Speedplay pedals

cyfac

Hi All, Looking at changing over from shimano anyone got some reviews on the speedplays good bad or indifferent thanks...

Borderfox

Light and aero but fragile and if you don't use specific shoes the spindle to cleat distance gets quite large

Lumen

Faff to fit to regular shoes, cleat screws tend to loosen, bearings need regular lubrication, expensive.

Otherwise great. :pac:

Wishbone Ash

Very expensive initial outlay if you have to change over several bikes and shoes but anyone that uses them say they wouldn't go back.

Raymzor

cyfac wrote: »

Hi All, Looking at changing over from shimano anyone got some reviews on the speedplays good bad or indifferent thanks...

I have been using them on shimano shoes for 4 years. I have had no issues with them. You don’t need to buy anything special to service them. I’ve never had to change the bearings as I keep them well greased.

doozerie

I’ve been using Speedplay Zero pedals for about 8 years now across two bikes. My wife also has them on two bikes for several years. I service all of them, including replacing the bearings as needed, so all in all I’ve a fair bit of experience with them at this stage.

As for my opinion of them, shortened version is: if they offer you something you really want/need, at a cost you can live with, and you are happy to live with the maintenance effort they require, then go for it, otherwise I'd avoid them. I'm still using them because, having invested heavily in them, it is cheaper to stick with them than replace them.

Long version is a collection of subjective opinion and experience, your mileage may vary but here is my take on Speedplay Zero pedals:

Pros:
* Being double-sided is handy.
* Being small allows you to drop the bike more into bends without hitting the pedal off the ground. For me this is perhaps the biggest pro because I like leaning over into bends.
* They have adjustable float, you can have as much or as little as you like and you can change it as needed.
* Low stack height, though as already mentioned in other posts that depends on your shoes and anyway, Speedplay are by no means the only option for low stack height in pedals these days.
* Obviously very subjective this one, but they don’t look bad, if you care about aesthetics. Their shape, size, and variety of colours means that anyone could probably find a good match with their bike. You’re not looking at them while riding the bike though (or if you are, you are doing it wrong!) so this pro is way down the list for me.

Alleged pros/marketing sh1te:
* Light weight - the pedals themselves are relatively light but the cleats are heavy so if you are comparing their weight against other pedals you really need to factor in the respective cleats too so check the details of the weights declared for them.
* A cure for knee problems - in fairness to Speedplay themselves they don’t make this claim (that I’ve seen) but there are lots of anecdotes online about how these pedals were responsible for resolving long-running knee problems. It’s actually one of the things that appealed to me when I switched to Speedplay as I was having a knee problem for some time by then and I was willing to put blind faith ahead of common sense in expecting a pedal to make everything alright again. It’s not true though, how could it be. Sure, you might find that the adjustable and wide range of float help with some types of knee issue but really just take the hype about their miraculous healing “abilities” with a huge pinch of salt.
* Low maintenance - no. I’ve had true low maintenance pedals, pedals I’ve never had to grease or replace the bearings in and after several years of use they felt as smooth as ever and with no play in them. Speedplay are not low maintenance, by any definition of that phrase that I understand.

Cons:
* Design - subjective this, but I consider the design of these pedals poor. In making the pedals so small they made some compromises in the design, inevitably. They use small bearings, which generally means a shorter lifespan. Sealed bearings would help but the outer bearing in particular can’t have any seals because you have to push grease right through it to get to the inner bearings. So the outer bearing is very susceptible to dirt and water ingress. And anything that gets through the outer bearing will hammer the spindle bearing. On the inner side, close to the crank, there is a rubber ring to act as a seal but it gets dislodged easily (it gets pushed out of place when you inject grease, for example). I’ve had water squirt out of these pedals when I injected fresh grease, they simply do not keep water out at all.

* Maintenance - I’ve spoken to several owners of Speedplay pedals who said their pedals require no maintenance. I’ve read the same thing online quite a lot too. That has not been my experience at all. Or, more correctly, I assumed it was the case at the start too but in my case that assumption was based on ignorance. If you read the small print from Speedplay themselves, they state that the pedals should be re-greased after every 1,000km or after every wet ride …that’s quite often, in reality. They also state that if the pedals spin freely, they need re-greasing - that’s in contrast to what some might believe, that a long-spinning pedal equates to good healthy bearings.

