It’s been roughly 18 months since Wahoo announced the acquisition of Speedplay. Since then the company reduced some 50 different SKUs down to 4 core models, moved factory locations, shut down factories, moved factory locations again, and started building a Speedplay power meter. More astoundingly though, no vowels were harmed during the process. Well, at least until they announced their upcoming power meter pedals, which sacrificed one vowel to the Wahoo phonetic gods.
And thus the final resultant is five products, four of which we get details on today, while the power meter (the 5th product) we only get some limited details. The complete launching of that is slated for summer, assuming things go well. In fact, if you want a quick dive into all the power meter analysis based on what we know so far, hit the play button below:
So let’s dive into the two announcements. First, the non-tech pedal bits, followed by a deep dive into the power meter side.
The Pedal Lineup (non-power):
I’m not going to focus much on the non-power meter bits too much here. Largely, because I don’t care about them. There are others that can talk for days about pedals without electronics in them. But that’s not my jam. Whereas for power meters…you better get yourself a cup of coffee or two.
Still, I’m going to very briefly cover the main news here.
Essentially, Wahoo has distilled the Speedplay lineup down to four main pedals:
– Nano (Titanium): 168g per set & $449USD
– Zero (Stainless Steel): 222g per set $229USD
– Comp (Chromoly): 232g per set & $149
– Aero (Stainless Steel): 224g per set & $279
When it comes to the pedals themselves, there’s been some changes to match the Wahoo industrial design styling, such as the look of the spindle. But also changes to a few minor internal bits. They noted that you should no longer have to grease your pedals, because the new Speedplay pedals actually have a properly designed custom seal (o-ring) in them, versus what was basically an off-the-shelf one that didn’t fit perfectly previously. The new pedals are fully compatible with the old cleats, and vice versa. However, inversely, you won’t be able to install these with a pedal wrench anymore, but instead will need to use an Allen wrench (as with many pedal types).
Now I’ll take prettier pictures of the Speedplay Zero pedals once mine get untangled in shipping. They’re somewhere, but somewhere is not currently in my hands. Such is life. However, here’s the Wahoo gallery of images, for those that want to poke around:
And because I love charts, here’s a simple chart from Wahoo that shows all these options:
Now, out of curiosity I looked up pricing for the Speedplay Zero online here in Europe, and previously, the original Speedplay zero is *currently* selling for 149EUR across the board from most shops here. Versus now Wahoo is saying it’ll be 229EUR. I asked Wahoo about this, and they said that the list pricing should remain the same, however, the previous pricing that I’m seeing is basically the discounted pricing by bike shops. Here in Europe, that’s often quite substantial.
Now while European law doesn’t allow companies like Wahoo to set prices for retailers directly (in fact, there are huge fines for doing so), they can do so indirectly by only providing inventory through their specific dealer network. In other words, from my discussions with Wahoo, fully expect those discounts to evaporate, because if there’s anything we know about Wahoo – it’s that they’re sticklers on discounting.
Next, as noted by Wahoo in the chart above, Speedplay production has been moved to Wahoo’s manufacturing facilities in Vietnam. Previously Speedplay was based (and made) in San Diego. Then Wahoo moved production to Raleigh for a while, before now moving it to Vietnam.
Finally, I’ll leave you with a quote from Wahoo CEO Chip Hawkins when Wahoo announced the acquisition of Speedplay, saying: “We can do cross pedals, and mountain pedals… and there’s lots of opportunity. I’m just excited, I love the mechanical gadgetry stuff!” – in my chat with them yesterday, it sounds like that quote is still very valid.
POWRLINK ZERO:
Now, most of you here are interested in power meter details. And, that’s where things get a bit thin a bit quick. But fear not, if there’s anything I’m good at, it’s coloring outside the lines without breaking the lines.
First up, officially, Wahoo isn’t releasing much here. They’re basically giving us the official name, the rough season, and the fact that they’ll be dual-sensing pedals. Also, we get the weight of the pedals. All of that is consolidated quite easily as follows:
Pedal body: Based on Speedplay Zero
Pedal spindle: Remains stainless steal
Weight of power meter: 276g total (138g per pedal)
Architecture: Dual-sensing pedal set (both left & right sides have power meters)
Shipping: Summer 2021
Price: To be announced
And officially, the above single silhouette image is the only thing that Wahoo has released as part of today’s announcements, in terms of the power meter specifically.
Unrelated to that, officially, I monthly pay for Adobe Lightroom. Which officially, makes the following exposé quite easy:
You’re welcome.
Of course, we could first see that a pod was there, but now it’s far more obvious. Pods are hardly new to the power meter game. After all, the Favero Assioma (and Favero BePro pedals before that) had pods. As did Garmin Vector 1 & Vector 2. And the Look/Keo System, and others that never quite made the light of day. So in effect, it’s these two stuck together:
The reason Wahoo is likely going with a pod is that the key ‘selling’ feature of a Speedplay pedal is the reduced stack height, which in turn means that the reduced space in the spindle and pedal for electronics. It’s tiny in comparison to a Vector 3, Favero, or SRM pedal. That said, Garmin said years ago they believed they could stick it in a Speedplay pedal spindle/body. Whether or not that’s the same today after years of learnings – who knows.
Undoubtedly a pod-based design leans heavily towards being a rechargeable design versus a coin cell one. And that’s probably a wise move. While that’s historically meant less battery life for the likes of Favero compared to Garmin with coin cell, at least they wouldn’t have to deal with coin cell hell as seen on Vector 3.
In terms of aspects like ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart, I’d expect it’d follow the same specs as their recent TICKR heart rate straps. Which is to say it’ll offer unlimited ANT+ connections, while also doing dual-Bluetooth Smart connections. That’s been the norm for them on trainers for a couple of years now, so I wouldn’t think it would be any different. However, it’ll be interesting to see how they handle/tackle the dual-sensing pedal challenge on Bluetooth Smart. Some companies like Favero & SRM offer ‘single-channeling’ the Bluetooth broadcast, so that apps like Zwift don’t get all confused. Whereas Garmin does some Bluetooth Black Magic that just makes it work somehow without user intervention. The choices they make here have implications for other watches and apps. For example, Polar watches don’t work (still) with PowerTap pedals.
