Pedal Selection

[FixedNotBroken]

I have seem some pedal threads awhile back but I couldn't find them in the search bar. I use to have the SPD-SL's but it seemed with the lower degree of float, my knees seemed to ache for some reason. After I used those for awhile I moved on to the Speedplay Zero's Stainless pedals and my knee aches went away and didn't seem as prevalent or constant. I have heard great things about the Keo Blades and the Time pedals. The only thing about the Speedplay pedals are the cleats. Do you get as much of a surface area to push onto compared to the SPD-SL's/Keo's/etc..?

[dekindy]

The arguement that I have seen is that the cleat is the contact area and is comparable to SPD-SL contact area; but I have no personal experience just what I read, you will have to decide if it makes sense.

[Elefantino]

If one pedal works, why switch?

Of course, the same logic could be applied to bikes themselves, and that logic usually derives from spousal third-degree, and there is no good way to answer that, so never mind.

[fourflys]

I have used both and went back to SPD-SL's... The contact area was Ok with the Speedplays, I just didn't care for the entry method (probably would've gotten used to) and they seemed a bit too high maintenance for me having to always worry about getting stuff in the cleats...

did the regular float SPD-SL cleats bother your knees?

[FixedNotBroken]

You know, I'm not sure what was bothering them. It was when I first started cycling that they did so i'm wondering if it was just a lack of miles? Is the float the same on the Keo Blades?

[1centaur]

I like to experiment with different pedals from time to time on my trainer for a few weeks to see if the new stuff is any better. My usual pedals are SP Zeros. Last year I tried Keo Blades and after a few days I had some leg pain. No matter how I adjusted them I could not get perfectly comfortable. Back to SPs and everything was right very quickly. I don't have much float dialed into the SPs but I guess it's the right float. I wonder intellectually why one would pick a pedal with float limits set by the manufacturer instead of the rider, as SP allows.

The wide platform feel of Keos really seemed irrelevant to my power numbers. Plus clipping in is really annoying compared to SPs. But they do look cool.

[CaptStash]

Could it have been due to cleat placement? I used to use Speedplays and switched to SPD-Sl's because of knee pain (I know counterintuitive). Looking back at the shoes with the Speedplays (my son uses them now) I can see that the cleat placement was a bit different.

Just a thought to further cloud the issue.

Captstash....

[firerescuefin]

Stick with the Zeros..your essentially wearing the surface area on your shoes..."the cleat"...you're not losing anything as far as power /pedal transference is concerned. The cleats suck to walk on..and get clogged easily, but knowing their limitations, I've used them for 11 years and they worked great for me. I have never accidently come out of them...and I have always needed to get out when I had to...can't say that for other pedals I had used previously.

I've always played around with the idea of getting the high end Ti Crank Brothers Egg Beaters as I loved them on my MTB, but never pulled the plug on the purchase.

[twangston73]

I have used both SPs and Keos. To me, they don't feel much different in terms of platform/stability. The SPs have better float and are easier to clip in when you do not have gunk in your cleats (being two sided), the problem is it easy to get gunk in your cleats and they are annoying to clump around in. Not a huge difference either way.

[fourflys]

pedals like saddles are an enormously personal decision... I do wonder though if when switching from SP to Shimano or Look you might need to adjust saddle height? I can't imagine it would be much, but if you have sensitive knees...

[FixedNotBroken]

Stick with the Zeros..your essentially wearing the surface area on your shoes..."the cleat"...you're not losing anything as far as power /pedal transference is concerned. The cleats suck to walk on..and get clogged easily, but knowing their limitations, I've used them for 11 years and they worked great for me. I have never accidently come out of them...and I have always needed to get out when I had to...can't say that for other pedals I had used previously.

I've always played around with the idea of getting the high end Ti Crank Brothers Egg Beaters as I loved them on my MTB, but never pulled the plug on the purchase.

I use the coffee covers when i'm not on the bike but walking in them in annoying. I was worried about the power/pedal transference but thanks for clarifying that. What I do like about the Speedplay's is that you can clip in on both sides which is convenient.

[FixedNotBroken]

I like to experiment with different pedals from time to time on my trainer for a few weeks to see if the new stuff is any better. My usual pedals are SP Zeros. Last year I tried Keo Blades and after a few days I had some leg pain. No matter how I adjusted them I could not get perfectly comfortable. Back to SPs and everything was right very quickly. I don't have much float dialed into the SPs but I guess it's the right float. I wonder intellectually why one would pick a pedal with float limits set by the manufacturer instead of the rider, as SP allows.

The wide platform feel of Keos really seemed irrelevant to my power numbers. Plus clipping in is really annoying compared to SPs. But they do look cool.

The Keo Blades do look very good, hence my interest. The SPD-SL's just didn't work for me I guess. Would you compare the SPD-SL's to the Keo series? Platform and float wise?

I like how the Zero's have so much float. It's hard to have a perfect pedal stroke so if you don't and ride pedals with minimal float, you could really hurt your knees.

[FixedNotBroken]

pedals like saddles are an enormously personal decision... I do wonder though if when switching from SP to Shimano or Look you might need to adjust saddle height? I can't imagine it would be much, but if you have sensitive knees...

Agreed. You do have to adjust the saddle height when going from Shimano or Look to SP's..at least that's what my fitter did.