You guys are so fking helpful. Thanks for all your content over the years! Not every video applies to me directly but everything is so well explained and enjoyable and honestly memorable as well. Great job.
@@kyletduffy the way that the blue and yellow cleats float is different. The yellow float at the nose, which is what creates the wear on the pedal body. The blue float at the middle of the pedal and the nose has less freedom to rotate. Thus this minimizes the wear to the carbon body
So basically shimano pedals have bearings that are so great that the rest of the pedal wears away over time. The pedals are a load bearing part after all.
I had this problem with my Garmin Rally RS100 power meter pedals. Had about 20,000 kms on those pedals, rattled in every direction. New pedal bodies made a huge difference.
As always Neil EVERY vid always well worth the watch. On the face something simple,,,,,, and as they’re so hard wearing something we all tend to overlook (excepting the bearings). So a sincere THANK YOU 👍
I broke my collarbone and had a small paralysis in my arm for 6 months as a result of a worn carbon shimano pedal releasing my foot during a sprint training. My foot went in the front wheel and broke the wheel sending me crashing, thanks to carbon shoes my foot was fine but collarbone not. The pedals were only 1 season old, cleats were new so i assumed no issue giving it full beans... Basically moral of the story, if you put good watts and ride carbon shimano pedals at max tension replace them every 6 months...
This isn’t a problem that I only happens on Shimano pedals. I’ve had this issue on Look pedals also. This issue is that rotational cleats rub on the inner tip of the pedal body. Poor people using fixed cleats this probably doesn’t happen.
Interesting and informative- I have R550's on my "winter" bike (was warned off 540's by reviews) and I splashed out on the Ultegra carbo pedals (at a bargain sale price) due to the extra 4mm axle length for the summer bike(which I do 80% of the miles on)... Suppose road spray and grit may contribute a good bit to wear, thankfully my summer miles are 99% dry weather....(here in Scotland lol? so that's 3 days a year ha ha)
It would be ideal if Shimano sold replacement bodies on their own, as you say the spindles last forever. Also I use Favero Assioma Duo Shi and have to buy complete pedals just for the bodies.
I had the same longitudinal rocking issue with Speedplay pedals once they were worn, but interestingly, the Wahoo ones do it within a matter of weeks. Had to return three pairs under warranty within a matter of a month each time, as the level of rocking was really affecting foot stability.
Yeah happened on my left carbon 6800 pedal after about 2 or 3yrs. My old shimano ultegra alloy pedals are still going with no issues and are well over 10yrs old. Obviously alloy is harder to file down and wear out with a plastic cleat moving around in it than carbon.
I have 2 sets of Ultegra alloy pedals I've been riding on my road bikes for many years without any problems. Last year I "upgraded" to 105 composite pedals on my new road bike. No problems yet, but I will definitely have to keep an eye on those pedals. Also, I'll keep my older alloy pedals as backup!
What exactly is the downside of having a little bit of float in all directions? Isn't it a good thing that your body has a bit of room to find the perfect position by himself?
Too much float (especially when it wasn't meant to be present in the first place) can be distracting and makes the pedal-cleat interface unstable, especially when you pedal hard (ex. sprinting). Pedal float should only be rotational, not back & fourth, up & down and sideways.
I started using Shimano SPD-SL pedals in, I think, 1999 with a pair of PD-R600s. I have since purchased four more sets (Dura-Ace, Ultegra and 105, alloy and carbon). 160,000 miles/260,000km later, the original R600s are retired due to bearing wear, but the other four are still in regular use on different bikes with no detectable wear of the type shown here. I do ride mostly dry road conditions, which is probably what Shimano designed them for. "A Design Flaw"? Not in my experience!
PD-R550 has a steel wear plate. The DA and Ultegra you show in the video appear to have 3 separate plates, my PD-R550 have a single steel plate across that whole area of the pedal.
The steel wear plate is supporting your foot when pressing vertically down. The issue Neil talked about arises from wear of the carbon part that hooks the front of the cleat. There is no steel wear plate there
I've been reluctant to buy power meter pedals because of this issue. Are Favero Assioma pedals built to last longer than Look or Shimano pedals? Or will I be throwing out the power meters in a couple years when the shoe interface gets sloppy?
