Clipless pedal history

Quoted message said:

While searching unsuccessfully for more data on clipless pedal
testing, I came across this timeline, with with pictures of pedal
inventions:

http://www.speedplay.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.history

So much for my vague notion that clipless pedals are modern! A
clipless pedal with twist to lock unlock and with float was invented
in 1895 by Charles Hanson. Keep scrolling right, and you'll see
furious clipless invention in the next few years, but it all seems to
have vanished with the patenting of toe-clips.

(I liked the idea of a magnetic clipless pedal, 1897.)

This is the sort of thing that leads Jobst to remark that most "new"
bicycle technology has been around forever.

I also liked the 1895 comment to the left of the first clipless pedal:

"1895: U.S. has two patent offices, one for bicycles and one for
everything else."

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Very interesting, Carl, thanks for posting the link.

Smokey

carl fogeled:

Quoted message said:

While searching unsuccessfully for more data on clipless pedal
testing, I came across this timeline, with with pictures of pedal
inventions:

http://www.speedplay.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.history

So much for my vague notion that clipless pedals are modern! A
clipless pedal with twist to lock unlock and with float was invented
in 1895 by Charles Hanson. Keep scrolling right, and you'll see
furious clipless invention in the next few years, but it all seems to
have vanished with the patenting of toe-clips.

(I liked the idea of a magnetic clipless pedal, 1897.)

This is the sort of thing that leads Jobst to remark that most "new"
bicycle technology has been around forever.

I also liked the 1895 comment to the left of the first clipless pedal:

"1895: U.S. has two patent offices, one for bicycles and one for
everything else."

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

I forgot all about riding trails with toe clips
until I saw this timeline and noted that the original
Shimano spuds didn't show up until 1990.
I can recall now that clip breakage was an occasional
problem on trail rides that led some of us to bring
an extra toe clip (the remaining clip from the last
incident) along on rides.

Interesting that this presentation from Speedplay
does not mention the Time mtb pedals. Maybe
Speedplay is trying to stuff Time down the
Memory Hole. The original Times were quite different
than either the Speedplays or the spuds, but gained
a reputation for ultra-reliability and became the pedal
of choice for many serious trail riders, despite their
clunky appearance. Since the spuds and Times
came on the market, advances in mtb pedal design
have consisted mainly in making the pedals
look more like fighter jets.

Robert