Reverence: Speedplay Pedals
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.
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/43771401[/vimeo]
@graham d.m.
Ya. I got a relative or 2 like that….
Currently have Speedplay Zero’s on both my bikes after switching from Shimano to Campy, many moons ago. To this day, I still miss my Dura Ace pedals.
@Skinnyphat no worries – next time I will wait until you correct your posts before commenting.
@Gianni
Meares was fantastic (and what has made both Pendleton and Meares so great has been their rivalry). The victory was made sweeter by the bookies over here who had her at $6 (or 5/1 US betting-speak) before the semis. It seems like the Brit dominance on the boards infected the minds of our Turf Accountants. In hindsight the easiest bet in a while.
Dont know whether you would have seen her celebrating with her family – but it was pretty cool. Meares’ father is a coal miner from Newcastle (think Jon Voigt in Zoolander) and he was waving a home made banner with a picture of his daughter and the words, “Black Caviar on wheels”. Black Caviar is the most famous racehorse around these parts right now because she is undefeated and just had a big win at Royal Ascot. To go to the trouble of making a banner that tells the world you bracket your daughter with a racehorse? Aussie Gold.
@Toby Esterhase
I’ve used teh last 3 generations of shimano pedals (2 Dura Ace, the latest Ultegra) and the dura ace pedals especially are magic.
The old SPD-R dura ace pedals were the best pedals I’ve ever used. Complete opposite of Speedplay – getting in and out of those things was murder on your knees and the retention was enormous. They were nearly 20 years old by the time I had to move them on and still spun like new.
@Toby Esterhase
Word. Tho these are what I miss. Loved the shoes, loved the platform. I know the current stuff is “better”, but those shoes were sooooo comfortable for being so stiff.
When I got the new number 1, i also got my first set of carbon shoes, and decided to get a new clip-less system. The old Look Deltas were no longer high tech enough for the new ride.
I got talked into Shimano 105 instead of new Look Keo’s. While I can tell the pedals are nice and are an improvement over the Delta’s, I miss the feel of the Look’s. And the engagement and disengagement is less automatic feeling. Maybe in a year or two I will switch over to speedplay.
But as a bigger guy, the sturdy platform and the even load distribution on the pedals is a must, and the speedplay’s don’t provide such. The people at the shop weren’t a big fan either.
I really don’t connect with these reverence articles. There’s a lot of great cycling gear out there and the stuff I have locally available is never featured. Specialized, Giro, Zero RH+, Cliff, etc.
Maybe some anti-reverence articles need to come along. I’m sure we can agree on the shitty gear more than the good stuff.
Sorry, meant “switch over to Look”, as in return to them.
@King Clydesdale I upgraded from LOOK Keo Sprints to Keo 2 Max. Actually the Sprints are on #2. The Keo 2 Max are not the cheapest but I prefer the wider platform and they were a fair bit cheaper than the carbon version and only 16 grams heavier.
@Gianni
hahaha, well just making sure you guys don’t take off “hardman” points for not peeing while on the bike…. yep, kind of weird about the Belgians not embracing the speedplays. The only ones I can even find here are zeros. I have to buy parts in Germany.
yep, too much cow poop and mud I rekon.
@Skinnyphat
I’m not too sure on all the stuff about float and such, but the reason I went with SP’s most recently is for the fast clip-in. I don’t race, but I do commute everyday, and getting in and out of intersections and so forth was a big concern of mine. Fast forward a few months and I reckon this is the right system for the application, but wrong in all other regards. My base plates took an absolute beating, and a few times I lost screws out of them during some longer-ish rides. There is also the maintenance thing, though minimal as it may be, is still nothing like the one and done of the Shimano pedals. Another one of those love/hate relationships.
@King Clydesdale
I’ll eat all four of my bikes, my 2 cats and the athlete in my avatar if specialized appears in a reverence article.
That’s a bit harsh since Specialized do make some iconic bits of kit (Stumpjumpers, Epic MTBs, Allez road bikes) but for teh largest part they outsource production to third parties and market the cool factor of their brand. They’re a marketing company, which I think is out of step with the items that appear in the reverence articles – they’re cycling companies first and foremost. Speedplays, I think are US made, closely held and, well, iconic given their shape.
The other stuff you mention, yeah for sure. My pick for the next one is 600mm seatposts so Frink can ride a 56cm Cervelo with a short enough headtube.
@King Clydesdale Like you, I often don’t connect with the Reverence articles, but also sometimes I do – there are so many products out there it’s just a random stab-in-the-dark as to whether or not a given product will relate. Just because you haven’t connected to one yet doesn’t mean you won’t, or perhaps you could write one for yourself and submit it for approval?
