Uh oh, somebody didn't honor the embargo.

Edit to add screenshot in case REI takes it down until ....

That style makes sense why there were rumors that Wahoo licensed Favero's tech (which both companies confirmed didn't happen).

Sam Long teased the box on IG last week. Had a feeling this couldn’t be far behind.

Good price. Speedplay…err, Wahoo pedals themselves start off at $150. So to still be able to come in $200 cheaper than the Garmin pedals is nice

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Matt

Terrible price. I can get a quarq with cranks and chainrings for a little over $800. I can get a power2max with cranks and chainrings for $750. Why on earth would I pay $900 for pedals?

2 that I can think of : a much more aerodynamic chain ring that can't handle a power meter or someone wanting to be able to easily move pedals between multiple bikes

I routinely move my pedals between my tri and road bike. A chainring set-up doesn't help me because I would then need multiple ones.

Because you don’t want to have crank power meters or you want to move pedals across bikes

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

Not for you then.

Garmin's pricing premium is getting tougher to swallow ($400 vs Favero and $100 vs Wahoo), especially since I think Speedplay/Wahoo pedals are generally seen as more premium than Look/Shimano. I haven't really seen Favero in store, but Wahoo has a much bigger retail footprint, so I wonder if this will put some pressure on Garmin to at least match the pricing (and bring it back to the Vector 3 level).

But sill more than Favero
I have only seen aero data from two sources, one I trust significantly more than the other, and it's not an aero thing.
I don't know if there are other factors that make people prefer the speedplays, but the Faveros are a proven entity.

Adding the feature listing in case it’s taken down. Note they claim a weight of 276g.

Are you able to share these two? How did they address fit changes re differences in stack?
Thanks

Have been waiting for these

Finally broke down and just spent almost $300 for speedplay Aeros 😭

Anyone know the Q factor VS the standard speed plays?

You can get crank-based PM's for that kind of money. But there are situations where it may not make a lot of sense. Mostly due to Shimano and SRAM trying hard to push us to their OEM-provided PMs.

Like in the middle of COVID I needed a new road bike, and found a smoking deal on a new old-stock bike equipped with SRAM AXS Red. Came with a regular AXS Red chainring - not the direct-mount PM. So my options were limited.

I could:

a) Buy a new AXS Red PM chainring (~$850), try to sell my old chainring.
b) Downconvert to the Force AXS crank (~$850), try to sell my Red crankset.
c) ?

I think it's similar issues for people buying bikes speced with Shimano cranksets. You can either use the Shimano PM system (which my understanding, still isn't all that great in some ways), or go through the process of buying an aftermarket crank and trying to sell your OEM equipment.

I went with option a), above. And the value of "new take-off" cranks is typically is well under retail value. But if this Wahoo PowrLink had been around at the time, it'd have been attractive as option c) (as a Speedplay user).

I, for one, am glad that Wahoo is providing an interesting option, and throwing a wrench into SRAM and Shimano's attempted OEM hegemony in the PM market. (I'm a huge fan of Power2Max as well).

I wish bikes could be ordered with detailed swap-outs of components, but that's a whole other thread. I've had bike shops do that for me, but my understanding is that it was a gray-market bro-deal situation, e.g. the bike shop taking on the hassle of trying to sell/re-use the take-off parts to get the bike sale, not something that the shop's bike suppliers endorsed.

I personally find Speedplay/Wahoo pedals to be better than Look/Shimano due to the float and cleat. So for me it’d be worth the extra cost being able to have a higher quality pedal. But like saddles, everyone has different preferences.

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Matt

Looks like the listing hasn't been taken down yet! Some specs(unable to attach screenshot because file size is too big).

Price – $900 USD
Weight – 276 g
Accuracy – +-1%
Battery life – 75 hours
In the box – 2 pedals, cleats, charging cables
Connectivity – Bluetooth, Ant+


Oliver Chi | https://pursuitcyclingforkids.com/ | https://www.strava.com/athletes/38196895

I am really hoping they start selling these with the aero pedal body. The price is also less than DC Rainmaker was predicting.

I recently bought the wahoo aero pedals. Had second thoughts about it

How much aero savings do you figure VS the regular Speedplays?

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ost=6204611#p6204611

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blog

I doubt they will as have just picked up a set and the pedal body is much thicker maybe 2-3mm more stack so 4-6mm thicker in total.

