So, I managed to get hold of the he Wahoo ELEMNT bolt. This second version adds a new colour screen, new buttons and some new bugs and issues.
So, while most of the bloggers are going on about the new screens, convex buttons and on device routing, I find some of the bugs quite problematic. Especially the elevation issue. It just reads far too high, and no way of calibrating it.
Apart from this, I’m enjoying the new unit. In order to mount this, I also got hold of an Excellent mount, the Form Mount. Installation was a tad painful, but it’s an excellent mount with a lot of customisation.
I’ve also ditched my look keo blade pedals. They required a service as they where starting to sound rough as hell. Could I find away of stripping them down? Nope. There are videos on YouTube on how to service them, and yet my pedals didn’t match anything at all. No bolts, no flats, nothing. So, back on my trusty shimano R550. At least they can be fully stripped, cleaned and greased without any drama.
And oddly comfortable.
Any way, I’m off to play with the wahoo data fields.
So, I’ve had a little upgrade from my Shimano R550 pedals, I’ve gone and installed a pair of Look Blades.
So, initial thoughts on them, is that they are easier to engage into than the Shimano, and oddly more comfortable. But unclipping is another matter. It’s not difficult to unclip, it’s just the range of motion is greater to actually unclip and it seems to throw the foot off, almost in disgust that your unclipping. Any hesitation, or having the cleat near seems to suck the cleat back into the mechanism.
With the Shimano, a kick to the side, and your foot was just on the pedal, ready to put down, but still be able drive forward if needed. Handy for those traffic slow down moments. The blades, a throw from the ankle sees your foot thrown, a more gentle twist, unclip then reclips the cleat.
But in truth, they are a great pedal, and it’ll be time before I’m used to their quirks, but they are on my bike to stay. I might however, fit the tighter blade, as the 12Nm that comes fitted as standard just doesn’t feel tight enough.
I’ve now been riding them for a few months, and occasionally get more clip in fails than I did with the shimano pedals. Wether this is down to lack of skill on my part or the pedal is however up for debate.
Respect your pedals. They suffer a lot of abuse but just keep on going..
My pedal maintenance is simple. Every few rides, I lube the contact points with a dry lube, this avoids the annoying pedal squeak when the cleat rubs. Drop a drip into the spring mechanism while your here.
Every once in a while, I’ll crack open the axle, clean it off and fill the chamber with fresh grease. Reinsert the axle and snug it down driving the grease up through the bearings.
I’d used the muc off biogrease for this first time, and the pedals went slack really quick. Did them about 500 miles ago, this time using Park Tools grease. Spinning the pedals today, they are smooth, with a little resistance from the grease. Perfect.
Needless to say, that tube of biogrease has been binned never to be seen again.
I’d bought a new set of wheels, that come with cup and cone bearings, and what excuse do I need for another tube of grease to try. My existing greases would of worked fine, but wanted something that was quite thin, and tacky. The crystal grease is a little too thick, the park tools grease has a tendency to stain light coloured areas. The exus blue would of been my choice, however I’ve sorta stopped using it in favour of the crystal. So I’d ordered a tube of Rock ‘n’ Roll Super Web. The stuff Is amazing in bearings. It’s quite a thin grease but hellishly sticky and coats everything. It’s ideal in the hubs and loose bearings. Being a nice bright white colour, it’s easy too see where it’s applied too.
I’ve also had to replace the rear brake caliper. I’d disconnected the cable to space the pads a little further out, and when I removed the cable, the right hand arm had a massive amount of play. So I’ve ordered a new R8000 ultegra to replace it. I’ll also redo the front caliper later in the month.
Tired of these shitty pedals that came with my single speed, so a quick trip over to Wiggle, and I purchased a set of DMR V12’s.
I don’t need anything special, but for the money, the DMR pedals are ideal. Large platform, grippy and long lasting. That’s all I need, and no doubt the pedals will likely outlast this bike. We shall see what they are like when I take the bike off for a trip to town on Wednesd
We all need them, we all have to have them. I started out on the flats, and still use them on my single speed bike. But my road bike needs a little something more. Initially, I went to the mountain bike style, loving the just stomp on pedal and clipped in. But, they started to give me some hotspot pain in the feet where the cleat was causing pressure.