So you need to grease your pedals regularly. And the bearings will wear out regardless, which shouldn’t come as news to anyone but you might be surprised at how quickly they’ll wear out. Last time I replaced the bearings in (one pair of) my pedals the pedals spun well enough but when I removed the bearings I found the spindle bearing in particular was shot, its terrible state wasn’t at all obvious without opening up the pedal (which Speedplay say you shouldn’t do, incidentally, they want you to buy a brand new pedal body instead of replacing bearings - a new pedal body costs most of the price of a new pair of pedals so to encourage you they make demonstrably false claims saying that the bearings can’t be removed from the pedal body - doesn’t endear them to me, that kind of crap).

And when it comes to greasing the pedals, the “official” Speedplay grease gun is expensive as is their recommended grease. I have both but I’ve come to prefer using a generic smaller grease gun and generic marine grease (the recommended grease for Speedplay is good grease, I’m sure of that, but I find marine grease as good). You’ll find videos online of people injecting grease into the pedals with syringes too, which is another convenient and cheaper option. Any video I’ve seen of anyone injecting grease into the pedals with any gun/syringe shows it as a very easy task though, something else which differs from my experience - sometimes the grease goes in easily, pushing out the contaminated grease the other side, sometimes I encounter such resistance that it becomes a real westlling match to get the fresh grease in (I suspect that’s a measure of how much road crap has got into the outer bearing).

Oh, and you are supposed to lube the cleats and faces of the pedals routinely too. For that you use dry lube. Personally I stopped doing that a few years ago. That’s perhaps a factor in the occasional issue I have when clipping in (below) but in general my omitting this maintenance step hasn’t caused me any problems.

* Messy - whenever I inject fresh grease, during the next ride some additional grease inevitably works its way out of the inner side of the pedal and gets onto the cleat. Don’t walk on your Sunday best carpets with these cleats on!

* Re the cleat screws coming undone, that'll happen if you don't tighten them enough first time. Fresh cleat screws have a threadlock compound on them which works pretty well at keeping the screws in place, I've found. But you have to tighten them enough or it simply can't work. Tighten them too much and the spring in the cleat will bind and you won't be able to clip in and/or out, so people seem to err on the side of leaving them a little too loose - I did this too at the start, having first tightened them too much, but I've had no such problems at all since I got it "right". So it's arguably another con of these pedals that it takes some getting used to to get the cleats attached properly/reliably.

* Speedplay pedals are expensive, there is no getting away from that. Replacement cleats are expensive too, and they are even more expensive since they introduced their “aero cleats” which are basically the same cleat but with a rubber cover to make you less prone to sliding around like a giraffe on ice when walking on the cleats (maybe I’m cynical, but this seems like an attempt to address an issue with the original cleat which was used as an opportunity to charge more for the new cleats by adding the “aero” tag). Decent replacements bearings are pricey too. And if you buy the Speedplay grease gun and recommended grease the costs add up even further. Looking at these pedals across their lifetime they are even more expensive then their already steep price tag suggests.

* The bearings and cleats are not the only things to wear out, the pedal body itself wears over time too, and then you have no choice but to buy new pedals bodies or throw some more cash at it and buy a completely new pair of pedals. I haven’t replaced the body on mine or my wife’s pedals, but I’ve heard of people having to replace them regularly, it seems to depend on your pedalling style and in particular depends on whether you tilt your feet when you pedal.

* Sometimes hard to clip into. Every now and again I hit an issue where I can’t clip in on my first attempt, the cleat just seems to catch on the pedal and I have to lift my foot off and try again and usually it works fine on the next attempt. It’s a minor thing but it’s just a reminder that no pedal is perfect when it comes to clipping in, even if double-sided.


...a lengthy post this, but its length is not really a measure of how much frustration Speedplay pedals have caused me over the years, to give a proper sense of that I'd have to write a lot more! :pac:

OleRodrigo

They're like pinheads and ruin a nice crankset.

Wishbone Ash

doozerie wrote: »

...Being small allows you to drop the bike more into bends without hitting the pedal off the ground. For me this is perhaps the biggest pro because I like leaning over into bends....

Unless you're riding fixed, would you not have your inside foot raised while cornering?

doozerie

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Unless you're riding fixed, would you not have your inside foot raised while cornering?

In a race I want to give myself every chance. Many people go wide on corners and/or freewheel around them, I can make up several places in a bunch quite easily by taking the inside line and pedalling through the bend.

Certainly in the US the popularity of criterium racing means that they seem to have a strong market for frames with a raised bottom bracket for the very same reason, to get extra clearance to pedal through the bends. Speedplay pedals give a very modest bit of extra clearance in that context, but it all helps.

