Flats Vs. Clips | What’s Fastest?
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- čas přidán 5. 06. 2024
- This video contains paid product placement by Fox clothing. Everyone knows a rider who swears by flats or SPDs, but which are fastest?
World Cup winners Laurie Greenland and Steve Peat join presenter Will at BikePark Wales to see whether flats or SPDs win out! We ride three of BikePark Wales’ fastest tracks to see if we can find out by putting ourselves (and our pedals) against the clock…
Clipless pedals, often referred to as ‘clips’ or ‘SPDs’, attach your feet to the pedals via a metal cleat bolted to the bottom of a shoe. Flat pedals use a large platform with metal ‘pins’ that compress into the rubber sole on the underside of a more traditional shoe in order to provide grip. But which is faster?
We’re going to have split times from each run so we can see where clips or flats perform best and find out overall which pedal each rider is fastest on…
#MBUKmagazine #MTB #mbuk #mountainbike
Credit:
marjorie_blais
00:00 Intro
00:44 What Pedals Do We Run?
02:00 What’s The Difference Between Clips And Flats?
03:25 The Challenge!
04:53 Run One - Flats
08:50 Run Two - Clips
11:44 Run Three - Flats Again
12:30 Run Four - Clips Again
13:31 Conclusion
17:28 Outro
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I ride flats exclusively- the thought of not being able to put a foot out easily when needed would make me even slower
I know this is MTB related, but I ride flats on the road for commuting to work and clipped in on best bike for serious rides with a lot of climbing. My average speeds using both types are pretty similar. The main difference for me is flats are less hassle on stop start commutes, and clipped in is much better and more comfortable for longer rides with more climbing involved.
Thanks for sharing your experiences Neil! Do you find it easy going back and forth? Or do you sometimes have to remind yourself which shoes/pedals you're running at that moment?
~ Will
@@bikeradar No problems as the mindset is completely different and relaxed for the pleasure rides compared to survival mode for commute !
Now this is the content ive been after.more stuff like this please
Thanks boss! We're really glad to be satisfying your bike-video needs 🤘
Interesting last timing table. Besides Laurie's third run, there is progression on every run for every rider. That looks more like getting to know the track better makes you faster. Maybe it needs some more runs to get a clearer trend over the choice of the pedal. But nice POV-footage anyway ;)
Hey! I agree for sure, we were all getting to know the track better and eeking out time where we could. Unfortunately we didn't have time for any more runs on the day, or we would have loved to carry on. Definitely something I would like to experiement more with in the future, particularly as I found clips so useful in a "race" scenario...
~ Will
10:35 damn the speed and precision from Laurie is insane!
He's incredible! Even more so in person!
~ Will
One thing also is flat shoes last months and clips last years. I walk around the pub with my clips. No problem. Thank you for the content!
Ive kept 5 10s for more than just months for sure not to mention that you have to replace cleats fairly regularly
Great video guys.
I think you would have a more realistic comparison if you used average Jo riders.
A tiny majority of riders ride like pros, the speeds etc etc they ride, they need clips. I live in Queenstown NZ, mostly steep and tech riding and 95% of riders are on flats, it's the same with other towns in NZ that have, steep tech terrain, they mostly ride flats also. I used clips for 20 years and switched to flats 5 years ago, I broke all my PB`s up and down (this mostly comes down to modern technology) I believe if you can ride both peddles it will improve your riding dramatically!
Rode clips for years! But been on flats for 3 years now. Flat pedals and shoes are so much better than back in the 90s! Ace video ✌️
Thanks Bridgey! Yeah they really are impressive. I remember the first time I used sticky shoes and it made a world of difference at Rhyd-y-felin (Bala) which is a rough DH race track. Pedals have got thinner and more concave which makes a massive difference too, as you say!
~ Will
Looking at Laurie's times I can't see where you're getting 6.5 secs from. it looks like 19.6 secs difference on the last run and 11.1 on the first. Who can't read, type, or do math at BikeRadar?
6.5 quicker than peaty
Motocross riders don't clip in (or maybe they should?), but they are able to grip the bike using their lower legs, unlike mountain bike riders. Clip in pedals accomplish the same 'bike grip' that motocrossers use to stay 'on the bike'. Has anyone ever tried clip-in pedals for motocross bikes? That said, Platform pedals are definitely more fun and casual. Steve Peat's 'walk round the pub easier' quote is so very appropriate, and one I completely agree with. My lower legs and foot orientation is somewhat 'duck-footed' meaning my feet stick out to the sides more than most people, which made it very difficult for me to ride clipless pedals. I could never get the cleat angled enough to provide a neutral stance on the pedal, without having my ankle bones stike the cranks when pedalling. Tried adding spacers to the pedal spindles to increase the Q-factor and give my ankle bones a bit more clearance, but ultimatel gave up and I've been happy on platforms for nearly 25 years now (Kona wah wah 2 alloy pedals are my faves - nice and roomy for duck footed riders!)
