Originally Posted by noglider

People are interpreting my original question in various different ways, and that's cool, because the responses are interesting.

When we were 14, my friend and I put toe clips on our bikes at the same time, and then we took a long ride. We loved them so much and swore we would never go back.

In my early 20's I had some shoes with slotted cleats, and they have an obvious advantage over not having cleats, but they were kind of scary. I rarely set my right strap tight.

In my late 20's clipless cleats came out, and to me, the difference between that and toe clips was about as dramatic as the difference between no foot retention and toe clips.