I went full into speed play from SPD, I dabbled with SPD-L for a time, but never really got on with the one side clip in. I could never catch the pedal on the crank stroke, leading to some hairy moments with my foot slipping off. Speed plays solved that for me, with the design of just stepping on the pedal and rotating the crank and boom, clipped in. However, the extreme cost of the speed play, and extreme maintenance needs are a drawback for these pedals. Just shy of £50 for a set of cleats, but admittedly, they are long lasting cleats. Maintenance wise, the cleats need constant cleaning to work correctly, there is no mud exits, and dry lube needs applying on a regular basis both cleat and pedal body.
The pedals need a regular grease injection, which is both messy, fiddly and time consuming. You’d remove the tiny grease port screw, insert a grease gun, (a hideously overpriced gun is off course available from Speedplay) squeeze that in under pressure until fresh grease leaks out of the pedal spindle. My affair with speedplay came fully to an end when they discontinued the “standard” cleat, and only sold the “aero” walkable cleat. I hated that design, and never got on with it. Who needs a walkable cleat? The stupid rubber cover always used to come off, there must be a few of my cleat covers littering the edges of various roads.
So, onto my current pedal, the venerable SPD-SL. the design has been around for so long, pioneered by Look, (whose pedals I’ll never try again).
Mounted them up, and fitted the cleats to the soles of my shoes, and cue much experimenting with positions found a comfortable place on the sole for the cleat. Aligning them was easier than the speed plays, as speedplay is easily the most adjustable pedal for positioning. Basically to get the cleats in a comfortable position, when you don’t have a starting reference, put them in a neutral position, the cleat nose pointing directly forward. Move them around from there until you feel your feet are in a natural position when clipped in. Then ride and make small adjustments based on feel. Once you get that position for both feet right you’ve nailed it. Takes a little time but is easily mastered.
Initially, I again had issues clipping in, but practice makes perfect. I still occasionally have issues, especially on hill starts, but muscle memory is setting in and most times click right in with that satisfying clunk. And the just work, with a larger pedal area, there are no pressures on the feet. Just comfy. Any muck that gets onto the cleat is pushed out when clipping in and short of a quick clean when the bike is being cleaned no extra maintenance is required. Each to their own however, some people swear by speedplays for their massive amount of customisations, some like mountain pedals for ease of walking from the bike shed to work, others just use whatever. Whatever works for the individual I guess.
For a long time I’ve been an avid speed play user,but my love affair with then has slowly wained. There are a few reasons for this.
First off, maintenance. Speed play pedals are quite maintenance heavy in keeping the cleats clean and lubricated, to lubricate the pedal bodies with grease. This isn’t a major issue, but one that started to bug me as I started to lose interest. Interestingly, the maintenance issue showed the wear on the pedal bodies with grease leaking out from wear points.
I also found myself having to constantly clean out the cleats, as they would very easily clog up.
Now we move on to one of the biggest issues, cost. A pair of speed play cleats is just shy of £50, for the walk able cleats. That’s a lot of cash. While the cleats do last a long time, it’s still a outlay I have to cut back on. With the Yellow Shimano cleats costing around £12, less if you shop about its a cost winner.
So, out came the pedal wrench, and off come the speed plays. I had a pair of unused R550’s kicking around in the parts bin so put them on. I had previously tried a pair of look keo’s and absolutely hated them, they where, in part, my reason to move into speedplay so my thoughts on going back to SL pedals where grim.
However, the first ride with the R550’s where an absolute revelation. They where comfortable, I was clipping in reasonably easily. In fact, I’d say I was finding them more comfortable than the speedplay. Maybe due to the wider platform, which to me was immediately noticeable. I’d used an older pair of shoes with out any inserts or special foot-beds, and I’d not thought about my feet for a short 10 mile ride. Clipping in was easier, maybe as I had got used to the action of finding the pedal on the opposite down stroke, or the fact the pedal is larger than the Look Keo. Unclipping took more force than the speedplay, possibly due to newer mechanisms. I had put on the cleats, on a reasonably neutral position, and it was comfortable without any tweaks, I felt like I wanted to slightly rotate the cleat, but the position was fine as was. This was in stark contrast to the Look Keo cleats, which made my knees ache. Perhaps it was due to having more knowledge of cleat position than when I had the Keos, but that has always stuck in my mind and has forever ruled out the Keos again.
So, apart from hill starts which I still find quite difficult, I actually enjoyed using the new pedals, and in all honesty will strongly consider them to replace the speedplay.
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