Which Road Pedals...

[russy01]

Got a new bike on the way (Canyon Aeroad)... and thinking about changing up my pedals.

Currently use Look Delta on my bikes, but these bikes are being sold so I only need 1 set.

Options are:

Shimano Ultegra 6800 - £85 (bike has ultegra di2)
Shimano 105 - £66 (seem very similar to the above)
Look KEO - £50 or £80
Speedplay - £150ish...

Like the look of the speedplay as you can clip in both sides etc, however read that the cleats can be bit of a pain to maintain - they are of course a lot more expensive than the others upfront and when replacing cleats.

Most people I ride with use Look KEO or Shimano SPD SL - any noticeable difference between these?

Cheers..

[Mark83]

Have Ultegra pedals on my now spare bike. Have Keos on my new bike as my mate gave them to me to finish my build. Then had shoes and cleats set up at my bike fit.

Only difference is I find clipping in harder on the Keos. My foot doesn't naturally find the pedal like on the Shimanos. Had I of not had my cleats set up, I'd have moved back to Shimano.

[Matt_N]

Speedplay cleats just need a bit of lube every now and then and the pedal axle re-greasing when they start to spin too freely, not that taxing.

I've been using Speedplay for 4 years, I've got 3 pairs of pedals and 2 sets of cleats on different shoes, my first set of cleats are worn out in terms of the metal edges but still function perfectly for clipping in/out.

The second set have been used mainly with cage covers when walking and are just slightly scuffed.

Personally I love them after movie from SPD and then SPD-SL, they feel like pedalling on ice at first but once you adjust they're great. Adjustable float is great for me, you can tune out any knee or foot issues you may have by dimpling adjusting the float screws. Ie a lot of people's feet point at slightly different angles, some are toe in or out or one foot slightly different, this can all b accommodated with Speedplay really easily.

[williaa68]

I recently went through the same thought process and ended up with the shimano 105 pedals. The difference between then and the Ultegra was I think about 20 grams, difference in price was about £23. I was upgrading various components and decided that at £1 a gram I would use the money elsewhere (some new shoes as it happens, where the weight saving against my old ones was more like 300g). As a far from super cyclist I also liked the fact that the 105s came with the yellow cleats that have a bit more float.

[towser44]

There's some really cheap Look's at Chain Reaction at the moment.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/s?q=look+keo&am...

KEO 2 Max Blade reduced from £110 to £33

KEO Classic 2 reduced from £64 to about £17

I nearly bought some, but then read a couple of recent posts on BikeRadar from a couple of guys who have recently swapped to Shimano as they said the build quality of Looks has gone downhill.

[russy01]

Yea they are really cheap! I might go with the shimano 105's - got a couple close mates with SPD SL so it makes sense for us to have the same so we can swap about.

[anonymous-user]

I like Look keo with red cleats personally

But I can see why other people might settle on something else, especially the speedplay

[mikees]

I have some look keo and look keo max somewhere if any one wants fir cost of postage.

Pm me and I'll see if I can dig em out. No promises as may have binned em.

Mike

Ps 105 spdsl on all 3 bikes

[BeirutTaxi]

I strongly suggest a read of Vankru Cycling's blog about pedals

http://vankru.moonfruit.com/blog/4556077342/Pedal-...

Can't recommend Vankru enough. Garth and Marks time is worth every penny.

[Jimshorts]

I did same maths as Williaa68 and came to same conclusion. 105 SPD-SL though did see Wiggle (?) with 6800 ultegra for about £88 the other day and narrowly avoided an attack of collar and cuffs related tartiness.

[Dannbodge]

Buy the pedals that match the groupset imo.

So in your case the Ultegra ones.

I was told that unless you have specific bike setup problems and needs loads of adjust-ability then you don't need the speedplay.

[okgo]

Dannbodge said:

Buy the pedals that match the groupset imo.

So in your case the Ultegra ones.

I was told that unless you have specific bike setup problems and needs loads of adjust-ability then you don't need the speedplay.

What is that opinion based on? Pedals have literally nothing to do with your groupset.

OP -

I've not used speedplay, but have used many of the Look variants over the years. The best I've used is a combo of the Keo Blade 2 Cr (not that old one on CRC above) with the non look cleats. The non look cleats fit so much better in the pedal than the branded ones.

[Brads67]

After using Look for 25 yrs, I have given up on them due to build quality issues meaning 3 sets in less than 2 yrs.

Have moved to 105 spd-sl and am more than happy.

[russy01]

As above I went for the 105 SPD SL... had a set of those and the Ultegra in my hand and I couldnt tell the difference for a £25 price difference.

Part of me wanted ultegra to match my GS - but £25 gets me and the Mrs a cheap dinner and Im not going to notice once Im on the bike...

[Dannbodge]

okgo said:

What is that opinion based on? Pedals have literally nothing to do with your groupset.

OP -

I've not used speedplay, but have used many of the Look variants over the years. The best I've used is a combo of the Keo Blade 2 Cr (not that old one on CRC above) with the non look cleats. The non look cleats fit so much better in the pedal than the branded ones.

Erm to make it all match?

Just one of those OCD things, hence the IMO