Before we get into some of the technical Q&A analysis, it’s worthwhile pointing out that I asked Wahoo whether or not any pro riders or pro teams were currently using the Speedplay POWRLINK Zero (the power meter). They said no, not yet. It sounds like that’s relatively near-term, but it’s not there yet. I do suspect there are probably a few either lower level or off-season pros that might be helping Wahoo test it (people that are out of the public eye), plus of course Wahoo’s much more expansive beta testing group of employees of others outside the company.
However, there are a multitude of questions that are left on the table, along with some of my analysis on these questions:
A) What’s the real-world accuracy like?
I’m not talking about claimed spec here (e.g. +/- 2%), I’m talking about Day 1 accuracy. This is unquestionably the elephant in the room. Power meters are hard, and pedal power meters are incredibly hard. For most companies in this segment trying to make a V1 pedal based power meter, their development phase is 2-3 years long. No doubt Wahoo has engineering talent in power meter related technology and systems. So this isn’t totally brand new space, but it’s still significant new ground to cover. Wahoo’s current power sensing related products don’t physically move anywhere. They don’t have to deal with wonky forces, moving grounds, and rain/heat/humidity/etc. I can’t stress enough how long this road is for most companies.
B) What’s the price?
I’d say smart money is they match Garmin Vector 3 in pricing – so roughly $999USD. They could try and undershoot that a bit, but honestly, there’s little reason to. Sure, Favero is down at $719, but there’s also zero business reason for them to be there. They make a solid product that could at this point compete with Garmin’s product at or just slightly below price. Wahoo meanwhile, is a so-called ‘premium brand’, and thus, there’s no reason to undersell itself to gain market share. Assuming of course its accurate.
C) What’s the battery life?
The Favero Assioma pedals, also with pods & rechargeable batteries, have a claimed battery life of 50 hours. Vector 3, sans-pods with coin cell battery have a claimed battery life of 120-150 hours, and SRM’s X-Power units have a 30-40 hour battery life (rechargeable). Since we know they’re going with pods, and likely with recharging tech, I’m going to guess in that 50 hour range, maybe a touch higher. Favero’s units are based on pretty old battery and component tech at this point. Not in a bad way, just a ‘time moves on’ kind of way. Just like with SRM’s recent internal battery updates for their pedals, they’re looking at basically doubling the battery life as a result of minor internal components. So again, my bet for Wahoo is 50-75 hours once the product is stabilized (most companies focus on battery life optimizations last).
D) Will there be any form of Cycling Dynamics?
Both Garmin & Favero have Cycling Dynamics. Garmin has a few more metrics in it, but both are based on the same ANT+ Cycling Dynamics device profile. At present, Wahoo doesn’t support that. However, Wahoo did have a partnership with Pioneer a few years back before Shimano bought Pioneer, and that partnership did include Pioneer’s variant of advanced pedaling metrics. In many ways, the metrics were very similar to Cycling Dynamics.
I could see this being a toss-up. While I suspect long-term Wahoo will undoubtedly adopt the Cycling Dynamics standard, short term I’m less sure. Back in the early days of Wahoo, they often led the charge on adopting industry standards for protocols – in fact, even leading those efforts on both ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart. However in the last 3-4 years, they’ve mostly dragged their feet. Whether it was Bluetooth FTMS (*FINALLY* just added to the KICKR last month, after years of being in the market), or Running Dynamics (also implemented in the TICKR 2020 years after promising it), or even support for ANT+ radar years later.
Of course, I’d argue that Cycling Dynamics is still more marketing than useful to the average person, but in the competitive pedal-based power meter space, Wahoo may prioritize that sooner rather than later. Keeping in mind though, Wahoo wouldn’t likely roll this out till they properly rolled out Cycling Dynamics standard support for their ELEMNT/BOLT/ROAM/RIVAL units though.
E) Other random technical nuances:
There’s still a slate of things to consider. Will they support auto-zero (or, turning it off), will it support manual calibration with a static weight test, will it properly send out a low battery warning, does it have active or passive temperature compensation, and so on. Most of these only matter when a company screws up something else. For example – I don’t really care if you have active or passive temp compensation, as long as it’s compensating properly.
In the same way that I don’t really care about turning off auto-zero as long as the auto-zero doesn’t screw up. The low-battery warning is an important one, but most companies do it properly now.
F) Will Wahoo license Speedplay to other power meter companies?
For readers playing the long game at home, back when Wahoo first announced the Speedplay acquisition, I asked whether or not Wahoo would be open to licensing Speedplay to 3rd party companies, namely power meter companies, if they wanted to utilize their pedal design (prior to the acquisition, Speedplay as a company under the previous owners was considered lawsuit trigger happy).
Back then, Wahoo’s founder and CEO said: “We have a ton of patents that cover every aspect of that pedal and that fashion. But I think we’ll be more open with others, and we won’t be considered litigious…we won’t be hard to work with.” He went on to say that he wouldn’t be opposed to working with other companies, in the same way Wahoo today works with numerous other partners on a variety of projects.
So last I asked again, fast-forwarding 18 months and now announcing their own power meter on Speedplay, did that quote still hold water. And sure enough, it still does. He replied, “I wouldn’t say I would turn it down”, but noted that the complexities are much tougher because the spindles are so much higher. But ultimately noted that “I would entertain it, if someone came to us” with a request. Obviously, the business and technical realities may not combine to make that work, but I found it notable it’s still an option on the table.
Looking forward:
One of the largely unmentioned quirks of COVID-19 on professional cycling is that there’s virtually no meaningful gear spy-shots type coverage of new devices. At present, there are boatloads of unannounced pre-release products in the pro peloton that nobody is getting coverage of, because nobody can get coverage of it. Sure, there’s TV shots as racers fly along at 50KPH, but that’s not when you get interesting coverage.
That coverage comes from having media folks pre-race closely inspecting bikes on bike racks outside team buses, or chatting it up with mechanics on the rest day. None of that exists today. For the most part, the pre-race zones at any major race is sealed and besides – most reporters can’t travel to the race anyways.
My point here is that while Wahoo has stated no pros are currently riding the system (and I mostly believe them), I think that 2021 will be a strong power meter announcement year for consumers. Virtually every brand is past or at their typical refresh cycle, from Favero to Garmin to Shimano to SRAM/PowerTap, and more. I’m gonna be spending a lot of time on my saddle with lots of head units on my handlebars.
