The Rise and Fall of the Clipless Pedal
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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Yep, clip less for me. I remember being told they’d never catch on because of the stress they put on the knees. And so that was clearly the moment they took over the cycling world.
Didn’t they come in about the same time as Shimano’s Biopace rings?
Further questions for the old-timers who rode pedals with clips and straps:
Did you thread the strap straight through the sides or (if possible) through the back plate, thus providing a tighter hold on your foot?
Did you twist the strap as it went through the pedal?
Did you leave the strap “bare” or attach a wee plastic button so you had something to grab a hold of to tighten up?
Did you trim the straps or leave them as bought?
Did you color coordinate the straps to the bike frame color?
Did you use an old strap to hold your spare tubular or spare inner tube under the saddle?
And on a further note related to the main picture, how cool is Charley Mottet? Those shades and those red and white Rivat shoes. The epitome of 80s cool.
‘Look was divining the name’
Shouldn’t that read ‘defining’?
Holy crap. Watching that race director run over Jesper Skibby’s bike in that clip was … just simply, shocking.
they’re know in Colorado by all the roadies and MTBers I know (I’m 46, used to race my old Colnago with Diadoras & toe clips) as ‘clicker’, not ‘clipless’.
the first MTB version from Shimano, the SPDs, were know as the Shimano Pedal Disaster, dubbed this after watching many friends upside down in sage, cactus, and pine shrubs with their bikes clipped firmly to their new shoes.
I still call them clipless pedals… Does that make me an old fart?
@Xyverz
Heh, when I first started cycling I was sort of confused why the pedal systems were called “clipless” when you clearly clip INTO them, until I learned that the old-style toe straps were called clips.
Just reading Slaying the Badger. The La Vie Claire team owner, Bernard Tapie, apparently owned Look so naturally his team used the pedals. As part of his contract LeMelvis was to receive a percentage of the North American sales. He says he never saw a cent of it.
@wiscot
Old toe straps remain useful for this purpose. When I was a wee pedalwan I was very proud of my first bike that came equipped with toe clips and DT shifters. This differentiated it from my prior Schwinn ten speed whcih was not a real bike because the shifters were stem-mounted and I had to bolt plastic toe clips onto the platform pedals.
@TBONE
No, divining.
@David
If you see – or think you see – an error you’d like to point out, please do. If you don’t want to take the time to help point out the mistake and make it better, then please keep your comment to yourself, as it’s basically useless.
Your post has been deleted.
Very timely article here.
At the risk of sounding like a newbie I just bought my first pair of shoes and pedals this past weekend at FrankenBike, here in San Antonio. I had been wondering about how the name came about considering that you’re obviously clipping the cleat into “clipless” pedals.
BTW got the Garneau shoes for 10 and the Bontranger pedals and cleats for 5 bucks and a saddle trade.
Some great deals a the FrankenBike swap meet if you are lucky enough to have one in your town.
@wiscot
I’ve been planning an article on Chuck Flop for as long as this site’s been around, and just haven’t found a way to put it to words. He is, as you say, the epitome of 80’s cool. He was an inspiration to me; just as I rode with one hand on the tops, on on the hoods for a summer, I spent a whole summer flopping my upper body like him. (Hence the nickname, Chuck Flop.)
I find toe clip straps to be the most indispensable item in my tool kit. I use them to strap anything to anything.
@Giles
I think they were a little later, actually, but the point that they were tightly timed certainly stands. So, I guess the eighties would be considered “innovation-neutral” in that context!
@Xyverz
I’ve never seen that fan video before. I can’t remember the year of that incident (easy enough to find out, I suppose) but someone had their thinking cap on to bring a video camera to a race in that era.
@american psycho
Wow, I’ve never heard that! Awesome.
I had those shimano pedals, and I loved them and the shoes equally. I wore the shoes around school as my everyday’s. I was not a cool kid in school.
clipless it is…
i think the counter-intuitive term is actually kinda useful – it gives an indication of how long someone’s been in the game, or at least if they’re paying attention…
my first pair were on my hardtail MTB, and were those elastomer Onza things – what a horrible disaster those were! at least they cleared mud well… but, I could never tell if i was clipped in or not, i needed the hardest elastomer available to provide even a hint of reliability, and release was unpredictable at best – the predictability was usually inversely correlated to the urgency with which I needed to escape…
i have a vivid memory of tumbling sideways downhill through cactus and yucca with the bike still attached – even frikkin toe clips woulda come off before i finally channeled Houdini and escaped from the Onza death grip…
Little known Velominati fact: Frank sends all articles to me for fact-checking and proofing, but since I’m still a pedalwan I return all articles back to him marked as “100% accurate and correct”.
