Bike shoes from off of the 80s

corblimey

Someone put me out of my misery. I have this memory from the 80s of trying on what I think were bike shoes that a friend of mine owned. They were soft and pliable but the bit I most remember was a thick bar across the middle, running perpindicular to the shoe. Did I imagine these shoes? Were they not in fact bike shoes, but something else. This might belong in the retro forum, but I figure some of the people here were cycling their raleighs around the estates during the 80s.

cdaly_

I'm pretty sure they were bike shoes. I suspect they were intended to be used with toe clips and straps. The bar would 'latch' into the cage-type pedal so you wouldn't slip backwards out of the toe clips. Known as Quills...

easygoing39

Yep,thats the type of shoe I wore back in the mid 80's.The slot went over the cage part of the pedal at the back.Used with toe straps.Showing my age here!!LOL

corblimey

Tks folks. I'm not showing my age, cos I was only -8 years old when I tried them on

Good to know I didn't imagine them - they were a b@st@ard to walk in, but I suppose that was hardly the point

Pat Kavanagh

corblimey wrote: »

Someone put me out of my misery. I have this memory from the 80s of trying on what I think were bike shoes that a friend of mine owned. They were soft and pliable but the bit I most remember was a thick bar across the middle, running perpindicular to the shoe. Did I imagine these shoes?

Feck, I must be getting old. I still have a pair of those.

doozerie

My first road pedals were the quill type (well, to be more precise, they were a more modern style which tapered to a pointy and flat section at the front where the toe clips attached - I thought they were the mutt's nuts until I discovered clipless pedals!). My first shoes were actually much like modern shoes and I don't think very old shoes would have differed that much (mind you, this was the mid 80's so my shoes were relatively modern at the time). They had plastic soles which was perhaps the biggest difference to current shoes but the rest was similar - leather uppers and velcro closures. I guess ratcheting closures would be the other significant difference on many current shoes.

Anyway, the cleats attached to the shoe in the same way as modern cleats do, and the older cleats were no more bulky than the Look cleats that I subsequently moved to so walking around on them was comparable. The older cleats were very simple though, just a lump of plastic with a slot cut out of them that settled around the upright back plate on the body of the pedals. Once your cleats were settled onto the pedal you tightened the straps and your feet were not coming out of there in a hurry - emergency stops were certainly "interesting", so I used to ride with the straps loosened at times e.g. when cycling past the bunches of men's men who used to go bowling on the hills near my parents' house (as I was dressed in lycra I was clearly an abomination, potetntially even a carrier of "The Gay", and as such their christian duty was to try to protect fellow christians by forcing the likes of me head first into a ditch as their god intended).

By their nature the older cleats had absolutely no float either so if you positioned the cleats badly the odds of you developing a strain injury were high. Plus the straps and toe clips were not comfortable across my feet either as the soft uppers of the shoe didn't give much protection (perhaps older shoes had stiffer uppers?). Not even nostalgia would drive me back to using those horrible things again.