Im 100kg and have cleats at nearly midfoot yet i have never had this despite living in a very hilly area and using the cheap pedals. 4000 miles a year. Odd
I've never had a problem like that in 37 years of using Look Delta Pedals, with Fixed cleats. I've had pedal bearings go bad, but never anything like this.
I had some wear that wasn't apparent outdoors but was causing a bit of dull clunky noise in my pedal stroke while on an indoor trainer. I wonder how many people have replaced freehubs and bottom brackets when the problem was worn out pedals.
so the cheaper pedal body made of alloy has one benefit over composite body? 😅 am using vp pedal for few years, the only thing worn out is the paint. pretty much stripped off.
Guess I'll have to check my Keo pedals. I threw away a worn out set of Keo Blades because I couldn't get positive engagement. Wasn't fun at all as I couldn't get unclipped on one pedal.
This funny never thought about the pedle wearing out ... went straight to garage, was able push me shoe on by hand and wriggle in every direction. I gues after 50k+ km it will do that
Interesting. Besides the steel wear plates on D-A and Ultegra, is the Dura-Ace pedal body itself tougher than a cheaper one (Shimano PD RS500 or 105 or even Ultegra)?
@@blahqwe some people say they like the broader platform, and the overall weight is 50-100 g lighter (says Bike Radar)…. although I watched a vid yesterday where they asked the pros in a gravel race what they ride, and it was like 50-50 SPD / road
@@blahqwe it would interest me :) although Shimano have several 1-sided regular MTB SPD versions for road use, including Ultegra at 280 g, which is pretty good
@@PRH123those are the PD-ES600, and I have a set on my bike. My only complaint is that the paint scratches off the pedal very easily, but that's just cosmetic
The Dura Ace 7800 pedal is still arguably Shimanos best ever. The float is excellent, no longitudinal movement, no forward or back movement and while all metal still relatively lightweight. Moving to carbon seems like a rather large mistake.
I would argue that the 7810 was a big upgrade over 7800, with the wider body and the stainless steel wear plate instead of the plastic insert. I'm still happily using those on my good bike, and the newer carbon pedals are on the beater bike.
I had his in 1.5 Years. Switched to look keo, they last a lot longer for me but after +3 years they were due for replacement too. (Obviously they don’t read the comment thread because I highlighted the issue in the previous video too.)
@@ivarbrouwer197 you’re probably right that the inner pedal tip on the Look pedals wears away less than the Shimano pedals. It’s probably because the Shimano rotation cleats also have lateral float, so Shimano rotational cleats that would rub the inner tip more than Look rotation cleats. For people using fixed cleats, this wouldn’t be an issue.
@@ivarbrouwer197 haha! Fixed cleats aren’t good for me knees either. I used to use fixed and had an ACL surgery from basketball. Cycling was supposed to help, but I need the float.
Lol my alu ultegras pedals are 16 years old, and I don’t have this problem. Probably because shimano didn’t make composhite components back then. I will never upgrade my pedals, they will outlast my riding years.
FASLE: This is total BS. I don´t know what your mate did to those pedals. Never seen that kind of ridiculous play before. Mine are 7-year-old, with 12,000k yearly. And still work fine.
Hmm very interesting. I'm a bit shocked by the 2-3 years :D. I've been riding Garmin Vectors for about 10 years - with the first pedal body. Now only on the turbo trainer, but I'm curious to see what the test tonight will show. My other pedals are probably also about 5 years old. Look Keo system, once Look Keo Carbon Blade and Look Keo 2 Max or its predecessor. However, I ride almost exclusively in dry conditions and weigh relatively little (64 kg). But when I think about it, I think there's a lot of play in the system. Hmmmm.
