Clips vs. flats

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flag onyxss
Posted: Apr 26, 2017 at 1:25 Quote
Decent flat pedals with good shoes will improve your technique, be a little safer (think jumping clipped in with rebound on shock set a little too fast) and you will also not feel like a roadie as bonus :-) In the end, its personal decision, i think every one comes at some point to this situation. Maybe try clips for a few rides, then decide what works for you.
flag gregnash
O+
Posted: Apr 26, 2017 at 12:12 Quote
HK-Mazur wrote:
After hurting myself due to foot not clipping out in a SMALL wreck (had it on weakest setting, but got lodged up against something), I told myself NEVER AGAIN. I was so pissed about having an injury from a seemingly typical off. My foot got so tweaked that it was in major pain for about two months, and finally could say I don't feel pain anymore after 6 months.

I went back to flats and never looked back.

I have heard of this happening before to others I have met, and I have read about others being even worse off and needing surgery.

They didn't make me faster. All they did was make me bad at bunny hopping, and too nervous to manual/wheelie.

I wear 5-10's almost daily as I think they are super comfortable. That also means that by having flats, I can just jump on my bike whenever and mess around. With clipless I'd have to go through the effort to change my shoes. f*ck that.

Funny... just saw this post (don't frequent the forums much here) and saw that this particular post was up ONE DAY before I had the exact same thing happen to me.. Stupid simple fall while clipped in, foot didnt pop out in time while back tire was sliding out and heel of foot caught in a rut. This threw me over the bike causing a dual spiral fracture in the fibula and blowing out my ankle. Six month recovery time from that pretty much ruined me for clips. While I do miss the extra efficiency of having the pedals always there, I am learning flats. Mind you I have been riding clips for close to 7yrs, and have crashed like that multiple times over the years without issue. This is one of the dangers of not being able to unclip in time.

For me the worst part is that I now have hardware in the ankle that will probably be permanent as the ankle was compromised when I was in HS. Fracture site will always "let me know a storm is a'brewin" and will always be something that is in the back of my mind on fast sections where I can feel the tire slide a bit. So far this year the dozen or so rides I have done have been getting used to the change in pedals/shoes and also getting confidence back and learning that the bike will not always be attached to the feet when hitting lips.

Just my 2c.

 


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