If you’ve ever sold bikes for a living, (or even just ridden them), you’ll know that the biggest fear of the newbie, or the moderately experienced cyclist is clipping in. It can strike the Fear of Merckx into the brawniest of men and reduce them to a quivering mess, saying things like “I don’t want to fall over”, “how will I get out if I need to walk up a hill” (hopefully only uttered by mountain bikers) or “I’ll look like a dick if I fall over at the traffic lights.” But as most of you here will attest, it’s happened to the best of us. It’s all part of the learning curve, a curve so shallow and rapidly transient that it’s probably best described as a slightly bent line. The mere act of clipping in quickly becomes second nature, as instinctive as flicking an Ergo, STI or DoubleTap lever to change gear, or reaching down to grab a bottle without taking your gaze from the road ahead.
My own initiation into the world of clipless was in 1991, a year or so after I started mountain biking. Up until then it had been a world of toe clips and straps, which while not exactly easy to get into or out of, was still a better alternative than muddy sneakers slipping off the pedals and gouging six-inch trenches of skin from your shins. Shimano had just released their first attempt at the SPD system (the M737?), and seeing local trend-setter Burgo rocking them with the sweet matching shoes was like witnessing the moon landing; it was right there in front of you, but you didn’t quite know if such a marvel of technology was possible. But it was, and soon a spate of ‘clip-ins’ were appearing from several other brands, including the now long-defunct Onza. Their HO pedal was smaller and lighter than Shimano’s, so it got my vote on those counts alone. It used two elastomer bumpers (similar to those being used in the suspension forks of the day) instead of steel springs for their retention force. You want more retention? Rebuild them with harder durometer bumpers. They were universally considered a pain in the ass to set up, and even more so to get in and out of as I quickly found out.
The Onzas were ditched after maybe a year or less of service, and the only way to go (according to the magazine reviews, and more importantly, advertising) was the Time ATAC. They were lauded as the easiest entry/ release, cleared mud better than Shimano due to their open body design, and were being ridden to victory in just about every World Cup race by the likes of Little Mig Martinez and a young Cuddles. They were a revelation in my clipless experience, and now on my third pair I won’t be changing anytine soon. I still have those original grey ATACs kicking around on my commuter bike, and apart from a tiny amount of bearing slop and some cosmetic gouging from the cleats, are still working flawlessly.
When I bought my first ‘real’ road bike, a steel Gipiemme, the shop set me up with some basic Look pedals, but with Time shoes. Both sucked. It wasn’t long before I’d replaced both, the Looks with a set of alloy-bodied Time Impacts, and the shoes with Sidis. (Still got both, although I’m buggered if I can find the pedals.) A set of RSX Carbons kept the Time-line going, more to reduce weight than for any operational advanatge. The only problem I’ve had has been the left cleat wearing prematurely (from putting the foot down and straddling the top tube Casually Deliberatley at lights) which can make entry a tad frustrating if you don’t get it right the first attempt. And at about $70 a set, replacing them regularly becomes not only a chore but a drain on a poor bike-shop guy’s wallet. Pulling away from a coffee stop on a ride, flailing left foot struggling to engage, slipping off and making a bloodied gouge in my knee warmer was all I needed to convince me to check out Time’s latest system, the iClic.
Now, it seems if you want to make a product sound hip and cool, just take the name of said product and stick an “i” in front of it. So no kudos to Time’s marketing team there, but I guess they took the easy option and one that’s easy to remember because of it’s genericity. All that aside, the promise of piece-of-piss-easy entry was too hard to resist, and when a customer wanted a set ordered, I thought I’d give them a try too. Dan at Sola Sports was singing their praises too, and hooked me up with a set of Carbons at the Velominati Special Deal rate. Cheers Dan!
It took, oh, about ten seconds to declare these the easiest pedals ever to get into. It was like my foot had been magically or magnetically drawn to the exact position for the cleat to engage, the pedal falling at the optimum angle, and the most satisfying ‘clic’ that I’d heard since those very first ATACs converted me for life. If you don’t know how the iClics work, think about ski boots/bindings. (I have never ski’ed, so if it all sounds like bullshit then it probably is.) The secret is in the Carbo-Flex plate under the pedal’s platform, which holds the retention mechanism open when you twist the shoe out. When it’s time to clip back in, the spring is in open position, allowing the cleat to locate with minimum resistance.
