Shimano SPD-SL pedal body wear: R540 vs 5700 longevity

buckles

Been using R540 for years due to the low price but the aluminium body seems to get worn down by the cleats pretty quickly. See wear pattern below:

(this is a really old pedal - photo just for example - I replace them before they get this bad)

Whereas the 105s have a steel plate which supposedly prevents this

I just got some of the above 5700 pedals - just wondering if anyone has experience of using both pedals and if the 5700s last much longer than the R540s before getting worn to the point of not being usable anymore. Just trying to find out if this plate actually works well and if they are worth the extra 50% in price.

(edited due to not making it clear what I was asking)

smidsy

For the price difference just replace the 540's more regularly. They can often be had for under £30.

I have done 10,000 on my first set and still going.

mugensi

I'm verging on 2k miles on my 105 pedals and notice no noticable wear or tear on them. I dab a little lube/oil on the springs in them every so often to keep them sweet, I hope to get a few more years out of them yet!

mroli

I've got a set of R540s on my fixie that I use for commuting. They've done 3 years of 16 miles a day, with no looking after them, often left outside and still going strong. How are your pedals wearing out?

buckles

smidsy wrote:

For the price difference just replace the 540's more regularly. They can often be had for under £30.

I have done 10,000 on my first set and still going.

I paid £24 for 540s and £37 for 5700s - approx 50% difference

If the 5700s last 50% longer or more, then it's worth the upgrade...

mroli wrote:

I've got a set of R540s on my fixie that I use for commuting. They've done 3 years of 16 miles a day, with no looking after them, often left outside and still going strong. How are your pedals wearing out?

The actual body of the pedals is wearing, you can see it is from the cleat rotating when I clip in and out.

ugo.santalucia

Pedals are often on offer at the end of the season... I recently bought some Ultegra half price... 105 are pretty much problem free, while the 540 did seem to have a bit of play after a few K miles... on balance I'd get the 105 when they are on offer. The Ultegra are identical, if you are not after the gram saving

d10brp

I had R540s and the click of death came in after about 1000 miles. No problem with the 105s so far. They're not much more expensive.

smidsy

The only difference between 540 and 105 is the plastic plate v the metal plate.

In fact all Shimano pedals use the same cleat and bearing assembly so all you are paying for with the higher range is less weight and a fancy sticker.

If you are happy with this then fine, I have Ultegra pedals on the Basso and I can honestly not tell one iota of difference from those to the 540's in use on my CAAD.

As for wear, the only difference is the plate, everything else is the same.

rickeverett

smidsy wrote:

The only difference between 540 and 105 is the plastic plate v the metal plate.

In fact all Shimano pedals use the same cleat and bearing assembly so all you are paying for with the higher range is less weight and a fancy sticker.

.

aint that the case with virtually everything in the cycle world !

smidsy

rickeverett wrote:

smidsy wrote:

The only difference between 540 and 105 is the plastic plate v the metal plate.

In fact all Shimano pedals use the same cleat and bearing assembly so all you are paying for with the higher range is less weight and a fancy sticker.

.

aint that the case with virtually everything in the cycle world !

True..but these are pedals FFS! :roll:

ugo.santalucia

Are you sure the bearings are the same grade? The fact they have the same design doesn't mean they are the same...
I have experienced much faster wear rate on the 540, as if the balls were of inferior quality

KonkyWonky

For the price you can't beat R540's, often on offer at £20 delivered with cleats.

springtide9

I have a pair of PD-670 (paid £54) and now the R540 (paid £26) on my winter bike.

It has to be said that the R540 are amazing value and are not far off the quality of the PD-670.

I do have to admit the more expensive pedals look better and also feel better made (if that the right word) when clipping in. I will buy the R540 again but will keep similar pedals to the PD-670 on the "best bike".

As people have stated - if you keep a look out for offers then bargains always seem to come up pretty often for pedals. If you use reasonable quality pedals, when they are 'failing' - you usually get about 6 months notice to do something about it!

buckles

Never mind

buckles

Sorry if I didn't make myself clear in my first post... all I want to know is if the steel wear plate makes the 5700s last longer than the R540s, i.e. if it actually works in preventing wear to the pedal body.

buckles

This is a very extreme example just to show the wear pattern.

dieselgeezer

I've found that the plate has nothing to do with the "sloppy" feel the pedals get with age. It's all to do with the cleats wearing the front moon-shaped edge of the pedal. The trick I was told was to wrap the front edge of the pedal with thin 6mm wide strips of gaffer tape. It DOES work & gives a very positive connection to the pedal again while still maintaining float

smidsy

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Are you sure the bearings are the same grade? The fact they have the same design doesn't mean they are the same...
I have experienced much faster wear rate on the 540, as if the balls were of inferior quality

Well, I can only go by the shimano tech docs. They suggest they are the same, but I have not stripped any to verify.