Stevej,
I think I'm one of the sources Marcag refers to.
More than a year ago, I did my best possible job with an aero testing session comparing Speedplay Aero pedals to Look latest Blade carbon. That was correcting for seat height and arm pad stack (with identical pedals stance) every time I would change pedals (doing ABBAABB) and using a Notio and Chung method on the same day.
It showed that if anything the Speedplay came as fast as the Look but not faster...
Here is one of the sentence of my report : "first configuration we obtained an average CdA over 3 tests of 0.1757 +0.0003/-0.0002 ; second configuration we obtained an average CdA over 4 tests of 0.1761 +0.0009/-0.0016".
I had one outlier with the Speedplay which drives me mad (but it actually helped the Speedplay so I did not remove it).

- Look / Bont Notio CdA average : 0.177
- Look / Bont Chung CdA average : 0.1757
- Speedplay / Bont Notio CdA average : 0.178
- Speedplay / Bont Chung CdA average : 0.1761


For me Chung Method with the weather station was actually better than the Notio for that session on the velodrome... but the trends were the same anyway.

I also tested another shoe on the same day (which was configuration C) and actually the difference in shoes were much MUCH bigger than the difference between pedals...

I'm lucky enough to often discuss with experts in aero testing (this is a small industry) and most of them have sometimes seen better results with Speedplay (but most often compared to Shimano which **appears** less aero than Look Keo Blade Carbon) but definitely not always (athletes dependent and tiny differences). There is a good chance Speedplay aero pedals can help in a more rearward position that may show the pedals a bit more to the wind, same with a flat foot, maybe not as much in a more forward triathlon position... but it is not as clear as the old "Speedplay saves 33s over 40km" claim (sorry but that is an absolute joke) that's for sure.

Disclaimer : I'm involved with one of the parties... but would have actually loved for the other party to win that aero battle as it would have pushed my party even more (this is what fair/smart competition is all about), so my biais if anything was probably into making the competitor faster than it actually was, which could explain the first "B" test (the outlier) being a bit faster than the 3 "B" other tests, which I only found out after the facts so was not influenced by that result.

Was not really supposed to share this... but it's ok it was not the full report... ahah... but many times I scratched my head (actually worse period was after I tested, Wahoo bought Speedplay and re-launched those aero claims, I would think without confirming them by themselves but just using the old Speedplay web page) and shut up... but reading this over and over again is actually tough when you've done the work and know it is absolutely impossible... so here is my coming out... sorry Boss !!!

My goal absolutely isn't to say buy A over B or vice-versa, it's mostly to say : pick your pedals based on other factors and pick your shoes wisely, in a triathlon position your pedals aero probably does not matter or if it does it's in a very tiny way.
Hope this helps...

Ps : edited simply to correct a few typos (no change in content).

That is a let down. The pods are already going to eat into any aero advantage and application specific bodies and maybe cleats are one more hassle to deal with over the long term. I really wish SRAM hadn't killed the PM hub when they bought PowerTap.

pardon my being pedantic, but it's stance width you're asking about. the Q factor on a bike is the same regardless of spindle length. as to your question, i suspect you'll have your answer pretty soon.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I so agree! I'm glad I have 3 going strong right now. Yes, I'm obsolete, but at least I have quality data and bulletproof product. Damn Saris for ever selling the product line to SRAM.

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Kiwami Racing Team

Anyone actually try to buy from the link?

Sort of.

If I selected ship to my nearest store it showed an estimated delivery date of March 2nd.

If I selected ship to my address it showed an estimated delivery date of February 28th.

I did not complete a transaction because I don't need a pair.

54mm axle so 1mm wider than standard but haven’t read through the instructions as yet so they may require a spacer like Assiomas?
The 54mm was measured with a tape measure and my shitty eyesight so don’t quote me on it!

I’m guessing it will depend on cleat side to side position. When I look at mine I may have 5mm to the crank arm face. Seems like the pod offset is a lot more than that. Though maybe I’m missing something.

Honestly I don't recall what I wrote, but my stance on these pedals may have shifted some or did the projected price come way down? At 900, if I switched to Speedplay style pedals this is palatable.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

As always

Thank you Dan

Much appreciated. I always get those twisted around

Maybe I am better with the HED disc with PowerTap in it VS the wahoo pedals with power meter

I just need to get a back wheel with G3 PowerTap for trainjng

I put a post up in the classifieds

No results yet

Yea, I’ve been using the HED disc rear with G3 and really love it, plus it’s fast……. Glad I held on to my old PT wheels.

