How many years you expect to get from a pair of pedals?

Alex99

Hi all,
I got a pair of 5700 SPD SL pedals in mid 2014. The binding to the cleat developed play about a year later and they were replaced with a pair of 5800s by Ribble. About 1.5 years on those now, and the same problem has emerged. They look worn at the front underneath, just where the front part of the cleat hooks on. Any others experience this?

I don't think I have anything weird with my pedal stroke that would accelerate wear. They probably have about 7 k miles on them (racing and general training).

They're not super expensive, but I don't like kit that doesn't last. Which pedals are known to go on and on? Am I expecting too much?

Garry H

I have a pair of the 105 level (5700?) from 2009 that are still fine.

The Rookie

It's not really years is it, it's miles pedalled, 7000 miles or about 7 years of many people's riding sounds reasonable.

keezx

My first pair of low end SPD SL's date from 2010, have done app. 50000 km and are still fine.
That premature wear must have something to do with pedaling style, some people keep moving their feet sideways which might cause this, these people are candidates for Speedplays or similar.
For normal use 7000 miles is ridiculous.

Garry H

The Rookie wrote:

It's not really years is it, it's miles pedalled, 7000 miles or about 7 years of many people's riding sounds reasonable.

They've been on my commuter for the last five years. I commute between 120 and 160 miles per week.

trailflow

Alex99 wrote:

Hi all,
I got a pair of 5700 SPD SL pedals in mid 2014. The binding to the cleat developed play about a year later and they were replaced with a pair of 5800s by Ribble. About 1.5 years on those now, and the same problem has emerged. They look worn at the front underneath, just where the front part of the cleat hooks on. Any others experience this?

I don't think I have anything weird with my pedal stroke that would accelerate wear. They probably have about 7 k miles on them (racing and general training).

They're not super expensive, but I don't like kit that doesn't last. Which pedals are known to go on and on? Am I expecting too much?

Same situation here, had a left DA9000 carbon pedal wear down at the frontal hook area just from using my left foot more when unclipping. The wear got so bad the cleat wouldn't clip in at all. That's less than 2 years use. Roughly 8000 miles. No commuting. Just normal riding in the peaks with hardly any traffic lights around.

My old DA7810 pedals with the metal body still work fine and have more than double+ that mileage.

I wouldn't expect 5700 105 pedals to last quite as long as DA but 1.5 years is nothing. I'd expect at least 4-5 years.

In my experience, the new composite carbon body versions are far less indestructible. The old models 7810, 5700, 6700 with metal body are much more tougher. Carbon is probably not the best material for these pedals. What's strange is, the weight savings are very minimal and Shimano have been very conservative with using carbon in the past so why do they now think its good for high stress parts like pedals ? Certainly a step backwards. There was nothing really wrong with the old design.

Do you use yellow cleats (with float ), or red cleats (fixed) ?

keezx

Carbon=bling for some people....

Alex99

trailflow wrote:

Alex99 wrote:

Hi all,
I got a pair of 5700 SPD SL pedals in mid 2014. The binding to the cleat developed play about a year later and they were replaced with a pair of 5800s by Ribble. About 1.5 years on those now, and the same problem has emerged. They look worn at the front underneath, just where the front part of the cleat hooks on. Any others experience this?

I don't think I have anything weird with my pedal stroke that would accelerate wear. They probably have about 7 k miles on them (racing and general training).

They're not super expensive, but I don't like kit that doesn't last. Which pedals are known to go on and on? Am I expecting too much?

Same situation here, had a left DA9000 carbon pedal wear down at the frontal hook area just from using my left foot more when unclipping. The wear got so bad the cleat wouldn't clip in at all. That's less than 2 years use. Roughly 8000 miles. No commuting. Just normal riding in the peaks with hardly any traffic lights around.

My old DA7810 pedals with the metal body still work fine and have more than double+ that mileage.

I wouldn't expect 5700 105 pedals to last quite as long as DA but 1.5 years is nothing. I'd expect at least 4-5 years.

In my experience, the new composite carbon body versions are far less indestructible. The old models 7810, 5700, 6700 with metal body are much more tougher. Carbon is probably not the best material for these pedals. What's strange is, the weight savings are very minimal and Shimano have been very conservative with using carbon in the past so why do they now think its good for high stress parts like pedals ? Certainly a step backwards. There was nothing really wrong with the old design.

