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.
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@sthilzy
Those clips with leather pads are awesome. THAT'S old school right there. As for the Wonder Lights? Pish. One wee friggin bulb and a bad tendency to go very dim at the most inopportune moment. Kids today with their LED lights, they just don't know about generator lights run off the tire or lights that took two D batteries. Where's that list from Beloit College when you need it?
@unversio I don't know who it is but I know it's not Breukink.
@sthilzy No, it was comfortable (as comfortable as toe straps ever could be, anyway) as the straps wrapped around your foot so well they didn't need cranking up until you got near the sprint - I always found running them outside meant you had to tighten them down so much you'd get pressure points. I do have narrow feet though, so perhaps that has a bearing on it.
@mouse Wonder Lights! They were crap but at least they were better than the Berec lights...
@sthilzy No, I don't have as many as you - that's a great selection. I think I've got three or four random issues that survived. I'll take a pic tomorrow.
@wiscot
Post was saying that Hampsten would be riding against Panasonic. Namely Erik on the Gavia where he froze his fingers. The rider in the image is neither Hampsten or Breukink. But he is Panasonic!
@Oli
Breukink was Hampsten's rival on the Gavia. The pictured rider is not Breukink. Just a misunderstanding.
@wiscot
Aye - Montrose, Brechin, Forfar and Arbroath may be able to afford new boots after the end of the season. All in all the perfect result.
@Marcus
Here is the video of which you speak...pedal incident occurs at 7:36.
@Oli
Wonder Lights - yes that's what they were called.
LED they may not have been but they were a lot better that those Pifco monstrosities that looked like an old acetylene lamp had donated its casing for some electrical bits that gave off too little light to worry an Air Raid Warden.
@unversio
For sure it's Panasonic. The Post comment may address the Giro of 88 when Hampsten effectively won the Giro with his heroic ride over the Gavia on a stage won by Breukink. See this for details: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnJvU0ofskc
Wanna get over a bad breakup? Buy yourself something nice. And thus I went clipless the summer of 1996 - albeit on my MTB. The guys at the shop said to screw the cleat in lightly, ride around until you got the thing where you wanted, and then tighten up. Tooled around my neighborhood until I thought I got it right, wheeled into my garage, twisted my foot out and...nothing happened. With my speed approaching zero and any balance fading, I realized the awful truth - with the cleat barely screwed in, there was no torque being applied to clip out. And then I crashed directly onto my hip. Even had the fun of untying my shoes from my feet (whilst still attached to the pedals) to extricate myself. Learned the feel of unclipping and made the mistakes while on the MTB - thus never having to learn those same lessons on my road bike - say in front of a car full of people at a stoplight. My wife on the other hand...
Panasonic rider (far right) could be Allan Peiper