My results here: Garmin Vector 1 & 2 after about 10 years: absolutely perfect, no play at all. Look Keo (2) Max after around 5 years: very, very slight play at most, but basically also completely problem-free. Look Keo Carbon Blade: extremely large play in all directions. Shocking. The carbon blade no longer holds the first 1-1.5 mm, the mechanism is completely loose. This allows the shoe to slide at least 1-2 or more mm forward and sideways. Worse: it can tilt extremely. Wow. I wasn't expecting that. In my case, however, the play is not at the front of the cleat, but comes from the back of the Keo Blade because the spring mechanism is completely loose in the last area. Nasty, I'll have to get to work on that. Unfortunately, Look didn't just designed 2 Tx10 for loosening, but Tx10 and Tx8. Of course, I don't have Tx8 in my toolbox. Maybe it still works with the 16 nm blades or I need a replacement kit or new pedals. Surprising. Incidentally, the blades are on my TT competition bike, which I also use a lot for training. Wow.
But a flat pedal doesn't prevent your foot from rotating like is mentioned. I ride flats on my gravel bike but now I'm wondering how consistent my foot placement really is compared to how consistent it would be with something like an SPD mountain pedal...
Beware? Needing to be told to be wary of pedals that wear down over three years is like needing to be told to be wary of your tires or brake pads wearing down. It is completely to be expected, so check regularly and replace as required - like everything on the bloody bike. I suppose some people need to be told everything…
If your car was light enough and you took advantage of air resistance and downshifts when braking, then your brakes might last 20 years. depends on how chonky your vehicle is
Very true. But you’d still be sensible to check them frequently. That’s my point, they’re releasing videos with click-bait titles on a part that is reasonable to be considered perishable and warrants regular inspection and replacement if needed. A shame such smart guys need to provoke alarm over the mundane.
The title of this video is pretty egregious clickbait. This is just normal wear. I don’t buy pedals expecting them to last forever. If I get 2 years out of them, I got my moneys worth and they go in the spares drawer to hold me over in a pinch should I have an issue in the future.
Wear and tear happens to all pedal systems, not just Shimano. I general loved most of your videos, Cam. But this one is very unfair to Shimano. I do understand that you’re sponsored by SRAM, but this is a cheap shot at their rival. Just a side note, I have SRAM drivetrains on all of my bikes (road and MTB).
Another reason I use SPD pedals. WAY more durable and easier to use in the real world.
Those are the most worn out pedals i’ve seen. Ive used the dura ace 9100 carbon body for thousands of Km no noticeable wear. Great video.
You guys are so fking helpful. Thanks for all your content over the years! Not every video applies to me directly but everything is so well explained and enjoyable and honestly memorable as well. Great job.
Amazing! It actually turns out that pedals get worn after years of use. Who would have known?
Especially if they're made out of soft carbon ;)
But not with blue cleats!
can you explain?
@@Shadowboost
@@kyletduffy the way that the blue and yellow cleats float is different. The yellow float at the nose, which is what creates the wear on the pedal body. The blue float at the middle of the pedal and the nose has less freedom to rotate. Thus this minimizes the wear to the carbon body
So basically shimano pedals have bearings that are so great that the rest of the pedal wears away over time. The pedals are a load bearing part after all.
I had this problem with my Garmin Rally RS100 power meter pedals. Had about 20,000 kms on those pedals, rattled in every direction. New pedal bodies made a huge difference.
As always Neil EVERY vid always well worth the watch. On the face something simple,,,,,, and as they’re so hard wearing something we all tend to overlook (excepting the bearings). So a sincere THANK YOU 👍
I have a pair of ~20 years old aluminium spd-sl pedals my dad put tens of thousands of kilometres on, never serviced and still faultless
I broke my collarbone and had a small paralysis in my arm for 6 months as a result of a worn carbon shimano pedal releasing my foot during a sprint training. My foot went in the front wheel and broke the wheel sending me crashing, thanks to carbon shoes my foot was fine but collarbone not. The pedals were only 1 season old, cleats were new so i assumed no issue giving it full beans... Basically moral of the story, if you put good watts and ride carbon shimano pedals at max tension replace them every 6 months...
This isn’t a problem that I only happens on Shimano pedals. I’ve had this issue on Look pedals also. This issue is that rotational cleats rub on the inner tip of the pedal body. Poor people using fixed cleats this probably doesn’t happen.