System has worked pretty well so far I think…
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/
@Xyverz
Yes
@San Tonio
That sounds terrible. If you’re not overpaying for something, you’re not doing it right.
@frank
The Saracen MTB I bought in early 1986 had Biopace chain rings – indeed it still does as it’s in the shed (not the Man Cave with the carbone and current mtb) in the condition it came off its last race with a broken rear axle in around 1988. It was also the last bike I had with toe straps – which are shit on an mtb as I discovered in my last race but at least they took your mind of fthe Biopace rings.
My Look Carbon pedals were acquired in 1988 and, until the Speedplays arrived in April this year were my only pedals. Nearly a quarter of a century and they still work as designed. My first Speedplay cleats disintegrated in less than 24 weeks,
My first “clipless” pedals. All steel and weighed a TON! http://bikerecyclery.com/mavic-clipless-pedals-1980-s.html
@wiscot
In the wilds of Montrose back in the ’80’s 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.
@frank
Ahh, but how much was the saddle worth? The Saddle may have been the precious… (Sorry, was trying to come up with a euphemism for expensive and failed.)
@frank
According to Wikipedia, 1987.
@the Engine
Bugger off, laddie!
@snowgeek
My father in law ran Onzas for the longest time and loved them for some irrational reason. He was known to be willing to adopt anyone’s orphaned Onza pedals and cleats. Only graduated to modern clipless about 5 years ago when his stockpile of cleats finally ran out.
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…
@Nate
boy, I tried to like them… they were certainly better than clips for the most part, they were light, and they offered rotational float – something unusual at the time… props to the Onza crew for innovating for sure
i cut material off of my shoe soles to clear the pedal body, tried differing elastomer stiffness front/rear, even tried filing sharp or round edges on the holes in the engagement plates to affect the entry and release character…
then i got on a pair of Time ATACs… and was stupefied as to how wonderfully easy and intuitive everything became…
This brings back memories of the detto pietros i bought. It always seemed like the straps that were available were never as long as what i saw on the pros pics. The first spd pedals i had were hand me downs from a colleague who had the first ti bike, first shock fork, etc. we used to do xc-mtb stuff. Several years later hat same set of pedals left me stranded on an mtb ride when slogging up a logging road(good ol tiger mtn)- the cleat pulled clear out o my shoe remaining lodged in the pedal.
@the Engine
Always knew Fife was home to strange folks. The frugality makes sense given the proximity to Aberdeen.
The rider (far right) resembles Andy Hampsten. What happens on the Gavia stays on the Gavia. The Day Strong Men Cried.
Roche’s shoes are awesome, what with the V emblem stitched on the tongue. Also, gratuitous coca-cola bidon sighting.
@unversio
Will find out tomorrow. The other identifiable rider besides Roche and Mottet is Eddy Schepers – Roche’s super-loyal domestique.
@frank
Point well made, but if all of the useless comments were deleted, I wouldn’t know who @minion is, and that would be a shame.
“…name owes itself to the history of the pedals which proceeded it.”
Shouldn’t that read preceded?
@wiscot
Steven Rooks perchance?
I’m old enough to remember toe straps (never called them toe clip straps – probably too many syllables?)… I couldn’t afford them newfangled Look pedals (or even the cheaper Keywins). I even went back to using them after a first clipless experience with Mapstage pedals which were more hassle to use than flicking the buckle on a strap (not as much hassle, admittedly, as a fellow rider who had some old Cinelli clipless pedals….). Another guy I knew also used dress shoes with cleats nailed on (I saved up and got proper shoes!).
By coincidence I rediscovered my stash of Winning magazine at the weekend, including the Tour De France review of Roche’s win. Am I really that old? (old enough to remember when Robbie McEwen started racing road and track events after coming over from BMX…..)
@wiscot
-Straps through the side, my pedals were of such a design that didn’t allow a strap through the back. When I got different pedals later I just kept doing it that way
Had to twist the strap, otherwise it would slide through when you tried to tighten it up
I only ever saw the plastic buttons on the Campagnolo-embossed straps you got in a C-Record ensemble
As bought for me, they were always about the right length – trimming never looked right (I’m not good with scissors!)
looking Euro was less of a concern in my part of the world back then – you took what you could get. Blue straps on a grey-and-pink bike? If you have to!
of course! and 20 years later I used an old strap to restrain the dead-man lever on my lawn mower so it wouldn’t cut out during awkward maneuvres! never throw out an old toe strap…..
