DHulslander

I started with cleats, clips, and straps on my road bike in 1986 as a 9-11 year old junior roady. They worked great. The big innovation was the cleats had screws and could be adjusted, as opposed to the nailed-in cleats from only a few years before. When I moved to clipless on my MTB in the 90s, I went with Ritchey logic, because that's what came with my Y-bike. I loved them. Predictable engagement, relatively mud proof, and you can tilt to disengage, not just rotate to get out. While working for a certain bike brand in tech support, we'd get warranty bike returns with the Ritcheys still in shrink wrap. Corporate wasn't supposed to let us get anything for free, but the parts would otherwise go to the crusher for metal recycling, and they knew our pay was garbage, so they'd look the other way as long as we weren't stupid about it. I stockpiled the Ritcheys and the cleats. That was about Y2k. I put my last pair on my 2019 Santa Cruz Blur CC X01 Reserve that I bought used in January 2020, replacing my '95 Y-bike (still have it). I don't know what I'll do when those wear out. The cleats work with the SPDs I have on my road bike, so maybe I'll just finally go that route. But I don't have to like it. Or maybe follow my son. He's too young for clipless, (agreed, stupid term in hindsight, but here we are), and has been podium-ing in CX and XC with flats. "Flat pedals win medals" has some truth to it. I ride a ton of miles, am one hell of a mechanic who can make anything work, but I'm also a cheap bastard, and I don't see a lot of room for me with what's available in the current market. Hope this last pair of Ritcheys holds up for awhile (like, 10+ years in my terms).