Interesting and informative- I have R550's on my "winter" bike (was warned off 540's by reviews) and I splashed out on the Ultegra carbo pedals (at a bargain sale price) due to the extra 4mm axle length for the summer bike(which I do 80% of the miles on)... Suppose road spray and grit may contribute a good bit to wear, thankfully my summer miles are 99% dry weather....(here in Scotland lol? so that's 3 days a year ha ha)
It would be ideal if Shimano sold replacement bodies on their own, as you say the spindles last forever. Also I use Favero Assioma Duo Shi and have to buy complete pedals just for the bodies.
I had the same longitudinal rocking issue with Speedplay pedals once they were worn, but interestingly, the Wahoo ones do it within a matter of weeks. Had to return three pairs under warranty within a matter of a month each time, as the level of rocking was really affecting foot stability.
Speed play have been terrible since wahoo have toon over for me. 5 sets of pedals 100% failure rate.
Yeah happened on my left carbon 6800 pedal after about 2 or 3yrs. My old shimano ultegra alloy pedals are still going with no issues and are well over 10yrs old. Obviously alloy is harder to file down and wear out with a plastic cleat moving around in it than carbon.
I have 2 sets of Ultegra alloy pedals I've been riding on my road bikes for many years without any problems. Last year I "upgraded" to 105 composite pedals on my new road bike. No problems yet, but I will definitely have to keep an eye on those pedals. Also, I'll keep my older alloy pedals as backup!
Have some old aluminum body dura ace pedals. They are worn like this. Granted they’ve been abused and ridden off road.
It happens more for people who miss the clip in and wiggle their foot around trying to find it
What exactly is the downside of having a little bit of float in all directions? Isn't it a good thing that your body has a bit of room to find the perfect position by himself?
Too much float (especially when it wasn't meant to be present in the first place) can be distracting and makes the pedal-cleat interface unstable, especially when you pedal hard (ex. sprinting). Pedal float should only be rotational, not back & fourth, up & down and sideways.
I started using Shimano SPD-SL pedals in, I think, 1999 with a pair of PD-R600s. I have since purchased four more sets (Dura-Ace, Ultegra and 105, alloy and carbon). 160,000 miles/260,000km later, the original R600s are retired due to bearing wear, but the other four are still in regular use on different bikes with no detectable wear of the type shown here. I do ride mostly dry road conditions, which is probably what Shimano designed them for. "A Design Flaw"? Not in my experience!
* quietly goes to check all my pedals *
After watching the last video on Shimano pedal float I change to KEO Look Blade best thing thing I ever did, no more knee pain.
Riding these SPD´s for years.. no problems at all..
Garmin Vector/Rally pedals wear in exactly the same way too, especially on the 'toe' of the cleat..
PD-R550 has a steel wear plate. The DA and Ultegra you show in the video appear to have 3 separate plates, my PD-R550 have a single steel plate across that whole area of the pedal.
The steel wear plate is supporting your foot when pressing vertically down. The issue Neil talked about arises from wear of the carbon part that hooks the front of the cleat. There is no steel wear plate there
@@peterlenz2188 do the higher end pedals have wear plates in that area?
@@christopherbaird4952No, none of the carbon bodied pedals do.
I've been reluctant to buy power meter pedals because of this issue. Are Favero Assioma pedals built to last longer than Look or Shimano pedals? Or will I be throwing out the power meters in a couple years when the shoe interface gets sloppy?
Im 100kg and have cleats at nearly midfoot yet i have never had this despite living in a very hilly area and using the cheap pedals. 4000 miles a year. Odd
I've never had a problem like that in 37 years of using Look Delta Pedals, with Fixed cleats. I've had pedal bearings go bad, but never anything like this.
Instead, my Keo cleats chipped the front lip off and I have almost crashed several times from being unintentionally unclipped
I’ve used Look deltas for a similar period of time….I always snap the spindles long before the pedal body wears out!
Never snapped a spindle.@@johns3106
I still have a PP76 on one of my bikes.
So what is the flaw exactly here?
Just dont ride worn out pedals!