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Kiwami Racing Team

I have less, maybe 2mm. Just with standard Speedplay spindle length. So tight, that I have some scuff marks on the crankarm from when my heel goes in (I like a good amount of play).

There's *some* space underneath the carbon plate on my shoe and the spindle. Not enough for the pictured pod, though. With eyeball calipers. I think for the pod, to fit, for me, it'd take about 2mm more width and 2mm more stack. Which is why the 2-3mm more stack reference in the above post doesn't surprise me. But that'd be a a bummer if that ends up being true.

couple thoughts on these...are the pods going to get in the way of the low stack pedal or require one to move cleat in/shoe out to accommodate? and...while i love my speedplay pedals, no matter how closely i follow the maintenance schedule for lubing pedal body, i still kill off a pair in 3-4 years.

Thanks for sharing this. There is so little trustworthy aero data out there.

I suspect this will bust the myth that Speedplay is the fastest pedal system out there.

We need more data like this. Burnthesheep busted some helmet myths last week as well.

I am sure the people that prefer speedplay will be well served with a power meter from a reliable company like Wahoo. But at least the aero factor (or lack of) is well understood.

Just amending my eyeball figures as more accurate measurements took today the pedal bodies are 3mm thicker so 1.5mm more stack.
The spindles are 55mm so 2mm longer.
Struggling to upload pics on my iPhone
But they appear to have now been officially released and on the Wahoo webpage as is the Kickr Rollr.

Now that they are officially released I can say that I’ve been riding with the pedals since late August 2021.

I’m sure DCR will have a detailed review up soon (maybe already) but after some initial concerns I’ve been impressed with them. I’m not a SpeedPlay fanboy (never used them until now), Look user since the late 80’s.

I’ve got a Powertap hub and for the first 2-3 months I would dual record my rides (1,600+ miles now). For the first few weeks the pedals were wildly erratic. One ride they’d be 25 watts low and the. The next ride 10-15 watts high. I never knew what I’d get but Wahoo was pushing beta software almost daily. After a few weeks things settled down and they became consistent with my Powertap (within 5 watts +/-). Eventually I stopped dual recording as they became reliable.

I did not do any fancy pictures, weighing, measuring, etc. I’ll leave that to DCR.

Btw, I also put them on my trainer bike a few times on the Neo2 and they were consistent. That was some much later though and not early on. Now they live on my road bike.

https://www.wahoofitness.com/devices/pedals/powrlink

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

Interesting REI has the dual power for $900.00. Wahoo has the dual on their site for $999.99 and single for $649.99.

Wouldn't you know they'd come out just after I gave up and got the Faveros! May have to switch as I do love my Speedplays and the Lake Speedplay shoes I have that put me close to the pedal spindle.

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Kiwami Racing Team

Can you static torque test them ?

here is the length of the spindle. i have it at 54.5mm, generously 55.0mm, somewhere between there, so does fredly in his article up on our site this morning.



as to the height of the pedal body, i have it at exactly 2.0mm "thicker". fredly has it at 2.7mm thicker. i can't find that extra .7mm, but i trust his calcs better than i trust my calcs. this means your seat height is shortened by something between 1.0mm and 1.3mm, which is in my experience very hard to sense when you're riding. yes, the pedal will be very slightly less aero i suspect because of the amount of the pedal sticking down from below the shoe.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Speaking of the devil ahem DC Rainmaker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcHg-LrFeYc

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"see the world as it is not as you want it to be"

It seems they are unavailable in Europe when I do a Google search. :(

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"see the world as it is not as you want it to be"

Discrepancy between DCR and fredly. fredly says calibration is automatic. DCR says to calibrate.

Though fredly fills in a great gap missed by DCR, shoe clearance/shimming issues. As a "big-shoed" person with several pairs of road shoes, this is where brick-and-mortar stores can justify themselves to me. I'd love to bring all my shoes in and spend 30 minutes on their fit bike hammering through all my shoes on a demo pair of these Speedplays. To save the hassle of shipping back a pair of power meter pedals with scuff marks on the pod in the event I can't find a shim setup that makes me happy.

actually, the discrepancy is between ray and i. i added that as an edit to fredly's article (fredly here is Matthew Hill, who authored our review o this pedal). here is what wahoo says. officially:

POWRLINK ZERO automatically calibrates. With Automatic Calibration, POWRLINK ZERO automatically detects when no force is applied and triggers the zero offset calibration function. To ensure that the calibration is valid some other requirements have to be met, most importantly the bike has to be upright and stationary (which POWRLINK ZERO detects from the accelerometer and gyroscopes measurements.) If these requirements are not met POWRLINK ZERO will discard the result, and look for the next opportunity to calibrate.