And as the Gestapo would tell you, resistance is futile.
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@Jarvis
Hi Jarvis. You are gonna have to clarify a little for me, if you could. Not the latter part, I'm sure you go really REALLY R E A L L Y fast through all corners; got it.
OK. Are you saying that the original Equipes were just so incomparably bad (vis a vis bottoming out on corners) versus whatever else I may have ridden, that regardless of my, or anyone's personal speed or technique around corners, since I never rode them it's unlikely I experienced the flying sparks phenomenon?
Or is it that they were really really bad, but a rider would only experience this if said rider was going "REALLY fast around all corners?" Does this imply pedaling through, or at least so far into, EVERYTHING, that timing the inside foot up at critical moments is impossible as it would slow the rider down?
How long are your cranks? How high is your bottom bracket?
I didn't propose any theory... I don't think. Did I? I'll try to clarify, sorry for not being clear before. My main statement about pedal clearance is based on my own limited experience of racing with Pro women, including a few little crits (I'm discussing crits, since I THINK probably, in general but of course not Guinness Book of World Records 100% all the time, that that's where you are going to see the mostest, fastest cornering) - um, lessee, for example, one I rode a couple of times that maybe you've heard of is the Twilight Crit in Athens, Georgia, if you are in the USA... and spending time with other riders on the couple of amateur (though several of the riders did go pro; there's another comment running around here about one of my teammates, John Lieswyn, who did) teams I was on (at the same little crits); watching pro men in same, etc. OO, OO, this sounds silly, but a cousin of mine who was a big influence on me and who I spent time with whenever possible WAS a US Pro (Matthew Wojcicki-Sarna; '80s-early '90s). I watched him a lot and rode with him when I could.
And from all that limited experience, what I perhaps incorrectly gleaned and confusingly tried to say was: a millimeter or two on a pedal appears (via personal experience and observation) to make relatively little difference in the real world; primarily because other issues of physics and different limitations of the machines (bikes) themselves, as well as a rider's skill, have far greater effect. These other issues will (in my humble experience) be far more likely to (or even, in some cases, with the conincidentally right set of variables and due to the laws of physics, MUST) come into play before a millimeter less or more of "lean" will.
But I could have it all wrong! Especially if there is/was a pedal that was just an out and out fat, long log on the end of your crank arm that I never personally experienced, or noticed slowing people down.
Thanks for your input!
@Marcus
I honestly didn't follow him too closely later on... but that was the impression I had. I do remember a year or two when he was making a lot of print in VeloNews as The Guy to Watch. But yeah, then things didn't seem to click. He actually came back to Gainesville (Florida, Home of the University of Florida, Team Florida, and, still, myself) a few years ago, I don't know what else he was doing, but he came by a bike shop owned by a friend (former US pro rider himself who had earlier spent time in Gainesville, Mike Gann; he'd had some offers from European teams; he said he didn't want to get into the required uh, supplement routines, and so passed) and gave a presentation that I can't even remember; did a general meet greet answer questions etc., very quiet, nice, willing to talk... kind of funny remembering way back to when he was a young buck. ok, that was useful. Not so much.
@Oli Brooke-White
No way. NO WAY! This is one heckuva small world! Thanks for sharing that, Oli! Yep, he turned out ok, it seemed to me! He was awfully nice to me during later Team Florida Days - he'd often stick around for the women's race to do a little coaching. I still remember my first "real" crit, poor little cat 4 in with the Pro-1-2's. I made the first cut, but then was hanging like ten feet off the back for laps and laps and laps (I have not idea why I didn't just get back on). He'd stuck around just to watch, and I don't remember if he yelled it during the race or said it after or both, but I was bummed because I didn't finish well (got my ass handed to me, I'm sure), and he pointed out something to the effect of "you silly, you're as strong as them -- you were doing MORE work than them that whole time because you wouldn't just GET BACK ON!" That stuck with me. I got a lot better. Belated thanks, John!
@Karolinka
Those old Time Equipe Mags had so much material outboard and below the spindle that they probably provided about 10 degrees less lean angle than Speedplays. With Speedplays I can put power back on the pedals much earlier coming out of turns. Which makes keeping speed & momentum through turns a lot easier, saving energy.
