The Rise and Fall of the Clipless Pedal

Roche goes traditional with toe clips

The modern cyclist, as they enter the sport, will find themselves purchasing a set of shoes which contain a cleat that clips into the pedals on their bike. It should come as no surprise, then, that the term we use for the action of engaging shoe to pedal is “clip in”. Obviously, this style of pedals is thusly called the “clipless pedal”. Such a seemingly counter-intuitive name owes itself to the history of the pedals which preceded it.

The name “Clipless Pedal” comes from 1984, when ski binding manufacturer Look invented a style of pedal from which you could release your foot with a sideways twisting motion. Before the Look pedal, riders rode with metal toe clips which were secured to the pedal platform, and lashed their feet to the contraption using a leather strap, named the “toe clip strap”. (Apparently, the same guy who named the toe clip strap wasn’t available when Look was divining the name for the clipless pedal). Since the toe clips were screwed to the pedals, the rider was similarly screwed should they need to disengage from said pedal unexpectedly; Jesper Skibby might have a note or two relating to their safety in the event of a crash on, say, the Koppenberg with cars whipping by.

But somewhere in there lies the secret to the name of these pedals; when Look’s pedals appeared in the peloton on the bikes belonging to Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond, they were missing the distinct metal toe clips – they were indeed clipless pedals.

Some rides were quick to adopt them. I’m guessing Skibby was among this group, but I’m not sure and finding out would require work. Others were more reluctant; Sean Kelly was the most stubborn of these riders, though I’m guessing that lashing your feet the pedals is more critical when you’re able to scare the cranks off your bike by dispatching an icy stare.

Nevertheless, it raises the question of when the tide turned and the new style of pedal became mainstream. Either the last Grand Tour or last World Championship to be won aboard the predecessor is as good a measure as any, so that brings us to 1987 when Stephen Roche dispatched both the Giro and the Tour – in addition to the World Championships – with the sunlight glinting off his toe clips as he crossed the finish line with arms aloft. In fact, he was also the last rider to take the treble of the Giro, the Tour, and the World Road Race all in one season. Coincidence? There are no coincidences. By 1988, the clipless pedal had risen.

You can get a fairly good gauge of how long a rider has been involved in the sport by their comfort – or, indeed understanding of – the term, which upon contemplation is quite conflicting. With the clipless pedal having fallen into ubiquity, riders who have begun cycling anywhere in the last 15 or so years could be forgiven for calling them “clip-ins” or “clip pedals”. But for those of us who lived through the change, there will always be some part of us which is ever aware of the lack of metal and leather lashing us to the bike. For us, the pedals we ride today will forever be the clipless pedal.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

DR5150 says:

Aug 21 2012 at 12:27 am

@Marcus

I always think that I "click in" to my pedal. I also liked Alex the Seal.

The saddest (if you are from here) clip/click out - with toe straps - was Shane Kelly at the Atlanta Olympics... Couldn't find a clip of it (see what i did thtere?) on the net...

I too wondered why there was a song about a seal, named Alex. FML
the Engine says:

Aug 21 2012 at 12:42 am

"The only way is up" was written for cycling to...
sthilzy says:

Aug 21 2012 at 3:08 am

@the Engine

I had the the blue Factory pilots and my brother had the black ones - last worn in 1995 when they were looking retro in a bad way. Searching the Man Cave for them tonight after riding.

Went down into my Man Cave and dug these glares out for show and tell;

Pilots were red originally, and I had a red steel frame - too much red overkill, so a painted them white.

Razor Blades - if I had a dollar for every arm I had to replace on those things, I'd have $5!

Frogskins - I might keep wearing them, just give them a clean.
sthilzy says:

Aug 21 2012 at 3:35 am

Some more for 'Show and Tell', or more like 'Show Your Age' to get back on topic, my collection of clips-n-straps dug up from the depths of my 'Man Cave';

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I had started on straight out steel clips, but I had bad toes for riding. Curved, thin and brittle and always ingrown with granulation tissue. So I tried the leather wrapped clips, no difference, then Nylon clips. I had so much cotton wool packed between the toes. BTW both friggin big toes had the same problems!