Raymzor

doozerie wrote: »

I’ve been using Speedplay Zero pedals for about 8 years now across two bikes. My wife also has them on two bikes for several years. I service all of them, including replacing the bearings as needed, so all in all I’ve a fair bit of experience with them at this stage.

As for my opinion of them, shortened version is: if they offer you something you really want/need, at a cost you can live with, and you are happy to live with the maintenance effort they require, then go for it, otherwise I'd avoid them. I'm still using them because, having invested heavily in them, it is cheaper to stick with them than replace them.

Long version is a collection of subjective opinion and experience, your mileage may vary but here is my take on Speedplay Zero pedals:

Pros:
* Being double-sided is handy.
* Being small allows you to drop the bike more into bends without hitting the pedal off the ground. For me this is perhaps the biggest pro because I like leaning over into bends.
* They have adjustable float, you can have as much or as little as you like and you can change it as needed.
* Low stack height, though as already mentioned in other posts that depends on your shoes and anyway, Speedplay are by no means the only option for low stack height in pedals these days.
* Obviously very subjective this one, but they don’t look bad, if you care about aesthetics. Their shape, size, and variety of colours means that anyone could probably find a good match with their bike. You’re not looking at them while riding the bike though (or if you are, you are doing it wrong!) so this pro is way down the list for me.

Alleged pros/marketing sh1te:
* Light weight - the pedals themselves are relatively light but the cleats are heavy so if you are comparing their weight against other pedals you really need to factor in the respective cleats too so check the details of the weights declared for them.
* A cure for knee problems - in fairness to Speedplay themselves they don’t make this claim (that I’ve seen) but there are lots of anecdotes online about how these pedals were responsible for resolving long-running knee problems. It’s actually one of the things that appealed to me when I switched to Speedplay as I was having a knee problem for some time by then and I was willing to put blind faith ahead of common sense in expecting a pedal to make everything alright again. It’s not true though, how could it be. Sure, you might find that the adjustable and wide range of float help with some types of knee issue but really just take the hype about their miraculous healing “abilities” with a huge pinch of salt.
* Low maintenance - no. I’ve had true low maintenance pedals, pedals I’ve never had to grease or replace the bearings in and after several years of use they felt as smooth as ever and with no play in them. Speedplay are not low maintenance, by any definition of that phrase that I understand.

Cons:
* Design - subjective this, but I consider the design of these pedals poor. In making the pedals so small they made some compromises in the design, inevitably. They use small bearings, which generally means a shorter lifespan. Sealed bearings would help but the outer bearing in particular can’t have any seals because you have to push grease right through it to get to the inner bearings. So the outer bearing is very susceptible to dirt and water ingress. And anything that gets through the outer bearing will hammer the spindle bearing. On the inner side, close to the crank, there is a rubber ring to act as a seal but it gets dislodged easily (it gets pushed out of place when you inject grease, for example). I’ve had water squirt out of these pedals when I injected fresh grease, they simply do not keep water out at all.

* Maintenance - I’ve spoken to several owners of Speedplay pedals who said their pedals require no maintenance. I’ve read the same thing online quite a lot too. That has not been my experience at all. Or, more correctly, I assumed it was the case at the start too but in my case that assumption was based on ignorance. If you read the small print from Speedplay themselves, they state that the pedals should be re-greased after every 1,000km or after every wet ride …that’s quite often, in reality. They also state that if the pedals spin freely, they need re-greasing - that’s in contrast to what some might believe, that a long-spinning pedal equates to good healthy bearings.

So you need to grease your pedals regularly. And the bearings will wear out regardless, which shouldn’t come as news to anyone but you might be surprised at how quickly they’ll wear out. Last time I replaced the bearings in (one pair of) my pedals the pedals spun well enough but when I removed the bearings I found the spindle bearing in particular was shot, its terrible state wasn’t at all obvious without opening up the pedal (which Speedplay say you shouldn’t do, incidentally, they want you to buy a brand new pedal body instead of replacing bearings - a new pedal body costs most of the price of a new pair of pedals so to encourage you they make demonstrably false claims saying that the bearings can’t be removed from the pedal body - doesn’t endear them to me, that kind of crap).

