The automatic road pedal, a French innovation
The
automatic bike pedal was born in the small company called LOOK in NIEVRE, which then specialised in the field of ski bindings.
In 1983,
Bernard Tapie's group took control of this company and diversified its activity, looking for other areas that could exploit the quick ski release LOOK system in case of accident.
Thus in 1984, LOOK created the first automatic pedal that would soon make itself known to the general public. The following year, in 1985, Bernard HINAULT won his fifth Tour de France on a bike equipped with
LOOK pedals. The professional peloton would soon adopt the automatic pedal to the point that in the early 1990s, Irish cycling champion Sean Kelly appeared as an alien, stubbornly holding on to his old strap toe-clips.
We are far from the first pedal adapted for the first time to the
draisienne in 1860!
The automatic pedal will therefore impose itself by its many advantages: the shoe is fixed to the pedal; the cyclist is one with his/her bike. There is a considerable increase in efficiency, while one foot presses forward, the other pulls backwards, forces are multiplied. From the point of view of safety, the shoes automatically fall off in the event of a fall.
What is an automatic pedal?
On the shoe is fixed a wedge which is clipped to the system present on the pedal. A spring allows the mechanism to put on and take off the shoe. On some models, this spring is adjustable to easily do it. To remove the shoes, simply turn the heel outwards to release the foot. Alltricks offers a wide selection of more than 70 models (from the simplest to the most advanced) from renowned brands such as BBB, Garmin Vector, Look, Mavic, Shimano, Speedplay, Time...
Your choice will be based on price, weight, adjustment options (for clipping and unclipping), float angle (float will ensure proper alignment of the foot and knee to prevent injury), and especially your needs.