Look vs shimano pedals

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kervelo
Posts: 866
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2009 6:58 am
Location: Finland

by kervelo

Miller wrote:
Thu Dec 19, 2019 5:01 pm
If you go with Keo make sure to get the grip cleats. The non-grip cleats are scary slippy to walk in.
Actually, if you want nice cleats for Look compatible pedals, get the Exustar E-ARCR2. They are much better than anything from Look.

Cyclingtips article: https://cyclingtips.com/2017/11/best-bu ... ad-pedals/
Exustar cleats: http://exustar.com/index.php?route=prod ... uct_id=212

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ipaul
Posts: 231
Joined: Mon May 30, 2005 2:06 am

by ipaul

Any thoughts why just one particular Look pedal isn't compatible?

"WARNING
Incompatible with Look Keo Blade pedals. Incompatible with Exustar PR200 series, and E-PR107TK pedals."
:P

by Weenie


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PrimO
Posts: 144
Joined: Thu Nov 20, 2014 8:49 pm

by PrimO

I started on Look Keo's and used them for a year without any problems but a bike i bought came with a set of 6800 SPD-SL pedals and so i gave them a go and loved them instantly, there was a more positive click when clipping in, they felt more secure/tighter (even though i never felt unsecure in the Look's) and they matched the groupset on the bike. I have R8000 pedals on my good bike and they are ever so slightly wider than 6800 and again match my groupset.

Block
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Oct 13, 2019 1:22 pm

by Block

Have had issues with the carbon blade on the look pedals. When temperature creeps down below or close to zero, they can flip out. Have been stranded a couple of times because of it.

maccpres
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2006 8:11 pm
Location: Atlanta

by maccpres

I’ve had look pedals creak, squeak and come off the spindle. Shimano pedals have not given me those problems.

SandwichNP
Posts: 61
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2019 3:22 pm

by SandwichNP

I appreciate the help immensely. I can't afford Dura Ace, but it sounds like 105 is similar just heavier and less fancy. I think I can live with that. The blue cheats seem ideal too.

I haven't considered the blades as I prefer metal springs as horror stories from onza elastomer pedals scared me of alternatives

BdaGhisallo
Posts: 3261
Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2004 1:38 pm

by BdaGhisallo

SandwichNP wrote:
Sat Dec 21, 2019 2:40 am
I appreciate the help immensely. I can't afford Dura Ace, but it sounds like 105 is similar just heavier and less fancy. I think I can live with that. The blue cheats seem ideal too.

I haven't considered the blades as I prefer metal springs as horror stories from onza elastomer pedals scared me of alternatives
When considering which level of Shimano pedal to buy, consider that the lower level pedals are supplied with the yellow cleats and not the blue ones as the DA are. Add the price of a set of blue cleats to your calculation if you go with the 105 or Ultegra pedals.

alcatraz
Posts: 4064
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2016 11:19 am

by alcatraz

Check out the xpedo 07 pedals on aliexpress. Serviceable, cheap and light. Look-based.

ipenguinking
Posts: 743
Joined: Sun Jan 09, 2005 5:14 pm
Location: Sunny So Cal

by ipenguinking

I'm currently riding a pair of 9100 after I designated my 3-year-old 9000 pair as my travel pedals. These are the most maintenance free and quiest pedals (and cleats) I've ever owned. They are like CK HS - installed and forget.

ND4SPD
Posts: 168
Joined: Sat May 19, 2018 4:10 am

by ND4SPD

If you want coil spring system, I would go with Shimano. If you want "blade" spring system, I would go with Look. You also have plenty of other options like Speedplay, Time, etc...

sennder
Posts: 170
Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2016 12:13 pm

by sennder

After riding Look Keo 2 Max for ~5 years, I got Shimano R8000 pedals on my new bike. Better in ever way. Biggest plus was ease of clipping in. They were always the right side up. Not that the looks were bad. Shimano are just better.

I'm now using Assiomas (Xpedo Look Keo-like pedals). I really wish they were Shimano based...

