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Talk to me about pedals
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Bottom line up front: What pedals/cleat combos are popular these days and why?


I've not had mainstream pedals since the 80's so I don't know hardly anything about the pedals that were in common use in triathlon in the years after. In the early 90's I used Sampson pedal/cleats and in the late 90's I went to Coombe pedals/cleats on the roadbike but kept the Sampson pedals on the tri bike. I didn't compete from 08'-2016 but now I'm back racing. The Coombe pedals suck on the tri bike because the shoes will so easily rotate themselves off of the pedals. I love the stack height of the Coombes, I love the fact that I can easily run thru the transition area in them, but not being able to keep the shoes on the bike is costing me a lot of time in transition.

The bolt pattern doesn't matter. Since I've currently using Coombes, no matter what your recommendation might be, it won't fit my shoes. Therefore I've already become emotionally adjusted to the idea of new shoes.

I really like low stack height, but my darn shoes need to reliably stay on the bike. Recommendations?

I did a search here for pedals, but it would seem that in every single thread, someone mentions pedals. I spent 30min reading "pedal hit" threads that were not about pedals and gave that up as a non-win.

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Last edited by: RangerGress: Apr 24, 17 18:48
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Re: Talk to me about pedals [RangerGress] [ In reply to ]
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Speedplays are very low stack, and the most adjustable. I recently switched to them after ~10 years on SPD-SL. I really like them.
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Re: Talk to me about pedals [trail] [ In reply to ]
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trail wrote:
Speedplays are very low stack, and the most adjustable. I recently switched to them after ~10 years on SPD-SL. I really like them.

You're comfortable that the shoes will stay on the bike well enough?

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"If only he had used his genius for niceness, instead of Evil." M. Smart
Last edited by: RangerGress: Apr 24, 17 18:50
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Re: Talk to me about pedals [RangerGress] [ In reply to ]
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Shimano for me, been on them from the SPD days.

SPD followed by SPD-R followed by SPD-SL. Liked all of them, they all stayed clipped in reliably even sprinting in a crit.

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Re: Talk to me about pedals [RangerGress] [ In reply to ]
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RangerGress wrote:
You're comfortable that the shoes will stay on the bike well enough?

Yes. Crit starts, sprints - no problem. There is a really positive engagement with a satisfying "click", and a very deliberate motion required for release. They got it right. I've had zero issues with intentional release.

If you really want an ultra-secure engagement, there's the track version, but that's probably way overkill, except for something like a track sprint.
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Re: Talk to me about pedals [trail] [ In reply to ]
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Are speedplays on a bushing or a bearing system? I had a pair of crank bros mtb pedals that were on bushings and the squeak drove me insane. I seem to remember that speedplays were on a bushing as well, but I could be misremembering or they could have changed it

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Re: Talk to me about pedals [JasoninHalifax] [ In reply to ]
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JasoninHalifax wrote:
Are speedplays on a bushing or a bearing system? I had a pair of crank bros mtb pedals that were on bushings and the squeak drove me insane. I seem to remember that speedplays were on a bushing as well, but I could be misremembering or they could have changed it



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Re: Talk to me about pedals [RangerGress] [ In reply to ]
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RangerGress wrote:
Bottom line up front: What pedals/cleat combos are popular these days and why?


I've not had mainstream pedals since the 80's so I don't know hardly anything about the pedals that were in common use in triathlon in the years after. In the early 90's I used Sampson pedal/cleats and in the late 90's I went to Coombe pedals/cleats on the roadbike but kept the Sampson pedals on the tri bike. I didn't compete from 08'-2016 but now I'm back racing. The Coombe pedals suck on the tri bike because the shoes will so easily rotate themselves off of the pedals. I love the stack height of the Coombes, I love the fact that I can easily run thru the transition area in them, but not being able to keep the shoes on the bike is costing me a lot of time in transition.

The bolt pattern doesn't matter. Since I've currently using Coombes, no matter what your recommendation might be, it won't fit my shoes. Therefore I've already become emotionally adjusted to the idea of new shoes.

