How often are you having to readjust your feet on flat pedals?

I ride flats for nearly everything off-road, including my dh bike. Almost never have to adjust them, only if one of my actual feet takes a strike or I somehow set off with them wrong. I'd say constant readjustment points to excessive tyre pressure or poor technique

Can't say I ever notice having to do so, at least not until they ball up with ice

Yeah, same as @5lab , only if I set off wrong or I get physically knocked off.

Tbf I’m not into the biggest pins or stickiest shoes.

There's your answer.

Yeah thinking about it I have had feet move once flat shoes are worn : ie the pins have ripped the bars out exactly where they always sit. New 5.10s sorted that

Only when setting off. Once I'm on, I'm good. It matters less on xc stuff, but tech I really want them in the right place

Very very rarely- occasionally while putting the foot on (ie starting or dabbing) but once they're on they're pretty much on.

Once in position ,mine never move and that includes summer in flip flops too

going to lob in a grenade here....  why are you dropping your heels as much as possible?   I hate online technique criticism but that isn't right.....Shots fired!  There is a time and a place for dropping heels and it isn't all the time

drop the heels

Try dropping only your leading heel, sink down a bit between the pedals and keep your hips central

V your feet allows outward pressure in the pedals and generates grip. Dropping your trailing heel rotates your hips, straightens your back leg and removes compliance and parallel feet can't grip.

Good pins, grippy shoes and good footwork and my feet never move.

It also happens with fivetens/big pins.

Are people really saying there feet don't deviate at all, ever from the position of first contact?

Are people really saying there feet don’t deviate at all, ever from the position of first contact?

Barring incident (having to dab in a corner or something) I wouldn’t expect to readjust from top to bottom of any trail

I'll often walk my feet into place a bit by wiggling my shoe then barely think about them. They hardly move.

I have ridden flats for years, used to race downhill and ride a hardtail and big bike in the Peak District so lots of rocks and steeps.

I can pick up the back wheel, cutty etc and feet stay put

All over the place a lot of the time here. It's always bene like that and that's with 5:10s and Burgtecs so about as grippy combination as you can get. Usually it's fussy at the start of the trail and then "at least I still have my shins" by the end. The joy of sticky shoes. ;o)

Are people really saying there feet don’t deviate at all, ever from the position of first contact?

Yes. Wasn’t like that for the first few months… is now… hard to explain all the changes you have to learn/adopt in total to get there, but feet further forward on the pedals and heels down (one or both) in more situations is part of it. Becomes natural enough that you can’t really think about what you do, eventually.

Very rarely do my feet involuntarily move and need repositioning. The only time I really shift position is when I've not put them in the right place to begin with.

I'm not overly good at dropping my heels but do try to 'push' through the pedals on rough stuff - the fact I'm quite hefty helps with this!

Shoes are Adidas Trailcross (both the lightweight summer ones and the hi top GTX boots), FiveTen Freeriders or O'Neal Pinned Pro. Pedals are the Nukeproof Neutrons with metal pins (although I also don't have any real issues on my RaceFace Rides and they don't even have proper pins).

Thanks for that video debunking the drop your heels advice. Turns out letting your feet stay in their natural position is all you need do. Dropping my heels never felt natural or occurred naturally. The best advice around this, and as given in the video, is to focus your weight on your pedals.

I do need to reposition my feet because of, mainly, worn pedals and worn shoes.

Just ride and be thankful that you don’t have to worry about extra maintenance on your pedals and replacing cleats. Enjoy the ride without the faff, if you’re worrying about foot placement then perhaps you’re not paying enough attention to the great outdoors? Look around, enjoy the light and the scents of nature and that you probably won’t be shot at and then your foot placement will be oh so sweet!

Don't suppose you're on a hard tail are you? When I go through rock gardens and the likes I quite often get bounced about although the one time I've been on a full bouncy bike it didn't happen unless my foot was off for cornering or I made an arse of something.

Just to put into context the level of rider I am....
mtb 10+years, bmx 25+ years, always flat pedals, started ht in the Peak District.
Comfy hitting the likes champery, pleney steeps, blacks at revs/dyfi, comfy on jump lines like full moto and windhill proline. I don't hang about either.

This is why I'm getting a bit confused, I know I'm a good bike rider, but do feel that I'm unnecessarily having to think about my feet, hence the question of whether it's common for everyone else.

Maybe I need to see a good coach for an assessment.

Or I'm being a princess.

I move my feet about on flats all the time. and I use 5:10 on pins that are pretty long. I do go from SPDs to flats and vice versa, I've always put it down to that. For a few rides after you change from SPD to flats, your feet are "always" in the wrong place. It settles don after time, but never goes away completely for me.

I reckon I'm doing it unconsciously all the time.

I only notice it either when I haven't got my sticky shoes on and my feet get bounced out of position, or when I've got my stickiest shoes and pointiest pedals on and they feel "stuck" (quite rare).

