Re: [CR]Goring a sacred cow...are pedal foot movement restraint systems really necessary?

(Example: Racing:Beryl Burton)

Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 14:26:06 -0800
From: "Kurt Sperry" <haxixe@gmail.com>
To: "Tom Sanders" <tsan7759142@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [CR]Goring a sacred cow...are pedal foot movement restraint systems really necessary?
In-Reply-To: <004e01c73287$35455b20$ba6e4d44@ts>
References: <004e01c73287$35455b20$ba6e4d44@ts>
cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org

I hadn't ridden sans clips & straps since I was a little kid, but this spring in Italy the only bike I had handy was an old Peugeot with double-sided Lyotards without them so that's what I rode. What surprised me, once I got over the feeling that my feet were going to slip off the pedals at the exquisitely wrong moment like a pothole on a steep downhill, I began to actually enjoy the feeling. I'd been trained in the '70s that only "Freds" rode without clips & straps and preferably with Italian cleated cycling shoes, so there was no way I was going to be a Fred! I was using minimal adidas Darogas and the pattern on the outsole actually "hooked into" the ratcage Lyotards pretty nicely and after a dozen or so miles- oops 20km- I was at complete ease with it. Did I lose a little pedalling efficiency? Maybe, I'm not sure really. It didn't FEEL any less efficient just tooling around town or even hopping between little towns. I'm now seriously considering fitting my Bartali which gets mostly used as a town bike with naked doublesided MKS Sylvans. I do love not having to wear cycling shoes. Without them the bike feels to me like a real honest to goodness practical transportation device as opposed to merely a piece of dedicated fitness equipment. If you actually use your bike as real transport to go the store and run errands, cycling specific shoes with cleats are a real pain in the ass, even if they are better suited to pure cycling pursuits.

Kurt Sperry Bellingham WA USA

On 1/7/07, Tom Sanders <tsan7759142@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
> I have been talking with a few other folks who have serious doubts that
> any
> but a racer actually pulls up on the rearward pedal. I have heard enough
> tales of a racer accidentally pulling out of a pedal to think that they
> probably do. However, does the casual rider really need toe clips or
> cleats
> or clipless pedals?