And when it comes to greasing the pedals, the “official” Speedplay grease gun is expensive as is their recommended grease. I have both but I’ve come to prefer using a generic smaller grease gun and generic marine grease (the recommended grease for Speedplay is good grease, I’m sure of that, but I find marine grease as good). You’ll find videos online of people injecting grease into the pedals with syringes too, which is another convenient and cheaper option. Any video I’ve seen of anyone injecting grease into the pedals with any gun/syringe shows it as a very easy task though, something else which differs from my experience - sometimes the grease goes in easily, pushing out the contaminated grease the other side, sometimes I encounter such resistance that it becomes a real westlling match to get the fresh grease in (I suspect that’s a measure of how much road crap has got into the outer bearing).

Oh, and you are supposed to lube the cleats and faces of the pedals routinely too. For that you use dry lube. Personally I stopped doing that a few years ago. That’s perhaps a factor in the occasional issue I have when clipping in (below) but in general my omitting this maintenance step hasn’t caused me any problems.

* Messy - whenever I inject fresh grease, during the next ride some additional grease inevitably works its way out of the inner side of the pedal and gets onto the cleat. Don’t walk on your Sunday best carpets with these cleats on!

* Re the cleat screws coming undone, that'll happen if you don't tighten them enough first time. Fresh cleat screws have a threadlock compound on them which works pretty well at keeping the screws in place, I've found. But you have to tighten them enough or it simply can't work. Tighten them too much and the spring in the cleat will bind and you won't be able to clip in and/or out, so people seem to err on the side of leaving them a little too loose - I did this too at the start, having first tightened them too much, but I've had no such problems at all since I got it "right". So it's arguably another con of these pedals that it takes some getting used to to get the cleats attached properly/reliably.

* Speedplay pedals are expensive, there is no getting away from that. Replacement cleats are expensive too, and they are even more expensive since they introduced their “aero cleats” which are basically the same cleat but with a rubber cover to make you less prone to sliding around like a giraffe on ice when walking on the cleats (maybe I’m cynical, but this seems like an attempt to address an issue with the original cleat which was used as an opportunity to charge more for the new cleats by adding the “aero” tag). Decent replacements bearings are pricey too. And if you buy the Speedplay grease gun and recommended grease the costs add up even further. Looking at these pedals across their lifetime they are even more expensive then their already steep price tag suggests.

* The bearings and cleats are not the only things to wear out, the pedal body itself wears over time too, and then you have no choice but to buy new pedals bodies or throw some more cash at it and buy a completely new pair of pedals. I haven’t replaced the body on mine or my wife’s pedals, but I’ve heard of people having to replace them regularly, it seems to depend on your pedalling style and in particular depends on whether you tilt your feet when you pedal.

* Sometimes hard to clip into. Every now and again I hit an issue where I can’t clip in on my first attempt, the cleat just seems to catch on the pedal and I have to lift my foot off and try again and usually it works fine on the next attempt. It’s a minor thing but it’s just a reminder that no pedal is perfect when it comes to clipping in, even if double-sided.


...a lengthy post this, but its length is not really a measure of how much frustration Speedplay pedals have caused me over the years, to give a proper sense of that I'd have to write a lot more! :pac:

Your frustration with speed play pedals is palpable.

The reason I changed to speed play pedals was they were recommended to me by a guy in my club. I was trying to solve a knee pain issue.

What annual distance are you covering? I’m doing approx 3k per set.

I do lub the C clip on the cleat to avoid creaking!

JimmiesRustled

Raymzor wrote: »

Your frustration with speed play pedals is palpable.

The reason I changed to speed play pedals was they were recommended to me by a guy in my club. I was trying to solve a knee pain issue.

What annual distance are you covering? I’m doing approx 3k per set.

I do lub the C clip on the cleat to avoid creaking!

3,000km per set of pedal or per set of cleats? Either way that seems incredible low. I assume you mean cleats. In that case whats wearing so quickly on them? I get about 10,000-12,000km on a set of cleats. I've had the same pedals for about 20,000km. I've changed spindle and bowties that's all.

Raymzor

JimmiesRustled wrote: »

3,000km per set of pedal or per set of cleats? Either way that seems incredible low. I assume you mean cleats. In that case whats wearing so quickly on them? I get about 10,000-12,000km on a set of cleats. I've had the same pedals for about 20,000km. I've changed spindle and bowties that's all.[/quote

One set of pedals 9000km-no replacement parts yet. Greased bearings regularly.

I replaced one set of cleats after 9000km. I lub around the C clip regularly.

doozerie

Raymzor wrote: »

Your frustration with speed play pedals is palpable.

