Do you use toeclips?

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sussex cyclist
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Do you use toeclips?

Post by sussex cyclist »

If so, why?

(I still do; I need them for hills. But I don't like the feeling of being too connected to my bikes. I only cinch them tight enough to keep my feet from slipping out.)
Psamathe
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Re: Do you use toeclips?

Post by Psamathe »

I've now mostly switch to a recumbent (where toe clips are not practical) but on my 2-wheel DF I've used them for years. When I first got the bike I took them off whilst I got used to its handling (and toe overlap groundless concerns). Soon put them back on and had to rather stupid "offs" because of my not being used to them but love them.

Reason I like them is they keep your foot in place on the pedals. Without them I found on a couple of occasions a pothole at the wrong time and being inattentive and my foot would come off the pedal - does not happen with clips. I dont do them up tight and don't use "up-pull" (or whatever it's called when you get more power pulling up as well as pushing down).

Ian
AndyK
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Re: Do you use toeclips?

Post by AndyK »

I used to use them many years ago but they made my toes cold. I moved on to clipless pedals: much better for blood circulation, more secure, and easier to get out of in a hurry. And then there's that horrible scraping along the ground of the toeclip if you miss it first try and have to pedal on the open side of the pedal for a while. Eeugh. I like the feeling of being attached to my bike - makes me feel at one with the machine...
ophspeed
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Re: Do you use toeclips?

Post by ophspeed »

Yes, I use them. I gave SPDs a go as I can see the benefits. However, no end of adjustment of cleat position and angle could prevent a pain developing in my left knee. It turns out that my comfortable foot position while pedalling is with my left foot rotated outwards more than SPDs can offer, so my knee was complaining about the foot being pulled straight.

I went back to toeclips and the pain disappeared. I love them, though need to make sure they're not too tight as otherwise I get tingling toes...
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Cugel
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Re: Do you use toeclips?

Post by Cugel »

Christophe toe clips & Binda straps clasped my tootsies for many years when I was younger, several aeons ago. However, I never liked them, although I did like the tight-fitting shoes one was encouraged to wear. The only thing that made the clips & straps better were the shoe plates tacked on to shoe soles, which positioned the feet aright on the rat-trap pedals (I liked Suntour Superbe) and stopped the shoe/foot sliding to the front end of the toeclips, where the pressure would eventually give you a black toe nail.

Do any of the still-using-clip/strap folk use shoe plates too? If not, do you suffer from the squished big toe syndrome?

These days I use SPDs but also much better fitting shoes with plenty o' room in the toe box. I still like lace-up shoes, though. The velcro and similar allow the foot to slide forward too much in the shoe, which can feel rather like the toe-crush one felt with the toe clips sans shoe plates, all those years ago.

Cugel
“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist”.
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simonhill
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Re: Do you use toeclips?

Post by simonhill »

I use them. Only loose, to keep my feet roughly in the right place fore and aft and sideways. Never wanted to be locked tightly in by straps or cleats.

Useful for me when touring as I can wear the same pair of nearly normal shoes for cycling, walking, travelling, etc.
tatanab
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Re: Do you use toeclips?

Post by tatanab »

In two places - on my 1973 Dawes Kingpin shopper and on my 1956 Higgins when used for period correct display purposes. On the Kingpin I use Exustar shoes, and on the Higgins I use old shoes with shoe plates - again for period correct purposes.

Kept a snug fit so that the shoe can just slide in and out nicely. After all these years using clipless, it is still a matter of pride that I can pick up the toeclip within the first half a revolution on starting off.
a.twiddler
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Re: Do you use toeclips?

Post by a.twiddler »

I mostly ride recumbent now with just plain pedals where toeclips wouldn't stop your feet from dropping out of contact. Strangely enough, in just the situations where you think this would happen, it just doesn't. I've never felt motivated to try clip ins on the recumbent.

When I rarely ride my Upright bike I still do use the toeclips and straps "just because they're there", not too tight, and it is strange that the muscle memory persists so well that I can just start off and then flip the pedal and slip my foot in without thinking. Must be from all the decades that I've been doing it, all those decades when it's been seen as quaint and old fashioned by everybody else who swears by various makes of clip in shoes and pedals. Are toeclips making a comeback?

