How To Choose The Best Mountain Bike Shoes For You - Flats Or Clipless?

Want to buy a pair of MTB flats but for now I'm doing ok with a casual pair from Primark which have excellent grip, waterproof and memory foam. Not sure on longevity though for £17!

I have used clips for 30 yrs on reg mtb for the advantage of push and pull on the pedals, with the emtb, the motor does that, now I have have combo pedals, clip on one side, flat on the other, best of both worlds!!! Took a little while to get used to flat when doing my small jumps but have it dialed now!

FiveTen Frerider + a really good flatpedal. That combo is hard to beat!!

On bmx they use clipless pedals :) anyway flat pedals shoes are not the best kind if you want to move often on foot pushing your bike on slippery terrain, I use Shimano shoes mountain boots on shimano saint clipless pedals, works flawless to me when I'm on technical terrain and sometimes I have to push the bike up or downhill.

thanks for expaining that clipless are harder/les tacky in the midsection - had missed that and was thinking I could get clipless shoes and use them on flat pedals as well.

Sealskin socks 😁😁😁

Flats get out quickly no 50lb bike coming onto u

Clipless means there are toe clips and straps, what my 1992 Rockhoper came with. What a pain in the arse they were. So I just removed then. Now my feet would not stay in place. There were no pins on these. So I went to clipless...for years....and I’m back to flats.

HT cleat pedals on all bikes. Worst thing is to slip off in the the wrong moment and risk shin injury or even crashing. Cleat pedals doesn't need any more maintenance then flats. They also stick out less to the side, and have less or no pegs so pedal strikes are in general are less of a problem.

Only clips.

Clipless pedals are very dangerous IMO. The ability to put your foot out for a quick instinctive dab is essential. With clipless it’s far too difficult to do this quickly unless you are a very experienced clip user. Save yourself a steep and painful learning curve and a trip to A&E - don’t use them!

I would go for 5-10s as they are good quality and made of recycled sea plastic so they help the environment.

Full-On Bare Foot on Studded pedals for me! I converted from clips to flats about 1 year ago on my EMTB. Giro shoes & inexpensive RaceFace Chester flats works well. Will not be clipping in any more!

I need some high top clipless boots!

For normal XC rides in rough terrain Gero Clip-in's. For really rough and Hiker Bike terrain Keen Targhee III Mid Waterproof, they are better than any flat MTB shoe solid grippy soles stronger toe protection and excellent ankle support far superior than flat MTB shoes.

I have FiveTen Freerider shoes and One-Up composite flat pedals - excellent feel and grip!

Why did you completely ignore mixed flat/clip pedals?

I just use my old airforces lol. Even on dh and jumps.

Thanks for the good info Chris! For myself on my 2 eMTBs (one of which is a PD model), I definitely use good quality flat pedals! We certainly recommend flats for police and EMS using e-Bikes. Clint, The (USA) eBike Guy⚡

Seriously I use one flat and one clip with different shoes. Their are only 2 old guys in the world that use this and between us we have won 6 national and international trials championships, I've won none...The other guy is Hans Ray. Works for me on Emtbs as I don't ever think about my feet any more. Single Clip keeps me with the bike decending /jumping and flat allows me to dab instantly if I come to a dead stop attempting untried rocky climbs etc.
E=Mtb²

im using my old skate shoes from DC! .)
works great

Flats are for people who have the ability to control the bike with their feet.
Clips are for wankers.

Flats and re-purposed trail running shoes. I am a terrible heel striker when I run, so the tread on the heel wears first leaving the front three quarters of the shoe still grippy, just where it's needed for flat pedals. Depending on the tread pattern, they can work well or badly with the pins, so not all running shoes will work that way. It helps that I favour stiffer soles for mountain trail running, so they are stiff enough to be comfortable on the pedal. No sticky rubber though, so that aspect of grip is lacking. Still they are essentially free after their running life is over, so that is a bonus.

I have been riding flats for 15years and started with flats on my emtb, did switch just because I was curious about how it would feel on the emtb.

Just amazing, have made me a faster and smoother rider. Don’t be afraid to try!

I have used clip shoes didn’t mind them but find them better suited when using the spin bike. When I first started MTB back in the 90s I use to use toe clips and never thought I’d cycle without something of the sort. Since having my emtb I’ve not felt the need for any clips. 👍💪

Great explanation, thank you👍😁

Can this bike carry a 6', 350 lb guy?

Clipless...wtf? What a misleading bunch of BS. Being a noob, I bought some RC Transition (clipless) shoes, which I now find are useless. I’d still use them for my flat pedals, but the place I need grip has a hole for...clips. Clipless, my arse!

all good

I have Crank Brothers double shot pedals with clip on one side and flat on the other. Best of the two worlds.

I had tried flats in older days, weren't great.
But over 4 years ago I tried modern flat shoes and pedals and am sold, have never looked back.
I have ended up trying various shoes and pedals, there are tons of each to try.
Honestly Ive never had a major instance of a foot flying off the pedal with the right pedals and shoes.

I love this. Thanks for sharing

How can you get your feet free in an emergency with clips??

What do you ride, flats or clips? Do you have a story of the time you learnt to ride clipped in? Let us know below 👇