I really like low stack height, but my darn shoes need to reliably stay on the bike. Recommendations?

I did a search here for pedals, but it would seem that in every single thread, someone mentions pedals. I spent 30min reading "pedal hit" threads that were not about pedals and gave that up as a non-win.

I recently moved from Look Keo Blade 2 to Speedplay Zero Aero Walkable. Frankly, the whole reason I went to Speedplay was because they have shown to be a little more aero. I am not sure how much of adjustment period it takes but I am not there yet. If the Speedplay's are more aero I am going to stick with them but that is because I want to go as fast as possible. The downside to me are the cleats and pedals seem to take more maintenance with lubing, cleaning etc. They are harder to get into (not good), and easy to get out of (also not good). The float also feels like your on ice skates although I am using a special adapter plate that is made of metal versus the stock plastic one and the plastic one is better

Overall, I had to read the instructions for Speedplay and it was complicated. They really need to work IMO in making the system more user friendly. It could be the 11+ years on Look pedals and I am waiting a good six months before I do a formal review to make sure this isn't one of those personal preference things that disappears with time but it just seems like it is really complicated. The reality is that Look pedals work, they provide a wide stable platform that I don't feel like I am skating on, and have easy engagement but I have to actively disengage which is good. With Speedplay I always think I am going to accidentally disengage. Especially when doing flying mounts and dismount in triathlon. Regardless, I made the mistake of buying the 20nm Blade 2 at first. It was too much, especially with the elastic laces of the Giro. I had moved down to 12nm and that is much better.

Bottom line: if the Look were more aero I would absolutely stay with Look. I am secretly hoping someone proves the Blade 2 are fast.


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Re: Talk to me about pedals [JasoninHalifax] [ In reply to ]
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JasoninHalifax wrote:
Shimano for me, been on them from the SPD days.

SPD followed by SPD-R followed by SPD-SL. Liked all of them, they all stayed clipped in reliably even sprinting in a crit.
Just to make sure that I didn't cause confusion...I have no problems keeping my shoes clipped in when my feet are in the shoes. But if my feet are not in the shoes, the Coombe pedals will allow the shoes to rotate, as in heel pivoting outboard, and the shoe will come off the pedal. If I put my shoes on the bike in the transition area, once I come back from the swim, grab the bike and then run towards the mount point, once I jump on the bike, one of the shoes is likely to be no longer with me. Which would be bad.

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"If only he had used his genius for niceness, instead of Evil." M. Smart
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Re: Talk to me about pedals [trail] [ In reply to ]
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trail wrote:
JasoninHalifax wrote:
Are speedplays on a bushing or a bearing system? I had a pair of crank bros mtb pedals that were on bushings and the squeak drove me insane. I seem to remember that speedplays were on a bushing as well, but I could be misremembering or they could have changed it



Outboard bearing, inboard bushing.

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly
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Re: Talk to me about pedals [RangerGress] [ In reply to ]
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Have you tried the elastic band trick to keep the shoes level and right side up?

RangerGress wrote:
JasoninHalifax wrote:
Shimano for me, been on them from the SPD days.

SPD followed by SPD-R followed by SPD-SL. Liked all of them, they all stayed clipped in reliably even sprinting in a crit.
Just to make sure that I didn't cause confusion...I have no problems keeping my shoes clipped in when my feet are in the shoes. But if my feet are not in the shoes, the Coombe pedals will allow the shoes to rotate, as in heel pivoting outboard, and the shoe will come off the pedal. If I put my shoes on the bike in the transition area, once I come back from the swim, grab the bike and then run towards the mount point, once I jump on the bike, one of the shoes is likely to be no longer with me. Which would be bad.

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly
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Re: Talk to me about pedals [JasoninHalifax] [ In reply to ]
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JasoninHalifax wrote:
Outboard bearing, inboard bushing.

No, that prior image wasn't clear. All modern Speedplay road pedals use 3 bearings, according to Speedplay. There are 2 outboard cartridge bearings and an inboard needle bearing. The needle bearing is clearer here.