Along came LOOK pedals but I couldn't see how they were any better. Lots of guys tried to ride them on the track and kept clipping out when starting handicapped races or IP's. Then Keywins landed at my LBS was given to me to try and have never set foot in a toe clip since. That was ~1986/87. More in #173 of Reverence Speedplay Pedals.

The good thing about clipless, that is with out toeCLIP, the front of the shoes wern't damaged by the clips, but the bugger with the Keywins, you had to drill holes in the soles of your shoes, and you only got one shot at getting that right! I have a pair of Lakes with screws going into the inside sole of the shoes!

Earlier in this post, there was a Q & A, and @DavidI pretty much answered as I would have in #35. Most straps I had lying around ended up tying up branches in the garden or holding something back onto a wall.

@Oli
Through the sides, but inside of the outer quill. - Ouch!
mouse says:

Aug 21 2012 at 3:47 am

@sthilzy

That Light!!!

I had one of those!!
sthilzy says:

Aug 21 2012 at 4:13 am

@Oli

@DavidI

I'm missing a few Winning mags do you have the ones in between these?
the Engine says:

Aug 21 2012 at 4:34 am

@mouse

@sthilzy

That Light!!!

I had one of those!!

Likewise - except in the UK they were white and branded "Ever Ready". There may be some in my late father's Man Cave but I'm scared to go in it without a flaming torch and a priest.
Monkeyscat says:

Aug 21 2012 at 6:07 am

@mouse

I had a pair of those P.O.S. look carbon pedals as well. Rode them 4 or 5 times and took them back the bike shop for a refund. They were too slick and I had a hell of a time getting clipped in. damn near crashed twice from my foot slipping off the pedal.
wiscot says:

Aug 21 2012 at 6:38 am

@unversio

@wiscot

@unversio

The rider (far right) resembles Andy Hampsten. What happens on the Gavia stays on the Gavia. The Day Strong Men Cried.

Will find out tomorrow. The other identifiable rider besides Roche and Mottet is Eddy Schepers - Roche's super-loyal domestique.

It's a Panasonic kit though. Hampsten would be firing on Panasonic "” namely Dutchman Erik Breukink.

Not sure it's Breukink. I think it's Theo de Rooy. Looks too tall to be Breukink.
wiscot says:

Aug 21 2012 at 6:45 am

@the Engine

@wiscot

@the Engine

@wiscot

Furthermore, if you're an oldie, you'll remember how cool it was when they finally made alloy toe clips. WAY lighter than steel and didn't rust. Also back in the day shoes didn't have pre-drilled holes either: you rode a few miles without a cleat, let the pedal mark the leather sole of your shoe, then you used that as a guide to NAIL your cleat in place.

One of the best quality straps where those named after Alfredo Binda. Here's a classic set-up in every way: Binda straps, Campagnolo clips and pedal, strap threaded through the back plate. Leather straps were the dog's bollocks; the webbed nylon ones were crap. http://www.flickr.com/photos/john_n_lee/5912929103/

In the wilds of Montrose back in the '80"²s an acquaintance of mine used to race with stiff soled black dress brogues and a cleat nailed in to them. He reckoned that they were as light and stiff as real road shoes and (vitally for someone from Montrose) were around 20% of the price. Actually seeing as no one within 50kms sold cycling shoes the actual price for your black Diadora's (my first cycling shoes) was astronomic once you'd factored in the train or bus fare to go to the shop to try them on.

Always knew Fife was home to strange folks. The frugality makes sense given the proximity to Aberdeen.

Montrose as any ful kno is in Angus. People from Montrose used to go on holiday to Fife as it was seen as exotic and distant.

Ah what do I know about the Far East, I'm from Bishopton in the fine county of Renfrewshire! Apologies to all Fifers for giving them Montrose. I do hope Rangers enjoy their visits to Angus this season!