Undoubtedly, if you’re only looking at Speedplay power meter pedals, then frankly, Wahoo will be your only option. They haven’t licensed anything yet to other players, so, the only company building a Speedplay pedal-based power meter will be Wahoo. Nonetheless, more competition is good – not just for pricing, but also for helping to mature the market even more in terms of product stability and features.
With that – thanks for reading!
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I’m number 1
I’m in. Been using Speedplay Zeros for years and have been waiting for a PM version!
It’s about time we had a next gen of power meters. I think we’re all confident Garmin has something waiting for when they need it, just need them to announce because at this stage I have to believe it’s harming Vector 3 sales while people wait. I’m actually amazed Garmin have not made a rechargeable battery door – they’ve had enough tries at the coin cell doors. I have to say that’s all I’d want in a Vector 4 is internal rechargeable battery to make them more stable.
Any indication of longer spindle lengths from Wahoo? Would be essential for me and my US size 15 duck feet.
Yes, at the bottom of the chart above in itty-bitty tiny text, it says additional spindle lengths are available from Wahoo/dealers.
Missed that! Need better glasses. Hoping for a good market in no-name Chinese made titanium spindles like the pre-Wahoo pedals.
Per the chart only the Zero model has different spindle length available. Undoubtedly Wahoo working to streamline the product line here.
so does that mean if you want longer spindle length you have to shell out for the ones you dont want, then throw it away and shell out for another one, and then fit it yourself – really!
It used to be you could order your pedals with what length you wanted. I have. Not sure about now under Wahoo. However, want to change after you own a pair than yea pay heavy and have spindles left laying around
What is the pricing on the longer spindles, and are they compatible with the power meter version? (And does the power meter version have the same Q factor as standard?)
What do you think of the adjustable float?
Once DHL untangles my delivery…I’ll let ya know!
@DC Rainmaker, one quick fix to your excellent article, the pedal spindles are probably made of steel and not steal 😉
Well… that would entirely depend on how shady their supply chain is, wouldn’t it? 😉
Idk at some $500 for the titanium model he might have the wording right 😆
I think the reason for Favero pricing is the fact that they want to be competitive against non-pedal based power meters out there (especially Power2max/Powerbox, Quarq). They’re and I think it bumps their sales a lot.
Definitely helps their sales. But from a business standpoint, the last major price cut they did two years ago was largely unnecessary. At the time they were already well below the prices of others, and then they went lower.
From a consumer standpoint, that’s awesome. But from a business standpoint, if you could have taken those extra margins (roughly an extra $100 or so dollars a unit) and put them towards developing further products, increasing production, adding more engineers, and so on – that wouldn’t have likely sold any meaningfully less number of units, but would have likely expanded reach.
Mind you – I think Favero’s are great. They float around on my bikes as test platforms all the times, but I still maintain the pricing shift was an unnecessary business mistake.
Market share move. Enough to move me off glitchy Vector3 to two sets of Duo. Battery life is only slightly less with Favero because even with a single cell in Vector3 once battery was under 50% dropouts were inevitable.
Not missing the Garmin V3 units. Only bad Garmin product I have owned as a 20 year customer.
The drop of $100 on the Favero’s got it down to the point of a no brainer BUY for me. Probably several sales in the last couple of years that fell into that category. I don’t know if those folks like me are meaningful or not, but I’d like to think so. 😉
Hi Ray,
I wonder if it’s possible to make a power pedal with a replaceable casing. So you would basically have a pod and a spindle hosting all the electronics and power and you would be able to install any pedal body (SPD, SPD-SL/Keo, Speedplay). Considering the Favero hack it is possible, at least between SPD and SPD-SL/Keo.
Pavel, this is a timely question! Ray’s note on being busy testing is noteworthy;)
Generally speaking spindles can be separated from most pedal power meters. For example, the Favero as noted, as well as the SRM X-Power SPD pedals, and Garmin Vector series (including Vector 3). It’s just that today, none of those have offered body swap kits to another type.
However, if you go far enough back, Garmin actually offered a Vector 2 Shimano SPD-SL swap type kit for Shimano Ultegra pedals: link to buy.garmin.com
Ray, any idea why the pedals are not available in Canada?
I think it’s just pricing wasn’t finalized yet.
It’s weird because everything they sell on wahoofitness.com is in USD for Canadians including the pedals but when I go to checkout I get – “We’re sorry, we cannot ship Pedals or their accessories to Canada at this time.”
Will the old cleats fit the new pedal vice versa
Apparently the new pedals and cleats are backwards compatible with the old zero pedals and cleats.
I know a guy who works in the marketing department at Wahoo and he mentioned the Speedplay Power Meter pedals were being tested about a month ago by only a couple of pro tour riders, they had them at the UAE tour and Paris – Nice. I asked him how much they were going to cost and he reckoned a shade over $1050.
Is it just me or is anyone else missing product announcements ending with “should be available in a nearby shop starting today”? Of course, Ray is totally not to blame here but if Wahoo intents to launch a pedal based power meter my personal preference would be for them to do so once the product is in fact available or at least about to start shipping soonish.
Additionally, I find it hard to justify a potential 999 USD price tag when I can get a SRAM powermeter spider for less than 500€ (which I of course can’t swap that easily between bikes).
The Speedplay power meter pedals aren’t announced, this was just a tease. Wahoo released no details, just a murky photo and a release bracket. Everything else is speculation.
As for the price, well a dual power meter costs about twice as much as a single power meter, not really a shocker. A spider would indeed measure total power as well but requires less hardware.
I’m reluctant to think the price would follow garmin’s vector series. The only reason being that “normal” highend speedplays are already waaay above normal pedal prices. (and a garmin vector pedal is by no means a super high quality pedal, more like a standard ultegra level) – Speedplay caters to a specific type of cyclist and even though they do have “cheaper” versions. Cheap has never been part of their mantra, and people have willingly paid that price. Even though Wahoo knows a thing or 2 about pricing, i do believe those powerlinks will be more like SRM level pricing. (so more like a 1K EUR pricetag)
Oh and great lightroom job! 🙂 Now that adobe can use AI to remove clouds on the sky in pictures – we want a filter that can add data back in 🙂
It’s called Adobe Super Resolution.
The only scenario where I would conside these vs more affordable options is in case they release a Zero Aero with Powermeter. Aero features is the main reason why most “top atheltes” (definitely triathletes) choose Speedplay.