Have you try speedplay pedals with wornout cleats?
I had some wear that wasn't apparent outdoors but was causing a bit of dull clunky noise in my pedal stroke while on an indoor trainer. I wonder how many people have replaced freehubs and bottom brackets when the problem was worn out pedals.
how many kms do those pedals have?
so the cheaper pedal body made of alloy has one benefit over composite body? 😅 am using vp pedal for few years, the only thing worn out is the paint. pretty much stripped off.
Guess I'll have to check my Keo pedals. I threw away a worn out set of Keo Blades because I couldn't get positive engagement. Wasn't fun at all as I couldn't get unclipped on one pedal.
Yeah, I need to replace my Look cleats anyway. I’ll check for this, thanks. :)
I have 30000 km on 9100 pedals,they are rock solid.
Like the firts day.
This funny never thought about the pedle wearing out ... went straight to garage, was able push me shoe on by hand and wriggle in every direction. I gues after 50k+ km it will do that
Is there a danger of the shoe being stuck in the pedal as a result of wear?
Found this truth out the hard way! Unclipped during the beginning of a sprint and over the bars I went...
Interesting. Besides the steel wear plates on D-A and Ultegra, is the Dura-Ace pedal body itself tougher than a cheaper one (Shimano PD RS500 or 105 or even Ultegra)?
How about just increasing the tension in the spring... ;)
They could also be causing a noise that riders can’t seem to locate
Hmm, my 15 year old SPD's don't have this issue, and i'm pretty sure they won't for another 15 years...
Right, so why do cyclists use SPD-SLs, are they so much better?
@@blahqwe some people say they like the broader platform, and the overall weight is 50-100 g lighter (says Bike Radar)….
although I watched a vid yesterday where they asked the pros in a gravel race what they ride, and it was like 50-50 SPD / road
@@PRH123 Interesting. so if manufacturers started to produce lighter SPD pedals, we might see more using them?
@@blahqwe it would interest me :)
although Shimano have several 1-sided regular MTB SPD versions for road use, including Ultegra at 280 g, which is pretty good
@@PRH123those are the PD-ES600, and I have a set on my bike. My only complaint is that the paint scratches off the pedal very easily, but that's just cosmetic
My Shimano XT 8120's haven't given me any problems .
or you could get some Exustar or other brands pedals made with CNC aluminum platforms and stay away from thermoplastic ones
highest-float pedal system. fewer watts wasted when tilting the foot
That's why I like my MTB SPDs, Shimano MTB SPDs will outlive the heat death of the universe haha
Good thing I use MTB pedals on my road bike. 🤫
The Dura Ace 7800 pedal is still arguably Shimanos best ever. The float is excellent, no longitudinal movement, no forward or back movement and while all metal still relatively lightweight. Moving to carbon seems like a rather large mistake.
I would argue that the 7810 was a big upgrade over 7800, with the wider body and the stainless steel wear plate instead of the plastic insert. I'm still happily using those on my good bike, and the newer carbon pedals are on the beater bike.
How is it with the metal versions of shimano pedals?
I had his in 1.5 Years. Switched to look keo, they last a lot longer for me but after +3 years they were due for replacement too. (Obviously they don’t read the comment thread because I highlighted the issue in the previous video too.)
This happens in Look pedals also. It’s the rotational cleats that wear the pedal inner tip material over time.
@@AJXOXO-vz1pn yes, but the front wears off much less on the look pedals in my case. But that might be different per individual.
@@ivarbrouwer197 you’re probably right that the inner pedal tip on the Look pedals wears away less than the Shimano pedals. It’s probably because the Shimano rotation cleats also have lateral float, so Shimano rotational cleats that would rub the inner tip more than Look rotation cleats. For people using fixed cleats, this wouldn’t be an issue.
@@AJXOXO-vz1pn (use fixed cleats at your own peril… it’s not good for my knee tendons)
@@ivarbrouwer197 haha! Fixed cleats aren’t good for me knees either. I used to use fixed and had an ACL surgery from basketball. Cycling was supposed to help, but I need the float.
okay new thing to check now. how about SPDs ? do they develop the same problems?