now, i had some discussions with fredly about this, just yesterday, because he and i are independently producing comparative power file graphs with our various PMs and smart trainers. fredly pointed out to me that automatic calibration may be an issue when riding stationary. here is what he wrote me:

the "no force applied" part is the key there. That's coasting, which essentially never actually happens on a trainer, at least not sufficient to trigger calibration.

so, you all can take from this what you want. it seems to me that automatic calibration is a feature of the pedal, but with certain limitations.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

dumb ish question. When you wear out the pedals, you have to shell out the 'big bucks' for a whole new set right? Not just buy the pedal body part where it connects to the cleat? How long are pedals like this supposed to last?

<generally asking anyone in general, but this comment seemed to be a reasonable one to reply to>

Yeah, so the zero options on the Powrlink pedals are:

A) Manual Zero Offset: This is pressing the 'Calibrate' button manually from most bike computers/watches/etc (or, the Wahoo app)
B) Auto Zero: In this case, it'll trigger as noted above, but that's basically a scenario where you have it sitting still by itself. Any load (including being clipped in), won't trigger it. So a trainer won't trigger it, but it will trigger if you leave your bike on the trainer. It'll happen within 30 seconds of no load/upright. Wahoo says it'll even pull this off at traffic lights if you're not clipped in. This can be enabled or disabled at your choice, by default it's enabled.

Then there's the static calibration (hanging weight test) - that is *not* supported here.

Note that all of this is different than active temperature compensation, which this has as well.

In terms of zero offsets go, I think we're pretty much long past the days where turning off auto-zero is a good idea. I just don't see leaving it on as an issue in any of the testing I do. I think this is really an older-school SRM philosophy that almost always ends in tears on newer units that are simply far better at it than almost every human is. In my testing, I left it on, and it nailed it, across vast conditions and differences.

Still, I like to manually zero (zero offset) at the start of a ride and 15 minutes in. Mainly for my own testing purposes so I know everyone is on the same playing field.

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My tiny little slice of the internets: dcrainmaker.com

thanks mucho for this.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I have no idea what that is or how to do it.

Thanks. Ray did answer.
It's the mechanism for verifying torque by hanging a known weight and getting a torque value which should be within spec. PT, Quarq, SRM, Favero and I suspect others allow this.
When you suspect a PM reads high or low, it's very useful.

For the old Speedplay-manufactured ones, it was kind of variable. Some people had them last indefinitely. My experience has been like the above poster - 2-3 years for heavily used ones before you have to go in and replace some combination of the pedal body, spindle, needle bearing, or roller bearings.

Undetermined question for this new Wahoo-manufactured version. Wahoo says they've really sealed up the bearing system much better, and they don't need regular lubrication anymore. That may make the whole bearing system more like a Shimano SPD/SPD-SL pedal - there will be SPD pedals still rolling smoothly when the only visible life left on earth is cockroaches. But these new Speedplays haven't been out long enough to verify.

The wear on the pedal body is dependent on your Teflon-lub practices with the cleats, how good you are about not wearing down your cleats too far so they start to rub on the pedal body, and what kind of riding you do.

I think a "clean" rider who regularly lubes and replaces cleats should have the bodies last near-indefinitely.

Does Quarq still offer that function? I thought they ended it a long time ago, even before the DZero rolled out.

Unless you have really old firmware and have an old version of the app for calibrating. But maybe they brought it back?

fredly here is suspicious of the maintenance-free claim on the new pedals. mind, he's an avid, rabid, speedplay devotee as i am, so, it's not that he likes to harsh on pedals. just, i think he's not sold, but i'll let him weigh in on this.

me? i have never been able to wear out a set of pedals. new wahoo speedplays or previous speedplays. but then, i can't think of a pedal i have actually been able to wear out, except maybe keywins.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Same here

I have over 22,000 miles on a pair of speedplay half on the trainer. Have never oiled
Them or anything

Just got the aero last month for no reason really

Wish I had waited until these power ones came out

I have been using speedplay pedals since 1998, and I have worn them out before, and specifically I have worn out the metal bow ties at the edges. It used to be you could replace those, but then that option disappeared. It seems my more recent speedplays were not lasting quite as long. So, I was curious... since I would not want to be making this large of a purchase every 2-3 years.

