Jerry, here, here, i know where you are coming from, personally i have two pair of the off topic pedals look, time,and cannot get out of them, no matter how i set the tensions . Unless you are racing, or trying to fit the profile of the other dudes who use them, who sometimes fall and break elbows ,clavicles etc, who walk like ducks needing the loo,.. I have toe clips even on my modern machines, i don't bother with cleats either, nor do i suffer from the sore knee syndrome that seems to afflict many clipless pedal users. I also think that black shoes.... sidi, vittoria, dettos.... are much more elegant than the multi colored fat modern shoes. willie carton coleraine n. ireland.. where its 16 deg and a beautiful evening..
Jerome & Elizabeth Moos <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net> wrote: Damn it, Harvey. I just logged on today, and you've tempted me into using up the second of my precious three message daily limit, but I can't resist this one.
A central part of my journey to becoming a classic bike collector was to abandon clipless pedals and return to toe clips and straps. In the mid 90's I was doing a good bit of riding on just a few bikes I had bought new between 1972 and the mid 80's. I didn't think of them as "classic" or collectable and had never heard the terms NOS or KOF or "period correct". They were just old bikes. I had outfitted all of them with clipless pedals, mostly Look, with one pair of early Shimano Look-type DA pedals.
But a turning point came when I put a pair on my wife's bike. She refused to even try to ride them, her words being, "Hell, it took me long enough to get used to toe clips." Defeated, I removed them and reinstalled the pedals with clips and straps. And for some reason this spurred me to remove the clipless pedals from my 1972 LeJeune F-70 as well. Went rummaging through the parts bins to find the original pedals. In doing so, I came across the older original French parts which had been replaced with Campy many years before. So the idea struck me of returning the bike to its original configuration. The rest, as they say, is history.
Having gone back to toe clips, I really have no interest in using clipless pedals again. The biggest reason is that it is easier for me to fit a quick ride into my life when I can use shoes I can actually walk in. I almost always wear touring shoes with no cleats at all and this makes it easier to run into the post office or grocery store or into the convenience store for a pint of milk to fuel the ride without walking like a duck. OK, so SPD type cleats would make walking easier, but I just have no motivation to change again, and since I'm not racing, I don't really care about the greater pedaling efficiency.
By the way, I have several pairs of mid-90's clipless pedals, some NIP, that I'll trade for toe clip type pedals to anyone who is interested.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Big Spring, TX
Harvey Sachs wrote: Well last night I put some KKT Campy knock-off pedals and toe-clips on the commuter bike, and got out the old Detto Pietros with good, deep, cleats, and decided that I ought to practice with these neaderthal torture instruments before going to L'Eroica, for which they seem to be SOP.
It was an "interesting" experience. Got on the bike, reached down to get one foot in place when I got tired of playing spin-the-pedal, and started up. I was right pleased when the hand reached right down to the DT shifters. It remembered. Except that the commuter has bar-ends. Then I played "mash the toe-clip" on the other side. Somehow, with nearly new, slick-bottom Dettos, and with kick tabs on the pedals that can't be a quarter of the size they used to be, this is not fun.
but, everything worked well, mostly. I remembered to not tighten them too much, so I could bail - and even accidently pull out on a hill. Yup, did that. And the joys of clips in traffic in downtown DC.
I haven't had this much fun since the very last time I will ever ride with Cinelli M-71 Widow-maker clipless foot traps. That was a couple of years ago, but apparently I didn't learn.
Now, let's imagine that clipless pedals were invented before toe clips, maybe by some Swede who looked back and forth between his wood skiis and his bike, and had an idea. And things moved along and evolved, and then someone had the Brilliant Idea of Toe Clips. Other than marketing them as a way to scuff your Sunday shoes, this would have gone nowhere.
So, I'm not too proud to put clip pedals on bikes at Cirque for display, but I think I'll continue riding with (off-topic) pedals whenever possible. I think I'm too old to readapt to those odd things we used to ride. :-)
Just stirring the pot...
harvey "contrarian" sachs McLean va _______________________________________________
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