Back to Flats

Rewind your MTB memories more than 5 years back, and you’ll likely remember that the majority of people preferring to ride their mountain bikes with a gravity bias, were doing so on flat pedals.

If you’re as old as we are at Factory Jackson, you may even remember the days when flats were basically the only viable option for mountain biking – unless you went down the terrifying route of toe clips and straps!

With big influence from BMX racing, gravity fuelled downhill riders used to make the most of flat pedals, and the confidence they inspired. In the early days the popular pedals were Shimano DX BMX pedals, or bear trap style designs by companies such as Hutch or Odyssey.

The massive surge in technological advantages over the past 25years has brought us some truly great innovations – one of which is the clipless pedal. The name itself is misleading as you could imagine it being a flat pedal – but the clipless name refers to the lack of toe-clips, and instead the use of a built in retention system.

The clipless pedal takes it’s name from the lack of toe clips and straps – not because it is a flat pedal. Simple to those in the know – confusing to the rest! Whilst the clipless pedal is undoubtedly the more effective contender for off road riding in general, the fact you are attached to the pedal can lead you in to poor form and bad habits. Get back on flat pedals and make the most of the freedom they offer – and the fact they won’t bail you out like clipless pedals can.

The advantages of clipping to our pedals are undeniable – far greater pedalling efficiency, increased power delivery and far greater security over serious rough stuff and chunder to name but a few. However, are there some disadvantages to using clipless pedals for long periods of time. You can rely on the pedal too much, and pick up bad habits.

Love makes you fat, and all that.

Flat pedals are as simplistic as you can possibly get. All you need are a pair of trainers and you’re good to go. They allow lots of freedom on the bike – but you need good body language to get the most from them.

I’m guilty of using a variety of clipless pedals for many years now for everything from pump track blasts to DH shuttle runs and everything in between. So I decided to remove my trusty old clickers and don a set of shin rippers for some re-education!

The first thing that became immediately clear, was how much I relied on the ability to pull up on the pedals to carry out essential skills such as bunny hops and manuals – or to gap trails obstacles such as small rock gardens or root infested sections. In fact, when I first got back on flats it took me a while to adjust as I kept going light on my pedals when bunny-hopping – nearly jumping clean off the pedals a few times.

Slippery climbs like this are a lot easier with clipless pedals as you can pull up and push down on the pedals simultaneously. With flat pedals you are forced to consider gear and line choice more selectively. Practicing your climbing technique with flat pedals will not only make you think about how you apply power in the pedal stroke, but you’ll pick better lines. Even the most die-hard clipless pedal user can benefit from trying flat pedals.

Once I’d had a little word with myself I stepped back to look at riding technique. When clipped in there is certainly more bias to the front of the bike with a toes down feel, and when you look at the best flat pedal riders it’s almost the opposite – heels dipped and body weight towards the rear. You need more body language to ride flat pedals effectively, despite their simplicity.

The freedom of flat pedals inspires confidence – there’s nothing like flying in to a berm flat out and having that confidence to stay off the brakes. Note the dropped heels for adding grip and traction both for normal riding and controlled braking. Another important factor with dropped heels is that when riding rough terrain it’s far harder to get bucked forward on the bike. This is important for clipless users too.

The more I rode with flats, the more I realised how certain, vital skills could be improved upon. For example, braking grip can be increased dramatically by digging heels in hard – something you quickly appreciate the requirement for when using flat pedals. In fact, the need to dig your heels in at all times – other than when pedalling – becomes directly clear and only improves the experience. The other beauty of flats, is that they allow you to move your feet around in any direction on a horizontal plane – although the shoes you use affect this dramatically!  When cornering, you can move your outside foot further towards the outside of the pedal to increase leverage whilst also turning your toes in towards the crank to enable your hips to twist out of the bend more effectively.

Callum Jelley riding foot out and absolutely flat out. Being able to chuck a foot down really helps when stuffing your bike in to turns as hard as you dare. It would take a lot more commitment on clipless pedals to hit a turn this hard with conviction. Get out there with some flat pedals and get loose! Winter is the perfect time as things get slippy – and instead of shying away from the slippy stuff you can hunt it out in the knowledge that you can chuck a foot out whenever you feel the need.

These things are all minor, but they made a real difference the more I experimented with them.  One stand out thing that I noted was aggressive cornering – clipped in it’s very much a commitment thing and easy to back off, but with flat pedals you really can adopt the foot out, flat out approach to square off turns or let things hang out. The confidence they inspire is amazing – and I found new limits that I’ll be able to translate back to clips.
My re-acquaintance with flat pedals was a truly enjoyable and educational experience. The benefits involved in using a good set of clipless pedals are still too great to hang them up, but I certainly won’t be leaving it too long before jumping back on shin-rippers again. Stepping back on flat pedals again has undeniably improved my riding – I’m now more pro-active on the bike and use more varied technique – but more so has really boosted my confidence.

Being able to find my limits in the turns has been invaluable – I’ll definitely be chopping and changing far more regularly from here on in!

You might want to check out the story of DMR Bikes, who were the originators of the first proper MTB flat pedal. Read our feature right here!

Do you switch between flats and clips? What works best for you?

Let us know in the comments below! 

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