Newfangled, Part Duex

I remembered a bunch of stuff I left off the first list of awesome advancements in cycling. A TCI commenter commented on “Newfangled” that he was surprised I’d left off clipless pedals. Oh, heck yeah.

So, let’s see. Up until the late eighties, both road and mountain bikes sported toe clips, a sort of foot cage on your pedal into which your foot slid and could go no further. You could ratchet them down by leaning over and pulling on a skinny leather or fabric strap while rolling, thus achieving “superior performance,” but beware the need for sudden detachment. Emergency situations do not lend themselves well to leaning over and un-ratcheting to prevent falling over like a felled tree in the middle of an intersection or on a creek-spanning log.

Enter SPD’s. Spuds. “Clipless.” SPD stands for Shimano Pedaling Dynamics and is another one of those Kleenex/facial tissue things where nobody even remembers that it’s a brand versus an actual word. From the horses’ mouth (Shimano website):

“SPD is a system that performs whether you’re on or off the bike, designed to meet the needs of mountain bike riding. We eliminated toe clips and integrated the pedal and outsole into a single, unified power transfer system to boost power to the pedal. It makes pedaling more efficient with a wide variety of shoe and pedal styles and the recessed cleat makes walking more comfortable.”

It really was kind of revolutionary, once you got past the pissing and moaning about having to buy special bike shoes to go with your special bike pedals, and once you remembered to actually bring those shoes with you when driving to the trailhead or ride start which is one more excellent reason to ride to the start. Barring the far-away, exotic ride, isn’t driving to the ride start kind of like taking the elevator at the gym?

And sure, we all fell over a lot at the beginning until that sideways foot/ankle motion became second nature (and sometimes we still do), but it sure beats leaning over to yank on your toe clip while trying not to crash.

The new generation of mountain bikers are loving their flat pedals and I suppose I understand the appeal—easy egress, no stupid tip-overs, but man, is it hard to get liftoff, to use a full pedal stroke uphill, or to not have your feet fly off the pedals when the going gets chunky. Yeah yeah, you can employ the shoe/pedal “system” (sound familiar?) of mini-spikes and rubber soled shoes so they kind of stick, but then you need shin pads to prevent pulverization of your flesh every time that pedal comes around and embeds itself in your leg.

For road biking, clipping in is just baseline. They’ve got ever more specialized pedals/shoes for that—lighter, stiffer, etc. and so on. They are generally super bulky on the bottom, like a reverse high-heel that does not play well with tile, marble, or really any surface besides a pedal. When not actively pedaling, road shoes are only good for sending you sprawling across the coffee shop floor, and if you thought roadies looked dumb in their lycra whilst upright, you should see them covered in hot coffee and donut sprinkles under your table.

So while the nomenclature is a real PITA (pain in the ass)—”clipless,” where you…clip in…I’m giving SPD’s, clipping in, and being attached to my bike a hearty thumbs up for newfangled awesomeness. Another thing I clearly left off Newfangled-n-Nifty list is the e-bike, but that minefield needs its own whole column.