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.