Do you feel happy with the connection your feet have with the bike generally?

I have noticed this recently, but am going a bit faster. I think I may have a bent right pedal. It cost me a podium in category at a recent race so actively looking for things I can do short of going clipless. Don't really want to run the bike any softer - it's feeling good and going fast - was wondering if slower rebound may help. Will try and be more mindful of heels etc through the lumpy stuff. @deanfbm - similar riding history, going to try and recreate the issue on a short bit of trail and start fiddling I guess...

“ bmx 25+ years”

Maybe it’s a BMX thing? Wouldn’t you consciously move your feet on BMX pedals for tricks etc and maybe those bigger and smaller adjustments too have carried over to your style on a MTB?

“feel that I’m unnecessarily having to think about my feet”

I don’t think I’m moving my feet much at all, but it might be that I move them without thinking. Have you always had to think about them? Or is it recent and does it correlate with different shoes or pedals?

I've got nowhere near the skill or experience of Dean's CV, but for me if the feet are wrong its because I put them on wrong. Trying to reposition them when riding is a challenge so I dont think they will slip.
I'm pretty fussy set up wise and looking at my old shoes I tend to have a single well worn position.
Freerider pros on hope F90.

^I do generally prefer the connection of shorter pins, I do prefer the feel of loading on the platform rathing than being perched on long pins, that won't be helping. I do shred the soles quickly when they're too grippy, since I'm always trying to adjust.

^I do move my feet around to load/get into the positions I want.

Feeling like I've either got to suck it up, compromise on repositioning/feel or try clipless (again, for the 5th+ time).

Not really, unless I put my foot back on the pedal wrong. Always used 5Tens (and blagged some Intense shoes before then) since they were released. My wife always used 5Tens and decent flat pedals but eventually switched to SPDs as her feet were getting bounced off in rough and chundery stuff. But then she’s always been about 65kg and I’m 90-100kg so maybe being heavier helps.

What I would call normal riding on home trails, so FoD off piste & local nearby stuff (Welsh valley off piste) I don’t have a real issue with it, unless I have actively taken a foot off.

I had been a predominantly flat pedal rider with many years racing so was used to & fairly comfortable with my feet being not in the perfect spot & just getting on with it, but I’ve been clipped in for the last 6 months (having felt like I’ve finally cracked it) but always planned to switch back for winter & it really have emphasised my foot position differences.

I don’t feel like I’m overly fussy to it however, as long as I’m in the ballpark, it seems to work out ok for me.

Foot moving on the pedals was one of the reasons I tried SPD's, been years now and havent looked back. I'm also a BMX rider for many years so maybe it is a BMX thing liking to have your foot in one very specific position!

Neither riding god or eejit here, but yes, I spend too much time readjusting, and not necessarily because of bumpy terrain. Reckon it's a perfectionist thing: position is adequate, but could be better, "doh that's worse", go again...

try clip shoes. train yourself to not move your feet. i did and it defo worked for me. i used to get those lovely grooves on my flat shoes where teh pedal pins are from adjusting my foot. flat shoes now last longer since i`ve switched back from clips to flats!

I’d say generally not often - sometimes I set off and feet aren’t in the right place and it’s difficult to readjust as I have so much grip.

I did find I was slightly blowing my feet off the pedals on bumps a while ago - I think the bearings / bushings had got too loose and spinny in my pedals. Did a rebuild kit refresh on them and they’re back to excellent again.

I run Superstar Nano Evos with Fiveten Freerider Pros. One pair of pedals have normal pins and the other have the long pins. Both decent.

Where are you placing the balls of your feet, over the axle, slightly forward, or slightly back, I also find experimenting with the amount of pins is worthwhile, removing the odd one can make a big difference on some pedals, remove one or two from one side of each pedal to test the difference, I even have one side with longer pins so when needed I just flip it for more grip or less, but I'm a bit odd like that.

I frequently have to adjust my feet, I tend to start with my feet completely parallel to the crank but they slowly rotate outwards to my natural duck like stance, does my head in and has been the cause of a fair few crashes where I've clipped stumps or whatnot - won't ever go to clips though. From my Rootsandrain pics you can see numerous comical foot positions.

Not that I notice.

Yeah my feet are always shifting around or don't feel in the right positions and I find myself thinking about what my feet are doing a lot. More so on a hardtail. I come from a BMX background too, maybe there's something in that. Been thinking about trying SPDs especially as I'm not really riding anything too gnar these days so the extra pedalling efficiency wouldn't go amiss.

Just about to embark upon a forced move back to flats as my knees are playing up and I'm fairly convinced flats will help. Reading all this reminds me of why I moved back to clips 5 years ago. Bah.

Picked up some half price Ride Concepts Hellion Elite and a set of used Unite pedals for £35, hopefully they will help keep my feet in place at least. If I get them in the right place in the first place, that always used to do my head in. Some relearning to do methinks, especially the more mid-foot position