The reason I changed to speed play pedals was they were recommended to me by a guy in my club. I was trying to solve a knee pain issue.

What annual distance are you covering? I’m doing approx 3k per set.

I do lub the C clip on the cleat to avoid creaking!

I've averaged about 3,000km per year on one set of pedals, in a variety of weathers, a total of about 19,000km. I've replaced the bearings in these pedals once already and I believe the current bearings are knackered for some time now and I've just been postponing the hassle of replacing them.

On the others I've averaged probably closer to 2,500km per year mostly in dry weather but with some notable pseudo swims as well, a total of about 16,000km. These pedals have had an easier life but I reckon their bearings need replacing too (and are actually long overdue if my other pedals are anything to go by).

From memory I think I've replaced the bearings in just one set of my wife's pedals. She rides audax, as part of which she does mad distances in one-day and multi-day events. That raises another interesting challenge for Speedplay pedals. She has done multi-day events in some extremely wet and horrible conditions, it's likely that the pedals have been assaulted by water and road grime within an hour or two of starting. It's not realistic to carry grease plus gun or syringe in order to re-grease the pedals during such a ride so they'll take an absolute hammering before the event is finished. She's never had a pedal seize on her during one of these events but I reckon that's a far greater risk with Speedplay than with any alternative pedal that has "properly" sealed bearings.

Re knee pain, everyone is different and there are obviously a multitude of potential knee problems that can arise. As such, generalisations are unreliable at best, but I tend to believe that no pedals can solve long-running problems there. I imagine that pedals can play a part sometimes, and in particular I would think that the range of float in Speedplay pedals might help alleviate some symptoms in some cases, but these pedals seem to get labelled as some kind of cure by some people online and that's misleading at best and dangerous at worst.

In my case I switched from Look pedals (with their preset float) and my knee issue improved a little before reverting back again, probably as my body and knees adjusted to the slightly different foot movement with Speedplays. A proper bike fit was what finally eliminated my knee problem - of the various changes made during that fit, I think that lowering the saddle was the most beneficial to my knee and I reckon the improvement I saw in my knee would have been the same had I still been using Look pedals.

harringtonp

Great summary by Doozerie. I'm in a speedplay maintenance phase at the moment (have 2 sets), was looking at maintenance videos and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJk_pbtOsB4

is the best of the few I've watched.

I've also had many of the problems Doozerie mentioned, did no maintenance on my first set and didn't get the year out of them. By comparison I've had

http://www.wiggle.com/time-rxs-first-road-pedals/

since 2010 and they are still perfect and when the current speedplays wear out I'll be going back to them (that is the 2010 version).

Screws wearing, falling out and getting stuck has been a particular bug bear
of mine. Currently 2 of the 3 screws binding a cleat to a new shoe are stuck and this is causing consternation as I'm afraid of losing the shoe when the cleats are no longer usable. This could also be down to bad shoe design have I'm having doubts.

The main benefits of the new aero covers as I see it are comfort in walking around and protection of the screw heads, they actually now seem to have the longevity one would expect.

I do like the pedals but it strikes me that they are best for cyclists who have others do all their servicing... i.e pros

JimmiesRustled

harringtonp wrote: »

Great summary by Doozerie. I'm in a speedplay maintenance phase at the moment (have 2 sets), was looking at maintenance videos and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJk_pbtOsB4

is the best of the few I've watched.

I've also had many of the problems Doozerie mentioned, did no maintenance on my first set and didn't get the year out of them. By comparison I've had

http://www.wiggle.com/time-rxs-first-road-pedals/

since 2010 and they are still perfect and when the current speedplays wear out I'll be going back to them (that is the 2010 version).

Screws wearing, falling out and getting stuck has been a particular bug bear
of mine. Currently 2 of the 3 screws binding a cleat to a new shoe are stuck and this is causing consternation as I'm afraid of losing the shoe when the cleats are no longer usable. This could also be down to bad shoe design have I'm having doubts.

The main benefits of the new aero covers as I see it are comfort in walking around and protection of the screw heads, they actually now seem to have the longevity one would expect.

I do like the pedals but it strikes me that they are best for cyclists who have others do all their servicing... i.e pros

Which screws are you talking about? The adapter plate ones or the ones for the clear itself?

I've had the screws in the adapter plate seize and then in my infinite wisdom I stripped the head of the screws trying to get them out. I've managed a couple of times to get them out using either a drill, which was messy, or a hacksaw, which was far handier.

