"Track" vs. "road" pedals (vintage) theory

Retroed Bob writes:

Why were/are traditional track pedals more of a flat design as
opposed to the typical quill design of road pedals ? ( I know there
were platform road pedals, but they are less common and typically
touring oriented).

You mean, why doesn't the pedal cage curve around the outside with the
little pointy bit sticking up? It's for clearance with the track.
Notice that track pedals are narrower, like road pedals with the
outside couple of cm sawed off. That's to keep the pedal from
striking the track, which is often banked to a 43 degree angle.

The wider road pedal is there to provide support for the feet, since
track events tend to take only a few minutes but road events can take
8 hours or more. Track riders usually position their foot with two
toe straps, so the outer pointy thing isn't needed to help keep the
foot from slowly creeping to the outside during pedaling.

Since I have big feet (size 13 US, 12 UK, 48 Euro) I usually found
road pedals too narrow and used to saw or grind off the little pointy
bit that stuck up on the outside edge of the pedal. Clipless pedals
have eliminated this, although those newfangled pedals restrict what
shoes you can wear while riding. I keep one bike- my commuter- with
my modififed road pedaals because of that.

"Nusquam tuta fides." - Vergil
On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 08:40:39 -0600, Tim McNamara
wrote:

You mean, why doesn't the pedal cage curve around the outside with the
little pointy bit sticking up? It's for clearance with the track.
Notice that track pedals are narrower, like road pedals with the
outside couple of cm sawed off. That's to keep the pedal from
striking the track, which is often banked to a 43 degree angle.

This has been repeated so often over the years that it merits
consideration for inclusion in Jobst's Fables, I think. I believe that
if you were to examine a sample of vintage pedal models which had both
road and track variations (the classic Campagolo 1038 track pedals and
their 1037 road counterparts come instantly to mind), you'd find that
the scars left from pedal-strike incidents occur in the pretty much
the same places. The underside of the dustcaps and the lower outside
corners of the pedal cages will bear evidence of where the pedals
first touched down. On road pedals, the protruding loop joining the
front and rear cages (what's the name for that thing, anyway?)
generally won't be blemished unless the bike actually crashed on that
side. Since the pedal bodies are otherwise identical, the outside loop
on a #1037 road pedal is highly unlikely to have struck the road (or
velodrome surface) in a situation where a #1038 track pedal did not as
well.

This isn't to say that there isn't a reason for road and track pedals
to exist, though. In the case of the 1037 and 1038 above, there's a
difference in how the toe strap envelops your shoe as the strap exits
from the opening in the outer loop of the road pedal versus how your
foot is held if the strap exits the track pedal body a couple of cm
inboard.
-------------------------------
John Dacey
Business Cycles, Miami, Florida
Since 1983
Comprehensive catalogue of track equipment: online since 1996.
http://www.businesscycles.com

have you experience plywood?
at 14W, i bought nbar bear traps and bolted ply both sides held by the
traps teeth.
comfort. the extra width allows the hips to motion in a more "natural"
orbit with off course a slight decrease in forward speed.
the mod takes no more than two hours to hack out.cut four squares.clamp
together and sabresaw as one. drill ditto.
and when crossing the 4 wide express blvd in a wide upstream arc
keep that inside foot up!!

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 12:19:48 -0500, John Dacey
wrote:

first touched down. On road pedals, the protruding loop joining the
front and rear cages (what's the name for that thing, anyway?)
-------------------------------
John Dacey
Business Cycles, Miami, Florida
Since 1983
Comprehensive catalogue of track equipment: online since 1996.
http://www.businesscycles.com


It's called a quill.


Kinky Cowboy*

*Batteries not included
May contain traces of nuts
Your milage may vary

"Ego sum rex Romanus, et supra grammaticam." - Sigismund
On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 19:13:34 +0000, Kinky Cowboy
wrote:

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 12:19:48 -0500, John Dacey wrote:

first touched down. On road pedals, the protruding loop joining the
front and rear cages (what's the name for that thing, anyway?)

It's called a quill.

I'm mindful of the recent controversy here about "rake".

Over time in cycling, I've seen "quill" colloquially referring to all
or various parts of pedal cages and also to distinguish track pedals
from road models. Merriam-Webster online suggests that "quill" more
properly describes a pedal's axle and bearing housing arrangement than
the design and shape of the pedal body:

(2) : a hollow shaft often surrounding another shaft and used in
various mechanical devices
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionar...onary&va=quill

Perhaps one of rbt's Guardians of Proper Usage will provide more
specifics.


