Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Fitting Your Bike
Reload this Page >

SPD vs SPD-SL pedals and stack height, how do you measure?

Notices
Fitting Your Bike Are you confused about how you should fit a bike to your particular body dimensions? Have you been reading, found the terms Merxx or French Fit, and don’t know what you need? Every style of riding is different- in how you fit the bike to you, and the sizing of the bike itself. It’s more than just measuring your height, reach and inseam. With the help of Bike Fitting, you’ll be able to find the right fit for your frame size, style of riding, and your particular dimensions. Here ya’ go…..the location for everything fit related.

SPD vs SPD-SL pedals and stack height, how do you measure?

Old 01-19-16, 11:16 AM
  #1  
Sito
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Sito's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Madrid, Spain
Posts: 217

Bikes: Canyon Aeroad, Votec VRC, Sensa Fermo, Principia R700, Cannondale Bad Boy Ultra, Ciöcc Singlespeed

Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 40 Post(s)
Liked 1 Time in 1 Post
SPD vs SPD-SL pedals and stack height, how do you measure?

Hi there

I just switched from Shimano's PD-A600 pedals (one-sided SPD road pedals) which I used with Northwave MTB-shoes to the Ultegra 6800 SPD-SL road pedals which I am using with Shimano R171 road shoes. As it's probably normal during the first days with the new pedals and shoes things feel slightly different and I am wondering if I should adjust the saddle height for the different stack height of the pedals. Problem is, I am not sure what the stack height is.

On the web I found a source that said 13.7mm for the Ultegra pedals (did not mention though if it's the 6800 or an earlier model) and 14.3mm for a Ritchey one-sided SPD road pedal which is the closest thing I could find to the PD-A600. Double sided Shimano SPD pedals are listed as 17mm. Then I guess the shoes play a role as well. I would have thought carbon-soles on a road shoe should be thinner than the sole of a non-carbon MTB shoe, right?

So my questions really are the following:

- Is there any information available on the stack height of specific pedal and shoe models?
- If not, is there a semi-reliable way of measuring it?
- Should I even bother, those couple of mm up or down won't make any difference anyway?

Any advice will be very welcome. Thanks!

Lars
Sito is offline  
Old 01-19-16, 12:42 PM
  #2  
fietsbob
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: NW,Oregon Coast
Posts: 43,598

Bikes: 8

Mentioned: 197 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 7607 Post(s)
Liked 1,354 Times in 861 Posts
SPD SL* goes on Hard sole Road shoes the Pontoons stabilize the cleat on the pedal ..

SPD is another Shimano Standard other companies adopted to Get a market Share .

so others should all be consistant to be compatible ..

We Sold shoes with that* cleat for Spinning classes , since their machines used those pedals MTB and Dual side work too .
fietsbob is offline  
Old 01-19-16, 12:44 PM
  #3  
gsa103
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: SF Bay Area
Posts: 4,401

Bikes: Bianchi Infinito (Celeste, of course)

Mentioned: 19 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 754 Post(s)
Liked 104 Times in 77 Posts
Just adjust by feel. I found I was about 5mm higher saddle with SPD & MTB shoes than SPD-SL & road shoes. The problem is that measuring shoes is really difficult, so unless you're planning to use adapters and the same shoes you can't measure the real stack (foot bottom to pedal axis).
gsa103 is offline  
Old 01-19-16, 12:51 PM
  #4  
Sito
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Sito's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Madrid, Spain
Posts: 217

Bikes: Canyon Aeroad, Votec VRC, Sensa Fermo, Principia R700, Cannondale Bad Boy Ultra, Ciöcc Singlespeed

Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 40 Post(s)
Liked 1 Time in 1 Post
Originally Posted by fietsbob
SPD SL* goes on Hard sole Road shoes the Pontoons stabilize the cleat on the pedal ..

SPD is another Shimano Standard other companies adopted to Get a market Share .

so others should all be consistant to be compatible ..