Favero does sell replacement pedal bodies and I believe it's a pretty diy friendly operation, so about $120 if you have to replace both. Garmin does as well, but it's $250 to replace both. I don't know enough about Speedplay to say if Wahoo would offer a rebuild kit in the future, but I'd hope so.

were those speedplay Xs by chance? because, yeah, i could see that. i would be more surprised if that was your experience with the more recent zeros. say, in the last decade or so. or the new wahoos.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

My Quarq was quite old (Elsa) so you are probably right.

As per Dan's response, this was a little bit of an editing mixup. I didn't talk at all about calibration in the original draft of the article, because it's actually a little bit complicated, and will be covered in part two. Short version is my findings agree with Ray's, and in practice I couldn't actually find any evidence that the pedals were recalibrating during rides.


Yes!
One of the course offerings at the last FIST camp was a Speedplay pedal module, where we went in depth with the students about the proper setup and installation of the Speedplay pedal line. Expanding that module to include the Powrlink is definitely something we hope to do, and a list of certified fitters who can help folks get pedals on shoes shouldn't be too far behind.
I think a product like this is a real opportunity for detail oriented fitters and shops to fill exactly the retail/service niche you allude to.

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

I definitely plan to talk more about this in a follow up article. I've only got a week in on the Powrlink pedals, and there's only so much wear you can produce in that period of time!

With the significantly longer amount of time I have put in on the non-power meter Zero Stainless pedals, I can say that the redesign of the pedal bodies - especially the "bowties" - appears to be much more robust than the original version. There is almost no wear apparent on the surface of the pedal, which definitely wasn't the case with my use of the original version over a similar time span. Extending the metal bearing surface to cover the entire face of the pedal seems to have been a really smart move.

I'm not sure I'm quite as sanguine about the decision to move to a "maintenance free" bearing design. I have managed to pretty convincingly trash the bearings on my first set of the standard Zeros. More on that in the follow up, too.

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

I think on my really old X series, we got new bow ties and they kept rolling. I got a pair of zeroes when they were still pretty new and I think I maybe wore those bow ties out?

But it's good to hear an opinion that you'd be surprised if that was the case on newer ones.

I do keep stuff a very long time, but I'm small and not hard on my stuff.

i don't know. "your mileage may vary." with me, i think 2 things are worth saying. my range of float is very small. and i live in a rural area, and very rarely need to clip out during a ride. it could be that i have a "use profile" that invites less wear. i don't know.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I have speedplays that I use 3x a week for the past 9 years and aren't worn out. What part are you concerned about wearing out? The metal plates seem to be the only external wearable and can be replaced, just search "speedplay butterfly" on ebay. Bearings can be replaced too.

If you have two bikes, multiply the P2M price by 2. I have quarq on one bike and P2M on the other. Love them. But in reality, one set of Assiomas would be the best value.

My new job requires travel and I sometimes wish I had a pedal PM instead, so that I could bring them and put them on the hotel or rental bike for training.

Love these power pedals, just 5 years too late! i've got multiple PM's on bikes, so not sure if I can make the purchase just yet.

I ride Speedplay Zero's (pre-Wahoo), would those cleats work on these pedals?

Thanks!

yes.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Thanks!

Wonder if there would be any issue with power readings if these were the aero version? I might wait for that version for all my needs. Awesome pedals.

I wouldn't expect an aero version any time soon, if ever. The pedal body of the power meter is entirely different from the standard body, so making an aero version would require a new design for the aero body and new molds.

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

Dan, There are certainly small adjustments that go unnoticed, in your opinion as a fitter how would you equate that to a change in spindle lengths and at what point (change) would you be concerned that the change might push the envelope as far as possible injury concern.

Thanks.

i don't think it's an injury thing. most people don't realize you add 12mm to each spindle length (kind of) when you move from your road to your MTB. of course you don't add spindle length, but you add stance width, and that's what you change when you change spindle lengths. you're adding 2mm, at most, to each spindle (53mm to 55mm) when you move from standard road spindle to the power pedal. but even then, "standard" is either 53mm or 54mm depending on the brand (shimano is 54mm). it's almost not possible to feel the difference in stance width when you move from road to power speedplays. in fact, i regularly ride 56mm spindles, so i moved down to 55mm.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Thanks. Didn't think of people switching bikes all the time. I was thinking of the parallel of people switching running shoes leading to injury.

Has anyone tried to get GPA and GPR readings from these pedals? Apparently they aren't compatible with cycling dynamics but i can see this data being relevant with all the new work around them.

Thanks!