Those mallets in the thumbnail are almost the only non spd system, lol
I mean, how hard is it to lable a pedal right in your thumbnail?
I dab most rides that would be horrible falls clipped so I'm happy on flats.
I have tried SPD's multiple times for weeks on end and for sure can see the benefits, but my confidence is not very good with them. Especially on wet, muddy, technical terrain where I struggle to unclip quick enough and with several broken bones in my ankles through the years, they never feel comfortable (motorcycle racing). I never slip a pedal with flats and have 100% confidence when using them, so I have not felt the need to try SPD's again recently. Maybe they would be worth revisiting as I get faster and start bumping into my limits, but for now I'll stick with flats.
You might like the easy-release Shimano cleats (SM-SH56), I've been using them for years now and have never felt the need to move to the traditional style cleats. The only difference is when I've gone to hop off in a panic they've let me out every time.
Technical terrain is where they work best.
Gotta be honest, I don't ride MTB much anymore, but having started in MTB, the spirit definitely stuck around. I ride flats on any bike including road, and I ride road/gravel/commute in a bit of a different style than actual roadies. I just like to have fun, don't really care that I could be ever so slightly faster.
Flats all the way for me and i even ride xc whit them
How did the Fox Union shoes go on the Time Speciale pedals. I’ve heard they don’t play nice together?
I might be the oddball, but I enjoy having both options with one-sided pedals...
Who would of guessed that for two of the guys their fastest time was their last run, where they obviously had more track knowledge, not really a good test, also different flat pedals give different levels of grip.
I'd try clipless if it helped me corner like Laurie. Not likely.
I ride a rigid single speed. I like clips.
Switching between flats and clips on a regular, I find that most clip shoes don't allow the cleat to be moved far enough aft. That may be fine for XC, but for enduro/DH the shoes should have the cleat slot shifted further back.
That's really interesting! I would be keen to see which clipless shoes offer the most rearward cleat position. Would be interesting to measure the entire length of the sole and work out which allow the overall most rearward cleat placement as a percentage... 🤔
~ Will
@bikeradar @TheyForcedMyHandLE
The shoes with the most aft (rearward) cleat position would be the Crankbrothers Mallet (not Mallet E) The Mallets have a DH "Race" position; see red line in cleat box in images. This position allows you to set the cleat right to the back of the ball of the foot almost under the bridge so when the going gets tough you can really get your weight though the pedals like explained in your video. Paired with the Crankbrothers Mallet DH11 pedal, great combo.
Flats are just more comfortable, alternating foot position helps with fatigue for me. Clipped in faster, no surprise there.
Apart from Laurie on run 3 you all went faster every run which only prooves learning a track and getting more confortable as the day goes on makes you faster, and not necassarily clip pedals, a 5th run on flats to check would of been good.
I do believe clips are much faster tho but i don't always agree with flats are more fun at the bike park, maybe i've been on clips too long but i don't call having my feet bounced around in big bike park bumps all day much fun.
Steve lookin well for 70🎉. Clips for DH every time. Shins say so.
So basically, if you're not a pro, go with whatever you feel most comfortable with. For average weekend rider, it's pointless trying to gain a few extra seconds.
What about going uphill
Someone should tell those pros that what they are referring to as "clips" are in fact clipless pedals.
Given track familiarity was clearly the biggest determiner here, as should have been an obvious guess, knowing that Sam Hill is the only UCI rider who still races on clips, it shouldn't have taken a rocket scientist to guess that Laurie & Steve Peat would have been more comfortable racing on clips as that is what they do.. So it should have been clips first, then flats, not flats then clips. That would have had the last run being on flats, truly testing the pros in a racing context. You may have found that with track familiarity the last run could have been as fast or faster on flats.. To be a true representation it should have been best of 3 runs each. 2 runs each, ending with the pedals in a racing context that the racers are most familiar with, just as they are most familiar with the tracks, wasn't a fair test..
afaik Connor Fearon is also still only running flats
second and i ride both flats in the off season clips in the racing season
See Laurie Greenlands receding hair line at 14.54 😮
See the commenter that is trying to troll.
@@iffy_too4289 its a joke ye clown
Grennland is almost 20 sek faster on screen?
Clips on a hardtail make it happen
Which pedals do you ride? 😎
Flats forever!
Clips everyday. Way better for sprinting and techy climbs.
Catalyst Pedaling Innovation ! Middle foot pedaling FTW
Flats
I love the feeling of being clipped in... But every once and again I put on flats...
As a roadies that recently started trying out MTB (BTW I like it a lot) I need to ask: a) why you need to dress and look like that and b) what's the point of this test if you're going downhill? Uphill is where the clipeless pedals makes the most difference
They also make a difference when going fast in chunky downhill terrain.
+1
Mtb is much more than just downhill
Hasn’t this subject been done to death?
Clip vs Flats.. in 2023? Honestly..
Why, which do you think are better?
~ Will
What a wast of time.
First
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