They even use the same in the Mountian bike pedals too.

If you think about it why would they use different bearings in each pedal - way too many parts to stock.

jordan_217

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Are you sure the bearings are the same grade? The fact they have the same design doesn't mean they are the same...
I have experienced much faster wear rate on the 540, as if the balls were of inferior quality

I'm sure the axle they use on the 105's is shared with the Ultegra's and nothing else in the Shimano range, could be wrong though.

mamba80

Its pretty obvious that a steel plate will wear less than the alloy body, LOOK did the same trick with their Keo Max 2 pedals and they have dramatically reduced pedal wear (ime anyhow!) - so expect the same from the 5700 range upwards.
for the sake of of a few pounds try it?

Semantik

In answer to the OP- yes, the R540's plastic plate wears down after about 3k miles then your show starts wearing out the metal body of the pedal. No point trying to buy the plastic plates separately either (unless someone can confirm price/availablility of these ) as I found most shops could not obtain them. The 105 5700's I now use have done about 10k and I have never serviced them or needed to.

smidsy

My 540's after circa 10,000 miles.



Slight wear to the front corners of the plate but no wear to the pedal face. Probably get 5,000 more out of them yet.

I would say that is well worth £25.

Semantik

Maybe the choice of shoe or pedalling style makes a difference with these pedals. I can only say the plates on mine were worn down after 3k miles.

buckles

Yes I pronate a lot apparently so it could be caused by shoe rotation every pedal stroke

CRAIGO5000

Just resurrecting this thread to add my input.

I run R540's on both of my road bikes. BOTH bikes right pedal pretty much wore out at the same time for me and also at the same mileage (logged 3500 miles on both bikes before the annoying click of death per pedal rotation!)

In an attempt to gain a little more life from them, I mixed a little Araldite adhesive and "built up" the worn plastic bed of the pedal but realised they still clicked. Interesting to here about the gaffer tape trick on the front hoop of the pedal, I'm now off into the garage to try that out and see if it cures the clicking.

To be fair, at £20 delivered with a set of yellow cleats too, I'll probably replace both sets with another double order of the same. I was contemplating the 550's but I do tend to ride in all weathers and through the Winter. I think the salt/grit and rain trapped between the cleat and pedal accelerate wear as you've essentially got a grinding paste working away much like brake blocks/rims in poor weather. I'd think the really expensive carbon pedals would suffer the same fate regarding the clicking inherited if that front is responsible for the noise induced once worn out slightly?

Body

How do you notice when the pedal is worn? Is this by pedalling and there is a kind of space between the cleat and pedal?

Does is really work with the tape on the pedal?

iron-clover

You can replace that plastic cover for a couple of quid- I change mine about once per year.
I think my last set came very cheaply from a small online shop in France, and very easy to replace once you find the hole on the bottom of the pedal to push the old plastic cover out.

EDIT: Such as these http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/shimano- ... 41271.html

dinyull

Body wrote:

How do you notice when the pedal is worn? Is this by pedalling and there is a kind of space between the cleat and pedal?

Does is really work with the tape on the pedal?

I noticed when my shoes would pivot sideways more easily and before long they would un-clip themselves whilst riding along.

Tape does work, but you soon end up having to re-tape every other week or so as they take a beating. I'm not sure if the plastic covers above would work, as the wear is actually on the pedal where the front of the cleat 'hooks'.


Do 105's and up last longer??? I am about 9 months and 4k miles into my latest set of R540 and already noticing my left pedal wearing. I know for £20 with cleats included it's no biggie, but would consider paying more to get extended life.

Body

Thanks for the information.
This morning I changed my pedals of an other bike and noticed no worn. I will try the tape but as I understand it will works for maybe one ride.
I use the 6700 SPD SL pedals and the left one got wear after + 15.000 klm.
My left feet does float more than the other one.

Body

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=18540580#p18540580]dieselgeezer[/url] wrote:

I've found that the plate has nothing to do with the "sloppy" feel the pedals get with age. It's all to do with the cleats wearing the front moon-shaped edge of the pedal. The trick I was told was to wrap the front edge of the pedal with thin 6mm wide strips of gaffer tape. It DOES work & gives a very positive connection to the pedal again while still maintaining float

I have spd sl pedals of 1 year old and have the same sloppy problems. You wrapped the front edge of the pedal. Is it possible to get a picture of it how you did it? You have still good results with it?

effillo

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