Do you use yellow cleats (with float ), or red cleats (fixed) ?

Thanks for the feedback all. My 5700 pedals were the carbon plastic ones, not metal. I use the yellow cleats. Maybe I have a wiggle in my pedal stroke or something that contributes to the problem. Either way, getting a new pair of pedals every year or so isn't an attractive option. The alloy bodied Look pedals used used as a youngster lasted very well.

Hmm, what to do? Maybe some alloy bodied Shimano PD-R540 for £25, or take the plunge and go Speedplay.

trailflow

Put a bid in for these. They've had very little use you can tell because the Dura Ace logo is still almost intact.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/292015515271? ... EBIDX%3AIT

Alex99

trailflow wrote:

Put a bid in for these. They've had very little use you can tell because the Dura Ace logo is still almost intact.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/292015515271? ... EBIDX%3AIT

I think I will. They look great. Thanks for the spot

Matthewfalle

For a communter bike Exustars at £9 a pop from Planet X rock - same set up as Llok pedals, bombproof, really, really tight springs (which I like).

Otherwise I've been using Keos for years and years and years in all conditions and never had any issues .....

craker

I've got some single-sided spds that I bought in 1995 still going strong. Never had to do anything to them. No idea what model they are (Shimano though) , it was my first purchase after buying my first proper roadie (with clipless pedals but no matching cleats). I phoned up the mail-order shop, as you did in them days, and asked for a pair of s-p-d pedals please. They were about £75 I suspect I was sold something pretty upmarket as I had _no_ clue. Not like now ;-)

ugo.santalucia

XT began to creak after about 15 K miles, the cheaper 540 (or 520 can't remember) SPD lasted less than half that... it also cost less than half, so you get what you pay for, more or less

Alex99

I have got those PD-7810s on the way from eBay. Hopefully they'll be good for long while.

Nick Payne

I have two pairs of Campagnolo Nuovo Record quill pedals that I bought in about 1978 that are still going strong. I service the bearings annually and they still feel perfectly smooth - the pedal cages are a bit worn but nowhere near the point of needing to be retired. They haven't seen all that much use in the past 20 or so years, but in the 20 years prior to that they must have done somewhere around 150,000km each.

rolf_f

ugo.santalucia wrote:

XT began to creak after about 15 K miles, the cheaper 540 (or 520 can't remember) SPD lasted less than half that... it also cost less than half, so you get what you pay for, more or less

Not exactly meaningful sample set. Pretty sure my M520s have done at least 15k miles in all weathers and are still happy. What do you conclude from that? Hopefully nothing at all!

Alex99

Rolf F wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

XT began to creak after about 15 K miles, the cheaper 540 (or 520 can't remember) SPD lasted less than half that... it also cost less than half, so you get what you pay for, more or less

Not exactly meaningful sample set. Pretty sure my M520s have done at least 15k miles in all weathers and are still happy. What do you conclude from that? Hopefully nothing at all!

Wasn't looking for a statistically significant study here. I got a steer towards some alloy bodied SPD-SLs, so it's been useful especially since I'm realistically not going to get quill pedals (which I'm sure would be the most reliable long term option). I'll ride these and see what happens. If they go 'bad' in anything less than 3 years, I'll probably go for Speedplay.

Apart from that, too many variables to get a solid conclusion about cost vs life etc... especially considering different pedal types. Also, I suspect that people will have wildly different tolerances to creaks and foibles of different pedals. I was never happy with some brand new XT SPDs that I had because they had some play in the binding. Switched to the low-end alloy Time Atac which had and still have (10 years on) slop-free binding.

ugo.santalucia

Rolf F wrote:

Not exactly meaningful sample set. Pretty sure my M520s have done at least 15k miles in all weathers and are still happy. What do you conclude from that? Hopefully nothing at all!

Do you suffer from winter blues? You are particularly pedantic and tedious of late...

rolf_f

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

Not exactly meaningful sample set. Pretty sure my M520s have done at least 15k miles in all weathers and are still happy. What do you conclude from that? Hopefully nothing at all!

Do you suffer from winter blues? You are particularly pedantic and tedious of late...

Possibly. But then I've been finding others particularly pedantic and tedious as well so maybe it is in the air - maybe the finding of others as pedantic and tedious is symptomatic of our own pedantry etc. Anyway, just saying - it's the usual thing. People come up with the line about "you get what you pay for" and it simply isn't consistently true - at least in terms of functionality. I think you, more than most here, appreciate that when you pay more for the most part these days you pay for blingy shininess rather than the functional superiority you should get.

