals on the Salsa and Motobecane. Lambda pedal on the Soma and Mondonico. https://www.treefortbikes.com/MKS-La...latform-Pedals

[Trek420]

Ooh, while I have the plain lo profile alloy platform, I just noticed the colors. Might have to change pedals on the bright green Salsa Vaya to this;

http://redlinebicycles.com/parts/mon...atform-pedals/

[Crankin]

It's not the annoying pedal flipping that I dislike... it's the actual riding on flat pedals. Feet flying off occasionally does not help the general feeling of discombobulation I feel. Add to that the pain in my feet from continually scrunching them to help them stay on the pedals.

[north woods gal]

I can't see spending big bucks on special shoes for flat pedals. That's marketing B.S. Put the money into quality flats, not the shoes. If you get quality flat pedals with metal pins (not plastic) and follow up with proper technique, any kind of shoe will work, even for technical trail riding. Haven't had a shoe slip off a good quality pinned flat pedal - ever - and that's with all kinds of shoes, riding every day. I use everything from sandals in the summer to felt lined pac boots in sub-zero cold, depending on the time of year. I've also gone away from stiff soled shoes. Now prefer some flex in my shoes when pedaling. It is more comfortable for my feet and gives me even better grip. My favorite summer biking shoes, for instance, are cheap Wal-mart sneakers. The only thing I have to watch when using different shoes with different thickness soles is my seat height. I notice even that little bit of difference, sometimes. Having a QR seat clamp for quick seat height adjustment helps.

[ny biker]

Okay, fans of flat pedals, how do you get started on a hill?

With clipless, I have my left foot clipped in and my right foot on the ground. I move my left foot up to around the 2:00 position, then start to pedal with it. Then I sit down and clip in with my right foot. If for some reason I can't get the right foot clipped in on the first try, I can pedal around again with the left foot.

Also, when shopping for flat pedals, what should I look for?

Any thoughts on these?

bontrager-line-pro-pedals

I will be buying them from my LBS when I get the new bike (any day now). I will not lie, I would be very happy to orange pedals on my blue bike with orange bottle cages.

Thanks!

[north woods gal]

N.Y., I do it exactly the same way, except I start with my right foot up, since my right leg has the most power. Your feet won't slip, not to worry, as long as you have a good set of pinned flats. Plus, you won't have to waste time or lose momentum trying to clip in. Just give it all the power you want and keep climbing.

Those Bonties will certainly work, but they're more of a downhill pedal, meaning they're heavy at 420 grams and much thicker than you need for road work and definitely too thick for trail work. On my road bikes and my trail bikes, much prefer something thinner for the sake of pedal clearance and, especially lighter. Expedo flats are much thinner and lighter at 270 grams and cheaper, too. Use them on several bikes. Great choice for either a road or trail flat.