New SPD-SL pedals

drhaggis

My old PD-R540 pedal bodies are very worn, after 6 years of riding and commuting under the best Edinburgh has too offer, and will be replacing them soon. Options are the RS500, R550, and R7000 (105) pedals. No chance in hell I'm spending more than £70.

Given both non-series pedals are basically the same price, my first choice would be going for the relatively old R550's. A full steel base helps, too.

I know these are just pedals, but, reliability wise, am I losing anything meaningful by not going for the 105 ones? Is the stainless steel spindle a big deal w.r.t the chromalloy one in the cheaper units? How would the CFRP body deal with commuting loads?

drhaggis

In case it matters (I can't edit my original post), these pedals would see about 5000 km/year, of which about 3k would be commuting

redvision

I wouldn't recommend the rs500 spd-sl. Went through two sets in just a couple of months early last year. On both occasion the bearings were completely shot despite not being ridden in particularly wet conditions.

Ended up switching to r7000 105 pedals

rick_chasey

I've never heard of pedals wearing out tbh.

I've got a pair of RS500-SLs which I've done a conservative 23,000km on - majority of which was all-weather commuting through central London and they're still working fine.

I also have a pair of 105s on another bike which have done roughly 12,000km on. Again. No problems.

Functionally they work the same, one pair is just a little lighter.

drhaggis

Thanks to you two. In the end I've gone for the R550's, hoping to forget about them once they arrive.

And for the reference, this is how my left pedal looks like right now. I do unclip with this foot, mind you, but the right one isn't in much better shape.

Munsford0

I bought a pair of lightly used resin bodied R550s a few years ago. After a year or so I found I was having trouble clipping in / out. Closer inspection revealed the inboard pivot had worked its way out so the black rear section was flopping about. It's a steel pin which is just pressed in; - managed to push it back in at the roadside. Back home I secured it with adhesive and threadlock but it did work its way out a second time.

Be interesing to hear how yours stand up to the abuse you clearly give them commuting

kingstongraham

Looking to save a few quid over 6 years and 30,000km of riding seems like a false economy. I can't remember ever buying replacement pedals (I think that means 10 year old ultegra on both bikes).

drhaggis

kingstongraham said:

Looking to save a few quid over 6 years and 30,000km of riding seems like a false economy. I can't remember ever buying replacement pedals (I think that means 10 year old ultegra on both bikes).

It is. I would have gotten 105 pedals, but I had little confidence on the durability of the CFRP body, and the small metallic base plates.

MidlandsGrimpeur2

I know you don't want to go above £70 but for an extra tenner you can get Ultegra R8000 (£79.99 at Wiggle which is 50% off). I have used mine for the last three winters and had no issues and the body/base plates are still relatively unmarked considering the mileage on them. For the amount of riding you do, and durability requirements, I'd be willing to spend a bit more.

secretsam

I recall seeing a pro bike review thing on one of the YT channels and some pro had a pair of DA pedals that were about 6+ years old, they must have been to the moon and back. I'd say if you do massive miles, a bit extra spend is worth it.

Personally, I wouldn't ever consider doing traffic jamming in single sided, but that's just wimpy old me!

rick_chasey

secretsam said:

Personally, I wouldn't ever consider doing traffic jamming in single sided, but that's just wimpy old me!

It’s just practice. Before you know it, you’ve got it down in one pedal stroke 90% of the time and you’ll get it in the next stroke the other 9% of the time.

drhaggis

Minor update: while the R550's are doing fine so far, I've just bought Ultegra pedals for the new bike. It was eitehr 105's for £73, or Ultegra for £83, and went for the latter just for the sake of the name.

The Ultegra pedals are likely to see nicer usage, and thus it's not an apples to apples comparison, but will comment back if I find something out of the ordinary.