Flats On Your Trail Bike?

i haven't clipped in since 1997, mainly because i'm squirrely.

ride lots of uphill and downhill on a scott ransom 30 with shimano dx's.

kind of like ski touring on a set of rockered fat skis and marker dukes- it's all where your priorities lie.

5.10s were a total game changer in my uphill ability too!

if i can't ride up a trail with flats, i'm totally fine hoofing it, and enjoy having comfortable shoes.

there's an old saying around here- "if you ain't hikin', you ain't mountain bikin'."

i couldn't agree more.

For the last 10 years, I rode flats only, but I started riding clipless recently since I got a singlespeed cross bike. With one gear, you can get up steeper hills.

Then I put them on my trail bike, definitely faster climbing, but it's got to be flats for any techy or downhill trails. Clipping back in after a dab or going over the bars while clipped sucks.

been usin flats on all my bikes since '02. swithced when moved from midwest to Co cuz of much more techy trail and never went back to clips. like'em for climbin and dh'n and commuting. flatboys, aircorp's, and twenty26rallye are what's on now. salomon shoes. can't beat it!

i get crazy looks an crazy responces from the xc geeks on the trails too for riding flats. but hey who cares, as long as i'm ripping by them an making it look awesome, lol

So Im wondering what the benefits are to running flats,because it seems like there is more benefits to have clips

there's a couple benefits that I see
1) If you run SPD type clips and spend a lot of time in the mud flats won't be a pain in the ass to get your foot locked in
2) If you ride rock gardens on a regular basis and you need to dab you can without bailing. I know sometimes you can unclip fast enough but there's many time you can't
3) no more cleats to deal with changing ect
4) flats in most cases cost less and you can go with a cheaper shoe. Even 510's impacts with sticky soles are not overly pricey compared to most MTB race style shoes and grip really well if you run flats with good pins.

I agree there are downsides to flats. The biggest climbing for sure! Also until you get good with flats hopping over logs ect is easier clipped in. Once you learn timing on flats it's no longer and issue (in my case anyways)

Power Grips, dude ...

Haha! Classic.

I've always rocked clips on my trail bikes. Never really had issues dabbing or riding well with them. Flats on the DH bike, though.

5.10 flats for Trail and DH. Tried riding clipless for each for a bit, but never felt as confident as on flats.

FLATS all the way!! I understand Clip ins purpose but they aren't for me. Grew up racing moto so that has a lot to do with it. Either way if Im gonna eat it... I dont need any additional help from my feet being locked in.

this is pretty interesting....

i dont ride clipless since about a month ago... i finally clipped out and walked away for good... unless i am on the road bike, or testing a new pedal, i wont be going back...

the only thing i miss is being able to easily hop the rear wheel over things when i am climbing some technical trails... but i am slowly learning some alternative techniques... i am not as able to use the glutes and hamstrings to power the bike, but i will never probably do any XC racing on this bike (or any bike), so its not so big a deal...

i feel much more secure in tight and rocky trails and at speed not being clipped in...

Maybe I can resurrect this old post. So here are some newb questions from an inexperienced old-timer getting back into MTB:

If you're not using clip-in pedals, are you at least using toe-clips?
Or does flats just mean plain flat pedals?
With flats how do you lift up the rear of the bike to clear obstacles?
A lot of riders said what they use in certain situations, but not why. For trail-riding, why would one be better than the other?

Bob, welcome back!
-Nobody uses toe clips anymore.
-Flats means grippy flat pedals.
-Trials riders can bunnyhop up a loading dock on flats, it's all how you manipulate the bike.
-It's all a matter of what you're comfortable with. In super techy downhills, being clipped in is a scary thing. In fast bumpy downhills, without clips your feet can rattle right off the pedals.

Thanks dustboy! That all makes sense. I got clip-ins so soon after getting into MTB it's pretty much all I know. But I've always been intermediate at best, nothing too technical.

My pedals are flat on one side, SPD on the other. They might not be real grippy but at least I can use a regular pair of shoes to tool around the neighborhood.

i rode flats for about 10 years exclusively before getting a road bike and starting to ride clipped in. on the road, the benefits are huge. i finally made the plunge to clips on the MTB trying to keep up with all my faster friends who ride clips, the trails are mostly fast and rocky and can be very technical. i found my feet literally getting blown off the pedals a lot, going to clips helped tremendously with stability over rocks at speed. most of my best strava times going downhill are with flats though, it just feels more natural to me. i find climbs to be a 50/50; some of the climbs here, its nice to be able to dab and get back on the pedal real quick; clips make it a little more awkward, especially having to start on the middle of a hill with a switch back that's so tight you have to stop, dismount, rotate 180, then mount up and keep going.