Road Cycling - LOOK A5.1 pedals - opinions?

Thinking of switching from my Speedplay X2's to a new pedal with less float and hopefully more support for my aching knee. The X2's are the only pedals I've ever used so I'm not sure what all is out there, and really not sure what to expect with a less float "feel", but the LOOK A5.1 TDF edition for $89 looks like a good deal. Any opinions on the the A5.1 specifically, LOOK pedals in general, or other pedals to consider under $90. Thanks.

The A5.1 at that price (Performancebike.com, right?) is a great bargain. I ride with the CX-6 carbon which is very similar to the A5.1. Brilliant pedal. Having said that, I came from a Time ATAC MTB pedal so my opinion may be worth less than zero in helping you compare!

How does one figure that too much float hurts your knees?

G'day,

agree with Smoothie....don't expect less float to fix any knee soreness. In my experience the opposite is true. In any event, with Look pedals the float arc is about which 'cleat' you choose. Red has the most arc & black has none,

cheers,

Hitchy

If your knees hurt, its not becuase your feet have 6-15 degrees of lateral movement when you twist them. It's either a saddle height problem, a cleat positioning problem, overuse (tendonitis), or your feet are not properly aligned on the pedal face. ie your feet have some natural tilt to them, and forcing them flat will cause your knee to twist slightly, which moves tendons etc slightly out of alignment. Multiply by thousands of pedalstrokes, and you see the problem.

some sports doctors can tell you if your feet are tilted, check out a product called lewedge. by Lemond Fitness.

I've been riding on Look PP337 for the past few years. Decided to try Speedplay Zero in early April. I had a lot of trouble clipping in with the Zeros so went back to Look a few weeks ago.
The Look pedals have less float but (IMHO) offer a better platform to support the foot and are much easier to clip into.

agree with Smoothie....don't expect less float to fix any knee soreness. In my experience the opposite is true. In any event, with Look pedals the float arc is about which 'cleat' you choose. Red has the most arc & black has none,



The A5.1 uses the red cleat, which can be adjusted to 0, 3, 6, or 9 degrees of float, correct? The black cleat can't be used on the A5.1 can it?

If your knees hurt, its not becuase your feet have 6-15 degrees of lateral movement when you twist them. It's either a saddle height problem, a cleat positioning problem, overuse (tendonitis), or your feet are not properly aligned on the pedal face. ie your feet have some natural tilt to them, and forcing them flat will cause your knee to twist slightly, which moves tendons etc slightly out of alignment. Multiply by thousands of pedalstrokes, and you see the problem.

some sports doctors can tell you if your feet are tilted, check out a product called lewedge. by Lemond Fitness.

The pain is on the inner side (medial) of my right knee, below the side of knee cap. I'm pretty sure it's ligament inflammation but not sure what exactly is causing it. I don't think it is saddle height as that would normally be the front or back of the knee. I've tried moving the cleats out, which put my shoes closer to the bottom bracket, and this seemed to help for awhile but the pain came back. It could be that my feet are not aligned correctly or I have slightly different leg lengths which shims or orothotics would be the solution I guess. But I've also read that free float pedals, such as the Speedplay X2's, can cause pain because the ligament has to work hard to control the knee cap. I thought I'd try experimenting with the LOOK pedals at 0 or 3 degrees float to see if this made any difference. If not then I'll have to try shims or orthotics but that's going to require an experienced doctor of some sort.

I have the A5.1 and red cleats and I love them. I have had no problems at all with them. They are my first clipless pedals and I have been very impressed.

The pain is on the inner side (medial) of my right knee, below the side of knee cap. I'm pretty sure it's ligament inflammation but not sure what exactly is causing it. I don't think it is saddle height as that would normally be the front or back of the knee. I've tried moving the cleats out, which put my shoes closer to the bottom bracket, and this seemed to help for awhile but the pain came back. It could be that my feet are not aligned correctly or I have slightly different leg lengths which shims or orothotics would be the solution I guess. But I've also read that free float pedals, such as the Speedplay X2's, can cause pain because the ligament has to work hard to control the knee cap. I thought I'd try experimenting with the LOOK pedals at 0 or 3 degrees float to see if this made any difference. If not then I'll have to try shims or orthotics but that's going to require an experienced doctor of some sort.


I guess its worth trying the black cleats to see if it helps. If you switch to LOOKs you will have to adjust your saddle anyways, since i think the height of the platform over the pedal axle is different and the cleat interface to the bottom of the sole is different.