I’m old as dirt. My first two race bikes employed toe clips and toe straps and that set-up was bad. For many reasons it was bad and any retro-hipster who thinks otherwise is wrong. When Lemond and Hinault started racing on the white Look clipless pedals, everyone but Sean Kelly quickly switched. Talk about a quantum improvement, it was long overdue change. Look made improvements to their models, like the notion of float, and other manufactures jumped in. The new paradigm was a cleat on the pedal, like the original quill pedal system but with a spring loaded snap-in, twist-out pedal. Everyone was happy.
Everyone is happy until you have to replace a worn out plastic cleat. Did I walk a lot in my cycling shoes? Did all liquor stores have rough cement floors with giant moving sanding belts in front of the cash registers? I don’t remember that but I do remember replacing cleats too often and the duplication of cleat position was tedious. I could live with that, practice makes perfect but it was the creaking that drove me to madness. No amount of wax could stop the occasional creaking the cleat and pedals would make while climbing. Rule #65 was being violated before it was a Rule.
Wiser friends had already switched to Speedplay pedals. I was a little wary; they looked weird. One day into using them I understood: total frictionless float, two-sided entry, mindless pedal release. There is no cleat alignment issue as the pedal has no fixed position in the cleat. I was overcome with regret. Why had I waited so long? Why did I stick with creaking Look French pedals? Life is too short for such rubbish and I wasted too much of my cycling life with them. I’ve been using the X-series stainless steel pedals and the original pair was happily going on eighteen-plus years until I replaced the pedal needle bearings and bodies…I don’t want to talk about it. If you employ the good aftermarket cleat covers, and use a little white lightning teflon on the cleat spring bales, the cleats can last a few years. The pedal bodies have grease injector ports. Inject, wipe clean and that is the maintenance routine, easy and fun.
I’ve never used another model of Speedplay so I can’t speak to the advantage of limited float. When riding my right foot does a weird swing out toward the bottom of each stroke. To my mind that is a good thing, the float allows my leg to do that, without that maybe some extra knee wear would occur.
Frank and I have discussed the great pedal switch and his major obstacle to switching pedals is having to switch the whole n+1 stable over and that is not cheap. For Frank and VHM that stable may be five bikes. That’s a lot of pedals. Inertia. Commitment. It’s a big problem. Or one takes Marko’s approach: different shoes for each bike.
I have brand loyalties but if another cycling product is superior in form and function I hope I will see that and move on. Campagnolo gruppos and Chris King headsets are two brands on my bikes that I don’t see moving away from but I would ditch either of those before I would stop using Speedplay pedals. I’m that convinced.
This film is from Peloton’s website. It’s an interesting look at some American cycling manufacturing including Speedplay.
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Oops - uploaded the wrong Rabo picture (anyway, they used to run Colnago/Shimano - but try these ones on
@Pedale.Forchetta
Glad to know I'm in such good company running the same set up.
@Duende
I don't use it very often, every few weeks really. A few drops on the cleat springs and a few drops on the pedals. 80% of my riding is dry so perhaps I'd use it more if I was living in, say, ENGLAND. And @scaler911 is right, those oils hold too much grit. A little wipe down and a little teflon lube and that works well.
@farzani
That's interesting you don't see many SP users in Belgium. Too much mud and cow shit to step in and jam up the works? Maybe because Boonen doesn't use them. Enough pros do use them one would think they would have finally made it into cycling crazed Belgium.
oh, don't worry, we are not forgetting you are a girl. Guys don't forget these things.
@scaler911 @Gianni Thanks for the tip guys. I will head out to buy myself some teflon tomorrow.
@Gianni
Yeah I'd upload a photo but I'm on vacation with only a iDevice, so the photo upload feature is disabled. Noticed one day that clicking in was difficult, and upon inspection discovered that the end had snapped off. Not that surprised, I think the manufacturer states that they are to be replaced every 5,000km, so I had clearly gotten my use out of them.
Speaking of walking up steep hills in them, on the PDX Ronde I lost speed in the last 3/4 of the ride going up a ~20% grade and it was impossible to get started again obviously. Had to walk like 100-200 feet in them, and it was the worst. Hurt more than riding up the hill did.
I've been thinking about switching to Speedplay and after all the comments here I will probably get some next year when I get a *real* bike. When I bought my Sidis this year I bought Look pedals and cleats and I HATE them! Ugh! Worst purchase ever.
I've been running Speedplay zero stainless since 2005 and don't see myself changing anytime soon. I'm on my third set of cleats and have honestly had no issues whatsoever with them. Just a bit of lube and I try to limit my walking in them. I've tried a number of friends/demo bikes during that time and feel completely uncomfortable in a non floating pedal system. Nothing against them but they're just not for me any more.
Plus - If Jens swears by them what other incentive do I need?
Darn it all! You guys got me jonesing for some speedplays! I run cheapo shimano pedals. They work fine, as I do suck. But still..... I initially wanted speedplay and my LBS pushed me away from them fairly hard. My connection at this shop knowing I'm rule #9 compliant and the nastiness of northern new england weather, felt we were a bad match. Reading all of your reports has me second guessing. Was my friend just overreacting? They don't sound that fragile by your accounts.
@graham d.m.
As with any bike part, the cleaner and more in tune you keep them, the longer they'll last.
Living in So Cal we don't get a ton of Rule 9 days. I however do love riding in the rain and make a point of doing it whenever possible and it hasn't caused any issues with mine. I dry them off after a wet ride using my mini compressor and then hit them with a light spray lube as I do my derailleurs etc. I always recommend them to those that ask about road pedals. I know they are not cheap, but the chromoly version runs about $125.00 US which isn't too crazy.