Speedplay clicking sound issue

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shoemakerpom2010
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Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2011 6:28 pm
Location: Palm Coast, Fl.

by shoemakerpom2010

I have had this clicking sound that I thought was the drivetrain that has driven me crazy for years and hard to nail down. Yesterday I nailed it down to the titanium axels in my speed play zero pedals that may have developed some wear. Has anybody else developed this clicking sound in their zeros? If so should I replace the axels or the whole pedal. Up until now I have been buying just the platforms and the ones I am on now may only have about 500 miles on them....Also do Stainless develop the same click over time. Also forgot to mention I am on the aero cleats with maybe 500 miles.... :noidea:

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wpccrunner
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by wpccrunner

do you regularly grease the pedal bodies and lube the cleats as required by the speedplay manuals?

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shoemakerpom2010
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Location: Palm Coast, Fl.

by shoemakerpom2010

Always actually methodical.... I got about 12,000 miles out of the first pedal bodies and there seems no play after lubing but I read the clicking can come from the roller bearing contact surface on the shaft not being even.....

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ms6073
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by ms6073

This is a long shot but I am also thinking that if the pedal body themselves have become worn/rounded, the clicking noises are a result of the movement of the bottom of your shoes against the pedal body.
- Michael
"People should stop expecting normal from me... seriously, we all know it's never going to happen"

BdaGhisallo
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by BdaGhisallo

You should check to see if the clicking is actually Morse code? It might be tapping out "get spd-sl pedals"...

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shoemakerpom2010
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Location: Palm Coast, Fl.

by shoemakerpom2010

The bottom of the shoe I will check tonight although the pedal bodies are like new same with the cleats.....As far as spd pedals they would not be practical when commuting in traffic like I do sometimes....

tinozee
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by tinozee

In my experience the springs in the cleats sort of stretch and get loose. Then there is some play which can make noise and shoe slides a bit fore and aft. Once I get new cleats it stops. But you say you have new cleats? I need to change them every 3000 or so miles, so every few months. They are honestly a money pit, but I do it for the low stack.

youngil
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by youngil

Then lubricate the pedal.
And oiling once a month.

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Stolichnaya
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by Stolichnaya

BdaGhisallo wrote:You should check to see if the clicking is actually Morse code? It might be tapping out "get spd-sl pedals"...


That comment made my day. Hahahahaha. :thumbup:

froze
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Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 3:47 am

by froze

Usually, note I said usually, it's due to improper cleat lube, I don't like the liquid wax that Speedplay provided with my pedals because it's too thin so I actually use car paste wax! Which quieted down mine. I put it on the pedal interface and the shoe cleat. Also the shoe cleat does not wear well about every season you should consider replacing it if the noise bothers you, it doesn't bother me and they still work after 3 seasons, but the car paste wax keeps it muted, but as the cleat wears more play comes into the picture. Also check to make sure the cleat screws (that mount the cleat to the shoe) are snug.

One thing to note, titanium is not a good material to use in a wear type of environment, kind of like titanium drill bits are the worse bits you can buy. Stainless steel option is much better for durability.

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shoemakerpom2010
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Location: Palm Coast, Fl.

by shoemakerpom2010

I figured it out. My cleat position needed adjusting after I changed crankarm lengths a while back. MY cleat was about 1/8th inch too forward and 1 bolt hole moved to the left. This change got rid of the cleat click since the arc of my foot was gone. Before every rotation my cleat would slightly click away from the pedal causing the sound since it wasn't flat on the rotation. When I first starting using this system I was on 172.5 mm cranks and I moved to 175 mm since cannondale warrantied my old cranks. I never messed with the positioning since it took me a while to get rid of hot spots due to wrong cleat position. Although I do love the speedplay system they can be alot of maintenance and headache......

dmulligan
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Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:16 pm

by dmulligan

I recently developed a clicking noise in my cleats that also had me thinking it was the drive train but recently narrowed it down to left side and I started to suspect my cleat. After cleaning my cleats, as I do if they've seen poor weather or mud lots, I noticed that the spring could be moved up and down almost 1mm. That would explain the click! I figured out that the 3 hole adaptor base wasn't perfectly flat anymore and fixing that eliminated the click!
To anyone experiencing the dreaded speedplay click, check your base plate with a straight edge and ensure they are perfectly flat.

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trex021
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by trex021

I had this problem as well. I had installed 3rd party (Ward) titanium spindles with new bearings on the pedal bodies and they worked great for a couple years. Then the clicking started. Not able to find it, I swapped everything in the drive train, literally. That included new cleats and full set of new pedal bearings... but not the pedals themselves. I finally bought some used chromoly speedplays for $50 on a local parts swap page and poof! the clicking was gone. I haven't touched the cursed pedals since... so I'm not exactly sure where the clicking originated from.

I want to add that I greased mine quite regularly and often. When the clicking started I even removed the pedal bodies to grease them just to be sure I was getting complete coverage. One of the spindles was scored but the scoring was smooth and even.

superdx
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by superdx

I got a click and thought it was my BB, but my right pedal was kind of spinning freely. Re-greased and sound hopefully will disappear.

Also cleaned out my cleats with alcohol and tightened the screws.

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Rick
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by Rick

Depending upon how sensitive you are to "clicks", note that the cleats will also click very slightly if you have the rotation stops adjusted in so that the stops are touched by your foot angle changing as you go around the stroke (heel in and out). You can hear and feel the cleat tab hitting the stop screw.

That's why I always left the rotation stops adjusted almost all the way open even though I didn't really need that much float most of the time.
I don't know if this is the situation on yours, but I never had any noticeable axle wear, even with Ti.

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