Psimet2001 

Wahoo bought Speedplay. Another shot in the war between Wahoo and Garmin. Discuss pros and cons.

Marcus_Ti

I'm wondering what Wahoo will do about Ye Olde Speedplay's MAP policy.

Psimet2001 

I don't think that will be much of the big overlying issue

Psimet2001 

For those that remember - back when Garmin was developing a power meter for pedals they were working with Speedplay. That fell through towards the end of development. If you know much about stories with Speedplay then you know they are the fiercest when it comes to control of image, market, pricing, etc. During the breakup Garmin grabbed Exustar as a pedal platform - Look Keo clone.

Garmin and Wahoo have been going head to head. GPS units, New radars that are all ant+ compliant. Smart trainers (Tacx acquisition).

SRAM bought Powertap mainly for the pedals with little to no warning and seemingly quickly. I know the product manager who was there. He said, "I had no idea it was coming. It was an instantaneous thing. Next day I am packing up product and equipment and moving it to SD".

sumgy

Waiting for Wahoo to bring out virtual cycling specific pedals within Speedplay's next round of products.

Nessism

I've been riding Speedplay going back to the solid aluminum puck version X-series jobbies. Love um. A little sad to see them gobbled up by a conglomerate but that's the way of the world these days I suppose. Hope the product quality stays high and they support the end users like days of old.

sumgy

Yep, I have them on both of my road bikes.
Won't ride anything else.

jfranci3

Can Wahoo fix the Frog? Seriously, put a bigger bearing in it and make the body less prone to water ingress.

With all the Shimano clones out there, Speedplay is the only unique product out there. A PM won't fit in a current speedplay body though, so they'll need to lose some of their weight/packaging advantage. It looks like Speedplay key IP expires in 6 years and they're moving manufacturing overseas, so Wahoo pretty much just wants the built-in audience or to prevent someone else from grabbing them.

Leinster

Maybe it'll go in the cleat? Plenty of room in there.

Sy Reene

The salient bit from the article below. I have to wonder though -- wouldn't there have to be a lot of Speedplay patents coming up or already past expiration; ie. sooner or later the knockoffs would legally be on the market?

"Wahoo founder Chip Hawkins said he thought Speedplay had the best pedal technology and felt the brand could benefit from product line tweeks and improved distribution. He said when he went to buy Speedplay pedals for personal use a few years ago, they were hard to find and difficult to choose between models. He hopes to fix both problems.

"I think Wahoo has always evolved from pain points I had in my personal life," Hawkins said.

He only half-dodged the question from those who follow this market segment: Will the acquisition lead to a pedal-based Wahoo power meter?

“We never talk about upcoming products,” he told BRAIN. But he made clear that if Wahoo did offer a power meter, it would be pedal-based."

Sy Reene

true.. but I'd prefer it in the pedal; I don't want to buy a power meter for each pair of shoes I use.

tagaproject6

Competition is good. More research, more new toys. Hopefully, more competitive pricing.

topflightpro

Putting a PM in Speedplay has been an ongoing challenge that no one has figured out yet.

Brimm Brothers was closest and tried doing the PM in the cleat. They had a working prototype. DC Rainmaker hyped it up. And they opened to pre-orders and started taking money. Then it never happened - lots of people lost a lot of money when Brimm closed shop suddenly.

Psimet2001 

Yeah I used to follow Brimm early on in the power meter wars. A lot has changed technology wise. I wouldn't put it out of grasp at all.

Point here being though that Brimm didn't just go buy Speedplay. That's not done lightly and without a solid agenda and need.

topflightpro

Totally agree. I think that SRM was able to integrate a PM into an MTB pedal spindle proves that it can be done.

Caliper

Tried Speedplay pedals, ended up taking them off. I was actually slower to clip in with the SP's. The engagement force was too high and after a few times where the cleat slipped off the side of the pedal while trying to engage, I went back to Look.

A power meter integrated into the cleat sounds great though and Speedplay has the configuration to do it across road and MTB. Wahoo probably has the R&D dollars to make it happen. Should be interesting.

Marcus_Ti

Was already a thing 5 years ago...granted I don't know what happened to BB since:

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/09/...roduction.html

Caliper

See post #13 above...

Seattle Forrest

I didn't realize Wahoo was big enough to buy Speedplay.

Seattle Forrest

Or wear them out a few times a year.

WhyFi

9 times out of 10, when someone new to Speedplay has these kinds of problems, it's because they didn't RTFM and they overtightened the screws.

Voodoo76

Yep, that and using the wrong adapter shims, cleat surface not flat. For me Zero's have been very reliable in and out.

Hope that Wahoo doesn't fiddle with them too much, don't want to start having pedal problems on my SRM crank.

bruce19

Maybe it's just me but I just want Speedplay to stay the same. Power meters are irrelevant to me. I love what I've been riding for 20 yrs.

redlude97

The new walkable cleats are amazing compared to the old design. My GF uses them because she likes the dual sided clip in, I do all the setup and service every few months and they keep chugging along. The older design worked best with keep on covers to keep some dirt/grime out but they can last 10,000+ miles if taken care of

Caliper

I used a torque wrench, because I know how to use a search engine. The clip in the cleat was free to move and release was never an issue, I just never felt confident on engagement.