What are these, and how are they used?

Thanks,

Those are kick tabs. They go on the rear facing plate of the pedal so you can nudge it into position to get your foot into the clip.

I would be more specific, they affix at the toe clip center, facing aft on a Campagnolo pedal or dimensional clone.
The purpose is to prevent the show toe from hanging up in the gap between the central pedal body and the forward pedal cage upon engaging. Concurrently Campagnolo brought out their own toe clips with a similar tab as part of the clip, a good idea late to the party as clipless from Look swept the market.

Reason, I have seen folk affix them to the back of the pedal, they don't last long there.

Here's an example of that Campy toe clip. Orphaned and hanging in the basement shop for decades.

FYI the set is part #7283021, per catalog 18 p 53.

The catalog photo shows them with Campagnolo's own toe clips that have integrated guides, so the function seems pretty clear. They are all called "fixing shoe plates" which seems like a bad translation from Italian. They are, as [MENTION=57478]repechage[/MENTION] notes, too fragile to be used on the rear of the pedal. The integrated ones on the Campy alloy toe clips are even more fragile, and almost never survive much use.

People thought they were kick tabs, but not only are they vulnerable there, they don't work well at the task.

I've made similar cutting up an old toeclip, makes stuffing your shoe toe in after flipping the pedal over, faster..

a Cyclocross racing pedal trick, before SPuDs, was 4 0f them fitted on Lyotard 460D pedals. 1 for each toe clip mounting bolt...

I only found 3...







...

I remember those. Like all aluminum toe clips, they were prone to breaking. This was common knowledge BITD. Alloy clips are fine for special rides or time trials or for people that don't ride that far. Then again, since just about no one uses slot cleats nowadays, so it probably doesn't matter a whole lot if they break.

I remember teasing my training buddy about this when I was a teen. "They're gonna break soon, they're gonna break... " Sure nuff, one of them snapped like 50 miles and a 3k + feet of climbing from home. Har har.

I made mine to nearly those dimensions and shape but out of 1/8 X 1/2 flat bar, strong enough that they don't bend with clumsiest of pickups. (I think I have had to straighten one in what?, 40k miles of riding, mostly city.

Didn't realize Campy had patented that. Good thin g is that I never sold one so I didn't infringe!

Ben

Everyone, thanks for the responses and explanations. I knew they weren't kick tabs..because all of the pedals that I've ever seen (or used), hand integral kick tabs built (formed) on the rear edge. I had seen the Campy toeclips with the integral "tab", but I've never understood what it was for..until now.
Thanks,

Thanks from me too! I am pretty "Classic" savvy, but this one is new info. I prolly went to Look pedals before I ever saw this.

Yet fingering my dumbfone on how to link image.

Anyways, link is to depiction of the setup with ally clips, campy pista pedals.

I have aluminum Campag. toeclips on the Bianchi, mainly for the "coolness" factor. All of my other road bikes have steel toeclips, and the mountain bike has big nylon toeclips.

In my experience, the Campagnolo aluminum toeclips were the sturdiest of all the ones I've tried. Perhaps a low bar to clear, but if you really want/need an aluminum toeclip, go with Campagnolo.

That said, Campagnolo also made a steel version of that toeclip, and that is my favorite toeclip. The shoe guide tab does mean that it won't fit on every pedal, though. The front cage plate need to have an opening for the shoe guide tab, and not all pedals have that.

I amount of knowledge on these forums, along with the velocity and gregariousness with which it is freely shared, is really amazing.

Those of us who can still remember are just showing off what we can remember.