I lube the cleats with the teflon lube about once per week. Grease the spindles every 1000 miles or so.

I recently found that the grease I was using had broken down and lost viscosity. After lubing the pedals on my road bike I was getting grease leaking from the around plugs/screws (mostly on the inside of my calves). Finally took them into my LBS and they pulled them apart and cleaned them out. After a refill of fresh lube they are good as new. Was also a good time to inspect the bearings for wear.

I tried to avoid re-lubing them for as long as possible as it seems like the seal gets worse each time you fill them with new grease (and push the old grease out through/around the seal), i.e. each new packing of grease lasts shorter and comes out quicker from the spindle. I'm using their own grease and grease gun.

I've tried taking them apart to install a new seal (and new pedal body), but I can't for the life of me get the torx screw in the end of the spindle loose in order to get the pedal body off the spindle. They must be using some pretty fierce LocTite.

I've been a speedplay zero fan for over a decade, but does no one else find the pedal bodies develop noticeable rocking after 1 season or less? My feet do move around a lot due to some hip/pelvic asymmetry stuff, so perhaps I am wearing the bodies out faster than the typical user...

No particular time frame but I take mine apart, clean them and put them back together. I use cleat lube spray about once a month or when ever they don't spin well.

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

Yes, I also wear the body out, that's why it'd be nice to change the body (and sealing) out, since the axle (expensive part, especially if you're having the Ti ones) is probably fine. Never had any luck getting that torx screw loosened, though.

Hey, just saw this. I've disassembled my Aero Zero's a few times when I wanted to change spindles (And I also prefer that to re-grease them vs. the gun that makes a huge mess)

So, that Torx bolt is loctited with the permanent bond type. Speedplay doesn't want you to remove it, and if you force it you WILL strip it before it lets go. (Slightly less likely on the Torx than the allen heads they used to use, but point remains, very certain to strip it)

The solution is to get a torx bit (just the bit) and insert it as normal, then heat the back end of the bit (torch would be best, but a heat gun and some patience will probably work) until it's HOT enough to transfer into the bolt / threads. Obvious disclaimer... don't point the heat directly at the pedal.

There is also a c-clip that's hard to see that holds everything together you'll need to remove if you want to get the bearings out as well. I replaced the o-rings every time I disassemble as after a while they will deform and pop out. Can't remember all the size specs off the top of my head, 5/16 ID I think.

*one other thing if anyone tries disassembling totally that I forgot about...
On my Aero Zero's there was a little ring (not c-clip) on the needle bearing side that has to be removed to get everything apart. You will bend it and it'll probably never go back in. I threw them away... no problem in ~2 years. Disheartening when it happened though.

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My Blog - http://leegoocrap.blogspot.com

This is so strange

Never did any maintenance and have at least 12,000 miles on each of two pairs.

Seem to be going good.

Just never occurred to me they needed to be cleaned or lubed

you must not ride in the rain much. mine almost always need more grease after a wet ride. FYI, the pedals should only spin about half a turn if you "fling" them by hand. If they spin more, it's likely all of your grease has washed out and the bearings are at risk of corrosion.

If you want to get technical, Speedplay officially recommends "Pedals should always be lubricated immediately after riding in wet, rainy or unusually dusty conditions." I suspect (just because there's no way everyone does that) there's a heavy grace area there, but yeah, they certainly shouldn't be free spinning.

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JustinDoesTriathlon

Owner, FuelRodz Endurance.

Yes.
I’ve always had this,
I use Speedplay because of the low stack for aero.
But I train on Shimano.

Apparently they don't rock.

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...g=speedplay#p6986074

I find it is the cleat not the body being the issue. The old style non walkable cleats I find more stable than the walkable.

you're being disingenuous here. my comment was made in response to an assertion that they rock when new. like pretty much all pedals they don't rock when new, if you follow instructions when you mount them.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Dan, what do you do on a regular basis to maintain them, to keep them from developing wear/rocking? If lubing the cleat, do you take it apart, or just squirt some on/around the black clip?

Just FYI, I emailed them and some dude sent me small parts in an envelope for free. No guarantee, since I think that was off the books, but still....

Yep, Speedplay actually has really good customer service. I wrecked and basically ground off the little "plug" on the outside of the pedal, Speedplay sent me replacements free. If only Specialized had sent me a new right Sub6 ;)

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My Blog - http://leegoocrap.blogspot.com

perhaps i'm the outlier. i never take my pedals apart. i clean the cleat. the engagement parts of the pedal are in the cleat. when i wash my bikes the pedal's part of the bike so it gets washed and then i always blow the water off the bike with compressed air (the ol' pancake compressor). then lubricate the bike. same with the cleats. i treat the cleat as i would treat the rest of the bike. i dry lube the spring mechanism in the cleat. speedplay makes a lube for the cleat but any dry lube should work fine.

the pedals are made to be greased, which you don't need to do very often, and without taking the pedal apart. there's a sort of zirc fitting, you push grease in there, and if you're a spin weenie push lightweight grease in there. done.

i've got several sets of bonts and shimanos with speedplays mounted and i have a spitload of miles on them and i just don't have any of the issues i see here. they don't squeak. they don't rock. they continue to exhibit the features important to me, tho these features will not be important to some others.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Thanks. I've used zero's for 10+ years, and I've never developed any squeaking nor roughness in the axle. I think maybe twice in 10 years I squirted new grease in just because.
But I do seem to develop the rocking within a year, and its probably from me essentially never lubricating the cleat/spring.....

