Speedplay Frog

Price Paid:  $163.00 at Wiggle.co.uk

Favorite Ride:
Commuting

Bike Setup:
Steel framed 1980s Claud Butler road bike

Summary:
Excellent first impressions. Immediate relief from niggling knee trouble. Easy to install cleats on 5-year-old Shimano MTB shoes.

Strengths:
The free-float sensation proved unremarkable, but I suppose that is its beauty. Pedalling feels completely natural. You are no longer using your knee capsule to fight a spring. In practice, I don’t believe my feet move more than a couple of degrees either way during the stroke, but they can now do this without the slightest wringing sensation at the knee. I wasn’t expecting an instant cure, but after only 3 days experience of aggressive cycling with these pedals, I am curiously free of knee pain.

Clipping in is surprisingly easy, I haven’t yet failed to find the entry first time. Unclipping is so easy that you wonder why it doesn’t happen accidentally. In fact your pedalling style would have to be pretty wild for this to happen. I storm up two long 1 in 6 hills on my daily commute and have felt completely secure. The twenty degree outward release is slightly more than I was used to with my SPDs, which caused one shaky halt at a junction, but no disaster.

Weaknesses:
I often feel that American low-production engineering is slightly agricultural, and these pedals give the same feeling. Functional but inelegant. Maybe it’s because they are MTB pedals, maybe the road pedals are more refined? The silicon rubber hinge in the cleat - referred to in a previous review - does seem remarkably flimsy and exposed to dirt, given its importance; but I shall reserve judgement until it actually fails. The grease port I intend to ignore. It doesn’t seem clever to pump grease into bearings that might already contain dirt or water. When I feel a service is due I shall dismantle completely, which is apparently simple.

Lastly, the instruction leaflet is unremittingly negative. C’mon guys, what about singing-up your product and the joys of pain-free cycling? These are darn’ good pedals.

Similar Products Used:
None

Price Paid:  $0.00 at borrowed from friend

Favorite Ride:
East Tiger

Bike Setup:
LaPierre CX with Ultegra, single 42 up front, Michelin Muds for wet, and Bontrager Jones CX for dry.

Summary:
While racing cyclocross I had trouble with some pedal designs and their mud shedding. I have never really been concerned with float or my knees, but I was interested in the frog's design with regards to not clogging. So far so good. Before each run up, my foot come out cleanly and after the cleat finds it's way right back on.
I still prefer SPD's secure snap in and out, but I refuse to waste anymore time kicking crap out of my cleats during races.

Strengths:
Extremely easy to get in and out of the pedals. Once properly secured, the pedals do not come out no matter how hard you tug your foot. They're light, but I don't know that I noticed once I was riding.
Also, this sounds silly, but the rounded plasic bodies haven't scraped my legs yet as some pedals have during dismounts.

Weaknesses:
They have way more float than I'd prefer, but it's a price I'm willing to pay. also they can't be disenaged by turning your heel inward. I'm not sure if this bothers anyone else.

Similar Products Used:
Shimano SPD, Time Atack

Price Paid:  $120.00 at Performance

Favorite Ride:
Technical Single Track

Bike Setup:
Gary Fisher SuperCal (Old School bike circa 1997, full XTR, Spinergy Spox wheels, Manitou Black fork. I love my bike, hate those pedals!

Summary:
SpeedPlay Frogs have to be the worst pedal I have ever used. Free float is a horrible design. Don't get me wrong I LOVE my SpeedPlay Road pedals. But the Frogs are just silly.

Strengths:
NONE; well, they are fine on my single speed city bike, though release is way too easy.

Weaknesses:
Way Too Easy OUT
YES, accidental out especially when climbing short steeps; dirt is the enemy of these pedals;

Similar Products Used:
I would never use a similar product to the Frogs.

Price Paid:  $109.00 at LBS

Favorite Ride:
London to Dungeness & back on a summers day...

Bike Setup:
Omega Cycleworks Helix 3/2.5 6/4 titanium frame, Reynolds Ouzo Pro fork, Campag Veloce/Centaur/Chorus mix, carbon seat post & Thompson stem. Wheels are Campag Scirocco / Mavic Cosmos + Conti Four Seasons for commuting and Rolf Vector Pro with Michelin Pro Race Service Course for weekend rides.

Summary:
My first clipless pedal was a cheap no-name SPD. I used these for about a year but over time my left knee started clicking as I pedalled, just over halfway through the downstroke. One day at mile 70 of a century ride, my knee became agony to ride on as if a needle was stuck in the joint and I had to ride the last 30 miles with one leg!

This prompted me to look for a free floating pedal and wanting to keep using MTB shoes for ease of walking, I opted for the Stainless verion of the Frog combined with Specialized MTB Pro Carbon shoes with Specialzed varus wedges under the insole.

Since then I have not looked back. I have now used them for about 5 years and I'm on my second pair. Took about 10 seconds to adjust to the free float. The knee pain completely dissappeared as did the clicking over the next few weeks.

My daily commute has now gone from a 10 mile round trip to fast 32 miles and occasional weekend rides to 150 miles and my knees have never been better!

They are easy to clip into, first time every time without looking, just step on the pedal and you're in. Out is just as easy but I have never had an accidental release, ever, even when the cleats are badly worn. I'm not a super powerful rider but I do ride fairly hard and sprint up a couple of short steep hills on my commute with everything I've got and have total confidence I won't unclip. The cleats last about a year but you can take out the horizontal wear by adjusting a small grub screw to keep things fairly slop free.

Simply a fantastic and robust pedal which I'll use forever.

Strengths:
Easy in and out
No accidental releases
Plenty of knee-saving free float
No spring tension to overcome to release
An efficient road pedal, especially when coupled with a carbon soled shoe.
No 'Hot spots' (cleat area is quite reasonable).
Indestructable
Long lasting if bearings greased occasionally (grease gun port in end of pedal body)

Weaknesses:
Not cheap (but not that expensive and what price for your knees?).
Cleats last about a year if you lube them with a dry lube from time to time and not cheap (£35).
Nothing else!

Similar Products Used:
Cheap SPD's

Price Paid:  $100.00 at used direct from ano

Favorite Ride:
Prospect Park, Brooklyn NY

Bike Setup:
2006 LeMond Reno road bike, double chain ring, 9 speed Shimano 105/Tiagra.

Summary:
This is the pedal I recommend to EVERY newbie. The advantages come at you from all sides. It's lighter than other pedals. It requires virtually no maintenance ever (no gunk cleaning or oiling). It is the easiest of any pedal I know of to disengage from. It is relatively easy to clip into. It is small, but still large enough to pedal flat on for short distances for emergencies. It is easy on the knees with its generous free float.

Strengths:
Clip-out ease makes riding in traffic much less stressful. Free float feels a lot better, especially after long rides. Takes away all the stress of clipless pedals, so you can just concentrate on riding your bicycle.

Weaknesses:
More expensive than SPDs.

Similar Products Used:
I used SPDs before, which were great in the park and long bike paths, but were hellish in traffic situations, since I kept having to clip out in advance just to be on the safe side, all while trying not to clip in by accident while navigating a road hazard. I fell a few times on those because of emergency stops. I only fell once on the frogs, but because I was doing something stupid.