on 03.10.14 8:55, Ryan Bates asserted:

Looking for opinions on speedplay versus Shimano dura ace pedals. i'm
about a 1:00 40k bike rider for triathlon (5'11, 160lbs)with a cadence
of about 90rpm, and want to know which to buy. speedplay is lighter
and has more float, but seems like a lot of pros are going the dura
ace route. why would you pick dura ace over the lighter speedplays???
(let's pretend price doesn't matter). thanks!

The first road pedals I used where the old Look-style Shimano Ultegra
circa-1993. They were great- never pulled out, even on the track, loud
click told me I was in, you could adjust 0 or 6 degree float on the fly with
a switch in the back. Then I gave them to a friend because I thought the
Speedplay Zeros were going to be "it". For me, they really weren't.

I rarely had a clean bike mount- had to make more than one attempt to find
at least one pedal because I just couldn't hit that small target. With my
old pedals, I just hooked the cleat under the front (weighted to always be
up) and pushed down until I heard the loud click. The Speedplay cleats made
unnerving noise when I walked- the metal alway sounded like it was etching
deep grooves into whatever I was walking over. I liked having little or no
rotation, so I adjusted the screws, which was very cool, but they weren't in
great shape from walking and I never quite got the position I wanted on my
left foot. I don't have an opinion on the other Speedplay models- I haven't
used them.

So I sold the Zeros and bought the new SPD-SL Ultegras. Like Peter said
they're basically a Look-style pedal, but that's what I wanted. They're
sweet. No switch on the back of the pedal to zero the float while riding
and no bolt on the bottom to add the extra security of a toestrap (for the
track), but otherwise they look better than the old ultegras and the cleats
are quite bearable to walk in, especially compared to Zero cleats. Maybe
they're lighter, too; I haven't weighed them. It's easy to find the target
than the Zeros (which seems like it would be a serious issue in triathlon
after you're not quite coordinated from swimming- I saw quite a number of
near-crashes at the last tri I watched from people trying to get in their
pedals). Whether the D/A version are worth it (for finish and a few grams
only, as far as I can tell) is up to you- they weren't for me. Oh, yeah,
the Shimanos are way better if you want to just ride your bike around
without putting on the dorky shoes.

Seng