You are not an outlier- I don't do jack to my Speedplay Zero pedals. The new walkable cleat version is especially good. Well unless you're in my AG, then they are terrible.

the zero pedal has metal-on-metal contact surfaces (rather than metal on plastic) and the engagement surfaces are never in contact with the ground when you walk on them. so, on paper, these features would make the pedal outlast others. obviously what's on paper doesn't always translate to real world use. i only use walkable cleats and when i mount them i make sure they're mounted against a flat bottom shoe surface; my shoes tend to have pretty stiff soles under the cleat mount area; and i keep the dirt out of there. i could imagine the need to change the cleat after a couple of seasons. but honestly, i almost always change the shoe before i need to put a new cleat on an old shoe, and what i don't do is put an old cleat on a new shoe.

also, i do not ride speedplay's aero pedals. one of speedplay's big features is the capacity to just step on the pedal and go, which you lose with the aero pedal. also, what seems intuitive to me (maybe i'm missing something), if the wear on the pedal's engagement surface is of import, you only get half the wear time on a single-sided pedal. so, i just ride zeros.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Dan,

The example I cited of new pedals and cleats rocking was not due to poor setup. I had been using Zeros for about two years at the time and had no issue setting the cleats on the shoes properly. I removed a set of cleats from my Sidi Ergo 2 shoes that showed no rocking despite being somewhat worn. I setup the new cleats in the exact same spot with the same spec of shims and the rocking was there with the new set of pedals. I was completely flummoxed by it having never experienced that before.

I like the idea of the Speedplay design. The ability to adjust about every parameter you'd want in a pedal and cleat setup was a great draw for me but the execution of that design didn't always go so well. Aside from this one set, they worked very well when new but I found that their performance simply degraded too quickly and the cleat was too susceptible to the ingress of dirt and contaminants, impeded their performance.

To each their own, I suppose, and thankfully we live in a time when there is a massive array of choice for everyone to find something that works for them.

cheers,
Geoff

Whether people are terming it rocking or stability in the pedal I first noticed the difference between the old style cleats and now walkable ones. To me there is less stability new than other pedals or the old style cleats. don't get me wrong I still love and use Speedplay just my one gripe with the system.

wellll, i'm still suspicious of the reality of that. the myth of that, yes. there's a lot of mythology in cycling. holdovers we pick up from those so attached to bygone eras stuff just crops up. is it really instability? or is it the perception of that, because of mythology to which we've been exposed? the actual attachment footprint of a speedplay is much greater than, say, a Look ATAC. there's nothing unstable about an ATAC. and the conventional look of the pedal betrays how small that attachment footprint is. and look is an older, european brand, and the inventor of the modern clipless pedal (i don't consider cinelli a modern clipless pedal).

i thought HOKAs would be unstable offroad. there was mythology spread around that this is the case. it's not the case. it's the perception. (largely debunked now because of HOKA's widespread offroad use).

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

It's the design and flex in the thin steel frame to the shoe I put it down to not the size of the platform. I had an old pair of old style aluminium plate on one set shoes and new walkable on another and it may be small but i found it noticeable and the old style more stable.

I used Zeros for a couple of years and liked them for all the reasons others have stated. No longer. They wear out relatively quickly resulting in slop between the pedal and cleat. This is manifested by a side-to side rocking motion of the shoe over the pedal.


The problem with the Speedplays is that the pedal body wears down rather quickly due to the abrasive action of the dirt which gets trapped between the pedal and cleat. Also, the plastic plate inside the cleat, which is the primary weight and friction-bearing surface that the pedal rides and turns on, is subject to the same wear as the pedal, only it is at a significantly greater rate as it's composed of a softer material than the pedal body and really shows the wear. It develops rather deep indentations that are the mirror-image of the pedal itself, as the pedal is constantly rotating against this surface. If there is the smallest amount of grit between the pedal and the cleat, the wear action and subsequent slop is accelerated significantly.


One cannot tell by looking that the pedal body is wearing until it's too late. A dial caliper is required to measure the thickness of the pedal. The outside portion of the pedal is the location of the greatest wear (this is the 3 o'clock position, looking down from the saddle, for the right side, 9 o'clock for the left). When new, the pedal body thickness is .675". Seven months after initial installation, the pedal bodies had worn down to .635", a full .040"! This is about the thickness of the wire that a large paper clip is made of. (It's a lot of wear). The cleat plate had indentations that were .070" deep! When I clipped in, there was all kinds of slop, as the total gap was around .110". I have found that the pedal starts to feel sloppy when the outside of the pedal body has lost around .010". Bear in mind that the cleat will have at least the same amount of wear and usually more (say .015" or so). One feels the wear as a tendency for the foot to roll to the outside. It really doesn't take much wear to feel this sloppiness, and it snowballs once it has started. The gap between the pedal and cleat gets bigger and the slop gets worse. Keeping this pedal/cleat system spotless at all times is critical if you want any longevity.


I switched to Shimano Ultegra pedals with the blue cleat and have never looked back. The stability is rock solid, the float is perfect, AND there is simply no cleat better for walking around.


Just my .02c. Your mileage may vary.

But according to this
https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...g=speedplay#p6204611
you are missing an aero gain from 3-5 W

My experience mirrors yours. So its odd to hear others say they have been using for years and have never developed any rocking in the pedals. Even if they do have a large contact area as Dan describes, it doesn't change the fact that over time, I can take my foot out of my shoe, grab shoe with my hand and rock it side to side on the pedal.

I have a pair of Dura Ace pedals that every so often I'll try again, and I just can't seem to get used to the float, and end up back at speedplay.

Thanks for the detailed response. Might have a go at it some day, but sounds like something for the off season - it really sounds like they don't want you to switch the pedal body out yourself. Quite annoying if the torx bolt would stay perfectly put during usage without that permanent bond.