Aerolite pedals?

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LAN
Posts: 240
Joined: Fri Oct 17, 2003 11:43 am
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by LAN

Have anyone tried these pedals? What do you think?

Someone mentioned that "Tour-Magazin" said that they were crap, what didn't they like about them? (I know they like the Speedplay with lots of float, so I was wondering if it was just the lack of float that they didn't like?)

Thanks in advance!

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Superlite
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by Superlite

Please do a search, it's been asked to death.

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LAN
Posts: 240
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by LAN

Well, I did a search, but I did not find an answer.

Just some people saying it was dangerous and stupid, without any personal experiance. I know they had some problems with the old version, but it would be nice to know if they have fixed them.

"Ye Olde Balde One" have a pair I think, maybe he can give a short review.

Regards
LAN

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Ye Olde Balde One
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Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2003 4:26 pm
Location: Santa Monica, CA

by Ye Olde Balde One

Mine weighed 74gm for the pair.

I've used them a little, up until an accident I had early this month, causing a couple of cracked ribs and a torn meniscus in my right wrist.

Fitting was easy, I followed the marks created by a set of Keywin cleats on an old pair of shoes, and used the SPD mounts. I did find the screws were canted by off center holes, but a drill fixed that. I did find that the cleat would float with just the two screws (I couldn't get them tight enough) so I added two screws in the front holes in the cleats, drilling starter holes in the shoes with a small drill bit for the supplied self tapping screws. I was worried about fitting four as supplied because I thought it would contribute to the shoes being too hard to roll off the pedal when removing my foot at stops, and I was right, it took getting used to as it was. So did the small area, and the accuracy needed to get your foot in, but that's no different to Speedplays, which I tried once (too much float for me).

I'm not sure if I notice the weight difference, but it feels different, maybe because of the lack of float, there is some slop in the Turcite sleeve, and this allows some movement, so it's not too bad. I used to use cleats and straps back when the M71 came out, so the lack didn't seem to worry me. I'm going to start riding with Keywins when I get back on my (new) bike to see if I feel any difference.

One thing I did feel was the small area, make sure you have some real stiff soles on your shoes, I feel that they would be okay for Doubles though, on Northwave carbon soles, so your experience may vary.

Overall I like them, time will tell if they grace all my bikes (normally three) but my real light bike will keep them, and that's the one that gets all the performance rides.
Ride lightly!

cmetri
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2004 4:30 am
Location: California

by cmetri

I used Aerolites from '86-'96 for road racing and triathlons without a single problem. I then switched to Speedplay. If you are going all out in saving grams, they are nice to install and show a very ridable bike. I still have them on my coffee shop bike just to mess with the guys heads. IMO For day to day training and racing, the slight weight penalty of the Speedplay pedals is worth gaining the float. If you are going to ride them, find a shop who can do a rotational cleat adjustment to determine your optimal cleat postion. To help spread the load over a larger area, it might help to find the lexan adapter plate that came with the original pedals and was pre-drilled to mount to a 3hole Look sole and had the 4 screw holes for the Aerolite cleat. This way you don't have to mount the screws directly into the sole of your shoe, although it does increase the stack height 4-5mm.

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