Going with Speedplay pedals to replace the SPDs was a key part of this strategy. My objective as I dropped cash on a new bike, the associated accoutrements and the bike fit was to do everything I reasonably could to eradicate the pain in my knee. I was using Shimano SPDs – a mountain bike pedal and a hangover from my London commuting days. Informed readers of this blog, at the time, felt that my choice of pedals may have been a further cause of knee pain. (My words, clearly, rather than his.) Get To The Point Grimpeur… To do so would have been to polish the turd*. So much so that even with a new, shorter stem and a smaller-reach set of handlebars, the bike fitter refused to let me go through with the video analysis. It turns out the (not-so-trusty) Dawes was far too big (long) for me. I was riding my trusty aluminium Dawes Giro, bought hastily in a sale, some time in the early 2000s, simply because my girlfriend at the time was in the bike shop buying a commuting hybrid.* I’ve not been able to run any significant distance (without pain) for the best part of a decade.īike rides were starting to cause similar pain. I have weak stabilising muscles, particularly around my hips*. In summary, I’ve suffered from chronic pain in my knee for quite a few years. Read part one of the bike fit spend fest here and part two here. I chose Speedplay as a result of a bike fit / new bike / new shoes / new pedals / two (!) new handlebars / two new stems (!?!) saga, which I wrote about way back in 2013 (when I still had some of my ill-gotten banking gains to put towards bike purchases). Why Do I Use Speedplay Pedals? A selection of Speedplays, all looking very clean… Look likes to claim it ‘invented’ the clipless pedal, but Charles Hanson (eek, un Americain) submitted his clipless design to the US patent office way back in 1895. History time: the modern clipless pedal was developed by Look, based on the technology they used to manufacture ski bindings. Track cyclists still use pedals with clips (I think because they can tighten them super tight). The ‘clip’ that modern sticky pedals lack is the toe clip cage affair that used to reside at the front of racing cycle pedals, back in the day. I am not the first amateur comedian to note, wryly, that the key feature of a *clipless* pedal is that it clips to your shoe (or perhaps your shoe clips to it).