We Sold shoes with that* cleat for Spinning classes , since their machines used those pedals MTB and Dual side work too .
yeah, I know both systems very well. As I said, I am just wondering about the differences in stack height between the two...to be honest I am not exactly sure what you trying to say in your post
Sito is offline  
Old 01-19-16, 12:53 PM
  #5  
Sito
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Sito's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Madrid, Spain
Posts: 217

Bikes: Canyon Aeroad, Votec VRC, Sensa Fermo, Principia R700, Cannondale Bad Boy Ultra, Ciöcc Singlespeed

Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 40 Post(s)
Liked 1 Time in 1 Post
Originally Posted by gsa103
Just adjust by feel. I found I was about 5mm higher saddle with SPD & MTB shoes than SPD-SL & road shoes. The problem is that measuring shoes is really difficult, so unless you're planning to use adapters and the same shoes you can't measure the real stack (foot bottom to pedal axis).
makes sense, I just have a feeling the MTB SPDs are higher than the one-sided ones I have. Well, I guess I really just have to get the allen key out and move the saddle, just not sure if up or down
Sito is offline  
Old 01-19-16, 02:31 PM
  #6  
fietsbob
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: NW,Oregon Coast
Posts: 43,598

Bikes: 8

Mentioned: 197 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 7607 Post(s)
Liked 1,354 Times in 861 Posts
Originally Posted by Sito
yeah, I know both systems very well. As I said, I am just wondering about the differences in stack height between the two...to be honest I am not exactly sure what you trying to say in your post
Sorry cannot Do a full shoe/pedals market survey for you .. good luck..

I just helped customers Buy what is in the store ..

Last edited by fietsbob; 01-27-16 at 11:23 AM.
fietsbob is offline  
Old 01-19-16, 02:43 PM
  #7  
Sito
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Sito's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Madrid, Spain
Posts: 217

Bikes: Canyon Aeroad, Votec VRC, Sensa Fermo, Principia R700, Cannondale Bad Boy Ultra, Ciöcc Singlespeed

Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 40 Post(s)
Liked 1 Time in 1 Post
Originally Posted by fietsbob
Sorry cannot Do a full shoe/pedals market survey for you .. good luck..
no problem, I certainly did not expect that
Sito is offline  
Old 01-27-16, 09:30 AM
  #8  
bikebreak
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 878
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 129 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 2 Times in 2 Posts
SPD-SL is probably half a cm lower, mostly due to the thinner shoes. If you run high end carbon MTB shoes there is not a huge difference.
You are also more likely to want your seat a bit lower on your MTB/cx/commuter with the SPD and MTB shoes, so seat height is about the same at the end of the day
bikebreak is offline  
Old 02-08-16, 03:57 AM
  #9  
Ali89
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 76
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Hi,

I'm sorry I can't help with your question but I was wondering if you had noticed much of a difference (other than the stack height) between using the SPDs and SPD-Ls? In terms of power transfer etc. Thinking of doing the same.
Ali89 is offline  
Old 02-15-16, 03:09 AM
  #10  
Sito
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Sito's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Madrid, Spain
Posts: 217

Bikes: Canyon Aeroad, Votec VRC, Sensa Fermo, Principia R700, Cannondale Bad Boy Ultra, Ciöcc Singlespeed

Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 40 Post(s)
Liked 1 Time in 1 Post
Originally Posted by Ali89
Hi,

I'm sorry I can't help with your question but I was wondering if you had noticed much of a difference (other than the stack height) between using the SPDs and SPD-Ls? In terms of power transfer etc. Thinking of doing the same.
Well, yes I think there is noticeable difference. I had the PD-A600 pedals which are labeled as SPD road pedals and which I found much better in terms of power transfer than the double-sided SPDs I had before. But my new Ultegra SPD-SL are even better. The contact area to the pedal just seems larger, better distributing the pressure you put on the pedal. I also bought shoes with a carbon sole, so that definitely makes a difference in terms of power transfer.

In the end I just left the saddle height as it was and I am totally fine, so did not see any reason to change anything in that respect.
Sito is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
FWH123
Hybrid Bicycles
5
08-08-17 07:09 AM
BadBurrito
Fifty Plus (50+)
18
12-03-15 03:01 PM
scarver
Fifty Plus (50+)
14
04-13-13 05:07 PM
tjspiel
Commuting
21
06-16-11 10:38 AM
Dfarr2010
Road Cycling
9
03-22-11 07:43 PM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.