Shimano R540 SPD SL Road Pedals question

[tiswas-steve]

Am thinking of purchasing a pair of these from Evans, but while reading the reviews, quite a few peeps seem to moan that the pedals sit naturally upside down. As these will be my first leap into SPD SL land ( im using SPD,s at the moment ) im wondering if this will be a major prob or will they eventually adjust once the bearings sit in ??

Any comments ?

Cheers

 

[ian turner]

Why Evans ?
You can get them from crc for £10 less.
1 problem with these is the plastic inserts can suffer from wear and it's not obvious
where you can get replacements from though odds are I'll replace them with 105s
before then

 

[tiswas-steve]

Why Evans ?
You can get them from crc for £10 less.
1 problem with these is the plastic inserts can suffer from wear and it's not obvious
where you can get replacements from though odds are I'll replace them with 105s
before then

No reason really to go to Evans other than they are local to where I work.........

Are these the 105,s your talking about ? http://www.chainreac...9&ModelID=50512

 

[ian turner]

Yup though there are probably cheaper reasonable alternatives. The 540s were going cheap though.
They get good reviews and £24 isn't to be sniffed at

 

[tiswas-steve]

Ok cheers for your help Ian, do you know anything about the " upside down " issue ?

 

[Peter10]

I have these pedals and yes, they do naturally sit upside down. Apparently, they are suppose to spin around flat as they reach the top of the pedal stroke. They do, for about 1/2 a second before spinning around again. This isn't so bad on MTB pedals & shoes, but with road shoes which will slide off the pedal unless you get it clicked in, it becomes a nightmare.

I no longer use mine, they have been put in a box ready for training rides next summer if they are lucky to come out. I just got fed up of having to push off with one almighty downstroke so I had enough time & momentum to spin it around and click it in. Not what you want to be doing on a commute. It was especially a pain when you had to sit in the middle lane of 3 so you couldn't lean against a kerb or a railing.

I know everyone is different, but if you plan to use them for a commute, I would avoid them and get some double sided MTB pedals. I have notices little to no difference in the power of my pedal stroke since changing either.

 

[tiswas-steve]

I have these pedals and yes, they do naturally sit upside down. Apparently, they are suppose to spin around flat as they reach the top of the pedal stroke. They do, for about 1/2 a second before spinning around again. This isn't so bad on MTB pedals & shoes, but with road shoes which will slide off the pedal unless you get it clicked in, it becomes a nightmare.

I no longer use mine, they have been put in a box ready for training rides next summer if they are lucky to come out. I just got fed up of having to push off with one almighty downstroke so I had enough time & momentum to spin it around and click it in. Not what you want to be doing on a commute. It was especially a pain when you had to sit in the middle lane of 3 so you couldn't lean against a kerb or a railing.

I know everyone is different, but if you plan to use them for a commute, I would avoid them and get some double sided MTB pedals. I have notices little to no difference in the power of my pedal stroke since changing either.

Hmmmmmm intresting ............. Im riding on MTB pedals and shoes at the moment on my Allez but fancied a bit more power output which I believe the SL system gives.


And yes I am also mainly using my bike to commute so maybe ill stick as I am for now.

 

[Broadside]

I've got these pedals on my bike (had them for a year) and for £25 I think they are great value. They naturally sit vertical not upside down when your feet are not attached, which allows you to slip your toe in quite easily before clipping the back in. Road bike pedals take a bit of getting used to compared to MTB pedals. I wouldn't want to use them for a lot of town riding as they are a bit of a pain, all my riding is open road with only occasional bits of town riding.

I did however ride across London for the start of the Dunwich Dynamo a couple of months back and hated the clipping in/out. If your commute involves lots of stopping and you can't track stand then I don't think I would recommend these pedals.

 

[Panter]

As above, they hang vertically so theoretically you can clip straight in.

I gave up on mine after a few dangerous incidents, trying to accerate rapidly across main roads or on roundabouts, and couldn't get my blasted foot clipped in.
I switched to them from the SPD's to try and solve my foot pain issues, but it made no difference anyway so I'm back on the SPD's.

I didn't feel any extra power at all with mine. Ok, so they feel more solid and I wanted to persist with them but there were just no advantages that I could see over the SPD's, especially as hobbling round with such a huge cleat was such a nuisance.

 

[tiswas-steve]

After a chat with one of the guys at Brixton Cycles today methinks ill agree with Pather & dmoran, he said exactly what you two guys said regarding the commuting and the issue about not a lot of difference power wise.

Gonna stick with the SPD,s ..... cheers guys !! Now what shall I buy in place of new shows n pedals then ?

 

[Peter10]

After my experience with the road pedals, I treated myself to one of the better sets of pedals offered by Shimano, the M770 XT and actually got them new on eBay from an eBay shop. Great pedals and really have done the job well. I'm not looking at some new MTB shoes. The ones I have are fine, but the sole is way to flimsy and flex too much. They are fine for the 10 second walk to my office door compared to my road shoes but I prefer the rigidity of the shoe when cycling. Not sure what I want yet though. I'm very tempted to get a pair of Sidi Dominator's.

Like I said, I'm sure my road pedals will get some use again next summer, but not for commuting.

 

[Panter]

After a chat with one of the guys at Brixton Cycles today methinks ill agree with Pather & dmoran, he said exactly what you two guys said regarding the commuting and the issue about not a lot of difference power wise.

Gonna stick with the SPD,s ..... cheers guys !! Now what shall I buy in place of new shows n pedals then ?

I was going to put up a link for the new Spokeshirt light, but it's dissapeared from their website?

Pah, spend it on beer & curry

 

[gaz]

I say MAN UP! i commute in SPD-SL's through central london. I don't have an issue.