-------------------------------
John Dacey
Business Cycles, Miami, Florida
http://www.businesscycles.com
Since 1983
Our catalog of track equipment: online since 1996
-------------------------------

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 18:24:59 -0500, John Dacey
wrote:

"Ego sum rex Romanus, et supra grammaticam." - Sigismund
On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 19:13:34 +0000, Kinky Cowboy
wrote:

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 12:19:48 -0500, John Dacey wrote:

first touched down. On road pedals, the protruding loop joining the
front and rear cages (what's the name for that thing, anyway?)

It's called a quill.

I'm mindful of the recent controversy here about "rake".

Over time in cycling, I've seen "quill" colloquially referring to all
or various parts of pedal cages and also to distinguish track pedals
from road models. Merriam-Webster online suggests that "quill" more
properly describes a pedal's axle and bearing housing arrangement than
the design and shape of the pedal body:

(2) : a hollow shaft often surrounding another shaft and used in
various mechanical devices
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionar...onary&va=quill

Perhaps one of rbt's Guardians of Proper Usage will provide more
specifics.


-------------------------------
John Dacey
Business Cycles, Miami, Florida
http://www.businesscycles.com
Since 1983
Our catalog of track equipment: online since 1996
-------------------------------

Dear John,

" . . . a hollow shaft . . ."

If only you had written that with a quill pen.

Wistfully,

Carl Fogel

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 16:43:31 -0700, wrote:

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 18:24:59 -0500, John Dacey wrote:
Perhaps one of rbt's Guardians of Proper Usage will provide more
specifics.

Dear John,

" . . . a hollow shaft . . ."

If only you had written that with a quill pen.

You guys impose too many conditions. It's easier to just remain
ignorant.

-------------------------------
John Dacey
Business Cycles, Miami, Florida
http://www.businesscycles.com
Since 1983
Our catalog of track equipment: online since 1996
-------------------------------

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 19:05:18 -0500, John Dacey
wrote:

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 16:43:31 -0700, wrote:

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 18:24:59 -0500, John Dacey wrote:
Perhaps one of rbt's Guardians of Proper Usage will provide more
specifics.

Dear John,

" . . . a hollow shaft . . ."

If only you had written that with a quill pen.

You guys impose too many conditions. It's easier to just remain
ignorant.

-------------------------------
John Dacey
Business Cycles, Miami, Florida
http://www.businesscycles.com
Since 1983
Our catalog of track equipment: online since 1996
-------------------------------

Dear John,

GOOSE, n. A bird that supplies quills for writing. These,
by some occult process of nature, are penetrated and
suffused with various degrees of the bird's intellectual
energies and emotional character, so that when inked and
drawn mechanically across paper by a person called an
"author," there results a very fair and accurate transcript
of the fowl's thought and feeling. The difference in geese,
as discovered by this ingenious method, is considerable:
many are found to have only trivial and insignificant
powers, but some are seen to be very great geese indeed.

--Bierce

Carl Fogel

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 18:22:53 -0700, wrote:

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 18:24:59 -0500, John Dacey wrote:
Perhaps one of rbt's Guardians of Proper Usage will provide more
specifics.

If only you had written that with a quill pen.

You guys impose too many conditions. It's easier to just remain
ignorant.

Dear John,

GOOSE, n. A bird that supplies quills for writing. These,
by some occult process of nature, are penetrated and
suffused with various degrees of the bird's intellectual
energies and emotional character, so that when inked and
drawn mechanically across paper by a person called an
"author," there results a very fair and accurate transcript
of the fowl's thought and feeling. The difference in geese,
as discovered by this ingenious method, is considerable:
many are found to have only trivial and insignificant
powers, but some are seen to be very great geese indeed.

--Bierce

Ah, I see now. No doubt this is the origin of the expression, "like
script through a goose".


-------------------------------
John Dacey
Business Cycles, Miami, Florida
http://www.businesscycles.com
Since 1983
Our catalog of track equipment: online since 1996
-------------------------------

Retroed Bob wrote:

That's sort of my problem too... I have size 10's and I like to ride
in sneakers a lot of the time (I know, barbaric, but I can hop off
the
bike and be in comfortable footwear... it works for me depending on
where I am riding too). Anyway, I find that most road pedals are too
narrow. The quill on the end gets in the way. I never considered
grinding it off. There are a couple of vintage (platform) and more
modern pedals (triangular a la early Shimano dura ace or 600) that
do not have this issue).

http://www.rivendellbicycles.com/web...ps/14020.htmlh