Road Bike Pedals?

[martyg]

I recently went all SPD, all the time, on all bikes, from fat bikes to mtn bikes to road to ‘cross. I used to run Speedplay with various Specialized S-Works road shoes. Now it is all Expedo pedals and several pair of Specialized Recon shoes. Can’t ever see going back.

Many of our pro riders just stay with SPD. All of Howard Grotts bikes that I have seen have Expedo pedals. The Ti units are on several of my everyday training bikes.

 

[Larry]

Too late for me. I have 3-4 shoes already set up and 1 other bike with speedplay on it so it's easier to interchange either bike in case if a flat or something. My other bike has x2 so I'm thinking of exchanging for the x1

 

[princo]

I recently went all SPD, all the time, on all bikes, from fat bikes to mtn bikes to road to ‘cross.

Me too!

Here's my experience with Speedplay pedals for about the last 8 years. For road use they work as advertised. Their durability is great and their maintenance simple. I do about 300-400 miles a month on the road during the season and the only thing I do is injecting them with grease through the grease port as recommended every 2k miles. Their dual sidedness means I don’t ever have to look down to clip. I also liked that you can adjust the float and foot angle to your liking (which I need at some point when my knees were having issues). I was a bit skeptical about their newish Aero cleats, but after a couple of seasons they work reasonably well. The cleat covers last about a season if they don’t fall off before that, so plan on having a spare set around. The one caveat is that those pedals don’t like dirt and the cleat buddies (the round thing that you are supposed to use to cover the cleat hole) are useless and come out pretty easily. If you are one of those that like to step away from the road for a picture or look around, have that in mind.

The next thing I’m going to mention is going to sound sacrilege to some, specially the purist…but here it goes anyway. Recently I’ve been trying to use a gravelish bike with two set of wheels for both road and gravel (so far so good) and pedals were one of the decision points. Since the Speedplay Zeros were useless on gravel, I started to check out mtb XC racing pedals. I decided to give the “Look X-Track Race” a try on the dual purpose bike and the only thing I’m wondering is why I didn’t try that before! I converted my road shoes (Sidi carbon soles) to a recessed SPD cleat for use on road rides and I don’t miss a thing, well except walking like a duck and having to clean my cleats after I step on dirt. So for road biking I think a well-fitting stiff shoe plays a greater role than the pedals itself and I think I’m going to keep the X-Track for dual (road\gravel) use and my next “road shoes” are going to be stiff XC shoes.

 

[scott43]

I recently went all SPD, all the time, on all bikes, from fat bikes to mtn bikes to road to ‘cross. I used to run Speedplay with various Specialized S-Works road shoes. Now it is all Expedo pedals and several pair of Specialized Recon shoes. Can’t ever see going back.

Many of our pro riders just stay with SPD. All of Howard Grotts bikes that I have seen have Expedo pedals. The Ti units are on several of my everyday training bikes.

Been that way for twenty years.. one pair of shoes.

 

[markojp]

Perhaps I'm being paranoid but if they were to break due to metal fatigue or whatever I could be in a real pickle. Getting stranded somewhere, especially during social distancing, would be a real issue and since I've decided to train for a longer ride this summer I expect I'll be out in areas that would not be friendly to a one legged ride home.

Professional cyclists (think big guys like Tom Boonen, not tiny Columbian climbers), even track pros don't break pedals, and no one here is anywhere close to doing what the track guys do. People do break very worn cleats, but that's a maintenance issue and within your control. Larger cyclists break wheels, but even that takes some effort these days. Maintain whatever pedal system you get and you'll be fine. Both the Look and Shimano systems others have mentioned will work well.

 

[Rudi Riet]

Professional cyclists don't break pedals (think big guys like Tom Boonen, not tiny Columbian climbers), even track pros, and no one here is anywhere close to doing what the track guys do... Maintain whatever pedal system you get and you'll be fine. Both the Look and Shimano systems others have mentioned will be fine. Honestly, I've never been on any type of ride where someone has broken a pedal. Frames, wheels, stems, bars, seatposts yes, but pedals, no*.

I've been on a few rides where regular riders have broken pedals.

Twice I've seen people shear the "lollipop" end of a Speedplay pedal off the spindle (twice with steel spindles, once with titanium spindles). I've seen this happen twice with Crank Brothers pedals, once with Eggbeaters and the other with a set of Candys.

I've seen the retaining loops for Crank Brothers pedals break a few times (a big reason why I don't recommend their pedals: cool, mud-shedding design, but not built for the long haul).

Three times I've seen pedals (twice Speedplay, once Look) unscrew from the crank as the bearings had seized. That's just a lack of maintenance.

As @markojp says: if you have any pedal system, do the requisite preventive maintenance and you'll be fine.

 

[markojp]

Some old Look pedals weren't reverse threaded on the drive train side and unwound from time to time... been there, did that... but loctite did the trick.

 

[Tom K.]

For pure road riding, I find it impossible to beat Speedplays. The infinite float is so nice, once you're used to it (30 minutes).

