Tourist in MSN

I can't comment on bearing life on platforms vs SPD, but I regularly use two kinds of pedals that have both platform on one side and SPD on the other, Shimano M324 and Shimano A530 (discontinued).

It is my understanding that to readjust or clean out the bearings in the M324, some expensive tools are needed. I tried to pry the plastic cover off the bearings just to add some grease, but the plastic cover did not want to pop out and I wanted to avoid breaking it, so, no grease has been added.

The A530 has been replaced by several similar models. That and many other Shimano pedals use a small plastic inexpensive tool TL-PD40 to open up the bearings to add grease and if necessary adjust bearing tightness.

Two of my pairs of A530 pedals developed a click, I assumed I would need to adjust the bearings, bought the tool and opened them up. The bearings appeared to be adjusted just right, so left that alone and shoved in some more grease and reassembled them, clicking noise was gone. And in the past two years the clicking noise has not returned.

From that I can say that I have a firm preference for the pedals that use that plastic tool, as it is easy to add grease.

For more detail, do a search for youtube shimano tl-pd40 and watch a few videos.

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I also have some older Ritchey double sided SPD pedals, Comp V4. They have ball bearings inside and I have found it easy to remove the cap and add grease. Cap was threaded on VERY tightly with an allen wrench. The cap was tight enough that I had to put the pedal in a vice to hold it firmly to get the cap unthreaded. Those pedals work great on my road bike and have also used them sometimes on my folding bike.

I know I did not answer your question, but instead answered some questions that were not yet asked.