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.
I know as well as any of you that I've been checked out lately, kind…
Peter Sagan has undergone quite the transformation over the years; starting as a brash and…
The Women's road race has to be my favorite one-day road race after Paris-Roubaix and…
Holy fuckballs. I've never been this late ever on a VSP. I mean, I've missed…
This week we are currently in is the most boring week of the year. After…
I have memories of my life before Cycling, but as the years wear slowly on…
View Comments
Speedplay founder video was a great reward today.
I love my speedplays. Thanks for that Gianni. Teflon dry wax every ride is no hassle. One has to be careful not to get too much mud in them if wrenching at the side of the road mid-ride.
@snoov
or snow. yeah, I've done that too. They don't like being packed with either. I've become a little more compulsive about putting on the cleat covers now but I don't like to fill up my jersey pockets with them either so I usually don't bring covers on rides. I'm going to see how many years I can make the cleats last.
I can certainly live without that creaking noise of Shimano SPDs but the cost of Speedplay pedals was a big impediment in the switch. I hope to cut down on my food intake and save some money from my measly graduate school stipend for these babies.
When my beloved Bianchi was returned to me by the fine people at the Cincinnati Police Department (perhaps I should make that a story--missing for 7 months, found on Craigslist) my pedals were gone. In their place were horrific platforms with clips and straps that appear to have never been tightened.
So, like any wise person, I first removed the saddle and vowed never to place my ass where unknown thieving ass had perched.
Then, I bought Speedplays. Just because I felt like it. I didn't comparison shop. I didn't even test them first. I just walked into my LBS and said, "Speedplay." Again, after saying Selle Italia.
Wow. Reverence doesn't quite cut it. These pedals are fantastic.
only time I ever had noise from my LOOK pedals was when I made the newb mistake of installing without greasing the threads.
I was anti Speedplay for absolutely no good reason at all. Then when I needed an upgrade from my old Time Equipe Pros for #1 ('cause turns out finding new cleats for them is near impossible), I was talked into giving SP a try. What the fuck was I thinking for holding out so long? Simple, really easy to snap into for those super fast 0-60 crit starts, low maintenance, easily adjustable float (both heel in and heel out). Really high clearance for pedaling thru 90deg corners at speed (I have yet to catch a pedal in a crit tho part of that may be attributed to the higher bottom bracket on compact framesets). Easy to get out of, but not so easy that you get the 'accidental release under power'. Once you go SP, you'll never go back.
A friend of mine let me try his Speedplays out. It felt like standing on ice cubes. I was told that that feeling goes away quickly. I'm not anti-Speedplay. It's just that I ride a LOOK and a LOOK with anything other than LOOK pedals on it would be akin to a Colnago running Dura Ace, Toyotas in NASCAR, putting A1 sauce on a perfectly grilled T-bone. The world would cease as we know it. The next thing you know a Brit would be winning the Tour.
@scaler911
I hear ya brother, much regret over not switching sooner. I love Jensie saying he sort of chooses teams by what pedals they use. That is an endorsement.
@Cyclops
The ice cube effect does go away after one or two rides but everyone notices that. I guess you have some commitment to Look but if they start a-creakin' , ditch 'em.
@RedRanger
The threads on the cleat screws? Faaaaaaaaack, I never did that, I don't think. So long ago though, I hope I tried that. Yeah, that would be an idiot move not to grease them, sounds about right for me.