Sorry for the typos… I definitely need another cup of coffee!
The Lightroom editing is truly brilliant stuff. I LOL’ed.
******
Sorry to be annoying internet corrector guy today…but the the comparison chart isn’t a chart – it’s a table.
My lifelong cross to bear.
No jww, the “annoying internet corrector guy” is OUR lifelong cross to bear. 😉
At first sight I said “huh, they did license and/or are having Favero manufacture the spindle for them”, but then, I’m not sure what Favero would get out of it (other than increased sales and sharing the burden of their own R&D, which then they might be locked out of using for a period of time).
Hi Ihsan,
We confirm that we haven’t licensed our technology to Wahoo, even though it looks like ours from the picture.
Favero Electronics Team
Wonderful!
Thanks
Any comment on the supposed leaked images of an SPD SL spindle posted on Cycling Tips. I can’t see it mentioned anywhere else but it would delay me buying another brand if I thought ye were releasing a an SPDSL pedal spindle. Thanks.
Will these install with a standard pedal wrench?
Nope. 8mm Allen key (wrench)
I can’t picture how this works. You screw the spindle in to the crank, then to tighten it … use the 8mm key from the back (frame side) of the crank?
Thanks for any thoughts, @Chris.
That’s how it works with my Faveros. Finger-tighten the pedal to the crank, then use an allen key from the backside of the crank to fully tighten it. When it comes to removing them I usually need a bit of pipe to extend the allen key length and get a bit more leverage. And still inevitably end up smashing my knuckles on the chain ring 🙁
So note that this does make it significantly more of a pain to change pedals from bike to bike, if that’s something you’re planning on doing regularly. Fine as a one-off, but not something you’d want to be doing daily.
Yup. Same as PowerTap Pedals
If you position your cranks correctly, you can put your foot on the pedal and hold the allen key with one hand and use your weight to free up the pedal. Hard to explain in words! But it gives you way more leverage and keeps your knuckles away from the chainrings (also works with a pedal wrench).
Also, make sure your chain is in the big chain ring before attempting. I’ve learned that painful lesson!
You don’t really need your pedals that tight…
Grease the threads before installing the pedals
Looks like the new pedal body design will lead to less wear there and eliminate the chance for the shoe to rock side to side.
Guess I should sell my Vector 3’s!! I have been waiting so long for a Speedplay PM!!
Excited about the power meter, but not optimistic these gen 1 variants won’t have issues and worry about being an early adaptor. I’ll likely wait and see how everything flushes out and stick with my stages L crank PM for now.
I assume the “old” speedplay cleats will work with these “new” pedals? Also, any news on different colors?
That’s good that you don’t need to grease them every few months, but unfortunate they are not made in San Diego anymore, yet Wahoo wants to charge more? Disappointing
No kidding. More money for made in Vietnam instead of San Diego. I’d like to see my power profile go up the way Wahoo profit margins are.
The least Wahoo could do is clean up the Speedplay.com website.
and the instructions🤣 i cant believe how many pieces of paper there are in there, and IMPORTANT WARNINGS about IMPORTANT WARNINGS
To be fair, it’s kinda like a museum. 🙂
It *is a museum…
link to speedplay.com
I owned a few things in the Speedplay’s Vintage Bicycle Component Collection photos.
…now get off my lawn!!!
Is this release where Wahoo wants to be with Speedplay? No more Frog MTB, no more SYZR MTB/gravel, no more PAVE, and no more colors?
They noted they see huge potential for the off-road options…check out the quote in the post. 😉
“I do suspect there are probably a few either lower level or off-season pros that might be helping Wahoo test it (people that are out of the public eye), plus of course Wahoo’s much more expansive beta testing group of employees of others outside the company.”
Didn’t Phil Gaimon leak a photo of these a week or so ago?
He showed a boxed Zero (non-power).
In his video, GP Lama has a fuzzed out PM box…
is it known/suspected if Favero is releasing a new version of assioma soon? I’m in the market for uno/duo and I’m not sure if I should wait.
Rumour mill and a pic on their website indicates they are developing a spindle only option that you can put into 105/Ultegra SPD-SL pedals
I gave up on the idea of a Speedplay Zero PM pedal set a long time ago and got a Quark DZero crankset. Happy as a clam – very reliable and very long battery life on the coin cell.
Hi Ray, do you know if they will continue to support and make cleats for the X series and the Light Action pedals?
Yeah this is a major bummer. Lots of people out there with X series pedals with no availability of cleats. People are selling X series cleats on Ebay for $100 a set!
So the production was moved from the US to Vietnam and they increased pricing. Makes sense and well done Wahoo!
When you do your full review please find out if the powermeter version will have the ability to have a longer spindle! That is key for me
Yup, once a full power meter review down the line I’ll definitely cover any SKU variants.
Nice post…you’ve tempted me to venture to watch your Youtube on it as well. I don’t normally go there.
One question i have is, how popular are speedplay in the wider market? I’ve never seen any stats. I’ve seen some, used one set but they are relatively rare from my experiences. My first thought would be to whether Wahoo plans to upsell the existing speedplay base with the PM and/or existing wahoo devotees or…well, I reckon that’s it. Those are the markets.
Then you didn’t touch on aspects of wider cleat usage. Of late I’ve resorted back to shimano r9100p just so I can use Shimano cleats (and to match my new dura ace pedals 😉 ). I managed to convince a few mates to go for the Assioma a while back but, like me, we all prefer shimano cleats despite being very happy with every other aspect of the awesome assiomas. I think we can safely bet that there will be more Shimano cleat PM options hitting the market this year but surely that speaks of market demand…whereas wahoo is moving in a different direction with proprietary cleats.
I have no idea of Speedplay’s market share. I have used Cleats & Straps/Look/Time/Speedplay/Time/XPD/ and now P1 pedals….Speedplay are far and away the easiest to clip in and most comfortable to ride. I even bought Speedplay specific shoes. I use the P1s now but have seriously considered going back to Speedplay as my H3 is much more reliable than the Snap (I only ride virtually…or 98% of the time).
For a time there was hope for a PM in the Speedplay cleat (Brim Bros??) but …(sigh)…
Speedplay did everything they could to kill themselves but they survived anyway. Maybe Wahoo will do something with the technology.
with my limited use of Speedplay, the one issue that stood out was that the design seemed more sensitive to the effect of getting dirt in it and then clipping in was just a nightmare. Seemed more of an issue with speedplay to me than look/shimano.
not an issue for indoor use obvs. and as i said i didn’t use them much.
