Wallonthefloor

What color of toe clips should I get? My bike came with black and one of them just snapped (the metal part) when I put my foot in to start my ride today. I am thinking silver might look better than black for my case. I am also considering ordering toe straps but I am unsure.

GromCake

since the rest of your components are black I'd stick with black clips. if your straps are leather and in good condition don't bother getting new ones. if they're nylon, pick up some leather straps.

franswa

I agree. Stick with black cages. Quad gates to be exact. Major improvement over the single strap. Leather is superior to nylon.

Cyril 

*Jesus wept*

GromCake

i've never really been able to tell a difference between single straps and double straps in terms of performance. they both suck compared to clipless. if you really want a performance boost make the switch to clipless.

nightfly

If you're snapping clips and want something different might try velcro straps. No clips to break and feel more secure to me at least than most clip/strap setups. Same or better than doubles and just less then clipless but tons more convenient if you don't mind platform pedals and a less classic look.

T13

Sweet top tube pad, bro.

GhostSS

Switching to clipless isn't going to give you a performance "boost".

sickz

decreasing energy loss between the person and the tire is a performance boost.

T13

Where did it "snap"?

sickz

one clip using two single straps of different material is what i've done for some redundancy. one leather + coated nylon..

Wallonthefloor

It broke at the bottom by where the bolts connect it to the pedal. I had the bike shop order a pair of silver ones for me today, I went through the options of having a single strap/single loophole in the middle type of toe clip, double strap toe clips and velcro straps but I think Im just gonna stick with this basic style.

GhostSS

boost






verb \ˈbüst\
: to increase the force, power, or amount of (something)

"Boost" and "efficiency" are apparently two different words. Sorry, but telling someone that switching to clipless is going to immediately "boost" performance is misleading, especially when comparing one foot retention system to the other.

79pmooney

Toe clips break. They are a consumable. So are the straps. And if you use them as intended, straps pulled tight with aluminum slotted cleats, they are as efficient as the best clipless. And for road fix gear riders, they offer a redundancy downhill that clipless don't.

I hoard toeclips and may eventually have to develop the skills to make them. I buy harness quality leather from a local shop and have them cut down to toeclip width (just a tiny hair under 1/2" works perfect).

Ben

GromCake

the stiffer soles of cycling shoes result in more efficient energy transfer from you to the bike. more efficient use of energy = better/longer performance. this is the most noticeable difference between the two. clipless pedals and shoes also tend to be lighter than toe clips and sneakers, although incremental, this does mean a boost in efficiency while climbing. not to mention the extra foot security, and cornering clearance of the pedals used with clipless setups can boost confidence when riding which can result in better performance depending on the difference of how timid the rider is with clipless vs how timid the rider was with toe clips and straps. after making the switch i would never go back to riding a fixed gear with anything but a clipless system.

GromCake

you're increasing the amount of power that makes it from you through the bike. less of the energy is lost between your muscles and the wheel spinning. this means an increase of power being put into each pedal revolution over the watts used by the rider.

79pmooney

We are talking apples and oranges. Cycling shoes, cleats and pedals vs sneakers and anything. The issue isn't the cleat system, it's those sneakers! Toeclips and straps were designed for racing over a century ago. They envisioned and used cleats from very close to day one. Major Taylor dominated the pro racing scene 115 years ago using pedals and cleats that gave away almost nothing to the best modern clipless. (They did not have aluminum yet, so the cleat itself might have lead to a little loss, but on well maintained ones, probably very little. And shoes have improved a lot although for fit, leather was/is a better material than the new materials.)

Ben

GhostSS

A boost in confidence isn't a tangible property. You can say slightly more efficient, maybe more convenient (depending on the person), but to say "It's gonna give you a performance boost bro!" is as I said misleading.

You give this explanation like I've never heard of clipless pedals before. By your definition wearing a jersey and bib shorts would be considered a performance "boost".

GromCake

that's a good point in scientific terms, but a majority of people that use toe clips/straps these days are wearing floppy street sneakers, not slotted aluminum cycling cleats. and (again, sorry) when you look at potential weight savings, cornering clearance, and the mass availability and affordability of clipless systems today vs slotted aluminum cycling cleats, it makes more sense to go clipless.

T13

Yeah man, toe clips break. I've never bought any toe clips that came in colors, but I'm willing to guess the colored ones are cheaply made. Get some decent ones, that fit yer feet(with yer shoes on, duh) and they should last longer. Keep yer straps tight, and make sure the clips are bolted to the pedal tight, and snug with no play. Obviously bending metal back and forth will stress it, and fail, which is what probably happened on yers, since it snapped in the same two spots at the same time.

79pmooney

The Shimano 600 semi-platforms I use have excellent cornering clearance. Exustar track cleats are readily available and mount on any 3 bolt shoe. $20. All pretty easy.

And that first uncleat at 225 RPM? Not my idea of fun! Having that boost in confidence allows me to descend faster. (Doesn't hurt climbing either.)

Ben

GhostSS

If you're a professional racer measuring seconds shaved off of a 40 mile time trial maybe. We're talking marginally improved efficiency here but you're pretending that it's vastly superior. The points you bring up (weight, cornering clearance, watt efficiency), they differ so slightly "most of us" couldn't tell a difference anyways.

GromCake

this is absolutely true, and a very good point. but being that an overwhelming majority of people riding toe clips are using sneakers, that is what i'm comparing. slotted aluminum cycling cleats are an outlier, if you do bring them into the equation then in terms of power transfer you could call a toe clip system equal to clipless. but this still doesn't account for weight savings and convenience of purchasing and setting up the two.

confidence isn't a tangible scientific comparison but it does yield real world results which, in the end, are what matters. and by your definition a stiffer bb cluster wouldn't result in a performance boost. so let's get over the silly nuance in language use and talk about the actual real world differences between these two systems.

prooftheory

You say this like not getting saddle sores won't improve your performance. The "performance boost" of having stiff soled cleats is pretty easy to see when your feet aren't tired after a century.

GhostSS

This thread has basically gone totally left field. I'm no longer wasting time on it.