Originally Posted by
stljingram
What I found was that there were too many moving parts involved with the cleats for my body - adapters, shims, plates, springs - and that the cleat never really felt like part of the pedal, which I had read so much about. I was hoping this would be the case, but the platform never felt like more than the lollipop center.
A good part of the problem here is not the pedal, but your shoe. you need a 4 bolt shoe eliminating the adapter, and giving you virtually no stack height, to really get the advantage you're alluding to here.
Originally Posted by
stljingram
That being the case, I could never quite get the pedal stroke down to avoid irritating my knees in various locations - side, front, back, inside, you name it (yes, my bike fits). I felt as if my foot could never find the middle and was always "rocking" from side to side.
I think what you're describing here is the "free float" Most other pedals with "float" still have some spring tension that tends to push your foot back to the starting position, when it moves from center. Speedplay pedals have "free float" in that within the range of available float, there is no tension on your foot encouraging it back to the starting position.
Some people simply do not like the feeling that free float gives because it makes them feel like their foot is not secure or is "rocking" around. That's simply a personal preference, and a valid one.
However, for anyone contemplating using Speedplays, Most Speedplay users will tell you they got over that feeling within one or two rides. And the very few that don't, tend to not stick with Speedplays.