I’m not sure on marketshare either. I suspect it’s probably a more vocal group than others, which might skew the numbers if merely looking at forums/comments.
Ultimately, market-share would have had to have dwindled significantly over the years, given the well known reputation Speedplay had for being mostly miserable to work with in the bike industry (from a retail standpoint).
Some Googleing has seen there are supposedly some paid for industry reports on current pedal market share, but they’re all behind pay walls.
As for me personally, I don’t really have much of a cleat preference. I’ve got one set of shoes per cleat types, and I just pick which shoes I need for testing which power meter type. I think that since I’m constantly changing test things, I’ve kinda become immune to being bothered by one cleat type over another.
You never used the frog? The MTB cleat. Simple and pretty bomber in mud. Just worked. If they don’t release Frog cleats which are sorely needed, I’ll be really pissed. Love my Frogs. Had to buy a second set to get new cleats last year (to be fair, I put the second set on my all-road bike, but I could/would have just removed the from the MTB instead)
My 450 EUR play in IQSquare was in hopes of getting there. Too bad, so sad. I wrote it off to my development fund. Since they changed pedal form, I have been looking forward to Wahoo carrying forward. Today:
1 x zero (road), campy, will upgrade if it works
1 x zero track (old version with the stiff springs), stout, no need to upgrade as bike has crank pm
1 x pave (cx), hard to give up the pave, but if it does NOT work, may go to crank
1 x light tension (road), these are celeste and match her Liv bike. doubt these are going to change
“how popular are speedplay in the wider market?”
Kona triathlon is not representative of the general road market, but FWIW, the 2019 race’s pedal breakdown was:
Pedals
LOOK – 676
Shimano – 654
Garmin (power) – 400
Speedplay – 314
PowerTap – 130
Favero (power) – 70
Other – 47
Time – 40
It’s generally well known that SP Zeros are not tolerant of dirt & crud getting inside the cleat mechanism … so they’re fairly popular in dry SoCalif, but probably a hassle in northern europe.
Among “performance”-oriented & road racers in So Calif, I crudely estimate about 25% market share, with the remainder evenly split between Shimano & Look.
Are the new pedals and cleats compatible with the old pedals and cleats? So, if I want to upgrade one bike to power meter pedals, do I then need to upgrade the cleats on my shoes and then the pedals on my other bikes?
Yes, they are backwards (and forwards) compatible.
I have been waiting for this day since Brim Brothers! Speedplay are the only pedals my knees seem to get on with. Means I don’t have to keep swapping my cranks around!
@dcrainmaker could you please address the fact in weather the lateral rocking issue that many many many people have experienced has been resolved once and for all on these new pedals (old zero vs new zero maybe)? That was a deal breaker for me and sticking to SPD. The stainless steel definitely seems better tho. Thanks 🙂
Did I miss cleat weight? One thing I never loved about my X-5 pedals were the multiple piece heavy cleats. Shims, adapter, metal cleat body – never seemed super refined to me, or at least more fussy than an SPD-L or Look cleat. When they went walkable, that was a step in the right direction. Do we know if they now work natively with a standard 3-bolt shoe, and if the cleat system has shed some weight?
I do not see in the review but on the Wahoofitness website it shows a 3-hole pattern…is this correct? No more adapter shims?? This is the best news until the release of the PM version.
Not from this pic – still 3 to bolt adapter plate to shoe, and four to bolt cleat to plate.
And this one shows the side-to-side adjustment – 4 bolts.
OK. Missed the second pic…I have 4-bolt compatible shoes but the choices are limited…
Will the PM be backward compatible with old pedals? Will I be able to buy the pods only and install them?
now THAT would be a winning idea! Even if it meant sending in my current ones to have the pods mounted.
I always liked Speedplay pedals for being the easiest to clip into – never worrying about which side the pedal was facing – plus, the float angles were great. I haven’t used them since the Brim Brothers debacle though as it was a massive disappointment. If they crack the power meter pedal thing then I think Wahoo will be onto a winner and have one of the best designed and attractive products on the market.
Between Steel and Comolymoly what’s the difference? The black looks better but while I think that is a good reason to choose I’m not sure what the difference in the metals actually is?
Weight, I think.
Chrome-moly is a high strength steel, formerly used for the spindle on lower cost versions of the pedals.
SP chose to paint it with a not-especially durable paint . With repeated clip-ins, the paint gets chipped and the steel starts to rust. It’s surface rust & overall structural integrity is not affected, but it’s very unsightly.
The stainless steel spindle versions are way more durable.
The metal frame in the pedal’s “lollipop” body was always stainless.
“Stainless-only” was a good decision by Wahoo IMO.
Looking forward to getting some. My whole cling life I have only use speedplay pedals.
Love the lightroom work. Nice.
Had to stop at the Moved Production to Viet Nam from the US. No thanks.
Talk of gravel and Mountain pedals. No such pedals mentioned. I’m a current speedplay frog owner. My favorite pedals. I use them for gravel and mountain have owned them since 1997. Bought a second pair for gravel. Love the float simplicity and ease of release. Hate the lack of cleat availability. Currently $300 on eBay. Speedplay could do a production run of these and sell for $60, have every ebayers cleats worthless and make a ton of money on a $3-5 part.
“Finally, I’ll leave you with a quote from Wahoo CEO Chip Hawkins when Wahoo announced the acquisition of Speedplay, saying: “We can do cross pedals, and mountain pedals… and there’s lots of opportunity. I’m just excited, I love the mechanical gadgetry stuff!” – in my chat with them yesterday, it sounds like that quote is still very valid.”
Finally, both regarding the body and power meter. Seems still that you need to buy longer axle separately. Do you know if the old axles are compatible with the new body?
Regards
Any views on the Favero SPD SL pics leaked, or are cycling tips just stuck for news?
My 10 year old zeros are getting pretty rough from lack of maintenance. Just ordered new ones. Hopefully these last 10 years as well!
