HI Gents,

I am looking for a pedal with a good stability. I need this because there is a kind of wobble in my knee.
I used the old looks, than Speedplays and now I use Time rxs but without success.

I am thinking about SPD SL and Look Keo Blade.

Please your suggestions and experiences are welcome.


Thanks

_________________
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.
Albert Einstein

Hi,

Time Xpresso.

Ciao,

_________________
Being a snob is an expensive hobby.

Going from old style Look pedals to Look KEO Max 2 Carbons (and the none carbons on my winter ride) with Grey cleats I've been very impressed.

Feel very stable even with fairly worn cleats. Going to be buying another pair for my new bike.

SPD-SL with blue cleats. Definitely the way to go

Have not tried look, but spd sl is a rock.

Just to throw this in... A wobbly knee is more likely a cleat/shim issue. Arches collapsing at the bottom of the pedal stroke, etc. The pedals you list, and certainly SPD sl, when paired with a good carbon sole, will be as stable as most could ask for. I say this from experience. My knee instability was a shimming fix.

The Look pedals are quite stable. If you're looking for stability, you can go with the no-float cleats, too.

I recently went from Speedplay to SPD-SL, and although the SPD might be microscopically more "stable" than the Speedplays, I would have to suspect this is really true. They are all prettty stable.

As pointed out above, your wobble is probably not related to cleat stability. In my riders I usually see it arising from bad cleat positioning on the shoe and secondarily from lack of hip and hamstring flexibility (when you stretch your leg out, those areas are too tight and cause your knee to rotate to accommodate it).

However, it all starts with a secure foundation at the pedal. I have found in over 25 years of elite and professional coaching that most riders needing a lot of rotation in their cleats simply are using it to compensate for inaccurate cleat positioning to begin with. (Now don't flame me, guys, I said most -- there are some who have joint travel kinesiology that simply requires lateral movement, but you guys ARE in the significant minority.) So I'd suggest you see whether a fixed cleat actually does the job first. The SPD-SL has a red zero-rotation cleat which is excellent. If you are trying out pedals, you can get anything from a 7810 onwards and you'll have essentially the same pedal platform, and the 7810's, all alloy, are selling in nearly new condition for about $100 these days. Get the cleats and try them out. You might want an even stronger connection; if so, go shopping for some 7700 or 7701 SPD-R shoes with the SM-SH90 fixed cleats -- those are incredibly stable, all metal, and are the system that many of the world's top track sprinters still use for the best connection with their pedals. However, I don't think you'd need anything more than the SPD-SL.

I actually wouldn't recommend Speedplays. With what you describe, first, you get excess rotation unless you really clamp it down. Second, they wear relatively rapidly and then you get tilting and other spurious action that you are trying to get rid of.

But my point is that you don't want to get rid of it by changing your hardware. You want to understand why you're getting it and solve the problem in your positioning, flexibility, etc. No pedal/cleat system will help if your body wants to twist -- you'll just damage yourself. So get your leg action straightened out first. That means (a) lots of flexibility and strength exercises, (b) get someone who knows how to fit you to look at your cleat position, and (c) adjust your position til your knee wobble goes away and then decide if you need new pedals.

Thank you for your clear and comprehensive information! The last 3 months I do a lot of core stability exercises and I ve been to a bike fitter as well. The last time I am fitting my bike by my self with the information of Steef Hogg. I am having also sport massages but still I have this problem. The Time RXS doesn't give me enough stability. Before I had the Look Keo max carbons.
For your informaton, I have Specialized Road schoe Pro (carbon) maybe these ones are not stable enough?

So you recommend me the SPD SL? What about the Look Blades?

_________________
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.
Albert Einstein

I had knee problems and changed pedals from keo to speedplays, which did not change my prob. I then went to get a bike fit and it turned out to be my shoes causing me knees to hurt! I was using specialized shoes which I was perfectly happy with as they had a great fit. However, it turned out that my knee would wobble in order to compensate for the build-in pronation of the specialized sole. When a shim was introduced between cleat and sole to even out the build-in pronation my knee wobble would go away. I am now using a different brand of shoes and have had no problems since. I wish I had tried this years ago!
Good luck!

Excellent post by 11.4 that covers the situation well. I recommend starting with the SPD-SL cleat as its a known entity and well regarded for stability and a sound connection to the pedal. The Specialized Pro Road shoes should be fine - assuming they fit you well. I am currently using the Shimano 315 road shoes and like them a lot. A whole lot.

I am curious to know what kind of brand shoes you use now and with or without shims.

_________________
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.
Albert Einstein

The shoes I use now are gaerne. I really wanted to use sidi but they were to small in the toe box. I found the gaerne would be a good fit and somewhere in between the specialized and sidi in terms of fit. Your bike fitter should be able to measure if the wobble goes away with other shoes.

The Shimano pedal platform is about the same wideness as the Look Keo Max. However, the Shimano cleat itself is alot wider than the Look Keos. That is important.