hey guys,

i impulsed bought a mid 80's Pinarello Treviso frame and now im just starting the daunting task of building my first bike!

before i start splashing cash on parts and components i wanted to get a better understanding of working clipless pedals onto a vintage frame. I dont think its going to be that easy because im guessing modern pedals = modern crankset = different bottom bracket.

Any advice would be very much appreciated

Thanks
Philjo

First, go ahead wuth clipless pedals on that 80s frame. If there were good enough for Bernard Hinault, then you don't have to explain yourself to anyone. And unless Shimano has done something like bring back their low center of gravity pedals (DX?), you should be able to mix eras on pedals without worry.. Thei rest of the bike? Well, welcome to the 20th century.

...not 100% sure what you are asking, but pedal spindle standards for modern clipless versus older toe clip pedals are the same. They all thread into the same hole.
If your question is one of aesthetics, (as in, in the 80's many people were still riding on older pedals and I want this to look authentic), then that's a different situation.

I'm not good with aesthetic problems. I'm a Philistine when it comes to aesthetics..

The early Look pedals came out in 84 or something like that. They look fantastic on an eighties bike. Any modern road shoe with the three bolt cleat mounting will accept the Look Delta cleats that they used.

I use clipless on all my vintage bikes. Toe clips, straps and cleats? Been there done that, not going back except for Eroica, damn. The only issue is if the crank had French threads, then modern 9/16 threaded pedals are a no/go. I just converted my '78 Peugeot to clipless SPD, by changing the Stronglight crank to a Sugino. All good now. Actually the Stronglight TS had stripped pedal threads when I got it, so changing it was a nobrainer.

My '89 Pinarello was not complete until I found white Look pedals with the Campagnolo logo on the sides. I see no issue. It's about riding.

All but one of my vintage steeds have clipless pedals. They're just more efficient. Besides, it's near impossible to find modern road shoes that will accept old-style cleats.

Hope you faired well in all that rain.
And your bikes, too.

By '86 Shimano was having Look make a pedal for them. This is before SPD and their own systems.
That would be reasonably correct too, they also used the Look cleat.
Later Campagnolo even had to buy in and have Look for a short time produce for them.
The SGR pedal was ignored / refused by the peloton. Im sure that hurt the corporate pride of both companies.
And started the "thing" where bicycles were sold without pedals.

Yeah, those ugly white Look pedals were around. They worked great. Just put Looks on it and it will be 80s enough.

Anyone remember drilling shoes using the template that came with Looks? This was way before 3 holes shoes were standard. You had to make the 3 holes yourself, converting the cycling shoes of the time that were intended for slotted cleats. IIRC they supplied T nuts or something like that, and a paper template of course. Somehow I was the designated driller when it came to these conversions at my LBS.


^^^ I definitely remember the Shimano Look pedals, and the Campy ones. Shimano pushed SPD as a road pedal alternative to Look, until the Look patent ran out, which everyone seems to have forgotten.

Clipless pedals don't care about cranks or bottom brackets; they just care about the cleats they need to mate with.

Shimano A600 look ok on my 1987 Bianchi.

That's what I started out with. The tragedy was that I didn't keep the Crampy pedals that came with the bike.

Shimano had Look-compatible clipless pedals in the '80s. I still have a pair; I think I wore out the original cleats, and have no idea if I have any replacements.

This. "Road" cycling shoes in the '80's idiom would be Look-style, either genuine Look or Shimano Look-style:
VeloBase.com - Component: LOOK PP65
VeloBase.com - Component: Shimano PD-7401, Dura-Ace 7400

If you're not fashion-conscious, I see lots of otherwise-vintage bikes running around with Shimano SPD mountain-type pedals and shoes. They're really nice when you want to walk around normally.

Look "Delta" cleats work fine with those pedals.

Mavic made a Look compatible pedal in the mid 80's, and they were gunmetal grey. These are probably very difficult to find, but aesthetically, not very different from a set of Keo's - just a little bulkeir. So, throw some black or grey (or white) Keo's on, and off you go

A bike shop with the proper tools can rethread it to 9/16 thread. French thread is smaller than the modern standard. I had it done on my TA cranks.

Here's a little inspiration for you.



1985 Pinarello Gran Turismo with an 11-speed Campagnolo Athena drivetrain. As much as bike people like to complain about changing standards, most bikes built in the last 50 years can be made to work with most components you'd want to use on them. The crankset pictured above did indeed require a matching modern bottom bracket, but that bottom bracket was readily available with the necessary Italian threading. That may seem like a no brainer since Campy is Italian, but Shimano makes Italian threaded bottom brackets for their stuff too.

Pedals, as other have mentioned, are mostly easy to mix and match.

Similarly, with Shimano A600 pedals:

I've been running modern Keo "Classics" on most of my C&V bikes and had been very happy doing so.
I could look for, and install early LOOK Carbones, PP76s or period Mavic derivatives for maximum period conformance, but the salient chracteristics of clipless LOOK pedals have not changed since the first ones, were sold that I think, running the LOOK Classics is more than just acceptable on most mid 80's C&V builds. I would also think it would be safest to use the new pedals Instead of ones from the 80's as their release mechanisms would more surely work as intended, compared to old LOOKs that might have mechanisms compromised by deteriorated, contaminated lubrication on internal sliding surfaces. Just like one might not trust old bindings on downhill skis.

I swear someone here once confessed that they have a pair of Campy quill pedals that they keep just for taking pictures of their bikes. It may have been a joke, but I can relate. Vintage pedals look nice, but I would want to have to ride with them.