That LED pattern on the pod, it looks so Assioma that it got me wondering wether it might actually be: Favero appears to be in no particular hurry building a powermeter empire, they seem like they just thought “hey, look, powermeters, we can do that” and they were right. There couldn’t be an attitude more open to cooperation than that. Currently their pedals are mechanically 100% Xpedo, just with a different, “podded” spindle and they built a delightfully basic distribution to get their production out (seriously, every bike stuff company should look at how Favero is doing spare parts and learn, interspersed by phases of hiding in shame). The pedals could just as well be speedplay mechanically and leave the distribution to Wahoo.
This is surely not an “it must be this!” kind of speculation, but the pieces would fit together surprisingly well. Favero seems so disconnected from the bike stuff market, from any consumer market, in a good way, that it almost feels like they might retreat from the spotlights as surprisingly as they arrived, having enjoyed their twenty minutes of fame and now returning to whatever paid their rent before. I don’t expect this to happen, but it *feels* like it could. And this background would be a good fit for all kinds of Wahoo cooperation, from renting out development expertise to flat out takeover. And on Wahoo’s side? They are pragmatic. Building a line of bike computers on top of Android Wear without advertising that fact level pragmatic. It would fit surprisingly well.
PS: and I’m still struggling to wrap my head around the fact that it was Wahoo who bought Speedplay, not SRAM. Don’t all weird bike stuff companies eventually end up as parts of SRAM? (outside of the annual Garmin acquisition)
The speed (play) to market was short enough to imply they licensed the tech rather than invented it.
I am sure they didn’t shrink KICKR tech into PEDL tech. 🙂
Quite possible that Wahoo was prototyping powermeter pedal spindles long before the acquisition. And when they were mostly done started asking themselves “do we want to be yet another Keo powermeter company or can we do something special?”. Which triggered the Powertap acquisition, because obvioulsy there’s *something* preventing SPD-SL (my bet is a Look patent that’s licenced to Shimano but not to would-be SPD-SL sublicencees). The Favero theory is purely speculative, it’s just those LEDs in the teaser… so very assioma.
I researched the Assioma hack extensively before I did it myself. My first reaction to the picture was that I’d seen something like it before in a hack thread. It took a while but now I’ve found it. Look here at the post by DeiviX close to the bottom of the page link to weightweenies.starbike.com
He had to modify a bearing seat. So quite advanced for a hack but trivial for a company. I reckon you’re right. 🙂
Particularly striking, even more so than the LEDs, is the similarity at the plastic sheath that extends from the pod. As we can see from the FCC Assioma internals document, that sheath protects the outboard strain gauges. So it’s either some form of cooperation or heavily inspired by, not just with the general pod form factor. (I wouldn’t call it copying or even stealing, just like I wouldn’t call the second spider powermeter a copy of the first)
About the price tag, I think I’m in a good position to provide some thoughts: I’ve been using speedplay for quite some years, and recently sold my two pm bikes, one having a powertap hub, the other one rotor cranks.
My new bike has quite some limitations when it comes to choices, it’s all of a standard of their own so I’ve been thinking to go with pedal based. The Speedplay option, thus, would be the preferential choice, which puts me in their main target for sure. Moreover, I’ve been acquiring wahoo tech since their first kickstarter campaign, and like their products, I have a number of them. So I’m also in the “loyal” target list probably.
This said, I have reached the conclusion that a PM capability will today cost me around 500€ and I cannot justify twice the price. That would be a no-go. I guess a single sided would be okay around that street price, and dual leg not far from there. Pedals included. Anything more than 650/700 and I’d easily go Stages or equivalents.
Hey Ray, could you just think out loud about this? As Wahoo releases one device per year, there won’t be likely any new head unit to replace Bolt, as there is power meter for 2021?
I am certainly hoping for a new Bolt…kinda long in the tooth now and at this rate Garmin will beat them to the punch!!!
Thinking out loud, they tend to release more than one product per year. Looking at the last few years:
2018: TICKR FIT (Jan), HEADWIND (July), KICKR CLIMB (July), KICKR CORE (July), KICKR V4 (July)
2019: Wahoo ROAM (April), Wahoo KICKR Bike (August)
2020: TICKR/TICKR X V2 (May) Wahoo KICKR V5 (Aug), and Wahoo RIVAL (Nov)
2021 thus far: March (Speedplay non-PM), Summer (Speedplay PM)
Anyways..
(This ignores Sufferfest, random firmware updates, and such, plus whatever else I’ve forgotten)
Almost the best news ever!
(Maybe #3)
#1 – “Polar announces ANT+ enabled on all their sports watches, and per-BT AND ANT+ spec-standard dual-meter capabilities on all their power-capable sport watches”
#2 – Speedplay (Wahoo) begins shipments of their new PowerMeter pedal lines!
LOL, so obviously #2 has to be above #3.
I have a long list of other announcements that would be nice to hear, from #4-to -around 7 or 8, LOL, but when I realized that they all started with “Polar announces” except one (the one being “Coros announces” an item, that would have effectively negated all the Polar concerns, I gave up, LOL… maybe I’ll post that somewhere on my own social media and tag some vendors on it
The pod on the PM pedals….
Will it not ruin the exact point of speedplay pedals? My speedplays are adjusted to inwards for minimum q-factor and I then have inwards float. Seems like the pod will ruin that all together no?
I don’t understand the concern. The placement of the pod doesn’t look like it changes the overall length of the spindle. It just takes some space on the innermost portion of the spindle where the square edges for a pedal wrench are on current zeros. If I understand correctly, you will no longer be able to use a pedal wrench and instead will use an Allen wrench to tighten the pedals on the crank.
I’ve been riding Speedplay Zeros for years. Overall very pleased, just so easy to clip in out out. Two gripes though:
1) They get clogged up easily so need to watch where you step off the bike
2) For those of us with a different leg length, the leg shim kit is really difficult to get hold of.
Question: Right now I use the Ultra Light Action cleats and pedals (microwatts). I thought those were not compatible with the Zero pedals/cleats which have much higher tension. The new pedals will work with either high tension and low tension cleats, and everything I read said they would be backwards compatible to the older models. Does that mean my current cleats would work with Zero pedals?
(And I’m not going to subscribe to he newsletter but only because I already check your page every day. I bought my Kickr Core through a link in your page, thank you, I got a great deal.)
Garmins answer?
link to trainerroad.com
Have you seen the CT story about Gatmin spd-sl compatible power pedals? Do you know anything about this?
I’m also very much hoping these two releases will push the assioma price down to the point where I can justify a purchase…
Your thoughts?