If they do, you can replace the pedal body, and keep the rest of the pedal working right.
Lol my alu ultegras pedals are 16 years old, and I don’t have this problem. Probably because shimano didn’t make composhite components back then. I will never upgrade my pedals, they will outlast my riding years.
FASLE: This is total BS. I don´t know what your mate did to those pedals. Never seen that kind of ridiculous play before. Mine are 7-year-old, with 12,000k yearly. And still work fine.
Hmm very interesting. I'm a bit shocked by the 2-3 years :D. I've been riding Garmin Vectors for about 10 years - with the first pedal body. Now only on the turbo trainer, but I'm curious to see what the test tonight will show. My other pedals are probably also about 5 years old. Look Keo system, once Look Keo Carbon Blade and Look Keo 2 Max or its predecessor. However, I ride almost exclusively in dry conditions and weigh relatively little (64 kg). But when I think about it, I think there's a lot of play in the system. Hmmmm.
My results here: Garmin Vector 1 & 2 after about 10 years: absolutely perfect, no play at all. Look Keo (2) Max after around 5 years: very, very slight play at most, but basically also completely problem-free. Look Keo Carbon Blade: extremely large play in all directions. Shocking. The carbon blade no longer holds the first 1-1.5 mm, the mechanism is completely loose. This allows the shoe to slide at least 1-2 or more mm forward and sideways. Worse: it can tilt extremely. Wow. I wasn't expecting that. In my case, however, the play is not at the front of the cleat, but comes from the back of the Keo Blade because the spring mechanism is completely loose in the last area. Nasty, I'll have to get to work on that. Unfortunately, Look didn't just designed 2 Tx10 for loosening, but Tx10 and Tx8. Of course, I don't have Tx8 in my toolbox. Maybe it still works with the 16 nm blades or I need a replacement kit or new pedals. Surprising. Incidentally, the blades are on my TT competition bike, which I also use a lot for training. Wow.
I am seeing this after just buying a set of the 540s 😢.
Don't worry, yours are alloy and don't really suffer from this wear issue.
@@lekobiashvili945Nice❤
Do shimano aluminum pedals wear like this as well?
yes they do, after about 200 years you'll need to replace them.
alum plates I think doesnt wear that fast compare to carbon body
Flat pedals and thongs for the win.
But a flat pedal doesn't prevent your foot from rotating like is mentioned. I ride flats on my gravel bike but now I'm wondering how consistent my foot placement really is compared to how consistent it would be with something like an SPD mountain pedal...
Speedplays do this after about 6 months of use
Beware? Needing to be told to be wary of pedals that wear down over three years is like needing to be told to be wary of your tires or brake pads wearing down. It is completely to be expected, so check regularly and replace as required - like everything on the bloody bike. I suppose some people need to be told everything…
If your car was light enough and you took advantage of air resistance and downshifts when braking, then your brakes might last 20 years. depends on how chonky your vehicle is
Very true. But you’d still be sensible to check them frequently. That’s my point, they’re releasing videos with click-bait titles on a part that is reasonable to be considered perishable and warrants regular inspection and replacement if needed. A shame such smart guys need to provoke alarm over the mundane.
cool, it became a speedplay pedal
Off Topic: what size screen is that laptop?
The title of this video is pretty egregious clickbait. This is just normal wear. I don’t buy pedals expecting them to last forever. If I get 2 years out of them, I got my moneys worth and they go in the spares drawer to hold me over in a pinch should I have an issue in the future.
Any pedal that uses similar cleat system will wear out sooner or later. Calling out Shimano for this footage is just too convenient.
BS never happened to me after years of riding
First? First! Also really fascinating issue. A good PSA
Wear and tear happens to all pedal systems, not just Shimano. I general loved most of your videos, Cam. But this one is very unfair to Shimano. I do understand that you’re sponsored by SRAM, but this is a cheap shot at their rival. Just a side note, I have SRAM drivetrains on all of my bikes (road and MTB).
I've never ever seen anyone use Time Xpresso pedals - even at pro level, it's Shimano, Look or Speedplay, never Time