--Sennder

RussellS
Posts: 916
Joined: Wed Feb 03, 2010 1:31 am

by RussellS

adilosnave wrote:
Thu Dec 19, 2019 8:09 pm
RussellS wrote:
Thu Dec 19, 2019 5:00 pm
I started on Shimano SPD-SL cleats, pedals about 23 years ago. I don't recall ever replacing a cleat. Or pedal. My only maintenance on the pedals is greasing the axle when I take them out of the crank. I like parts that require zero thought and work perfectly for 20+ years.
Do you mean SPD-R? SPD-SL didn't come out until the early 2000's.
I saw that someone posted above about SPD-SL not coming out until 2002. But I bought my Waterford in late 1997 with 1998 Chorus. The new rounded top Ergo levers. And I am positive I had SPD-SL pedals on it from day one. Maybe I rode it with original Time pedals for a few years. But I don't remember that. I still own the original Time pedals. I'm still sure I had Shimano SPD-SL pedals on the Waterford from day one. But its been over 20 years now. My memory has declined a little bit in 20 years.

adilosnave
Posts: 159
Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 2:10 pm

by adilosnave

RussellS wrote:
Sun Dec 22, 2019 11:36 pm
adilosnave wrote:
Thu Dec 19, 2019 8:09 pm
RussellS wrote:
Thu Dec 19, 2019 5:00 pm
I started on Shimano SPD-SL cleats, pedals about 23 years ago. I don't recall ever replacing a cleat. Or pedal. My only maintenance on the pedals is greasing the axle when I take them out of the crank. I like parts that require zero thought and work perfectly for 20+ years.
Do you mean SPD-R? SPD-SL didn't come out until the early 2000's.
You are probably just getting them confused with the Look-compatible pedals Shimano offered back in the 90's. The Dura-Ace version was so good that Armstrong used the same pair throughout much of his career. Lots of rebuilds, I'm sure. This was before the Keo cleat came out which was smaller and a little easier to hobble around on.

I saw that someone posted above about SPD-SL not coming out until 2002. But I bought my Waterford in late 1997 with 1998 Chorus. The new rounded top Ergo levers. And I am positive I had SPD-SL pedals on it from day one. Maybe I rode it with original Time pedals for a few years. But I don't remember that. I still own the original Time pedals. I'm still sure I had Shimano SPD-SL pedals on the Waterford from day one. But its been over 20 years now. My memory has declined a little bit in 20 years.

BdaGhisallo
Posts: 3261
Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2004 1:38 pm

by BdaGhisallo

RussellS wrote:
Sun Dec 22, 2019 11:36 pm
adilosnave wrote:
Thu Dec 19, 2019 8:09 pm
RussellS wrote:
Thu Dec 19, 2019 5:00 pm
I started on Shimano SPD-SL cleats, pedals about 23 years ago. I don't recall ever replacing a cleat. Or pedal. My only maintenance on the pedals is greasing the axle when I take them out of the crank. I like parts that require zero thought and work perfectly for 20+ years.
Do you mean SPD-R? SPD-SL didn't come out until the early 2000's.
I saw that someone posted above about SPD-SL not coming out until 2002. But I bought my Waterford in late 1997 with 1998 Chorus. The new rounded top Ergo levers. And I am positive I had SPD-SL pedals on it from day one. Maybe I rode it with original Time pedals for a few years. But I don't remember that. I still own the original Time pedals. I'm still sure I had Shimano SPD-SL pedals on the Waterford from day one. But its been over 20 years now. My memory has declined a little bit in 20 years.
The SPD-SL pedals, first incarnated as the PD-7750 Dura Ace pedal, was a 2003 product year release - I got my first set in November 2002. Lance Armstrong and a few of his USPS teammates (including Hincapie whose prototypes I had a good look at in Sep 2002 when he came to my hometown for a race) used them and helped with the development.

If your bike had Shimano pedals on it from 1997-98, they would have either been PD7700 or PD7701 pedals which were the SPD-R design or the older PD-7400 pedal which was a Shimano pedal made to Look's delta design. Lance Armstrong used those pedals until Shimano developed the SPD-SL pedal, other than in 1994 when he used the road SPD pedals that his Motorola team were given by Shimano.
Last edited by BdaGhisallo on Tue Dec 24, 2019 2:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

by Weenie


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SandwichNP
Posts: 61
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2019 3:22 pm

by SandwichNP

alcatraz wrote:
Sat Dec 21, 2019 12:19 pm
Check out the xpedo 07 pedals on aliexpress. Serviceable, cheap and light. Look-based.
https://www.starbike.com/en/xpedo-clipl ... xs-pedals/

these guys?

It does look like you can get 105s on ebay for around $60-75. That plus some blue cleats sounds pretty good to me...

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