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for 6 years tomorrow.
Thought I'd give them a go to see if there's any psychological difference on the rough bits.
Any top tips to make it an easier transition?
eg. I'll make an effort to keep my heels down on technical sections.
buy a job lot of savlon and don't use white bed sheets for a while. The backs of your calves are going to be bloody for a while.
Don't expect it to all feel great on the first outing. It takes a while to get to grips with them. See what I did there 😉
Place your feet a bit further forward than you would when clipped in, so the axle is behind the ball of your foot, and maybe drop your saddle a little to compensate for the slightly different position, I found that helped a lot.
Oh and make sure they're done up tight or they'll unscrew. 😉
buy a job lot of savlon and don't use white bed sheets for a while. The backs of your calves are going to be bloody for a while.
I did wonder where that was going when I started reading it!
Oh and make sure they're done up tight or they'll unscrew.
S'ok, I'm going to pedal backwards all day. 🙂
I occasionaly dabble with flats but the frustration of being slower always forces me back to spds before I learn properly.
Last night was my first rise on flats since October and I mad all sorts of errors for the first our - you just can't be lazy about drops on rough sections on the trail and have to pump the bike to stay in contact with it. Never had an issue with feet slupping off on rough stuff though, just bleeding calves from absent minded resetting of pedals before setting off.
Two tips:
Drop your saddle half an inch
Drop your heels if you didn't already
I did wonder where that was going when I started reading it!
Quite - you know when women get their period while they're asleep and you wake up like you've got a severed horses head in your bed?
I'll get my coat....
I fell off & wrecked my shoulder, so gave them up as a bad job.
it's not your calves you have to worry about; they're usually nice and fleshy. It's when your pedals smash into and tear chunks out of your shins is what hurts a little.
I'm not sure what happened.
Either like a junky every possible vein in my lower leg has closed up so there's nothing left to bleed, or I'm mashing my shins less.
Took about 2 years and investing in some propper mans pedals before it happened though (V8/12's are rubbish, wayy too small). Burgtechs with M4 bolts rather than 'pins' are the way foreward!
it's not your calves you have to worry about; they're usually nice and fleshy. It's when your pedals smash into and tear chunks out of your shins is what hurts a little.
Shins will hurt more but I've never done this. I switched to flast about five years ago and tore my calves to bits (it doesn't hurt at all) but never bashed my shins.
just focus on heavy feet light hands all the time.
I never have much issue between SPDs or flats so you might be lucky. Practice a few bunny hops and rear wheel lifts in the street and you will soon know if there are going to be suprises on the trail. 
flat pedals, shoes and technique should be a sticky thread. Or STW could rmeove the search function which no one uses...
http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/flat-pedal-technique-once-more-with-feeling-and-pics
http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/changing-to-flat-pedals-from-spds-a-good-idea
http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/flats-to-spds-any-tips-on-technique-and-pedals
Am also a recent convert to flats, was more like 16 years on toe-clips followed by spd's for me though.
Getting used to them on the flat or on rocky / technical stuff was actually easier than I thought and only took a few rides, it was just a case of foot further forward, and drop your heels - you'll be fine!
Jumps and drops was a different matter though, as that's where the bad habits really reveal themselves. In short, you have to go with the bike, instead of taking the bike with you.
Decent footwear makes a difference too.
Went for a ride with a friend the other week, his spd's broke just as we set off so he switched to flats. He found it weird at first as he couldn't pull up as well as push down... he kept lifting his feel off the pedals but after a while he was fine.
First ride back on the bike this weekend since a nasty un-clipping incident on a gap jump 5 weeks ago. I'll be back on flats...
in years of flat riding i don't remember ever messing up my calves (presumably it would be the "rear" foot, the right in my case). my left shin, on the other hand, is a surface of the moon-esque mass of scars.
It's surprising how much skin a little grub screw can tear through in an instant. Get some veggie shins or maybe normal football shin pads.
+1 heavy feet, light hands.