SPD's fitted by Allen key

solocp

I recently bought some new SPD pedals for my road bike. When I got them home I realised they are fitted with an allen key rather than a pedal spanner. Anyone have any views on these, better? worse? no different.

nicklouse

i like the ones that have both.

as the allen makes the actuall fitting and removal easy and the flats for the actuall tightening and untightening.


the allen key only ones are a pain if user fitted without any anti sieze compound.

Lagavulin

I've got Shimmy M520s and M540s.

Only difference I think is the 20's have spanner flats and the 40's are allen key.

Think I prefer the allen key for ease of installation and removal but the price difference was quite big from what I remember. I believe it was something as much as £10 or £15 quid just to save a little bit of weight and the 40s look a bit neater so I relegated the 520s to the MTB.

spasypaddy

i struggled to get a set of SPDs off my bike with a pedal spanner, god knows how difficult it'll be with just an allen key!

piedwagtail91

i've used then for a few years, but i take then off every three months and grease the threads.
if they do get siezed there's very little chance of getting them off.
the socket in the spindle tends to get forced and split open ,making it useless,if you apply to much pressure.
i tend to do them little more then finger tight and they've always been alright even on the fixed bike.

bobtravers

If you have a long Allen key, no problem at all, but remember to don't tight the pedals at all (just a little bit) and try putting some anti-seize on the screw before assembling it on cranks...

Jake the Peg

Careful when you tighten them on the drive side - if you slip you wreck your knuckles on the chainrings. The allen keys have less grip in the end of the pedal than a spanner so it's easy to do.

Jake

woody-som

1/2" socket wrench and a hex drive set, works very well, plenty of leverage, and can also use the torque wrench to be sure.

Monty Dog

Right tool for the job - using one of those cheapy 6mm plasticene allen keys means your knuckles are in danger. As said, a decent set of hex drivers fitted to a socket wrench provides a more accurate fit with better leverage.

andrewgturnbull

Jake the Pegcp wrote:

Careful when you tighten them on the drive side - if you slip you wreck your knuckles on the chainrings. The allen keys have less grip in the end of the pedal than a spanner so it's easy to do.

Jake

Hi there.

After much knucle-skin loss I now wear gloves when working near the chainrings... Undoing chainring bolts is the worst job for this.

You shouldn't have a problem when fitting the pedals though - you really just want to thread them on until the surfaces touch. They'll tighten as you ride so need to put any effort in. In fact, one of those disposable allen keys you get with ikea furniture would be ideal!

Cheers, Andy