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Re: Talk to me about pedals [JasoninHalifax] [ In reply to ]
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JasoninHalifax wrote:
Have you tried the elastic band trick to keep the shoes level and right side up?

RangerGress wrote:
JasoninHalifax wrote:
Shimano for me, been on them from the SPD days.

SPD followed by SPD-R followed by SPD-SL. Liked all of them, they all stayed clipped in reliably even sprinting in a crit.

Just to make sure that I didn't cause confusion...I have no problems keeping my shoes clipped in when my feet are in the shoes. But if my feet are not in the shoes, the Coombe pedals will allow the shoes to rotate, as in heel pivoting outboard, and the shoe will come off the pedal. If I put my shoes on the bike in the transition area, once I come back from the swim, grab the bike and then run towards the mount point, once I jump on the bike, one of the shoes is likely to be no longer with me. Which would be bad.

I did experiment with rubber bands. Seemed like an interesting idea for T1, but it wouldn't work for T2..

Books @ Amazon
"If only he had used his genius for niceness, instead of Evil." M. Smart
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Re: Talk to me about pedals [RangerGress] [ In reply to ]
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I use M2Racer and Aerolite pedals.
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Re: Talk to me about pedals [RangerGress] [ In reply to ]
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I'm very happy with Speedplay Zeros having started on SPD-SL for about a year and then moved to Speedplay Zero 5 years ago.

They're very smooth (no squeaking)
I've never had accidental disengagement problems
I love the low friction and adjustable float.
I don't find maintenance an issue (I do much less than Speedplay recommend - it's massive overkill and has proven unnecessary)
They are easy to engage and disengage (intentionally!)

I haven't tried the aero-walkable version at the moment. I use the standard double sided pedals and original cleats.
The cleats are not good to walk or run on, although you can get covers which improve things dramatically.
They are easy to engage.
I presume the aero walkable version will improve the ability to walk and run comfortably/safely in these but I also presume it makes it harder to engage since you'd need to make-sure the correct side of the pedal was facing up. I'm 99% sure you can use the walkable cleat with the standard pedal which gives you the best of both worlds (except some of the aero benefit)

A small number of people who try these complain about a "skating on ice" feeling as Thomas mentioned. I was worried about this when I bought mine originally. I noticed the sensation of the almost frictionless float initially but never found it a problem at all and within a couple of rides I no longer even noticed it, but the benefit remains. I suspect that float is exactly what makes these so comfortable for me.
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Re: Talk to me about pedals [jimatbeyond] [ In reply to ]
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jimatbeyond wrote:
I use M2Racer and Aerolite pedals.

Those still made?

Ai_1 wrote:
A small number of people who try these complain about a "skating on ice" feeling as Thomas mentioned. I was worried about this when I bought mine originally. I noticed the sensation of the almost frictionless float initially but never found it a problem at all and within a couple of rides I no longer even noticed it, but the benefit remains. I suspect that float is exactly what makes these so comfortable for me.
I'm good with frictionless float. Coombe's behave similarly so I'm used to it.

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"If only he had used his genius for niceness, instead of Evil." M. Smart
Last edited by: RangerGress: Apr 25, 17 4:56
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Re: Talk to me about pedals [RangerGress] [ In reply to ]
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Speedplay Stack height, 4 hole vs. 3 hole shoe. According to Speedplay their stack height is 8.5mm on a 4 hole shoe and 12.5mm on a 3 hole shoe. I'm not sure what the stack height is on the Coombes, but it ain't much. So in an attempt to maintain the "ain't much", I just spent some time looking at 4 hole shoes. So let me bounce this off of you....

I looked at pics of the soles of various 4 hole shoes and it looks to me, in every case, like the 4 hole platform is quite thick. So maybe chasing after low stack height by choosing a 4 hole shoe is a waste of time because the thick sole on the shoe negates any advantage of the native Speedplay compatibility (no adapter needed). Your thoughts?

