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

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  • Alex99
    Alex99 Posts: 1,407
    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.

    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.

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

    Sounds right. Sometimes the three go together, but often not. Shimano could make an SPD-SL with a little titanium insert under the front which would not wear out from cleat movement. It wouldn't be a sexy 'performance' feature, it would be more expensive to make and they'd sell fewer pedals. Of course there are exceptional examples, such as a Rohloff hub which is expensive and durable and not light / high performance.
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,312
    Alex99 wrote:
    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.

    Conventional stress strain doesn't necessarily explain... deformation comes in many shapes under load, you can see it as "creep" if you like. The point is that the steel used for these chains is not suitable for high load (e.g. going up a 10% climb with a 23 sprocket) and that might well be the reason why they retail at 6-7 pounds instead of 20.

    It is stretched, it's the only way you can explain the fact that it no longer sits flush on the chainring... basically the pitch no longer matches the teeth, so it needs to sit higher on the teeth

    Moral: they are cheap, nasty chains
    left the forum March 2023

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