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

Oli says:

Aug 20 2012 at 9:23 pm

@wiscot

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.

Through the sides, but inside of the outer quill.

Plastic button (blobby thing) always, preferably with Cinelli logo or similar.

I like a bit of trim.

Yes, if possible.

Naturellement!

I concur on Charly's coolness...
Oli says:

Aug 20 2012 at 9:36 pm

@wiscot Aluminium toe clips were crap - they'd bend and crack after the first few minutes of them being on your bike, especially if you accidentally stood on them while trying to flip your pedal. They were freaking light compared to the steel Christophes though...

The king toe straps were the Binda Extra, with the nylon reinforcement sandwiched between the leather.
Oli says:

Aug 20 2012 at 9:37 pm

@DavidI He's not in that shot.
Oli says:

Aug 20 2012 at 9:45 pm

@DavidI
pello says:

Aug 20 2012 at 10:59 pm

Strange how in every other language (or at least latin languages) these are called automatic pedals. Such a simple name, no? When Look launched, I know they used the term "pedales automatiques" as the official name in France. Didn't know they had used used "clipless" in english-speaking countries.
Bill says:

Aug 20 2012 at 11:02 pm

The improvement in technology was immediately telling.

Number of times falling over at a stop sign, unable to get a foot disengaged from the pedal:

Clip era: 3

Clipless era: 3
minion says:

Aug 20 2012 at 11:17 pm

If we went the other way, with Frinion...

German informal

2 dirty and unpleasant:
farzani says:

Aug 20 2012 at 11:37 pm

@frank I also rode pedals with toe straps and did the "twist thing". Road my first Death Ride in them in 1992. 130miles and 15,000ft with thunder lightening and cold rain on the last pass. wool jersey was my good fortune.I guess that was my first flandrien in training experience.
the Engine says:

Aug 21 2012 at 12:01 am

@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.
the Engine says:

Aug 21 2012 at 12:08 am

@unversio

Phil Anderson "” Panasonic

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.