JMT114

I just bought a set of Speedplay pedals. I figured I should move from my SPD mountain bike pedals to a road specific pedal, but I suck so I wanted to still have a two sided pedal to ease my mind.

Are there any hints, tips, tricks or warnings I should know before I take my first ride with these pedals.

Thanks,

AEO

only put the cleat section on the pedal, other parts of the shoe will slip.
don't over tighten the cleat.
spray the PTFE dry lube in from the inner side openings of the cleat every other ride.
If you can't clip in for some reason, take your foot off the pedal once, then try again. sometimes the angle the pedal is stepped on doesn't work.


Try not to step in mud.

Strong Bad

Make sure they are shimmed, or the plate fits completely flush and is supported properly by the shoe.
Tighten them up securely with lock tight.
Don't use your riding shoes to do any trail running.
Ride your arse off with the best pedals ever invented.

Psimet2001 

As mentioned the mounting is the most critical part of using Speedplays. Make sure there are no gaps between the cleat/shims and the sole of your shoe before bolting them on. any gap will allow the base to warp and the cleat will bind.

Follow the directions - as bad as they may seem - exactly. Do not overtighten the mounting bolts. If you don't think to yourself, "this can't be right. these are way too loose" then you have put them on too tight.

All of this holds true for the X series cleat. the Zeros are a bit more tolerant of poor mounting.

Fox Farm

They will take a little getting use to, like a few rides. At first, you will feel like you are standing on ice cubes because the float is really free and easy feeling. It will also take you a few rides to train yourself for how the cleats want to feel on the pedal face when finding the way to clip in. With Look style units, you catch the front hook of the pedal with the front of the cleat and your push down and snap - you're good. Speedplays are a very different feeling that will take like I said, a few rides or days to become second nature with. After that, no problem. I have also found that when mounting the cleats on the shoes, make sure that you get them truly in the center of the shoe and far enough back over the ball of your foot. They offer these extender things if your feet or shoes are really large relative to where the mounting holes are on the bottom of the shoes. If the cleats are too far to the inside (closer to the bottom bracket) you will feel like you do not have a good platform under your foot.

I just ordered my second pair of X2 pedals. My first I bought in 1999 and have sort of finally worn out the body. I do know that Speedplay will rebuild them for me for some price, don't recall how much.

kevyn

As AEO said, don't step in any mud. It takes very little mud/gunk to clog up the clipping mechanism.

That being said, I've been very happy with mine.

senbot

If you feel like you have to twist your ankle too much to disengage, angle the cleats very slightly to the inside and they will let you out easier. For frogs, at least... never ridden the others.

JMT114

I have now ridden three times using the Speedplays. They are great. The float was strange at first, but it was fairly east for me to get used to. The two sided entry is also a nice thing to have, especially since I switched from 2 sided SPD mountain bike pedals.

Thanks for the tips about not over tightening the cleats. I backed them off from how tight I had them and I was certain they were too loose, but they have not budged.

A couple questions:

Every once in a while while pedaling or walking in the shoes there is a clicking the can be heard primarily from the bottom of the shoe.

Could it be the wrong shims? By looking at the cleats they look to be flush with the bottom of the shoe. Is it possible the mounting plate is loose?

Or, did I use the wrong screws to mount the mounting plate? There were two sets of screws for this task. One silver, and one dark grey. I have Sidis with the non carbon sole. I used the slver screws that are the longer of the two sets.

AEO

That clicking is odd, I wouldn't be able to figure it out without being there myself. I know that my set doesn't do this.
I used silver screws with my sidi and the mounting plate was tightened down a bit harder than the cleats.

maybe it's the ratcheting adjuster if your shoe has it?

prendrefeu

Yeah, sell the Speedplays, get Bebops.

All those problems people are mentioning with their Speedplays? Forget about 'em.

You'll no longer have to worry about "stepping in the mud" or anything, the cleats will naturally clear out when you make the push to clip in. Also, the pedals are all metal and will last longer, far more durable if you knock them up against anything. They're steel, yet lighter than most "titanium" pedals on the market, without a rider weight limit. You also won't need to fiddle with shims on the underside of your shoes' soles to get the cleat set properly. There's nothing to ratchet or adjust. Period.

Psimet2001 

I have always used the silver with my SIDI's. You really shouldn't need the longer screws with a non carbon sole. Just heard form aham that you do need the longer ones on the carbon soled SIDIs for sure.

Could possibly be that a screw has bottomed out leaving enough room to allow the cleat to flex while walking.