There was nothing cool about the ’80s…. except C-Record Delta brakes :-)
Another article bringing back good memories, my first toe clips were steel and to fit them I had to first pop the yellow reflectors of the pedals, nylon straps (convinced the leather ones would stretch), and they were fitted on to my first double chainset – cotter pins holding it in place. This was about the time I went to Uni and had started building up bikes from the junk pile – this particular model I spraypainted gold and handpainted some Whitesnake (yes the band) logos on it, before naming the bike “The Beast”. Toe clips were also responsible for my only stationary fall to the deck ever – in the middle of the Uni car park in full view of the languages section of the library (i.e. in view of the best looking chicks). I just forgot to get my foot out, and while I’d love to say it was because I’d met the man with the hammer, it was actually because I was incredibly hungover.
Funnily enough – to date – I’ve never had a stationary fall in clipless pedals, probably because I’m way to paranoid about it happening and emotionally scarred by the last experience!
Great article Frank – again.
it’s funny, among my non-cyclist friend and aquaintances (non-cyclists….poor souls) the number one question a receive: “do you use the shoes that lock your feet in with the little cleaty thingies…” When I answer yes they always seem sort of amazed and say something to the effect of “oh, could never use those, I’d stick to the strap kind” The great irony is that in my opinion clipless are 100x easier to use than toe straps…seems like I was alway clumsily flopping around trying to get into the straps or tighten the straps back in the day.
@Nate
Yeah they are! Who’s seeing the new Gear page addition……
@ten B
You don’t get to read the thousands of posts of mine Frhonk deletes – my input here should be considered a distillation of collaborative genius.
@wiscot
It’s a Panasonic kit though. Hampsten would be firing on Panasonic — namely Dutchman Erik Breukink.
Wow. The hair. The shades. The HAIR!
To date myself – I went clipless in 2006. I also promptly had a 0 kph tip over “crash”. Jeez.
My Tommasini showed up with Campagnolo platforms and clips. For the first spin on it I rode them with some suede Sambas. I was completely blown away by how well they held my foot; I always assumed clips were sloppy.
Part of me marvels at guys racing non-clipless, part of me gets it.
And the rest of me thinks anyone who raced/Followed/rode like a demon with clips & straps is fucking awesome.
Phil Anderson — Panasonic
@minion
Pure. Gold.
Perhaps you two should go with a hybrid handle. Franky + Minion = @manky
manky: /ˈmaŋki/
British informal
1 inferior; worthless:
2 dirty and unpleasant:
@unversio
I cannot begin to imagine how effing hot and uncomfortable those goggles would have been. I even switch from goggles to sunnies on the slopes when it gets above freezing. He looks none too pleased.
@ten B
You’ve dated yourself, youngster.
Those were not goggles, they’re Oakley Factory Pilots, worn with an onion tied to your belt, which was the style at the time…
My first real pedals were Suntour Superbe. They looked much like Super Record, but were much cheaper. I never went in for alloy clips as they were just too fragile. They would fail as they would flex too much at the bend, and it wasn’t worth the risk of having your clips fail for the sake of 10 or 20 grams. Always had Alfredo Binda straps, and at one stage had the the circular tabs that you fixed to the end of the strap with a grub screw, but realised after a while that it was just baggage.
My first pair of clipless pedals were Look PP76’s that I got in about 1986 or so. They had an all metal body and were entirely black and bombproof. I turned them into fantastic crit pedals by basically grinding away at the axle body due to repeated pedal strikes in hard corners to increase the cornering angle clearance. (funny how it slows down your competition getting a pedal strike that lifts your back wheel 4 inches sideways pedalling through corners. Used to do this often as I had complete control over how far it would go. Tactics)
I then splashed out in 1988-9 for a pair of Look Carbons. Pieces of shit had a “carbon” back plate that engaged the cleat. It was really just black plastic, and it failed in a sub-zero february training ride in Toronto. I dropped $250 on those friggen things, and Look refused to warranty them as they assumed that I broke them in a crash. Bastardos.
Anyhoo. Straps. The trickiest experience I had with them was at the velodrome for the first time. Was a steep learing curve to do them up from a standing start on a fixed gear…
@DavidI
Welcome to the fold. Totally agree with you about the straps. Twist, yes. Leather, I know that they were available, but seemed wrong. Put your toes in and pull till you thought you were a Gisha Girl and off you went. If you were gonna ride on the track (and I think this still holds true for lots of guys), you’d use two straps. Part of me misses that a little bit.
On a side note; Frank loathes emoticons.
@scaler911
Wow, serious proof reading error. Leather was the only choice. I know nylon was available, but THAT seemed wrong.
@mouse
I appreciate the complement, but I think you’ve mistaken my ignorance for youth!
@frank
Me fail English? That’s unpossible.
I used to race XC on the North Shore on rigid bikes with toe straps. Because nothing beats being pubescent and riding a trail called Severed Dick with 2.3″ wide tires and hiking boots.
@TBONE
I wish that there was an edit button. I forgot to add the bit about the toe clips.