I love clipless pedals. But, one of the downsides of clipless pedals is that they spelled the demise of toe straps. And with that, the disappearance of Binda toe straps.
I was out in my garage this morning, putting my new bike together and saw my cogs on a toe strap. I use toe straps for tons of stuff. They are irreplaceable for lots of things, most having little to do with cycling now. There was no better product/toe strap than an Binda Extra. It was the cream of the crop of toe straps. Nothing else was even close.
They held your foot so much tighter and lasted so much longer than any other toe strap, it was a no brainer using them. I love innovation. But, I do have fondness for certain equipment of the past. And Binda straps have to be very close to the top of that list.
These nylon staps were not good for hardly anything concerning bicycles.
The Rolls Royce of toe straps, the Binda Extra. I have this one pair of brand new straps. They are a prized possession.
One of mine keeps the safety lever on my lawnmower always engaged. I’ve evolved to the “voile strap” used for backcountry skiing. Great for holding anything. I also use lots of those Velcro cable organizers.
I was curious as to their street value these days:
http://www.benscycle.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=188_506_508&products_id=12803&zenid=ae0e5a28b608389588c063a30a952e40
I hear you… I think/hope I have a new pair in the parts store here. Just like the NOS Campy brake lever covers that I know I have.
Some of the old school stuff is still way better than the new.
I was trying to remember if I had the Extras and ran across this cool virtual museum: http://www.speedplay.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=pedalmuseum.straps
The Regina America freewheels came in this awesome blue tin. When I would install one of these on a customers bike, I would ask them if they wanted the tin. If they didn’t, I certainly did, and I would keep it. I still have a few of these laying around. They are great for change and other small things. The Bindas are a fantastic product, but I don’t miss the day’s of sore feet.
i used to ride the track and there was another strap that was favored as you could actually pull out of the binda’s. I can;t remember the name but it was almost twice as thick and you had a hard time threading it through the pedal body, that would be your main strap and then you would run a binda through the front of the pedal and over the top of the clip as your backup, never pull out of that setup. but it hurt like hell