With the hacksaw all I did was cut down until I hit the shim, 5f & 5r for me. Once I had cut down in a few places to the blue shim I used a flathead screwdriver to separate the shim from the adapter. I then removed the shim, which took a bit of effort but it's handy enough. Once the shim was gone I could just pull the adapter plate off due to the incisions I had made with the hacksaw. Screws came out easy after that.

Did you torque them down to the correct torque setting of 2.5 NM to begin with or just tighten until tight?

harringtonp

JimmiesRustled wrote: »

Which screws are you talking about? The adapter plate ones or the ones for the clear itself?

I've had the screws in the adapter plate seize and then in my infinite wisdom I stripped the head of the screws trying to get them out. I've managed a couple of times to get them out using either a drill, which was messy, or a hacksaw, which was far handier.

With the hacksaw all I did was cut down until I hit the shim, 5f & 5r for me. Once I had cut down in a few places to the blue shim I used a flathead screwdriver to separate the shim from the adapter. I then removed the shim, which took a bit of effort but it's handy enough. Once the shim was gone I could just pull the adapter plate off due to the incisions I had made with the hacksaw. Screws came out easy after that.

Did you torque them down to the correct torque setting of 2.5 NM to begin with or just tighten until tight?

The adapter plate. I could tighten them and loosen them a bit but they get stuck when trying to loosen them all the way out.

I cannot remember how tight they were initially, I would have tightened them enough to stop the plate moving around.

harringtonp

Hey guys.

When injecting grease the cap where you remove the screw popped out and grease squeezed out the sizes.

How do I get it back in, whack with a hammer ?

I thought putting the screw back in may do it but it just spins as I tighten

JimmiesRustled

harringtonp wrote: »

Hey guys.

When injecting grease the cap where you remove the screw popped out and grease squeezed out the sizes.

How do I get it back in, whack with a hammer ?

I thought putting the screw back in may do it but it just spins as I tighten

Wouldn't whack it. It should just pop back in. It has to be square with the pedal as in you can't put one edge in first and then try get the rest in after. The cap isn't a complete circle. There are, or at least should be, 2 little protruding edges opposite one another. Line these up with the recesses on the pedal and push the whole body in together.

doozerie

harringtonp wrote: »

Hey guys.

When injecting grease the cap where you remove the screw popped out and grease squeezed out the sizes.

How do I get it back in, whack with a hammer ?

I thought putting the screw back in may do it but it just spins as I tighten

The screw doesn't hold anything in, it's literally just there to close the hole in that small plastic cap so all it threads into is the plastic cap itself (which is why it's easy to strip the threads and have the screw spin as the threads themselves are plastic). The plastic cap just pushes into the pedal body as JimmiesRustled says, you should be able to push it back in place with your thumb(s), just don't cover the hole while doing so as you'll end up fighting against the pressure you've created inside the pedal by doing so.

That's one of my bugbears with Speedplay that I mentioned earlier, if there is any resistance to the grease going in (such as crud in the bearings) the grease pushes back against the black cap and pushes it out of the pedal towards you. You end up with a greasy mess, and when you push the cap back in that forces the excess grease straight back at you through the hole, so more mess.

In the worst cases I've had to apply a lot of force against that cap when injecting grease in, or order to avoid the cap pushing back out against me. That's one reason I prefer the grease gun that I use now to the Speedplay grease gun, as its size and shape makes it easier to apply more force directly against the cap. I've sometimes needed my wife to push against the bike from the other side, to counter the amount of force I have to apply to the pedal/cap, this is usually accompanied by lots of swearing about Speedplay.

doozerie

harringtonp wrote: »

I do like the pedals but it strikes me that they are best for cyclists who have others do all their servicing... i.e pros

That's exactly my conclusion too. When using the pedals on the bike I usually have no issues/complaints with them at all, and some of their advantages (e.g. good clearance from the ground) come into play. But when it comes time to maintain them it's all too often a different and frustrating story.

I recall reading somewhere a few years ago that Contador's Speedplay pedals spin "forever" when you spin them by hand. The theory at the time was that they contained no grease whatsoever (but perhaps oil, at a guess), as it's hard to imagine how else they could spin so freely. I guess that setup was Contador's preference. And I also guess that it meant that his mechanic was changing the bearings in the pedals very very often (given the wear and tear you'd expect on small bearings being subjected to the forces of a pro rider in all weather conditions, plus Speedplay's advice that grease needs to be applied if the pedal is spinning freely, etc.). I wonder whether Contador would have chosen differently, to the extent of choosing different pedals, if he'd had to maintain the pedals himself.

harringtonp

doozerie wrote: »

In the worst cases I've had to apply a lot of force against that cap when injecting grease in, or order to avoid the cap pushing back out against me. That's one reason I prefer the grease gun that I use now to the Speedplay grease gun, as its size and shape makes it easier to apply more force directly against the cap. I've sometimes needed my wife to push against the bike from the other side, to counter the amount of force I have to apply to the pedal/cap, this is usually accompanied by lots of swearing about Speedplay.