Ray almost surely can’t comment due to a NDA. Hang in — I’m sure he’ll have thoughts as soon as Garmin makes an official announcement.
I just saw somethin very interesting: Garmin Rally RS200 pedal based power meter.
link to buy.garmin.com
While I love the float & dual side click-in of my Speedplay pedals, there is one big reason I’d be hesitant to buy one with a PM built in- Durability. I live near the ocean- there is salt in the air and sand everywhere, it’s unavoidable. As a result I’ve had to replace Speedplay pedals almost as frequently as cassettes and chains. Not that hard to swallow at normal pedal price, but a lot harder to accept at a PM price. Maybe the improved sealed bearings will help resolve that problem (I hope so even if I don’t buy them with a PM), but if I were going to put a PM in my pedal, I’d look at my SPD pedals which have never failed me- through mud, rain, snow, sand, and salt.
From local Wahoo Rep: Speedplay power coming June or July.
I just received my pedals this afternoon.
So far the new cleats on the Comps seem off.
I’m not sure if what i am experiencing is a one off thing but I received 2 poorly pressed protector plates. The 4 screw slots on both plates are super narrow. So I had apply a little more force to get the screw to pass though the slots. Unfortunately doing this seems to file down the threads a little bit. And when I tried to adjust the side to side fitting with the cleats the screw threads are getting worn down even more 😐 .
Do to the narrow slots the protector plates do not align up very well to the 3 hole adapter plate screw holes this goes the same when tested on older Zero 3 hole plates.
I’ll give my old cleats a try with the actual pedal or go back to my Time Xpros.
I have a ticket with Wahoo but thought I would post this here just incase someone else runs into the same issue , if so you are not alone 😛
I’m a little confused by your post. The sheet metal “protector plates” are only supposed to be used with 4-hole, carbon-soled shoes … else the pedal body will grind against the sole & damage it.
When using the more common 3-holes shoes , a plastic 4-hole to 3-hole adapter is included with every cleat set, and the pedal body rests directly on the relatively inexpensive adapter … not on the carbon sole of your US$300-400 shoes.
With the chaos surrounding Wahoo’s acquisition of Speedplay, the new #14035 “Sole
Protectors” for walkable cleats are not easily available.
I contacted Wahoo customer service, and they’re sending me a set of the newer
#14035 protectors … I wonder if I’ll have same problem as you??
I’m not looking forward to the mandatory switch to walkable cleats .. I thought the
Zero V2 classic cleat was fine, and easy to service.
I have two pairs of 4-hole Sidi shoes, including Wire2 shoes less than a year old.
Once the shoes wear out, I’m not so sure I’ll stick with Speedplay Zeros
I’ll miss the double-side entry & free-float, but there’s a LOT less drama, and better support, with Look or Shimano.
One of my friends has SIX Speedplay pedal setups between him & his wife, of a non-Zero model that was discontinued … cleats not available. He is not very happy about it.
Sorry for the confusion. I will re write the whole issue.
I had issues with my grey easy tension Cleats.
The new pedals I received had issues with their protector plates & it’s Spring and housing plates. Mainly with the Protector Plate.
The pedals protector plate screw slots were too narrow. And because the slots were so narrow, I had to force the screws into place. The narrow slots made screwing the lower bottom screws harder to do that the top because of how the plates are pressed and shaped so I had to go at a slight angle for securing the plates in place.
The slots on the base plate also seemed to be a bit short in length compared to the older speed play base plates.
Wahoo is sending me replacement cleats.
On a side note, the normal black normal tension cleats I had ordered but did not get to install until a few days later did not have any of these issues.
I have a pair of old Sidi’s, D2 custom and a new pair of Lake CX218.
I was installing the grey easy tensions on my Sidi’s . my old Zero clears to see if there were any differences in the base plate design I re-installed them on the D2s . I installed the blacks with no problem on my Lake’s .
I might have missed this, but did they say what Speedplay body model will be on the power meter version? I think they are not all compatible with each other?
Zero – hence the name ‘POWRLINK ZERO’.
Cheers!
Details on how their power meter works:
link to youtu.be
Hello Ray,
I’m not sure if this is the correct forum for this, but given your knowledge and expertise of all things cycling I figured this would be as good a place as any to start. I use PowerTap P1 pedals and have for the past three seasons with very few issues. I am an android user so I’ve had to live with not having the ability to upgrade firmware or to directly communicate with the pedals in any way and that has, up until now, not been an issue.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I updated my Wahoo ELEMNT and then started only connecting via ANT+, only registering the left pedal, and refusing to calibrate through my head unit. I’ve decided to try to download the PowerTap app onto my girlfriend’s iPhone and lo and behold, it’s gone. I guess I’ve got two questions about my situation:
1) Is it possible Wahoo bricked my PowerTap pedals in the latest upgrade or would it stand to reason that the Bluetooth just decided to quit around the same time I updated?
2) Do you know of a way for me to communicate with these pedals via android or ios app anymore now that SRAM/Quark have acquired PowerTap?
Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide.
Regards,
James Kelley
Hi James-
No, definitely nothing that Wahoo “can do” in terms of breaking the pedals. That sounds a bit more like the battery dying to be honest. I assume you’ve checked that?
While the PowerTap app is gone, the SRAM AXS app will connect to the PowerTap pedals and still do all the core functions.
Cheers!
The musing about the projected Powrlink Zero’s price point seem to revolve around the SP’s customer base which seems like a hard number to estimate, something like = prior existing customer base minus those that got tired of the chaos during the takeover announcement and ever since.
But I would also say you should assign a large weight to the determination of each die-hard SP user to keep on using their favourite pedal that they have clung on to despite what others would judge overwhelming odds.
Comment #79 said it well, lol
(the original)” Speedplay did everything they could to kill themselves but they survived anyway.”
SP aficionados are a ridiculously hardy breed, they have tolerated so much abuse from the founder and previous owner of SP and, to be fair, also from the intrinsic quirks of the design itself (the vulnerability to mud dirt and grit screwing up clipping in/out ease, the difficulty finding enough choice of good, light 4-hole shoes, difficulty getting spare parts, difficulty sorting out product choices let alone installation instructions from the ridiculous old Speedplay website,) just so that they might benefit from the unique advantages of SP — lightness, low aero profile, double side identical clipping in, ultra low stack, superior cornering clearance, superior float management, etc.