But no -- or very little -- walking!

I'm currently between road bikes, and have been for over a year. My gravel bike is set up with SPDs, and they work fine.

 

[princo]

Twice I've seen people shear the "lollipop" end of a Speedplay pedal off the spindle (twice with steel spindles, once with titanium spindles).

Also, most pedals with Titanium spindles have a weight restriction. I just checked and both the Speedplay and Xpedo Ti have weight limit of 85 Kg. So if a rider is close to that weight and looking for durability, saving 100g on Ti might be counterproductive.

 

[markojp]

Heavier riders trying to minimize bike weight is always a recipe for gear failure for sure. It's much cheaper to lose a pound of body mass than buy off a pound of bike weight, but fortunately there's just a ton of great gear out there that's both durable, affordable, and relatively light compared to 10-15 years ago.

 

[coskigirl]

I am not buying titanium pedals to save weight (and knowing weight limits I won't buy them at all now.) I have to do far more work on the engine for that to even make any difference at all.

Since I do have knee issues at time I like the idea of the extra extra float.

You all have given me lots to mull over, thank you.

 

[cantunamunch]

Since I do have knee issues at time I like the idea of the extra extra float.

You all have given me lots to mull over, thank you.

Yeh, like I pointed out above, extra float can mean harder to clip out.

Especially with shorter legs and wider Q factor cranks.

 

[Plai]

I recently went all SPD, all the time, on all bikes, from fat bikes to mtn bikes to road to ‘cross. I used to run Speedplay with various Specialized S-Works road shoes. Now it is all Expedo pedals and several pair of Specialized Recon shoes. Can’t ever see going back.

Many of our pro riders just stay with SPD. All of Howard Grotts bikes that I have seen have Expedo pedals. The Ti units are on several of my everyday training bikes.

+1 here also. The utility of using SPD for both MTB and or road, easier clip-in with mud, and easier walkability was enough for this weekend warrior. I'm not a weight weenie nor trying to break any records other than my own PRs.

 

[scott43]

+1 here also. The utility of using SPD for both MTB and or road, easier clip-in with mud, and easier walkability was enough for this weekend warrior. I'm not a weight weenie nor trying to break any records other than my own PRs.

I wear a visor on my helmet and use baggy shorts on my road bike also...

 

[Rudi Riet]

Here's why I run SPD-SL on road and SPD on MTB and gravel: I have really messed up feet from growing up in plug boots (it's akin to the practice of Chinese foot binding, in a sense). So I have a fairly unhappy situation with plantar fasciitis that can be exacerbated by pedaling. I get really bad hot spots if my foot has pressure in a concentrated area. I've auditioned tons of shoes, have custom footbeds in said shoes, you name it - anything to make the feet happy.

And even with the highest-zoot MTB racing shoe and my footbeds (which also add some additional stiffness), I found that road pedaling dynamics with SPD pedals gave me terrible hot spots to the point where I had to get off the bike, take of my shoe, and massage my feet. It was not fun.

So I go for the wider platform of the SPD-SL pedals for my road rides, which are the longest rides I do in terms of distance and time.

For gravel and MTB, the forces are different and the distances typically shorter, so the SPD setup - with its more multi-directional cleat release, better walking setup, etc., is what I use there. Note that if I'm on a really long gravel ride I will often swap out for SPD-SL pedals to give my cranky feet some relief.

 

[cantunamunch]

What are you using for your gravel crankset?

 

[Ron]

so I dont think anyone commented on this but I was using Dura Ace with 1* float but went to Look Keo's with 4.5* when I picked up Garmin Vector 3 power meters. I really like the extra float. I dont have any issues with the dura Ace/utlegra pedals at all though. I think both feel similar from a support perspective. Just be sure of what cleat you need,


For gravel, I run XTR pedals and use the Shimano RX800 shoe

 

[Ron]

Since I do have knee issues at time I like the idea of the extra extra float.

BE Careful, more float doesn't mean they are better for your knees. if you have something that is irritating your knee during your pedal stroke too much float can exacerbate the issue, I would go to RETUL since you are so close once they can open up. You need an expert who can assess your riding and make the necessary adjustments. You could benefit with less float, but it does depend.

 

[Rudi Riet]

What are you using for your gravel crankset?

As my gravel bike is a repurposed hardtail 26" MTB, it's running a vintage White Industries triple with 20/34/46 gearing.

I also ride the Moots on all but the gnarliest gravel (it has clearance for up to a 34mm tire, and I used to ride gravel on 26mm without issues), it has a Shimano Ultegra R8000 with 34/50 compact gearing. If I were building a proper 2x11 or 2x12 gravel rig, the GRX sub-compact seems to hit a sweet spot.

 

[wooglin]

Anything BUT speedplay for me. Really dislike the pedal/shoe interface. Seems overly complicated. Still have keos on my road bike, but when they or my road shoes wear out I might switch to SPDs, which is what I have on my other bikes.