curdog

Will I see any differences if I go from mountain SPD to Speedplay, aside from my shoes not attaching(ha!). It seems to me that the pedal would be held tighter to the shoe, but that is only a guess. Any ideas? Oh yeah, walking is not a big consideration.
Thanks!

gtragitt

I will let yo know next week. I have been using MTB pedals and shoes. I just bought Speedplays yesterday and haven't riden with them. I will probably need some miles to adjust to new shoes and some time adjusting to engaging new cleats.

I think I will see a noticeable advantage. I hope so because this was not a small expenditure.

NOS88

Yes, there will be a difference. Depending on the specific model of Speedplays you use, you'll have a different amount of float (side to side movement) on the pedal. Some, while getting used to the unlimited float on one of the models, have described it as standing on an ice cube. Personally, I found it only took one or two rides to get used to it. You'll also have more contact between you and the pedal allowing for more efficient power transfer. I question if the amount of difference is significant for most non-competitive riders, but it is there. I've also found Speedplays easier to engage and disengage than SPDs. You really can pretty much just stomp and go. This is likely a personal preference.

BluesDawg

How do Speedplays compare to other road pedals like Look or SPD-SL aside from the increased amount of float? They don't appear to have as large a contact area, which I have always seen as a major advantage of road cleats.

NOS88

The argument is that since the pedal clips into the cleat (which is pretty substantial), that they form a fairly big contact area. I'm currently riding Look Keo Sprints and find the contact area to be about the same. My real gripe with the Speedplays is how easy it is to pick up debris in the cleats and make clipping in very difficult. Sometimes just putting your foot down at a red light can pick up enough debris to cause a problem.

Robert Foster

I used Crank Brothers Candy and Egg beaters with MTB shoes for years and for rides up to 40 or 50 miles they were fine. And walking was a lot easier even if it isn't a consideration. I have switched to Look Keos because I wanted road shoes to help with heat in the summer. I had a set of speed plays that I was going to use because I like the duel clip position. While the pedals are very light the cleat is not and like someone pointed out if you don't use cafe covers every time you get off the bike junk clooects in the cleat making clipping in a pain. Still the thing that makes road pedals better is more the shoes I think than the pedal itself. That and a wider area to put pressure on.

lhbernhardt

If you have Shimano SPD mtb cleats, and you want more pedal contact area, why not just get the A530 pedals? They have a wider frame around the SPD engagement that looks like it would support more of the shoe. I have not used them because I am confortable with the contact area of the SPD mtb and original SPD road pedals (no longer made). The Speedplay cleats look like they would be very awkward to walk in. Because of their inverse design, you are basically walking on the pedal (with locking system), while the cleat is on the bike. I use the mtb pedals in my winter commutes because I need a 2-sided pedal that I can squish a snow-covered foot into and still have it clip in. Besides, I like open standards, and SPD appears to be pretty close to that, despite Shimano's intent to lock in its customers (e.g., SPD-SL works like Look, but is not compatible, which I think is really dumb and inconvenient to the consumer).

Luis

Hermes

I did not own Speedplays and I have not ridden them. Our club has a Speedplay deal so many of our riders use Speedplay. They are double sided and designed for very fast entry on the first try. I have observed that in group rides and races the Speedplay riders never miss a clip in. With Look or SPD SL, it is easier to miss and I see some take a couple of pedal strokes to cleat in. The pedal is lighter but that is because there is mechanical mechanism in the cleat making the cleats heavier. The cleats appear more cumbersome to walk in and subject to dirt. Most guys I hang out with that use them always use the Kool covers when walking compared with those that use SPD SL or Look. The yellow SPD SL cleats retail for $26 these days. A couple of years ago they were $16. I do not know what the Speedplay cleats sell for. My wife and I go through the SPD SL cleats pretty fast which is mostly from pushing off from a standing start.

gtragitt

I bought some road shoes this afternoon with carbon soles. The guy who sold them asked what kind of MTB shoes I had. He may have been gassing me up, but he claimed I would tell a noticeable difference in power transmission.

I am guessing the shoes will have as much or more impact than the speedplays that I will be installing this afternoon.

As Hermes mentioned I am a little leery about the speedplay cleat reliability. The Zero cleats are very light. I did buy cleat covers. I hope I can walk almost as well with the cleat covers as I can with the MTB shoes.

AzTallRider

I'm in the market to upgrade my shoes and pedals as well (have Shimano MTB SPDs and cheap shoes now). I love everything I read about the speedplay zeros, especially the adjustable float, but am worried about that susceptability to grit. We have a crushed granite driveway I need to walk over to get to and from my bike, and putting covers on to go 20 yards could be a pain.

