Originally Posted by
Kimmo
Not a big deal to me; no harder than unclipping and clipping in. At the lights, I just trackstand.
I mean...needing to do trackstands to avoid the hassle of getting in and out of the pedals is the kind of thing I was talking about.
Originally Posted by
Kimmo
Getting my foot out in an emergency isn't slow, because I generally don't have the straps very tight. In fact, without the clips and straps, I just don't feel safe; no foot retention seems sketchy to me.
Sounds like you're trying to work around the drawbacks of straps by keeping the straps loose.
For the "low hassle" crowd or the "not willing to take any risk of my foot getting stuck on the pedal" crowd like myself flats work very well. Flats with pins and five ten shoes solve any "slip on the pedal" issues and you have a rock solid connection to the pedal without the hassle of clipless.
For the "don't care about the hassle" crowd I can see the appeal of clipless and being physically connect to the pedals in a way it's pretty much impossible to slip out of even when wildly sprinting etc. It's not what I personally prefer but I can understand the appeal.
Straps and toe clips ended up in an awkward area with worse drawbacks than either system, without any advantage over them. Clipless just does the "complete connection to the pedal" thing better. Flats + pins + grippy shoes do the "lowest hassle, fastest and easiest disconnect in an emergency/crash" better.
Your original question was "Did every company in the world just completely give up on making toeclip pedals sexy once clipless was a thing?". I was trying to describe why the answer is "yes". There just wasn't much market left for them.