Beach Bob

Looking at switching to Speedplays (damn borked up knees....) From reading online, they seem to be the pedal of choice for setup flexibility, but there is lots of mention of them needing more maintenance.

Anyone with Speedplays care to chime in? What do you need to do to keep them in peak condition? How easy are the shoes to walk in with their clips?

dougphoto

I have 10 year old speedplays on my bike, put about 3500 outside miles per year and who knows how many inside miles per year on them. I've never done anything besides wipe them clean here and there. I once got a bunch of mud in my cleats and needed to take them apart and clean them out. But beside that I've done zero to them and they work great.

Marcus_Ti

They need regular lubrication. And keep your shoes/feet out of snow or mud or dirt. In addition to proper setup (correct snap shims for your shoes etc.).The walkable cleats are a far improvement over the normal ones....but still, you're wearing duck shoes.

I love my Zeros on my roadie.

redlude97

they need greasing through the grease port maybe every 2000 miles, easy enough to do if you have a grease gun. The cleats need dry lube every ~100 miles or so to minimize wear and prevent squeeking and ease of clipping in. Compared to SPD-Sl which i rebuilt every 3-4k and change cleats every 2k or so without much need otherwise.

Campag4life

this ^^^^ Very durable with periodic greasing.

MagicHour

Yep grease gun every 2000mi, occasional dry lube on cleats and bow ties, don't walk in the mud! That's pretty much it. I have ~15,000mi on a set of Zero Stainless, that I've never rebuilt and are still going strong. Probably due for a new pedal body rebuild at some point as they're a little rounded but not enough to cause ergo issues. As long as you use either aftermarket cleat covers or the new walkable cleats you'll get at least a season or two or more depending out of a pair of cleats.

Campag4life

Aside from plastic syringes which to me are a bit dodgy, do you guys have a cost effective grease gun that can push grease into Speedplay pedals without killing your hand? The Speedplay grease gun is $50.

Secret Squirrel

This is the one that I use for my X-2 pedals.
Finish Line Grease Injection Pump Gun

howheels

This is the one I use -- But a word of warning: Use eye protection. The first time I lubed my Speedplay pedals with the Finish Line grease gun, I managed to get a stream of grease ejected from the pedal body right in the eye.

redlude97

I use the park tool one which lets you screw on their tubes, same fitting on the end as the speedplay https://www.amazon.com/Park-Tool-GG-.../dp/B01LZOFS21

Campag4life

redlube,
As you know, pushing grease through clearance in bearings internal to Speedplay pedals takes a level of hydraulic pressure. When pressing the nozzle of the Park Grease gun to the port on the pedal, is pushing the grease into and through the Speedplay pedal...is it difficult with the Park gun? The Speedplay grease gun by contrast uses a lever which no doubt applies greater leverage to push the grease through. A syringe for example can hurt the palm a bit...my personal experience...when applying enough force to push grease through. Does the Park gun hurt your palm when applying sufficient force?
Thanks

redlude97

no, but I have climber hands. The knob at the end seems large enough to me not be an issue with palm pressure. I usually hold the nozzle with my left hand and push the grease knob with my right kinda like how you'd honk a horn. With your weight behind it, its not hard at all IME

Campag4life

Thanks for that.

Campag4life

Thank you.

bruce19

Exactly. This is something that I would have written.

topflightpro

I use plastic syringes. They are cheap and work well enough.

When the pedal starts spinning to freely, that's a sign you need to re-grease. The grease should be thick enough to keep the pedals from spinning too loosely.

But have a rag under the spindle as a lot of nasty black grease is going to come oozing out the other side.

bbbean 

Maintenance involves a drop of oil every couple of weeks and pushing grease through with a grease gun once or twice a year. The walkable cleats are very easy to walk in and the standard cleats are easy to walk in if you use the cafe covers.

twodownzero

I have never done any maintenance to mine and they have at least 2,000 miles on them.

The cleats suck to walk in. Use the covers and they're a little better, but it's still like walking on a ping pong ball.

Chandne

Drop of oil where? I use Light Actions and Frogs on the MTB. It is easy to take the spindles out to regrease too. Some good info on this thread. I have used the cleat covers and the walkable cleat covers. I prefer the walkable ones since they are curved. I have also used Zeros. No problems with any and since I do not ride much in the rain, the greasing is rare. I do use dry lube on the cleats springs and the pedal bowtie edges.

TimothyH

Pedro's makes one for less than $15.

https://www.niagaracycle.com/categor...bio-grease-gun

I own this. It works fine for greasing Zero and X-Series pedals.


-Tim-

popeye

Mine are 13 yrs old 5k+ miles a year and have never been greased. They are as smooth as the day I bought them. I avoid rain however and I do wax the outside and cleats. The cleats wear out about once a year.

doubravsky 

+1 - ten years in mine and never been greased I guess I should maybe do that.... but they work just fine.... and my knees love them.

bbbean 

The lips where your cleats go. makes clipping and unclipping a little quicker and more predictable.

Chandne

They say to use dry lube and I do that prior to each ride...on cleat springs and pedal bowtie bevels. Would oil not attract road grime and wear stuff down?

bbbean 

A drop of chain lube on the pedal doesn't seem to cause a problem - at least it hasn't for me in the past 20K miles or so, or for my LBS tech who's been doing the same on his pedals for the past 50K miles or so. There's a lot to be said for using a pedal-specific lube, and maybe that'll get you extra life we haven't used our pedals long enough to see, but a drop of oil on your pedals when you lube your chain is pretty easy and seems to work.