How easy do the covers go on and off?

AzTallRider

Wups... just found out the max rider weight for speedplay is 185 lbs? Yikes!

Hermes

Cleat covers are a piece of cake to put on and take off. I think the weight limitation for Speedplays is for the titanium axel. I find it hard to believe that a steel axel will have a 185 pound weight limitation.

NOS88

You are correct. It doesn't.

gtragitt

The covers are easy to get on and off. It is significantly more difficult to walk in the road shoes with the covers as the MTB shoes.

The first trial ride was weird with too much float. I need to reduce the float. Entry was easy. Disengaging was more difficult with so much float. I think it will get easier when I limit the float.

I saved 15 oz (shoes and pedals) with the switch from the MTB shoes and pedals.

I have the titanium spindles and I weigh 185.

gtragitt

I have an update after a 10 mi ride.

Getting on the bike is much more difficult because the shoes slip off the pedals until they are centered over the cleats. I see this a a significant disadvantage.

The pedals function much better for me after I limited the float to a very small amount.

I noticed a performance improvement. I noticed greater acceleration.

In Houston we have only a few short hills around the bayou. I found climbing these short hills was much easier.

Overall I am happy with the purchase and have no buyers remorse.

I still have to practice getting on the bike and engaging and disengaging the cleats.

badamsjr

When you talk about going from mountain spd, are you talking about pedals, or shoes? I think you would have trouble putting Speedplay cleats on a pair of MTB shoes! Just a thought.

buelito

I had speedplays and got rid of them. Yes, they were easy to get into and out of. However, the cleat is heavy, and bback when I had them (8 years ago) replacemnt cleats were $34. The reason I got rid of them is that during a 135 mile ride the little screws that hold the cleat on the pedal came loose (2 of them, and through clipping in and out the screws were lost. I suddenly had a cleat I could not clip in with. I ended up taking the cleat off the shoe and sticking it in my pocket and finishing the last 35 miles of the ride with one foot clipped inm, and the other on top of the small speedplay pedal. I did have a rubber band that I put around the pedal to give it some 'grip'... I sold the speedplays the next day and went back to Looks, that use a long screw to attach the cleat to the shoe.

Having said all that, I have Looks on 2 bikes, and spd or spd clones on 3 bikes. The spd based bikes are my commuters and my mountain bike. the Looks are for the road.

I had no problem going from one type of cleat to another. The play in the speedplays did take a while to get used to, but they worked pretty well.

train safe-

Pat

I ride Look pedals and have ridden SPD pedals on multi day bike tours. The advantage of the spd pedals is I can actually walk in them.

As for performance differences, I think the road cleats offer a bigger contact area which is a advantage. But the advantage (which could be all placebo effect) is a small one if it even exists.

Hermes

IMO, the advantage one gets from a pedal system is being connected to the pedal. The car equivalent is connecting the engine to the drive train. So once the connection is positive, the next matter is spin rate, pedaling technique, power transfer and reliability. A Look, Shimano SPD SL, or Speedplay is designed to take a lot of power and spin for hours. So road riders who ride a lot, spin fast and do not walk very much will want a pedal system optimized for that activity. Does one use the same connection hardware to connect a Ferrari engine to the drive train as a VW? No. Many riders easily produce 1/2 horsepower with spikes to 1 1/2 horse power. That is a pretty good sized lawnmower engine. In that case, the better pedal systems are more reliable and work better with the newer carbon sole shoes.

So my take is that most pedal systems work pretty well and it gets down to the type of riding one does and in many ways does the pedal system compliment the bicycle and other components. If one has a better bicycle it makes sense to have better pedals.

BluesDawg

Duck walking is still walking.

Kurt Erlenbach

Because the surface area on Speedplays is small, you've got to be sure when you click in - if not, your foot will slip off the pedal causing any variety of bedlam. BDawg is right about picking up grit in the cleat, but some routine maintenance usually is good enough to prevent trouble. I've had the same pair of X's for a few years, and I think they're great.

BluesDawg

Must have been someone else. I don't know anything about Speedplays.

curdog

I guess to sum this all up from my perspective, I probably shouldn't make any changes. The SPD's work well and I like the ability to walk with them. If there are no noticible performance or comfort gains, I see no reason to change.

stapfam

Theres always a reason to change

But never found a problem with the M520's- except the larger platform of the A520/530 does seem more comfortable after long road rides.

gtragitt

After a couple of rides I am very happy with my Speedplays and new road shoes. I altered how I get on the bike. I use the brake to make sure I can get one pedal engaged before allowing any movement of the bike. This was never an issue with the MTB pedals and shoes. I could just hop on the bike and start riding. I would engage the MTB cleats after I was riding.