@King Clydesdale Tend to agree… the Reverence pieces that I enjoy are the more retro ones, about things that are/were iconic in their time but no longer widely used. But whatever… if other people like them then fine, I just wait until another article comes along.
However since we’re on the subject where I do have a real issue is with articles about sponsors’ kit. As a journalist I’ve had to wrestle with this sort of thing at many levels over the years and it grates when I see it. While people can be over-zealous and see problems where there are none, advertorial is beyond the boundaries in my view.
I would be much happier if it didn’t happen at all, but if it has to happen there are protocols which at least mitigate the problem e.g. disclosure statements.
@Pedale.Forchetta
Are they a big family?
@mcsqueak
That’s what happened to me in the Coast to Coast except it was a couple of k’s. You don’t think that’s what did for the screws do you?
I put some 105 pedals on my current bike (the start of my love of road cycling. It’s my first decent road bike and the first that’s been a decent fit). There wasn’t really anything wrong with them but they never quite felt right especially when clipping my left foot (my left knee is laterally fucked and full of scar tissue from a bunch of other sporting injuries).
I picked up some Speedplays off ebay cheaply and have never looked back. I love the float and fact that I can not only set the amount of float that I have but also the position of that float.
Maintenance is not at all onerous, a wipe down after each ride along with the rest of the bike and a spray with teflon every week or so. If they’re muddy enough that they’re not working well the whole bike is going to need a good going over anyway. (a strong squirt from a bidon can help shift crap if you had to venture into the bushes for a comfort break)
I won’t be going back.
@the Engine
Ahh… happy days when I could completely dismantle my bike with one of these before realising that I had absolutely no idea where or in which order all the pieces went back together.
My dream is to own a classic, Campag Record-shod Italian beauty, a pair of Dromartis, and finally track down a pair of cleats for the Campag Pro-Fit pedals that are waiting on the shelf. At least I’ve got the pedals sorted.
When my mother was introduced to cycling, she started out with Speedplays – but when it came to introducing me to clipless, we found out that the company refuses to deal with my country, and thus, are unavailable offially. With no warranty and no readily-available spares, I can’t afford it – so Shimano’s SPD-SL came instead. Considering total pedal expenses were $40+cleats so far, I guess I won’t lose much if I do switch. I was also wary of the unwalkable cleats – as a Cycling Shit Sandwich-er, I used to run in my cleats on whatever surface the course forced me to – often quite slippery surfaces. Now that I have my dedicated shoes that stay clipped to the bike, I might as well adopt Speedplays. I don’t need the float, but the weight and stack height are definite bonus-points.
For that matter, dirt is a problem for all cleats, not just Speedplays. Last year, during a 600km tour, we stopped at a cafe with palm-trees outside. The half-rotten dates clogged up my SPD-SLs so bad I had to remove them for cleaning at the end of the day, while only one of the Speedplay users had a problem.
@Gianni Float is great when the fit isn’t great. If the fit is spot-on, float is generally (excepting physiological anomalies) not required. For that matter, quite a few pros run without float – a certain COTHO did to great success, for example. Even the ones that use Speedplay might be using them without float (on Zeros, you can adjust). When I got my first Retul fit, my knee was tracking perfect lines – so when I got new shoes and a new bike, we tried the red cleats (float-less) and the motion was exactly the same. The feel, however, was substantially more secure – when my yellows wear out on the first shoes, I’ll go floatless there, too.
A major influence, and oft-disregarded aspect, on our pedaling dynamics is the Q-Factor – it’s often not narrow enough for us to track perfectly through the stroke. I recall reading an article that summarized the fit-process of Garmin’s Tom Danielson – he suffers from supination, causing him to pedal heels-in and forcing him to use wide cranks to avoid the chainstays. His problems were solved by sticking to the float-less cleats, but adding varus tilt to allow him to pedal straight again – and return to his preferred, narrow Rotor 3D cranks.
@wiscot
With the dismal summer we’ve been having round here, I’ve been taking my BB30 cranks off for a good clean and grease every three or four rides. If I don’t they do get rather noisy. I’ve got an appropriately calibrated torque wrench from when I had an old car that needed constant attention but it certainly makes the job much easier and takes some of the risk out of it.
@Chris
Ah – I’d forgotten about this tool. @Oli – does it have a name?
@the Engine
Wankspanner?
@mouse Multifit wankspanner?