Books @ Amazon
"If only he had used his genius for niceness, instead of Evil." M. Smart
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Re: Talk to me about pedals [Thomas Gerlach] [ In reply to ]
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Thomas - I'm a long time speedplay user, absolutely love them.

But specific to the model you are trying - the aero model - unless you have your shoes pre-clipped in, they do look like they are much more of a pain to get into since they are only single sided.

The original 'non-aero' zero's are ridiculously easy to get into, and I find as long as you have the float set correctly in the cleat, there should be no accidental unclipping.

Someone else mentioned the track special versions....I've used these before (they were on sale) and honestly I couldn't notice much difference in the release tension compared to the normal version.
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Re: Talk to me about pedals [Thomas Gerlach] [ In reply to ]
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The downside to me are the cleats and pedals seem to take more maintenance with lubing, cleaning etc.


TG,

Agreed.

First let me state that the Speedplay pedals are an outstanding pedal and system! I love the simplicity of the way the whole system works from the outside, as well as the low stack height and the ability to click-in from either side of the pedal.

However, they are a bit finickity - do require regular maintenance, and fiddling around to keep them working optimally. They don't handle dirt/grit very well. So if in your riding routine, you are walking around a lot off-pavement, or riding in the rain and dirty roads a lot - it's going to impact the overall performance and longevity of the pedal/cleat system.

Speedplay does make a VERY light PEDAL - but in their design, a good chunk of that weight saving on the pedal has been transferred to the CLEAT! There's nothing wrong with this - just something worth noting when sales-people tell you how light the pedals are - which they will do! Other systems have kept shaving weight down and now total weights for all the top-the-line pedals, for the total system of pedal & cleat are pretty close.

Speedplay USED to have a problem with longevity & durability for the cleats. If you walked around a lot in them, you went through the actual cleats fairly quickly. The new Aero/Walkable rubber feature added to thew popular Zero model is an absolute stroke of genius by Speedplay - kudos to them. This massively increases cleat, longevity, durability, walkability, AND makes the whole system under the foot more aero!

As others have noted, it's a bit of a different feel than other systems with the actual float - there's no resistance at all (for the float) which leads to that feeling as others have noted of feeling like skating on ice. If you have a lot of natural movement in your pedal stroke - be careful to note, wear on the bottom of the cleat interface with the pedal - after time you can actually see pitting of thermoplastic here - which leads to excessive movement in the form of rocking of the shoe while clicked in. There is a solution for this - Install the thin stainless-steel plates Speedplay makes between, the two parts of the Speedplay cleats, to stop this wearing. This will increase stack-height slightly, but completely eliminate this wearing and extend actual cleat life significantly.


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Last edited by: Fleck: Apr 25, 17 9:28
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Re: Talk to me about pedals [Fleck] [ In reply to ]
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Just to be sure that I understand re. Speedplay "ice skating like float". When I pull my feet out of the shoes and jump off the bike, when I rack the bike 15secs later, the shoes are still going to be attached to the pedals, right? I don't want the Speedplays to ice skate themselves right off of the pedals.

Reason I'm belaboring this is "ice skate" sounds to me like "no resistance to the shoe rotating right off the pedal".

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"If only he had used his genius for niceness, instead of Evil." M. Smart
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Re: Talk to me about pedals [RangerGress] [ In reply to ]
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RangerGress wrote:

Reason I'm belaboring this is "ice skate" sounds to me like "no resistance to the shoe rotating right off the pedal".


First, of all the float is adjustable. Speeplay calls their standard pedal the "Zero" now because you can adjust their famous float to zero (easy to do).

You seem very worried about losing shoes, but I assure as well as I can as a random Internet forum dude that they are *not* going to come off the pedals unless you want them to.
Last edited by: trail: Apr 25, 17 7:50
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Re: Talk to me about pedals [RangerGress] [ In reply to ]
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I have been using Ultegra 6700 pedals that I have had since 2010 and they have worked flawlessly. This is my first year of doing triathlons and it seams like everyone likes Speedplay. Are Speedplays easier to run in during transition? I'm sure a lot of people leave their shoes on the bike. Considering changing it up with my pending pike purchase.
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Re: Talk to me about pedals [RangerGress] [ In reply to ]
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M2Racer went out of business in 2006.