I feel like I am a hand short. Use

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/weldtite-tf2-grease-gun-with-teflon-bike-grease/rp-prod5958

and need one hand for grease (which is held up against the gun), second for the gun and a third to hold the back of the pedal. Except that I don't have a third which partly explains why the cap pops out. I cannot understand why the design allows the cap pop out in the first place.

JimmiesRustled

harringtonp wrote: »

I feel like I am a hand short. Use

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/weldtite-tf2-grease-gun-with-teflon-bike-grease/rp-prod5958

and need one hand for grease (which is held up against the gun), second for the gun and a third to hold the back of the pedal. Except that I don't have a third which partly explains why the cap pops out. I cannot understand why the design allows the cap pop out in the first place.

Try using a syringe instead of the gun. I found the gun to be an absolute pain especially when refilling it with a new tube of that green marine grease and trying to get that daft spring in all the way. Found some generic tub of marine grease and a box of syringes. Ran me about €15 and is much easier to handle. You just use the nozzle of the syringe to put pressure on the cap and with the bike leant against the wall you use your free hand to spin the pedal.

doozerie

harringtonp wrote: »

I feel like I am a hand short. Use

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/weldtite-tf2-grease-gun-with-teflon-bike-grease/rp-prod5958

and need one hand for grease (which is held up against the gun), second for the gun and a third to hold the back of the pedal. Except that I don't have a third which partly explains why the cap pops out. I cannot understand why the design allows the cap pop out in the first place.

From my cranky perspective I see it as another poor compromise of the overall pedal design. You need to be able to remove the cap in order to remove the body from the pedal, so a cap of some form is needed. They could have designed it so that the cap was held in place by something other than friction (which is all it relies upon), or so that something less easily moveable separated the cap from the grease that tries to force its way back out when it meets resistance while being pumped in. Pure speculation on my part but my guess is that they were trying to keep the number of components to a minimum, the weight to a minimum, etc., which led to some dubious decisions along the way about the design of some of these components.

You may know this already, but it can (doesn’t always) help to rotate the pedal as you pump the grease in. It may help dislodge whatever is blocking the grease from getting through some/all of the bearings and it might also help work the grease through the bearings too. That sometimes feels like it requires yet another hand though.

Not that I recommend it, but I’ve ended up in a variety of ludicrous physical positions when greasing these pedals. I’ve tried various things from resting the bike against a wall (often a requirement when you don’t have a second person handy to push back against it), using my chest or knee or thing to press against the grease gun while using my hands to pull back on the crank and rotate the pedal, one or both feet to stop one or both wheels for sliding, etc. The escaping of grease from the pedal into a finely balanced and precarious mating of various components under a lot of pressure adds hugely to the comedy, of course. It’s a farcical scene that wouldn’t be out of place in a Mr Bean episode.

All My Stars Aligned

Every now and then treads appear on Boards regarding Speedplay's. For the life of me, between the price and all the faffing about with them, I really don't understand the attraction to them. They seem to require more maintenance then the rest of a bike put together.

doozerie

All My Stars Aligned wrote: »

Every now and then treads appear on Boards regarding Speedplay's. For the life of me, between the price and all the faffing about with them, I really don't understand the attraction to them. They seem to require more maintenance then the rest of a bike put together.

In fairness, the degree of float they offer, and the ability to adjust the range to suit yourself is still quite rare in pedals as far as I am aware (I've certainly not encountered anything like it in other pedals I've tried or read about). So if you really need or want that then they are perhaps the only choice, or at least one of few choices.

Whether that range of float really offers you anything of value though is debatable and it's where a combination of effective marketing on the part of Speedplay, and the power of the Internet to allow sometimes daft opinion to be represented as fact on a large scale, come into play. These pedals have attracted a reputation for being great at addressing "knee issues" (poorly defined at best), which makes them interesting to many.

