Speedplays or not.

[russy01]

Morning Chaps,

Currently using Look Delta Style Pedals and Cleats on my 2 Road bikes and Mountain bike. All pedal sets are cheap, I have a couple sets of Wellgo pedals which do the job and a new set of Exustar PR070 which are a nightmare. I get on ok with them, but have been struggling over the winter with my overshoes getting in the way with clipping in.

My LBS has speedplays on display, everytime I go to shop I cant help but have a look at them and um and arr over buying a set! If I needed just the one set Id be on it in an instant, but having to buy at least 2 sets makes it an expensive change.

I like that you can clip in both sides and I hear advantages regarding power transfer etc.

Has anybody here come from Look Deltas/Keo type of cleat to speedplay. If so do you think its worth the at least £200 its going to cost to upgrade.

How are they to walk in? Easy to Maintain? My shoes only have 3 holes, I see speedplays need 4 bolts - I dont want to buy new shoes just yet!

Any thoughts welcome.

Thanks.

[anonymous-user]

russy01 said:

I like that you can clip in both sides and I hear advantages regarding power transfer etc.

The main benefit is that they are kinder to your knees. Clipping in is easier than others and the stack height is lower as long asyou dont run an adaptor plate. Power transfer I wouldn't worry about

russy01 said:

Has anybody here come from Look Deltas/Keo type of cleat to speedplay. If so do you think its worth the at least £200 its going to cost to upgrade.

How are they to walk in? Easy to Maintain? My shoes only have 3 holes, I see speedplays need 4 bolts - I dont want to buy new shoes just yet!

I came from Keo's. Speedplays need maintenance and the bearings require greasing. If you dont do this they will fall apart and its 50/50 on the repair. The cleats also need to be kept clean-ish with the odd bit of dry lube. IMO they are the best peddle out there and despite needing a few minutes work every month my knees are worth it. You'll need covers to walk in them but they are only a £5 or so, no cleats are that brilliant on tiles etc anyway, it doesn't bother me.

Lastly you should get your cleats set up, it can make all the difference.

HTH

[russy01]

Cheers for the reply. I find my current pedals have enough float, however more for future adjustment can't be a bad thing.

I did half ignore the power transfer comments myself. You mention adaptor plate and stack height, I assume you refer to an adaptor for 3 hole shoes? Is this part pretty beefy?

I hear about them being easy to clip in, I assume they are also easy to unclip (my right leg struggles when riding).

Which model do you have?

[anonymous-user]

I have the zeros.

Because my shoes are a bit big the cleat holes were 'out' to where they needed to be so I used an adaptor plate to bring them back, its a st solution as the plate flexes and I need to get it sorted. Anyway You shouldn't need one and when I swap to new shoes (if and when I find a pair to fit my wide, flat, short, flippers) it wont be needed. The 3-4 std adaptor isn't very thick (and will still be lower than most) but there are Speedplay specific options out there now which if you get on with the peddle are a decent option.

Worth a read...

http://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/blog/2011/04/r...

Your best bet is find a used set on eBay and try them out.

[BMWBen]

russy01 said:

Cheers for the reply. I find my current pedals have enough float, however more for future adjustment can't be a bad thing.

I did half ignore the power transfer comments myself. You mention adaptor plate and stack height, I assume you refer to an adaptor for 3 hole shoes? Is this part pretty beefy?

I hear about them being easy to clip in, I assume they are also easy to unclip (my right leg struggles when riding).

Which model do you have?

The 4 hole cleat actually mounts on a very thin plate that goes on a 3 hole shoe by default - it matches the curve of the sole and gives a flat surface for the back of the cleat, so unless you've got flippers like yonex seems to your shoes will be fine. They also include little shims to match the curve exactly and there's a "curved" and "flatter" plate you can try.


I use the light actions rather than the zero, just because my knees were in a really bad way when I changed and they were marketed as the kindest. In hindsight, I think they're probably exactly the same as a set of zeros with the float backed right off.

Good thing about the zero's is that if you want to lock your feet down you can remove the float entirely.

However, I think for a true balls out sprint you need a fair bit of float because your foot will move about as you frantically mash every last bit of power out and if you have restricted float you might unclip. I yank out SPD's in a full power sprint, on the third or fourth revolution of the pedals.... luckily I discovered this on a wattbike and not on the road