You can still buy Aerolite pedals.
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Re: Talk to me about pedals [Thomas Gerlach] [ In reply to ]
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Thomas Gerlach wrote:

Overall, I had to read the instructions for Speedplay and it was complicated. They really need to work IMO in making the system more user friendly. It could be the 11+ years on Look pedals and I am waiting a good six months before I do a formal review to make sure this isn't one of those personal preference things that disappears with time but it just seems like it is really complicated. The reality is that Look pedals work, they provide a wide stable platform that I don't feel like I am skating on, and have easy engagement but I have to actively disengage which is good. With Speedplay I always think I am going to accidentally disengage. Especially when doing flying mounts and dismount in triathlon.

This mirrors my Speedplay experience. After I couldn't make Speedplay work for myself or my wife, I returned them and got another set of Look Keos.
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Re: Talk to me about pedals [Thomas Gerlach] [ In reply to ]
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Thomas Gerlach wrote:
RangerGress wrote:
Bottom line up front: What pedals/cleat combos are popular these days and why?


I've not had mainstream pedals since the 80's so I don't know hardly anything about the pedals that were in common use in triathlon in the years after. In the early 90's I used Sampson pedal/cleats and in the late 90's I went to Coombe pedals/cleats on the roadbike but kept the Sampson pedals on the tri bike. I didn't compete from 08'-2016 but now I'm back racing. The Coombe pedals suck on the tri bike because the shoes will so easily rotate themselves off of the pedals. I love the stack height of the Coombes, I love the fact that I can easily run thru the transition area in them, but not being able to keep the shoes on the bike is costing me a lot of time in transition.

The bolt pattern doesn't matter. Since I've currently using Coombes, no matter what your recommendation might be, it won't fit my shoes. Therefore I've already become emotionally adjusted to the idea of new shoes.

I really like low stack height, but my darn shoes need to reliably stay on the bike. Recommendations?

I did a search here for pedals, but it would seem that in every single thread, someone mentions pedals. I spent 30min reading "pedal hit" threads that were not about pedals and gave that up as a non-win.


I recently moved from Look Keo Blade 2 to Speedplay Zero Aero Walkable. Frankly, the whole reason I went to Speedplay was because they have shown to be a little more aero. I am not sure how much of adjustment period it takes but I am not there yet. If the Speedplay's are more aero I am going to stick with them but that is because I want to go as fast as possible. The downside to me are the cleats and pedals seem to take more maintenance with lubing, cleaning etc. They are harder to get into (not good), and easy to get out of (also not good). The float also feels like your on ice skates although I am using a special adapter plate that is made of metal versus the stock plastic one and the plastic one is better

Overall, I had to read the instructions for Speedplay and it was complicated. They really need to work IMO in making the system more user friendly. It could be the 11+ years on Look pedals and I am waiting a good six months before I do a formal review to make sure this isn't one of those personal preference things that disappears with time but it just seems like it is really complicated. The reality is that Look pedals work, they provide a wide stable platform that I don't feel like I am skating on, and have easy engagement but I have to actively disengage which is good. With Speedplay I always think I am going to accidentally disengage. Especially when doing flying mounts and dismount in triathlon. Regardless, I made the mistake of buying the 20nm Blade 2 at first. It was too much, especially with the elastic laces of the Giro. I had moved down to 12nm and that is much better.

Bottom line: if the Look were more aero I would absolutely stay with Look. I am secretly hoping someone proves the Blade 2 are fast.

How tight did you tighten down the screws? Speedplays need just 2.5 Nm of torque. It's not a lot. Too tight can make it hard to get in.

That "ice skate"-like feeling is actually a good thing, but you can dial some of that back by adjusting the float.

Travis Rassat
Vector Cycle Works
Noblesville, IN
BikeFit Instructor | FMS | F.I.S.T. | IBFI
Toughman Triathlon Series Ambassador
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