Jerry: Nailing cleats on is something that needs cycling knowledge. Shoemakers traditionally don't have the background to properly place them. So unless you know exactly where to place them, and the shoemaker spots them with a couple of nails just slightly tapped in for you to approve positioning, you may have to rip them off and renail or risk sore knees. I've put cleats on for 55 years, still have the iron shoe form and support to do so. Most bike shops will think you are crazy, and many of the newer cycling people will never even have seen a cleat unless they are in proximity of a velodrome. Look for an old timer or come on out to my neck of the woods and stay a few days to ride and I'll fix you up. The nails have to be long enough to go through a little to curl/bend over to"hook" and hold to keep from coming out. This means strong enough to hammer and malleable enough to bend at end, not to brittle so heads pop off. Many shoes have stiffeners in soles so then the nails will hit that and curl to grip. It's got to be done nice so the nail that bends inside is nice and flat so as not to bug your foot. Ted Ernst Palos Verdes Estates, CA
> You're right, of course, and I'm advised the CLEARLY ON-TOPIC (at least if
> Dale doesn't issue a papal edict to excommunicate them) M71 was introduced
> in 1971. I first saw them at the 1974 Worlds in Montreal (ridden by
> spectators, don't recall if any pros were using them). My point, though,
> was that it wouldn't surprise me if the French tourists had some sort of
> clipless pedals in the 30's.
>
> While I'm on the (on-topic) subject, I have a couple of pairs of M71's,
> and I need to have the cleats mounted on some shoes. I have some retro
> leather soled shoes for this purpose. Are these simply nailed on like the
> old steel cleats? Did they use the same nails? Also, I haven't had a
> pair of cleats nailed to shoes in a couple of decades. Will shoe shops
> still do this, or will they look at you as if you are crazy? Would they
> have the proper nails these days?
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
> Houston, TX
>
>
>
> Martin Appel <martin@camelot.de> wrote:
> Jerome & Elizabeth Moos schrieb:
>>Neither of those quotes would prove Julian wrong. The fact that these
>>were the world's first clipless pedals (and knowing how much
>>innovation was made in France in the 20's and 30's and virtually
>>unknown today, I wouldn't even bet they were the first) and that the
>>first shipment arrived in CA in 1985, doesn't prove these weren't on
>>sale in Europe or even the US East Coast in 1984. I didn't use
>>clipless until some years later, so I have no personal recollection of
>>the date.
>
> Pardon my ignorance, but didn't Cinelli have Clipless pedals in the
> 70ies? the infamous M71 suicide-things you had to flip a lever to
> release?
>
> Martin Appel
> having just returned from a nice spring ride on an OT (ouch!) bike in
> Munich, Germany - Sorry, weather forecast was too uncertain to risk
> getting dirt on my KOF Mike Appel; maiden ride postponed...