Speedplay Zero Road Bike Pedals Review
One of the latest innovations in the world of cycling is Speedplay’s pioneering clipless pedal design. Originally launched to a confused cycling community, these pedals are now one of the most established and revered pedals today.
Speedplay’s Zero pedals are pioneering, they feature an incredibly low weight, low stack height, offer high cornering clearance and an adjustment of both float and release angle. While their most renowned feature is their double-sided design that are easy to put on.
One of the most startling differences of the Zero pedals design, compared to other clipless pedal designs, is the retention mechanism in the cleat rather than the pedal. This unique design enables Speedplay to effectively create a double-sided system, which possesses an extremely low stack height of 11.5mm that is also extremely low in weight.
The compact designed shape of the pedals ensures a lot of ground coverage, while the low weight and stack height of these pedals offer riders a number of benefits. In particular the low stack height places a rider’s centre of gravity considerably lower to the ground, enabling riders to enjoy more confident cornering as well fast acceleration out of corners. Similarly, a riders shoe is effectively sustained by the 70x74mm cleat, which enables excellent power transfer with very few hot spots.
Another notable advantage offered by the Speedplay Zero pedals is the adjustable release position from 0 to 15 degrees. While the accessible grease port on the body of the pedal guarantees easy maintenance of the 2 precision designed cartridge bearings, with a single needle assembly per pedal, created due to the pedals double-sided design.
The greatest advantage of the Speedplay Zero pedals is the easy entry. Riders simply have to locate the cleat and stamp their foot down, this simple design doesn’t require riders to flip the nose or obtain a cleat tab into the engagement point. The ease of use of these pedals is why they are a perfect choice for beginners or commuting cyclists.
However, despite offering riders a multitude of benefits they do also offer a few disadvantages. In particular, the cleat’s retention spring has been known to break, which can of course affect your ride. Also, the large aluminium design of the cleats can make them difficult to walk in, although Speedplay do offer cleat covers, which our testers commented made them far easier to walk in.
There is no doubt that Speedplay Zero’s pedal, despite these faults and being slightly expensive compared to other clipless pedals, possesses a careful design. This careful and pioneering design offers riders some fantastic benefits, making the Speedplay Zero’s one of the best clipless pedals available today.
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