Spookykinkajou

I recommend the aluminum adapter made by speedplay to set the cleat back more on the shoe. Most shoes do not allow the speedplay cleat to be back far enough. the pair are about 25 dollars and well worth the cash for the added comfort, power, and more natural pedaling motion.

JMT114

I'm not having any problem with the position of the cleat, so I am just going to stick with the current mounting plate. I think I'll just tighten the screws on the mounting plate and see if that cures the clicking.

Spookykinkajou

My suggestion didn't really relate to the clicking. I've no idea what that is. Just an FYI. I didn't have any problems with my positioning either.

Spookykinkajou

one more suggestion:

consider getting covers for walking off the bike. eventually the screws will be ruined if you walk around much and if/when you need new cleats you will not be able to get them off unless you drill them out.

i, personally, don't like using the covers so I go for the drilling option, but it's not for everyone.

Creakyknees

Geez after reading all this, the bebop's are looking better and better.

A great lesson in the triumph of marketing over design.

.

JMT114

I figured out what the clicking noise is. The plate that you can use for SPD cleats on Sidi shoes slides back and forth so you can change the cleat position. There is a small piece of red plastic that holds this piece in place to keep it from sliding around when it is not in use.

Lets just say that I did not replace this piece when I installed the new cleats.

JMT114

I disagree, the pedals are great. I'm sure that every pedal system will have its good and bad points. I try not to walk in the mud no matter what shoes and pedal I am using.

banerjek

Ditto for frogs (unless you go ti since I think they may have a weight limit). I walk in mud while wearing my frogs almost every day when playing fetch with my dog. While the pedals aren't all metal, the important parts are, and they are very durable. The chromoly ones are light (a set 255g plus 50g for the cleats) and list for about $100. The ti ones are about 50g lighter for about $100 more.

I don't know why more people don't put frogs on road bikes. By the time you add in the weight of the cleats, regular speedplays and frogs weigh practically the same. But you can abuse the heck out of the frogs without worry.

popeye

Get rid of those stewpid beebops and rescue those creakyknees.

Psimet2001 

The covers work great, but everytime I try to make myself use them I just end up desciding that they are a PITA to carry around and take on and off. I usually wear out the cleats long before I run into problems with the screw heads caused by walking.

FWIW


As for the SPD plate....yeah that will happen. I've resorted to Duct tape before .

back in the "old days" I used to wear shoes that still had mountings for tradition cleats used with clips and they always had a sliding element in the rear to accomodate angle change. If you were using Look cleats then the old element would just slide back and forth. On those there was usually enough clearance that I could actually take a cleat screw and screw it into the element and lock it down.

cm02WS6

Make sure you check to see that the cleats are retained on the pedal properly. If the mounting screws are too tight or you have the wrong shims installed or if you have a screw head angled off of the base plate you could bind up the snap ring. This all happened on my wife's pedals, which resulted in the shoe popping off of the pedal with only a couple pounds of vertical force. I tried loosening the screws like everyone says, but it got to the point that it was flopping around before the shoe was retained to the pedal properly (as in you can't lift if off yourself). Then I looked at the shims (LBS installed the wrong ones) and also found that one of the screws holding the base to the shoe was angled and the head was sticking out above the surface of the base plate (so I ground it down). Basically you need to be able to move that snap ring around with your fingernail, otherwise its bound up from various causes and won't retain properly. Its kind of frustrating getting them set up the first time, but they've worked fine since then.

Spookykinkajou

They are the simplest pedal I've ever used. i wouldn't let all the stuff you are reading here keep you away. I'm all about no maintenance and longevity and the Speedplay are just that. I've never had the mud issues that same say to avoid, but I've never seen the need to walk around in dirt. it's a road bike not a mtb!

I had never really looked in to the bebops until reading this thread and they look great. The metal cleat will still be an issue when walking around although they look lower than the speedplays so perhaps would not be as awkward. the platform would be my concern. It's hard to tell in the pictures, but it does not look very large.

Psimet2001 

The maintenance "requirements" associated with Speedplay are greatly exagerrated in most instances, but it's kind of like you're in the position of feeling obligated to add, "this could happen" or "you might want to" just because these things can and have happened to people.

That said I touch mine about once a year or so. Grease the pedals and change cleats (I wear mine out much faster than most do).

That said I still like to post this....

crisi13

I just changed from Speedplays to Quattros. I liked the float of the speedplays and they were extremely easy to clip in and out. The major problem that I had was stopping and the big metal cleat slipping on the pavement. Just be careful...they can be very slippery!