I would think that the dedication and determination of whatever small customer base exists out there could tolerate a higher price than what you would otherwise expect.
I am one of that group, and yet with a further problem — I use custom shortened cranks that make it very difficult to find a compatible power meter, and now that I have recently switched to Oval rings, my old PowerTap C1 spider based PM can’t be used. So a useable SP PM that preserves all the desirable characteristics of the traditional SP would be a real asset.
correction: sorry I meant #73 chris benten
Love your analysis. It is usually everything I need to make a decision.
Regarding your “The new pedals are fully compatible with the old cleats, and vice versa”. This is partially true
SpeedPlay Wahoo Pedals are compatible with 2 of the 3 San Diego legacy road pedals models, Zero and Light Action. They are not compatible with the original model, X.
From their customer service department this week “Unfortunately the X series pedals are not compatible with our new pedals or our new cleats, since the new Wahoo pedals are based on the Zero pedal design and cleat mechanism that is significantly different compare to the way the X series works”.
I have been using X since 1993, with lots of moles as I am averaging 92+ miles per week. I have 3 bikes, my supply of X cleats and pedals is almost depleted. To convert all 3 over to the new series costs about $750 US, for no additional functionality. In fact, the Zero model is FAR harder to engage. It took 3 hours on a stationary trainer and 30 miles on a solo ride to loosen the Zero cleats to be where the X series are when purchased. I did not want to be in a position were I REALLY needed to click in and could not.
The clicking out is about 30% harder than X series, but I can live with that.
Thanks for everything you do for us cyclists.
There has been motion…if not progress.
I checked Wahoo’s website for SpeedPlay style pedals to look for news and got a pop up saying POWRLINK ZERO Power Pedals are Landing Soon. Enter your email address for first notice of ability to purchase.
As luck would have it, it was just a week or so ago that I sent them another email asking for a status. I received a “Thank you for being our customer” response.
So, in March they said it would be about 6 months, now we are 11 months later.
Others have had difficulty producing a power meter on SpeedPlay pedals. Hopefully the technology has been perfected.
Not sure if you’ve already seen but Wahoo now have the instructions on how to use the Powerlink on their website which provide a bit more detail. Still no sign of a release date though?!
link to uk.wahoofitness.com
Are the new non-power pedal spindles the same as the old ones? I got some longer speed md led on my bike but was thinking of refreshing the bodies.
Do you get the answer? I’m thinking to do the same
Did this project fall ead?
Anyone have any update on power release date?
Tour – Nada
Tri Battle: Jan vs Lionel? 🤞
This is almost the top article on “Speedplay Power Pedals” and it’s from March, any updates anyone?
wonder If the Wahoo pedal body is compatible with Speedplay axle…🤔
Has there been any update on the powrlink pedals? Seems to have gone quiet.
No news posted anywhere I have seen. This page or a fresh blog post from Ray are the likely places to watch once any embargo lifts and info is free to post.
I was browsing yesterday and actually found a link on the wahoo site with the instructions for it.
link to reddit.com
Just found this linke / posted it on reddit as well
link to wahoofitness.com
link to reddit.com
It looks like Wahoo is moving away from using a 4 bolt-hole shoe by relying on the 3 to 4 adaptor plate. I always disliked the extra layer, and purchased Lake shoes with 4 holes for direct attachment.
Seems like there is some new info
link to bikerumor.com
Came here to see if there was an article 🙂
Wahoo said in March or so that the SpeedPlay power pedals would be out “late summer” 2021. I wrote them about September 10, asking for news. No response.
Wahoo has shifted their manufacturing to Vietnam as a part of buying San Diego based SpeedPlay 2 years ago. That country is now hard hit by covid. Google the business closures, hitting hard businesses like Nike, which is moving production to other countries.
link to wsj.com
This could have a significant negative effect on a release date.
Wahoo makes a number of products (trainers/bikes/etc…) in Veitnam. We haven’t seen any unusual slow-downs there in those product lines yet in the last year or so.
Vietnam was a major success story for keeping Corona virus numbers low, until the spring of this year. The Delta variant has hit the country hard, largely shutting it down.
“Up until this May, Vietnam was among the world’s most successful countries when it came to managing the pandemic. From January 2020 through April 27 this year, the day a devastating outbreak fueled by the delta variant began,”
“The delta variant has brought the health care system to the brink of collapse, wreaked economic havoc on what had been a dynamic powerhouse and largely shut down a city known for its hyperactive streets.”
It takes time for existing manufactured products to work its way through the supply chain, and more time to restart manufacturing. A shortage of just one part of the product can prevent it from leaving the factory. It could take months to resume normal desired product levels.
link to dw.com
(From another cyclist with roots on the eastern edge of Atlantic Canada, now far from home)
Yeah, no doubt it’s impacting others. We see that in many cases of other companies (both component level and manuf). But there’s enough data out there to see that’s not the case for Wahoo specifically.
It’s odd on Sept 10th they wouldn’t have told you they delayed things. Given they gave official quotes on the delay a few weeks prior: link to dcrainmaker.com
Cheers!
Ray, are you hearing anything about approximate timelines for availability? I just saw a GCN Instagram post where they were using these pedals for a sprint test. They must be getting close, I hope. Thanks!
I might have more details on timing soon (probably next week). Hang tight…
Off-topic somewhat but I wondered a bit why companies don’t make a power meter based in the cleat. Yes, there are a number of factors to overcome but at least with thicker and heavier shoes, this would be less a factor. In fact, careful construction of a shoe would allow you to make a shoe based meter. Way more challenges in that of course.
Well, I loved Speedplay back in the day except I was terrible for lubing the cleats so wore mine out in just under a year. I also have splayed feet that mean there’s a bit more twisting while I pedal so that contributes too. I’m VERY interested in how long the new cleats lasts with each of the models Wahoo makes now. My knees really appreciated the speedplays whereas I have to be much more careful in alignment with SPD pedals. And has anyone mentioned how much easier dual sided road pedals are over other road pedals? I can’t tell you how many time’s I’ve suffered trying to start on a steep uphill getting the right side up. Never have that issue with SPD Mtn bike pedals or Speedplays.
Thanks for your review.
Looks like they are available to purchase on Wahoo
website
Yup, full in-depth review available here: link to dcrainmaker.com
And in fact, REI even has them available for $100 off at launch: link to avantlink.com (link helps support the site)