@Lars
@Jarvis
@frank
@whoever
Ten degrees. That's pretty close to the result of having a big fat long piece of tree stuck to the bottom of your foot. Significant, in other words... and clarifies for me that those particular pushers were indeed pretty positively appalling. Thanks for putting some numbers in, and just some more plain good input!
@Karolinka
That one. It didn't happen every time, but a misjudgement or not paying enough attention you would generally be reminded. Everyone with those Time pedals had the outside back corner gouged clean of paint. They did make the Criterium pedal which was more cut away, just for that reason. The issue with the Criterium for me was that the bioposition was higher than on the equipe and therefore your pedalling would be less efficient.
Not that the pedals were that bad, Indurain won quite a big race using them and when I moved to LOOK pedals I occasionally grounded them. Maybe I was just crap, but I always figured it was faster to pedal through the corner than coasting, sometimes it just doesn't happen. It wasn't until Shimano introduced the road SPDs that cornering angles really started to be improved. The Equipe Pro's that came in mid-90's were the Criterium cut-away body but with the lower bioposition.
I think you need a picture, better than that I've found an archive review that says 31 degrees of lean-angle. In comparison a Speedplay Zero Ti has 39 degrees of lean.
As to how long my cranks were, I think they were 170's on that bike and no idea on the BB height. It was 20 years ago, the frame has long gone to the scrapyard.
@Jarvis
Thanks, Jarvis! Now I know exactly what you are talking about; and also Lar's comment above, putting a 10 degree difference on it, DID give me a number/picture (as opposed to "these are better than those") - don't have time to check the review right now, but thanks for taking the time to find it! Though that's reference number two in the 10% neighborhood, so I'm convinced yup, those pedals did make enough of a difference to be annoying and at worst even slow-ing. I just never personally ran into them!
BTW, I really appreciate the non-confrontational, informative tone; as well as saying that some of what I'd experienced (that good judgment could at least mostly avoid the problem, even at speed) was valid... which is far more convincing than a fanatic 'I'm right, you're wrong' position. Especially since I was honestly looking for the info, not trying to make anybody wrong. I hadn't ridden those pedals; for some reason I never heard any other fast riders kvetching about them at the time; I know if I screwed up - or was caused to screw up - in a corner, or pushed hard (well, that was, I hope, always!) & precisely as you said, didn't pay really close attention, on either of the two sets of pedals I raced on I'd occasionally bottom out... so I really wondered if there was THAT much of difference a specific set of pedals could make. And I've got my answer.
Thanks! (to @Lars as well)
Alright, a bit off topic, but we are talking about gear. Why do multi-tool makers not include a knife? I don't need a sword or a hacksaw, but a small knife blade is a useful tool.
I have a Crank Brothers m17, which I like a lot. But a nice, small knife blade wouldn't take up any space and could be useful. I don't see any downside, but do see it being useful at some point.
@Ron it'd be handy when you need to show some Cutter who the real Italian PRO is too...just slash a tire instead of jamming your frame pump in the spokes and losing it.
@Karolinka
the archive website also has info about LOOK pedals from the same era and oddly the PP196 which I replaced the Time Equipe's with only had 32 degrees of lean, while the PP156's I had on my training bike had 30 degrees. There wasn't much else on the market, so for err... the time, the Time pedals were up there with the best for cornering clearance. There just seemed to be something about them that made them easier to catch, hence, I presume, the criterium version and the the re-design in the mid-90's.
A mate had a pair on his fixed winter bike. Took a chunk out of the road on a steep descent when a corner caught him out
While we're on reverence, as a counterbalance to my myopic dislike of speedplay, I love these things to bits.
Low stack height, metal body and metal cleat mean they are increadibly stiff and secure, they spin unbeleivable, you can't buy shoes to take them any more and the twisting force required to clip out has ruined knees and led to me sitting on the side of the road, mini tool in hand, shoe still attached to the pedal trying to unscrew the bloody cleat so I could put the shoe back on and back off the tension screw.
BUT for track they are without par. I reluctantly sold them off the track bike because the shoes I had used with them were stuffed and it looked increasingly like I would have problems getting more in the future, so I changed to the same pedal across all my bikes. Regretted it straight away.