I would say damn the cost, mortgage the house and change them all out! Have loved these pedals since I first tried them. They require love and care and a nice set of cafe covers (helps with the peeing issue) but well worth it. Also get a sort of perverse smug satisfaction watching people trying to flip over their pedals to clip in while your already in and riding away….
Big props, Gianni! Nice piece on an excellent product. I loves me my Speedplays””I’m all over them like white on privilege. I added the stainless steel Zeroes this spring for no good particularly good reason (p + 1), replacing a perfectly good pair of the chromoly. Light, easy, and smaller””great for cornering with confidence.
All this tefloning and lubing, though, has me puzzled. I’ve heard here and elsewhere about how temperamental Speedplays can be, but outside of getting some snow/ice lodged in them in the winter (@Gianni: totally sucks), I’ve had nary a problem without any kind of regular maintenance. Maybe I take Rule #69 too much to heart (Birks””the cool man’s Adilettes””to the garage, so only a few shorts steps into the café are the only steps off the bike), but they’ve always worked great for me. Maybe I’m missing something?
@tessar You should be able to get Campagnolo Pro-Fit cleats through any authorised Campagnolo retailer – they are still produced, and I get mine without issue through the local wholesaler here in New Zealand whenever I wear them out.
@the Engine I’m not sure if it’s an official nomenclature, but we all used to call those the Raleigh tool.
@gianni
Damn you and this article. I’ve lusted after SP pedals for too long now, and even though i’m a long time Shimano user, i’ve on more than one occasion thought about making the switch.
This article may well just push me over the edge. It was also interesting during the tour to note that Sir Bradley of Wiggins is also an SP user……..
@Steampunk I went to Speedplays from toe clips as you suggested. Cannot imagine using anything else. I don’t find them in the least bit tempermental. Dry lube every couple of weeks and I’m good to go. Thanks again for the advice.
@Oli
Just remembered – it used to come in the plastic bag on the bars when you bought a new bike.
That memory is older than Chris Hoy.
I’m not going to read this. I won’t. I can’t. I can’t be tempted even further to giving Speedplays a try. Look pedals on three of my road bikes, not about to go sorting all that out, plus shoes and cleats. I won’t. I refuse. But, I’m getting closer to caving in…
And to add to the desire to give it a shot, a pair of my Look pedals has a very annoying axle wobble that I need to sort out. On an otherwise Silent & awesome machine every pedal stroke offers a weird grumble I feel in the sole of my right foot, then right up through my entire body. Argh.
Thanks, Gianni! But, I’m stayin’ strong, at least for today.
@Kyle
Glad you like them.
Reflecting further on the pic at the top: I recently got a new pair of cleats for new shoes. The only option was in yellow. Weird. The older ones look like Gianni’s; the newer ones have yellow trim, which likely isn’t visible while I’m riding, but still doesn’t look/feel quite right…
@936adl ebay is your friend, not only will a careful bit of work get you a relatively inexpensive pair but, if some bizarre reason you don’t actually like them, you’ll be able to unload them for at least as much as you paid for them in the first place.
@Oli Great to know – they look (and weigh!) like something long gone. They’ll still have to wait for the right bike, though.
@minion
Specialized shoes are amazing. I have very odd shaped feet, very wide up front, with a skinny heel, and finding comfortable shoes is near impossible. My specialized shoes fit like a glove, have great stiffness, and cost gobs less then the big Euro shoe brands. I don’t own anything else from Specialized other then my mulitool, but the shoes are A+.
@farzani
OK, I’ll be That Guy and ask the inappropriate question: male pro racers just do the bio break/water the flowers thing by whipping It out – everyone just turns away, and the cameras pan to the lovely sights in the distance. Female pro racers are doing about as many hours in the saddle, and their hyrdation requirements are essentially the same. But I don’t see their races labelled with neutral “feed/pee zones.” How do the female pros “get it done?” Surely there is a V-Skill involved here.
Inquiring minds….
@King Clydesdale I have heard nothing but good things about Specialized shoes.
Having @ Gianni make fun of me for a newb mistake I made way back when got me looking at my cleats and re lubing the screws. I noticed that the strike heels on my Northwaves were looking rather worn out. So I emailed Northwave to find out were I can buy a new pair. That was 2 days ago. Today I got an email from a Vittoria rep here in the US asking for my addy so they can send me a pair. Thats some awesome customer service in shoes that are from 2009.
As I was typing this I got another email letting me know they were in the post and I should have em by Monday.
