Performance Inc. Forte Classic Mg/Ti

Price Paid:  $76.00 at Local Performance ou

Favorite Ride:
Anywhere on my Pinarello Radius

Bike Setup:
Pinarello Radius
Centaur 10spd group w/Chorus brakes.
FSA Pro Carbon CT Cranks
Campy Zonda Wheels.

Summary:
On first week use I was pleasently, but guardedly surprised. I was in the market for a new set of Look style pedals since I broke the spindle on a prior Look set. I've sworn off all Performance products for years because of past bad experiences but with conversations with a clerk who's claims were backedup by a customer who swore by these I took the leap, in more ways then one. Long story short, the right cleat (the one I normally never purposely disengaged when riding) simply came out of the pedal at starts from a dead stop. Finally resulting in a crash as expained below. Have since relagated these to my training bike in the basement.

Strengths:
Well, they're pretty light and I could engaged into relatively easily.

Weaknesses:
Released unnexpectedly on hard step down on standing start. Happened 3 time in 6 weeks even after continual adjustments to try and overcome. 3rd time resulted in a crash as the bike went one way and I the other when the cleat disengaged.

Similar Products Used:
Look PP337
Look Arc Carbon

Price Paid:  $45.00 at Performance

Favorite Ride:
As long as my feet are moving and there are some hills.

Bike Setup:
Specialized S-Works Ultegra

Summary:
I rode on these early in the year in training, races and some time trials.
The pedals have some sharp edges to them and wear out the Look style cleats until it becomes almost imposible to clip out. I became weary of not getting clipped out at the wrong time so I switched back to my Looks.

Strengths:
Lightweight with a good platform and a great price

Weaknesses:
Became hard to clip out & became dangerous.

Similar Products Used:
Looks, Shimano Crank Brothers

Price Paid:  $75.00 at Performance Bike

Favorite Ride:
Rolling hills and lots of them

Bike Setup:
Custom-built Leader Aluminum/Carbon frame with carbon everywhere and Ultegra component group.

Summary:
I bought these pedals with my new bike hoping that a) they'd be compatible with the SPD-SL pedals on my other bike, and b) that they'd be lighter. Turned out that they're somewhat lighter, but not compatible.

These pedals/cleats don't completely suck...but they have problems that mean that I just pulled them off and replaced them with my old pedals.

I tried to save money and weight but for me it wasn't worth it.

Strengths:
The cleats are nice -- reasonably light and solid plastic with a rubber anti-skid spot. They feel sturdy. They snap into and release from the pedals quite well; I had no trouble adjusting them to my personal preferences for firmness. They're very light.

Weaknesses:
I really don't like the way they handle "play". They have a few degrees of play (yaw) side to side, but there's a lot of friction so that your foot tends to stick in one spot unless deliberately shifted. Some might even prefer that, but I don't.

Worse, they also have a few degrees of "roll", which took me a long time to find. All I knew was that my pedals were making a clicking/squeaking noise once per revolution and it was driving me nuts. I finally figured it out by removing the pedals from the bike and playing with them by hand.

Similar Products Used:
Standard Shimano SPD, SPD-SL

Price Paid:  $80.00 at Performance

Favorite Ride:
Carmel Valley in the springtime

Bike Setup:
2003 Specialized Allez Elite.

Summary:
I bought these after deciding Speedplays are over-rated and not for me. So far I've been amazed at how much I like these; super light (250g), super comfortable (even on a century I did with 10,000 feet of climbing!), great price and so far no quality issues. Enough float for me, and fairly easy to clip in and out of. The plastic cleats look like they'll wear out, but so far (2,000 miles or so) they still work great. The only thing I don't like is that the one-sided entry can be aggravating when I try to clip in from a stop light and traffic is waiting for me, and sometimes I hear the "click" even though I'm not fully clipped in.

Strengths:
Super value, very comfortable and light.

Weaknesses:
One-sided entry is annoying.

Similar Products Used:
Speedplay, various SPDs.