Alex99

Rolf F wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

Not exactly meaningful sample set. Pretty sure my M520s have done at least 15k miles in all weathers and are still happy. What do you conclude from that? Hopefully nothing at all!

Do you suffer from winter blues? You are particularly pedantic and tedious of late...

Possibly. But then I've been finding others particularly pedantic and tedious as well so maybe it is in the air - maybe the finding of others as pedantic and tedious is symptomatic of our own pedantry etc. Anyway, just saying - it's the usual thing. People come up with the line about "you get what you pay for" and it simply isn't consistently true - at least in terms of functionality. I think you, more than most here, appreciate that when you pay more for the most part these days you pay for blingy shininess rather than the functional superiority you should get.

I agree, sometimes you "pay", but you don't "get". The Time Atac example, at the cheap end of the spectrum, but super durable and functionally, I cannot think of even a minor niggle (I know... according to my criteria). I also think it's quite likely that I would still have problems if I'd bought Dura Ace instead of 105 a few years ago.

slowbike

Rolf F wrote:

People come up with the line about "you get what you pay for" and it simply isn't consistently true - at least in terms of functionality. I think you, more than most here, appreciate that when you pay more for the most part these days you pay for blingy shininess rather than the functional superiority you should get.

Expensive in cycling usually means lighter and higher performance - it doesn't equate to greater durability.

My SPDs - both 520 and 540 have lasted ages - with very few cleat replacements required (in the thousands of miles) - my SPD-SLs (entry level) are still running fine, but the cleats are knackered after a much shorter time/distance (in the hundreds of miles) - not surprising, they're plastic. The tradeoff isn't surprising really.

rolf_f

Slowbike wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

People come up with the line about "you get what you pay for" and it simply isn't consistently true - at least in terms of functionality. I think you, more than most here, appreciate that when you pay more for the most part these days you pay for blingy shininess rather than the functional superiority you should get.

Expensive in cycling usually means lighter and higher performance - it doesn't equate to greater durability.

Indeed. If only we had the choice though. ie we could pay a bit more for something that lasts a bit longer rather than paying massively more for something that increases our performance by an utterly unmeasurable amount! Sadly, that isn't how the modern world works.

ugo.santalucia

XT has never been expensive for the sake of it... in Shimano MTBike range XT is where you get the most for not much money, it's quality at a reasonable price. XTR is where yoiu save grams for extortionate price. LX and Deore stuff (which I assume 520 belong to) have never lasted for me... hubs, pedals... always the same bearings problems, which I have always put down to lower quality.

I still have a few of those Shimano 6-8 speed chains that sell for 7 pounds... (HG40 I think) they stretch after one ride... after three rides you can see large gaps between chainring and chain... you get what you pay for...

slowbike

ugo.santalucia wrote:

XT has never been expensive for the sake of it... in Shimano MTBike range XT is where you get the most for not much money, it's quality at a reasonable price. XTR is where yoiu save grams for extortionate price. LX and Deore stuff (which I assume 520 belong to) have never lasted for me... hubs, pedals... always the same bearings problems, which I have always put down to lower quality.

I still have a few of those Shimano 6-8 speed chains that sell for 7 pounds... (HG40 I think) they stretch after one ride... after three rides you can see large gaps between chainring and chain... you get what you pay for...

Can I be pedantic?

Chains don't stretch ... they wear ... if you're seeing a marked wearing in 1 ride then you're either riding a heck of a long way or riding through a lot of grit and muck - and a long way ....

ugo.santalucia

Slowbike wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

XT has never been expensive for the sake of it... in Shimano MTBike range XT is where you get the most for not much money, it's quality at a reasonable price. XTR is where yoiu save grams for extortionate price. LX and Deore stuff (which I assume 520 belong to) have never lasted for me... hubs, pedals... always the same bearings problems, which I have always put down to lower quality.

I still have a few of those Shimano 6-8 speed chains that sell for 7 pounds... (HG40 I think) they stretch after one ride... after three rides you can see large gaps between chainring and chain... you get what you pay for...

Can I be pedantic?

Chains don't stretch ... they wear ... if you're seeing a marked wearing in 1 ride then you're either riding a heck of a long way or riding through a lot of grit and muck - and a long way ....

