"It's high time that we finally retire the term "clipless." While I am well aware of the origins of the term and respect that it is deeply ingrained in the cycling industry, it is outdated, oxymoronic, and continues to confuse. The irony is that we're using the term "clipless" to describe a product with a binding mechanism that quite literally clips onto a cleat."
"When I started riding mountain bikes in the early 1990s, I used pedals with toe clips, also known as toe cages. While these contraptions certainly helped to keep my feet from bouncing or sliding off the not-so-grippy pedals of the time, they were terrible to use. Yes, it was better than not having them, but it could be pretty awkward to get your feet in and out of them; they often snagged on things and were pretty easy to break."
The term "clipless" remains widely used despite being oxymoronic and confusing because modern pedals mechanically clip onto cleats. Toe clips, or toe cages, predated modern binding pedals and kept feet from bouncing off low-grip pedals but were awkward, snagged, and prone to breaking. Early clipless technology traces to the Cinelli M71 in 1971, which locked a cleat by hand with a lever and was mainly for track racing. Look introduced road pedals in the mid-1980s that retained and released cleats mechanically, transforming pedal engagement. Continued use of the term causes confusion among new riders.
Read at Bikerumor
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