Flats or spd's?

[cyclingtiger]

Flats!, clipped is for racers and roadies imo

Ha ha, the person who got me into using SPDs had just moved over to SPD sandals and had ditched the outer chainring on triple because he never really went that fast. I reckon he'd be chuffed to be considered a roadie.

[AndyA]

Attached to road (racer) & track bike.

Flats everything else as no need to be attached.

[In Reverse]

SPD's all the time.

I do have them quite loose in terms of clipping/unclipping though and favour the 'trail' pedals with a platform around the mechanism.

Exactly this.

I use this actual combo for most of my riding. Swap the shoes for Shimano MW700 waterproofs for winter MTB riding.

[slarge]

Spds for every bike, that way I can use the same shoes for every bike. Sometimes I am not sure where I'm going or which bike I'm going on until I get to the garage.
I do like being attached to the bike, and out of the saddle climbs are easier when you can pull up on the pedals.

They've made my puddle jumping lazy though (spd hop, not a bunny hop)

[jameso]

SPDs pretty much 100% of the time now, PD-M520s are one of the all-time great products in cycling for me. But I don't think I'll do another Alpine HAB tech-fest on clips again, I used to ride flats when my bottle-level was higher than it is now and for that sort of stop-start, techy riding with HAB I think flats and a hike-able boot would be preferable. I'd use flats for a really long tour also, one less thing tying me to any particular shoe or pedal format.

[RobMac]

SPD's on every thing, I've tried a few times to go back to flats but couldn't.

[Alpinum]

SPDs mostly for the distance, flats for gravity oriented and summit rides.

Funnily enough, I have a strong flat pedal background and thus like to connect with the bike with my body and not a mechanical device, yet for snow ploughing on my fat bike I prefer being clipped in.
The possibility to pull has often helped get that dug in rear wheel out of a soft snow pocket.

[deft punk]

Egg beaters on all my bikes, hate riding with feet loose.

Trying to work out a compact/light/easy to carry, walking around, casual shoe to take in luggage tho.

Suggestions ?

Plimsolls or flip flops/sandals?

[littlegirlbunny]

You can't expect to effectivly ride flats and be an 'Expert' in a couple of rides! i rode clipped for 6yrs and it took me a good month to settle back into flats, flats are for Real skill and clipped is an assumed skill ... imo (of course) and Anyone who really knows Both will know what i mean

Conker that ^

Took me probably 18 months to really adapt fully to flats after starting my MTB career on clips.

Now I'm a fully flats-only rider on MTB off-road. I did dabble in clips again when racing downhill but tbh just prefer the fun-factor of flats and I don't race now so don't need to worry about an extra split second. I have also considered briefly going back to clips on the HT for long distance off-road touring, but after seeing the better-half dislocate his ankle horrendously a few weeks back after a freak not-unclipping accident, I have changed my mind!

Always clips on the roadie.

[ZeroDarkBivi]

Always clipped in, on every bike. I have tried going back to flats, but it was a miserable few days of smashing shins and foot arch aches from shoes that flex too much. Only advantage was the ability to re-start quickly on a steep climb without that second or two it takes to engage the cleats, which can be a second to two too long...! I would consider them if I ever had to do any low speed skills training - track-stands and all that bollocks, but then go back to cleats for real riding.

I also really like the assured, consistent fit that comes from cleats - even a small displacement of the foot will soon have my old knees nagging. As for HAB, I try to avoid it, but never had much of a problem in Mavic Alpine's.

[Farawayvisions]

Flats.

[Charliecres]

I ride both. Always SPDs for bikepacking but only out of habit and cos them's the pedals on my Swift.