When you see a gap in such short mileage it's because they have stretched... you can't wear the rollers in a day. I fitted a chain before the Eroica UK and I threw it away after ... 180 Km in total... previous HG40 chains lasted about the same... they are really made of weak steel that yields easily.

rolf_f

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Slowbike wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

XT has never been expensive for the sake of it... in Shimano MTBike range XT is where you get the most for not much money, it's quality at a reasonable price. XTR is where yoiu save grams for extortionate price. LX and Deore stuff (which I assume 520 belong to) have never lasted for me... hubs, pedals... always the same bearings problems, which I have always put down to lower quality.

I still have a few of those Shimano 6-8 speed chains that sell for 7 pounds... (HG40 I think) they stretch after one ride... after three rides you can see large gaps between chainring and chain... you get what you pay for...

Can I be pedantic?

Chains don't stretch ... they wear ... if you're seeing a marked wearing in 1 ride then you're either riding a heck of a long way or riding through a lot of grit and muck - and a long way ....

When you see a gap in such short mileage it's because they have stretched... you can't wear the rollers in a day. I fitted a chain before the Eroica UK and I threw it away after ... 180 Km in total... previous HG40 chains lasted about the same... they are really made of weak steel that yields easily.

In Norway I rescued a damsel in distress who had a broken chain - it wasn't a high mileage bike, original chain. One of the links had pulled off its rivet. The plates were really soft and bendy - so much so they deformed under pressure of pressing a rivet in. I can believe that such a chain might physically stretch.

But there is a difference between 'you get what you pay for' when applied to different 'fit for purpose' items and that when you are paying so little that what you get is unusable junk. I don't think anyone would say that M520s are a poor quality product.

ugo.santalucia

Rolf F wrote:

But there is a difference between 'you get what you pay for' when applied to different 'fit for purpose' items and that when you are paying so little that what you get is unusable junk. I don't think anyone would say that M520s are a poor quality product.

And yet the left began clicking after 6-7 months... seeing they have the plastic nut to open them, it's not even worth trying as I found in the past they are tightened too hard for the plastic tool to actually open them... so I guess it's bin time

slowbike

I found clicking in the pedals to be lack of lubrication in the spindle bearings - easy resolved.

trek_dan

The pedal bodies on my last low end Shimano set wore out in under a year. But when cleats cost £14 and you can get a new set of pedals and cleats for £24 it makes sense just to replace both. Its not exactly a high value item.

ugo.santalucia

Slowbike wrote:

I found clicking in the pedals to be lack of lubrication in the spindle bearings - easy resolved.

But if you can't open them...

Alex99

Rolf F wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Slowbike wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

XT has never been expensive for the sake of it... in Shimano MTBike range XT is where you get the most for not much money, it's quality at a reasonable price. XTR is where yoiu save grams for extortionate price. LX and Deore stuff (which I assume 520 belong to) have never lasted for me... hubs, pedals... always the same bearings problems, which I have always put down to lower quality.

I still have a few of those Shimano 6-8 speed chains that sell for 7 pounds... (HG40 I think) they stretch after one ride... after three rides you can see large gaps between chainring and chain... you get what you pay for...

Can I be pedantic?

Chains don't stretch ... they wear ... if you're seeing a marked wearing in 1 ride then you're either riding a heck of a long way or riding through a lot of grit and muck - and a long way ....

When you see a gap in such short mileage it's because they have stretched... you can't wear the rollers in a day. I fitted a chain before the Eroica UK and I threw it away after ... 180 Km in total... previous HG40 chains lasted about the same... they are really made of weak steel that yields easily.

In Norway I rescued a damsel in distress who had a broken chain - it wasn't a high mileage bike, original chain. One of the links had pulled off its rivet. The plates were really soft and bendy - so much so they deformed under pressure of pressing a rivet in. I can believe that such a chain might physically stretch.

But there is a difference between 'you get what you pay for' when applied to different 'fit for purpose' items and that when you are paying so little that what you get is unusable junk. I don't think anyone would say that M520s are a poor quality product.

" I can believe that such a chain might physically stretch."

I can't believe it. If you're physically strong enough to tension a chain beyond it's yield strength, even if if doesn't break immediately and undergoes plastic deformation, you'll have a chain with a section having a longer pitch. If you repeat this several times, surely the chain would become totally dysfunctional. I think it's more likely you've worn the chain out in the conventional sense.