Another curious observation has been how my Upright just seems to fit me even when I've been off it for months. The height is the only thing that is daunting but once under way all the reflexes fall into place, and I remember what a nice bike it is.
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Mick F
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Re: Do you use toeclips?

Post by Mick F »

Not used toe clips in over 30years.

Campag Pro-Fit, and now Speedplay.
Mick F. Cornwall
robc02
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Re: Do you use toeclips?

Post by robc02 »

I used them, together with shoe plates from the early '70s until the early '90s. I generally left them slightly loose except when racing.
Once I switched to clipless (Look to begin with) I never really "looked" back (pun).

I did refit them to one bike a few years ago for use in some "Old Skool" type time trials. It was fun, but I came close to forgetting to loosen them before stopping on a couple of occasions!
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freiston
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Re: Do you use toeclips?

Post by freiston »

Cugel wrote: 25 May 2022, 5:18pm
Do any of the still-using-clip/strap folk use shoe plates too? If not, do you suffer from the squished big toe syndrome?

Cugel
I stopped using toeclips in the mid 80s when, after my bike was stolen, funds were short and other things were going on in my life, I also stopped cycling for a few years. When I started cycling again, it was mostly commuting/utility and I went without clips or clipless but in 1997, when I bought a brand new bike, I went to SPDs.

When I did use clips, I didn't use shoe plates/cleats but my Rivat cycling shoes had a tread (of, as I recall, many small protruding diamonds or pyramids arranged in lines) which effectively created parallel grooves that held onto the raised bar on the rear edge of the pedal quite well without the need for cleats

EDIT: - Like the first pair in this thread on the LFGSS forum
Disclaimer: Treat what I say with caution and if possible, wait for someone with more knowledge and experience to contribute. ;)
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foxyrider
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Re: Do you use toeclips?

Post by foxyrider »

My Eroica bike has toe clips but as that gets used once in never to say i 'use toe clips' would be pushing things. I've been using step in pedals since the mid eighties, Look on the road bikes and SPD's for off road and touring. If there was no alternative i'd use tc's but for me they are just a note in the history books!
Convention? what's that then?
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thirdcrank
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Re: Do you use toeclips?

Post by thirdcrank »

tatanab wrote: 25 May 2022, 5:34pm In two places - on my 1973 Dawes Kingpin shopper and on my 1956 Higgins when used for period correct display purposes. On the Kingpin I use Exustar shoes, and on the Higgins I use old shoes with shoe plates - again for period correct purposes.

Kept a snug fit so that the shoe can just slide in and out nicely. After all these years using clipless, it is still a matter of pride that I can pick up the toeclip within the first half a revolution on starting off.
Is the bit I've highlighted anything to do with having ridden fixed?

Moving from toe clips to clipless came late for me but I've never had any bother. Riding fixed gets you into the habit of locating your feet pronto
tatanab
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Re: Do you use toeclips?

Post by tatanab »

thirdcrank wrote: 25 May 2022, 7:28pm Is the bit I've highlighted anything to do with having ridden fixed?
Very likely. as you say, a big advantage if able to pick up the pedal quickly.

Clipless - I was a late, and reluctant to a degree, adopter. It was probably 1995 I first fitted them. Much the same as indexed gearing, about 1995.
Nearholmer
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Re: Do you use toeclips?

Post by Nearholmer »

Not since c1990, when the last bike that had them was stolen.

Then I spent 25 years where I was riding an MTB-derived hybrid with plain pedals, for a combination of commuting, family rides, and what is now called “gravel”.

When I got more time to cycle again, I went for a CX bike and fitted SPD pedals, but I always found them a bit too fierce, and after a really scary “failure to unclip properly” incident I moved to something that hasn’t been mentioned here: Magpeds.

Magpeds get mixed reviews, but I really like them, they retain the feet well, even if “pulling up”, but release very easily, both as planned event and in a tearing hurry.
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