@eightzero when I raced, if it was a stage race, the woman wearing the leaders jersey had the all powerful decision to call a “pee zone”. when she did, we all jumped off and did our deeds. If not a stage race, there is a mass discussion in the peleton. and yes we just drop trouw, squat and pee….triathletes well they just pee in their little suits….
@the Engine
I had a few of those. Pretty much useless as there was no leverage and it was so gnarly it hurt your hand to try and use it. Probably a wizard wheeze to use up some left-over metal in the manufacturing process and call it a “multi-tool.”.
@farzani
Yet another reason to disdain triathlon. I have never mentally recovered from the description of a tri-quaintance who had learned to pee in his shorts and then squirt water to sort of wash it off – it was like he’d learned the secret of solving Rubik’s cube. Which is fine if you are competing for an Olympic medal, but less fine when you’re aiming for fourth out of seven in the local age group category.
On the subject of triathlon, several other Brit tri-friends (I really need to review my social list) were literally talking about Alistair Brownlee as a combination of Michael Phelps, Brad Wiggins and Mo Farah. I had to point out he would have come last in the Olympic TT by some distance, even though he was allowed to draft… as well as being considerably slower on the swimming and running legs. I know it is different doing it in combination but that’s the point… he’s not a great runner, cyclist, or swimmer – he’s a great triathlete.
Switching to Speedplays was the best move I have made in a long time. After suffering from patellar tendonitis for two seasons and trying all forms of rehab (including 8 weeks off the bike !!!), I switched from my Look pedal to Speedplay. It wasn’t overnight, but the knee pain slowly diminished over the course of about six weeks. Now combine those great pedals with my new Speedplay specific Sidi’s…. oh yeah!
Also, I have to question the thinking that there is too much float. Form and efficiency don’t come from locking your foot in a particular position. If you have bowed legs or an awkward stroke to begin with, forcing your feet into alignment ain’t gonna help.
See what Speedplays have done for me. That’s me on the right, my friend who rides much more than I do, but with Look pedals on the left.
http://velominati.com/wp-content/uploads/readers/pakrat/2012.08.09.16.08.31/thighs.jpeg
@ChrisO this reminds me of my favorite tri mantra, “Swim, Bike, Run, We’re good at none”. Repeat.
@pakrat I get sick evertime I see that picture.
@RedRanger
One, I also am a big fan of Specialized shoes and gloves and saddles. Specialized actually thinks about design.
Did I make fun of you? I don’t think so. It’s the opposite. I was the one who didn’t lube his screws and moaned about creaking Look pedals. Congrats on the new shoes. No one does that. I’m very impressed by Northwave-Vittoria.
@ChrisO
Ohhh, heading into dangerous ground here but I completely agree with you. But, in all fairness to the site, they never claim to be objective about anything!
But, yeah, seems really tainted to me when there is a reverance piece about some new gear that just happens to be a site sponsor. Seems like a sell out. But then again, they do not get paid any money by us to run this site and if they get free products or reduced prices, good on them! Torn on this one. Fortunately it really does not matter what I think about it!
But I do love the retro-reverance pieces. I have learned a great deal from those ones.
Okay Keepers, feel free to through me into the penalty box.
@tessar
“we found out that the company refuses to deal with my country,”
Dates jammed in cleats, where do you live? It sounds interesting.
Float-no float, Yeah, I agree that pros don’t seem to need it. But you see pros screwing around with their cleats enough that they may wish they had some. My knees are old and worn so I’m glad not to put any additional strain on them.
@Buck Rogers
I actually don’t mind if the site gets sponsored by a given brand and then has a reverence piece for the stuff. Its just the stuff that gets revered at times isn’t something I like, need, or care for.
I will be trying Fizik bar tape once the OEM Giant stuff, which isn’t terrible, wears out.
@Oli
I haven’t wrote a piece that has made it onto the site since my Irene piece. I have terrible writing skills, I am a scientist after all, but maybe I can put something together.
@Gianni Do they make good gloves as well? I am in dire need of new gloves myself. Just never get around to buying any. What model are you using?
@Steampunk
As I said before, I really don’t do much myself. A little teflon every few weeks if they seem to need it but I agree, they are not trouble. And I inject the bearings maybe every other year or when they seem buggered. Yeah, no trouble.
@graham d.m.
Nice work laddie. Love a good abstract.
I’m always confused about the “have to flip over the pedal” argument, at least for Shimano SPD-SLs. The back of the pedal always points down because of the weight – no “flipping” involved.
@King Clydesdale No, I was relating to ChrisO comments, not yours. Not sure why your name was in my quoted post. I guess that ChrisO had responded to your post.