They do have some other benefits as far as I am concerned (mentioned earlier) but on balance those are outweighed by the headaches associated with maintenance. And I say that as someone who usually enjoys bike maintenance, but not when it comes to these little feckers. But I personally didn't foresee these headaches when I first made the decision to switch to Speedplay - knowing them now, I wouldn't make that switch today, I'd got with different pedals.

I suspect that for many people though, they don't maintain their Speedplay pedals at all (i.e. don't grease them regularly) and don't realise that the bearings are completely shot until quite a while after the fact. If they are not willing to dismantle them to replace the bearings at that stage then they are left with the choice of buying new Speedplay or some other brand, and sometimes the devil you know is the simplest and most appealing choice especially if you've grown to like some of the features of the pedal by then (double sided, low stack height, etc.).

harringtonp

Just finished maintenance, was able to push cap in ok. Found that keeping thumb on edge of cap with finger on back of pedal while pushing against cap with gun in other hand was enough to keep cap in and squeeze grease through.

And yes it shoots out suddenly at back but had a rag on ground waiting for it.

JimmiesRustled

Just a quick one for anyone interested or has been put off by the price of the official speedplay grease gun and marine grease. Personally I've found the best solution for maintaining the pedals is a 20ml syringe and some cheap white marine grease off of amazon. It runs me about €5 in total and lasts a hell of a lot longer than that green/blue refill tub.

I've also found that when the pedal bodies wear down you sometimes get some lateral rocking. This can either be caused by the cleat wearing or the pedal body wearing. If it's the cleat I generally sub in a new base plate. This generally solves the issue. Lately however I've been running the metal carbon sole protector and for the most part this has eliminated the lateral rocking as the base plate of the cleat no longer wears.

If it's the pedal body that's the issue I generally replace the bowties on the pedal. This, in my experience resolves the rocking issue if it resides in the pedal itself.

I've also converted my cheap(ish) chrom-oly pedals to a set of ti spindles. I've raced on these the last few years and while I'm not capable of hitting massive watts in a sprint, they're been really reliable.

I've posted a few images below of the equipment I use to maintain the pedals and the newest set of bowties on my oldest set of zero's (coming up on 20,000km). Looking at picking up a set of anodized green bowties and matching ti spindles for my green set of zero's.

Carawaystick

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Unless you're riding fixed, would you not have your inside foot raised while cornering?

There's at least one Swordsie had a pedal strike at the first corner in Corkagh Park racing

ILIKEFOOD

Temporarily lost sensation in my thumb such was the pressure I required injecing my pedals the other day with a syringe - had left it too long to redo so took some effort getting the grease in. Other than that having had two knee ops I felt the zero float best option for me and I think they’re excellent despite looking like yer mans head from beetlejuice

doozerie

The pedals on my winter bike have been due a re-greasing for a few weeks. I've been casual about it because it has spent much of its time on the turbo trainer so they've had an easy life, but also I wasn't looking forward to another wrestling match with the pedals either.

Knowing that the weekend ahead was going to be a wet one though, I tackled the pedals a few days ago. One pedal was grand, the new grease went in easily enough and the old grease that squeezed out the far side wasn't in a bad state all in all.

The other pedal was another story entirely though, as I'd half expected. A tiny amount of contaminated grease squeezed out the far side and much of my time was spent cleaning away the clean grease that squeezed out from the side I was pushing it in from, and reseating the black plastic cap. I lost more grease than I managed to get into the pedal I reckon, and eventually I muttered a few (more) choice swear words and gave up.

I rode for a little under 3 hours in the rain on Sunday, on sometimes flooded roads. Being the prima donnas that they are I wasn't optimistic that the pedals would handle it well. Yet again I was reminded that these are the only pedals I've ever had such concerns about, yet again I questioned why I persist with them.

Anyway, I mentioned earlier in the thread that after greasing these pedals they sometimes ooze excess grease in use and you can end up with cleats coated in the stuff. Below are the photos I took of the pedals on Sunday evening, showing how much grease escaped from them during the ride. The pedal with the most (and blackest/most contaminated) grease is the one I struggled to get grease into, seems it was quite happy to expel the old grease when I didn't want it to. Not for the first time.

When it comes to cycling I'm very conscious of the fact that I am a willing masochist all too often - my training pits me in a constant battle against the march of time, I choose to do all of my own bike maintenance, I'm a Campagnolo fan (so spares are hard to find and *expensive*), etc., etc. - and I'm okay with that, I'm a relatively happy masochist, but ...these ...feckin' ...pedals!