One of the nicest things about cycling is that there are lots of different options for different riding styles, from bib shorts to baggy, from drop bars to flat, from clipless pedals to platform pedals, and more, you can take your pick. This also means that we often suffer from the agony of choice. 

SPD pedals - short history

When considering which style of mountain bike pedal is right for you, the main choice is between clipless pedals and platform pedals. When we say clipless, the most common style of clipless is the SPD system from Shimano. They do in fact clip you in, and secure your foot on the pedal, but they are called clipless because they lock the foot in by interacting with special shoes that use cleats to engage and lock into the pedal. It’s a design first implemented by Look in the 1980s when previously bikes used platform pedals that had toe clips and straps to secure the foot. In this configuration, the cycling shoe would still use a cleat, but the cleat had simply a notch in it that would grab onto the back edge of the pedal. 

Toe clips were notoriously difficult to get into, and even harder to get out of once the strap had been tightened. So, the advent of clipless pedals has traditionally been considered one of the four or five most important modern improvements in bike technology. 

What are SPD pedals for mountain bikes?

What are platform bike pedals? Mountain bike clipless pedals use a slightly different design compared to road-specific clipless pedals. Most importantly, they typically have a dual sided engagement, thanks to the original Shimano SPD design, and in some cases as with Crank Bros. Egg Beaters, the pedals can offer four-sided engagement. This pedal design offers much greater ease of engagement than the road specific kind which is important since clipping in while riding on very rough terrain or at the top of a mountain ski slope descent can be much trickier than starting off at a stop light on your road bike. 

Though Shimano’s SPD pedals were the first to design a mountain bike-friendly dual sided variety that would attach to the foot via a cleat that could be recessed in the sole of the shoes, many other brands have subsequently developed their own mountain bike pedals. Some use the SPD standard while others like Crank Broths, Look and Time have developed their own systems. 

Most brands have pedals designed to accommodate all types of mountain biking from XC to DH, some with larger platforms for better foot support, while others use smaller sizes to reduce the chance of pedal/rock strikes. So it is safe to say that there is a clipless mountain bike pedal on the market that can accommodate your needs and riding style. 

Be sure to check out our blog dedicated to basic bike maintenance tips!

So why go back to platforms?

For road riding and racing, clipless pedals rule supreme. That’s largely because they enhance power transfer by allowing the rider to feel exceptionally planted on the pedal so spinning at a high cadence pushing high watts is still possible. 

However, the situation is much more nuanced for mountain bike riding. It’s true that many mountain bikers in the 1990s transitioned quickly from toe clips to SPD and other brand’s clipless pedals. Of course, that was at a time when mountain biking had not been divided up into all the different types of disciplines. Now with everything from XC racing to trail, enduro, all-mountain, and downhill riding can have different equipment needs and pros or cons around deciding what to choose, including how to decide between SPD vs platform pedals.

Platform vs SPD pedals

Mountain bike platform pedals usually have a large surface area with metal pins that help to grab the bottom of your shoes, which typically have soles designed to interact with these types of pins. It would be possible to wear regular sneakers and use these flat pedals, but the ideal level of engagement will only be truly realized if you have a pair compatible with the type of flat pedals you are using. 

Flat or platform pedals offer a lot of benefits for mountain bikers since not being clipped in makes it much easier to dab your foot on the ground when railing around a tight berm or when you’ve lost balance or momentum. That’s one reason a lot of coaches will advise riders who are new to cycling or mountain biking in particular, to use platform pedals. To have confidence inspired by knowing you can take your foot off the pedal as soon as you need to can do wonders for someone just starting out.

Another even more important benefit of platform pedals is that it will force the rider to focus on proper technique like foot weight and placement on the pedals. Learning skills like properly bunny hopping without relying on lifting the bike by virtue of it being attached to your feet via clipless pedals will ensure you’re always in control of your bike on steep drop-offs.

Conclusion – which system is right for you?

The arguments in favor of SPD vs platform pedals for mountain biking revolve around ease of use for beginner and expert alike. Being able to get on and off the pedal easily in rough terrain, or when you’ve had to stop on a steep climb or technical descent will increase your feeling of confidence as well as safety. That the flat pedals also force you to focus on technique from the beginning means that you will develop a proper skillset that will help you at every level of your mountain biking progress. 

The downside to flat pedals generally revolves around the issue of power transfer when pedaling. It can be difficult even for experts to get the same power out of their pedal strokes when using platform vs SPD or clipless pedals. That’s why clipless pedals are most commonly seen being used by cross-country racers. 

And if you are a roadie who is transitioning to mountain biking, you might feel more secure using clipless pedals, but that is likely because you have not had the chance to perfect your MTB skillset. That might be a great argument to test some flat pedals and improve your technique.