Strengths: cheep
durable...as in you can still use it after crashes and lots of scraping....it still wont perform as well as day 1 (read weaknesses)
Weaknesses: -weight
-Now That i have had them a while I have noticed that one of my feet is loose (forward to back movement not float)
3 on value b/c they are cheep but not if you have to replace them after 1 year of riding.
Bottom Line:
these are my first road peddles so bear in mind that i can not compare them to other road pedal I've used.
I have ridden these pedals for a year on several different bikes and although I don't think they were the best i am glad I got them as my first. These things are BEEFY. Yea they weigh more but I was glad I had that extra metal when I scraped a curb taking corner in a crit much too wide and fast. I stayed just fine (finishing the crit rather horribly because It was my first tight crit) after the race i inspected the pedal to find a fairly sizable bit of metal scraped off. Now my right pedal weighs slightly less.
Easy to clip in and out. I have my pedals fairly loose b/c I like to attempt to track stand at stops and since I almost always fail my feat come out very readily, but i still have not pulled out during a sprint.
Weaknesses: The material is much too soft. When the cleat moves within the float, it slowly but surely wears away the pedal platform and back clip. This results in a loose fit in the pedal, and before long the foot rattles each pedal stroke.
The clip-in is just terrible compared to Looks. After 10,000 miles I still could not do a guaranteed clip in without looking down. And I'd been riding Looks for about 10 years before, so I certainly know how to clip. After putting on new Look Carbons yesterday, I could clip in without looking down after 3 tries.
The screws are too short for Sidi shoes, especially if using shims.
The pedals are heavy.
Bottom Line:
These pedals are not good. I bought two pairs with my new bike (a pair for the old bike too), after riding Look pedals for about 10 years. After 10,000 miles I have written off both pairs by wearing out the platform.
Weaknesses: Heavy (330 gr.) but I don't care (I am not Lance Armstrong).
Bottom Line:
This is my first pair of road pedals. Since I was using my bike with clip less pedals and straps, difference is huge. Better feeling of your effort results (pedaling), better feeling on how the bike roads the way, how it is behaving on your command.
So far they are 500 km with this pair of pedals, and at the begging was scary trying to get use to clip in and out from them, especially in the middle of the traffic, but pretty soon you get used to it. The only issue is that I am used to stop my bike with the right foot on the floor, then the right cleat is getting scuffed so my right shoe.
Today I put on booties because of the weather (8 Celsius degrees and windy) and everything went fine!
I am happy with this pair. If I have to change them, probably I would upgrade to a higher level, but so far, no.
Strengths: Cheap, Solidly built bearings, stable platform, excellent cleats.
Weaknesses: Heavy, difficult to locate front of pedal with cleat, became hard to clip into after just 4 months, high tension for a beginner pedal.
Bottom Line:
I have mixed feelings about the R540s. Solid bearings and wide platforms make for assuring pedals to stamp down on. Also, they are cheap and I think the cleat design with the yellow grips is good.
But the bearings could be too solid; they have a high viscous friction, so the pedals don't return to their freely hanging position quickly enough, which makes it hard to locate the front of the pedals with the cleats. Also, after only 4 months or so, I found I had to press down harder and wiggle my feet around to engage properly, and I'm sure my cleat are not worn. Clipping out requires quite a lot of effort, even at the lowest tension, which might be disconcerting for novices.
Also, SPD-SL's are heavy, which I understand is due to their solid build. However, as I'm neither heavy nor strong, I found the lighter Look Keo Sprints (lighter than Dura-Ace!) more than adequate. They have a very clean engagement (something the R540's began to lack after 4 months) and a lower minimum cleat tension. However, they also have a little bit of play in the bearings and the cleat grips could be better designed as they make it difficult to engage. Float is adequate for both pedals.
Strengths: Look pretty good, solid platform, OK float, handle well in the wet, easy to maintain, solid interface
Weaknesses: cleats seem to be wearing out a bit already, I don't know what they should look like but they seem a bit scuffed.
Bottom Line:
When I bought these, I was just looking for a reliable, good performing pedal with OK float. I got just that. My pedals have been put through a bit of a beating but cleaning them up now and then seems to work well. The bearings are said to be crap but I disagree, there almost as smooth as my hubs. The foot platform allows for solid transfer but I have had trouble unclipping from my left pedal which can be scary. The pedals seem to handle well on less than average Australian roads but walking on them with cleats on tends to scuff up the cleats something chronic. Overall these are good value pedals and are quite durable, I really don't care about their allegedly heavy weight, They work well and that's the main thing.
