 Now this is a controversial video for a couple of reasons. Reason number one, while Wahoo aren't paying me in money for this video, they did send me these power link pedals for free to review, which I'm not going to do. And reason number two, I'm going to try and convince beginner cyclists why you should spend roughly three times more on a set of clip in pedals as you commence your journey. Now for reference, the entry level Wahoo Speedplay Comp pedals come in at 149 USD recommended retail. However, most beginner cyclists, assuming you're going to be looking at the bigger brands are going to be purchasing something like this. Shimano pedal or maybe a Look Classic KO3, which you can both pick up for around 50 USD. And let's face it, when you're a beginner, you're more price sensitive for many reasons. However, clip in pedals tend to send chills down the spine of those people looking to get into road cycling, and if you're looking to mitigate the clip stack or the bruised ego in front of colleagues or friends or worse yet, damaging your bike or maybe breaking a bone, then maybe the $100 USD extra is worthwhile or at least gives you motivation to listen to these five compelling reasons. I put together with my good friend and bike fitting expert Neil Stambry on why we think the Wahoo Speedplay System should at least be worth considering for those beginners looking to get into their first clip in system. And I have three considerations for you at the end. Now, before we start the compelling reasons, just know that I'm excluding the fact that obviously they're going to be better build quality than the cheaper versions and they are roughly 100 grams lighter. So compelling reason number one, I'm calling it the step on engagement. That's right, you don't need to slide in on an angle to clip in. You literally stand on the pedal, swizzle it around a little bit. In fact, DC Rainmaker, an excellent tech reviewer on YouTube aligns it to or his friend, I think colleague, to mashing a bug with your foot. And you'll simply clip in. For me, and I know many others out there, it's so much easier, especially at that beginner level versus tipping the pedal up with your foot and then coming in on a certain angle. Now, caveat, the first few step-ons after setting this pedal system up, it's gonna need a bit of extra oomph until the engagement system loosens up. But once you've done 10, 15 step-ons, you're gonna be good to go. Now, that's stepping in or on. What about clipping out? Which is compelling reason number two, the easy tension cleats. Now, these great cleats you can see come stock on the Speedplay Comp pedals and are designed specifically to make it easier to clip out of the pedal. You see, on the more advanced pedals, on the Wahoo range, like the Powerlinks, they have these black cleats, which is their standard tension model. In other words, it's gonna be a little bit more effort to clip out, but conversely, you're probably gonna feel a little bit more locked into that pedal as well, which is great for road cyclists with more experience. But if you're a beginner, knowing that you've got an easier ability to clip out is gonna be music to your ears. And it's as simple as twisting the foot and you're out of there. Compelling reason number three is the dual-sided entry. So yes, with Shimano and with Look, this is a Shimano pedal, it's weighted to mitigate you from clipping in on the wrong side. But you still must get the pedal into a position and angle in. Sometimes, if you miss the angle or knock the pedal with the free foot that you're using to take off, that thing is spinning around and stressing you out as a beginner cyclist with the Wahoo speed plays. However, you just step on them either side, it doesn't matter with that slight foot twist as we discussed before and off you go. Compelling reason number four is you get a lot more float with the speed play. What is float? I hear many of you asking, it's the ability for the foot or the shoe to move around or float while it's clipped in during a pedal stroke. Now yes, Shimano has float options that go up to six degrees and Look up to nine degrees, but speed play will allow you to go from zero to 15 degrees without having to change the cleat over. It's all adjustable using these inward and outward limit screws. Now why is this float good for beginner cyclists? I hear many of you asking because a common hypothesis is surely I'm better just to lock it into zero degrees and I'm gonna have a much more efficient, aerodynamic, perfect pedal stroke which is a common misconception, but here's the thing. Many beginners will set up their bike in a basic manner. Most are simply not gonna invest three to $400 into a proper fit up front. If anything, they'll probably do it from the bike shop. They purchased their first bike from. Therefore, there's a fair chance your fit could be a little bit off and you won't have any visibility. On your body's need to compensate during a pedal stroke to make ways for any slight physical discrepancies. For example, I compensated as you just saw on the bike for almost 10 years without really knowing it. This was due to a hip impingement and a slightly longer left leg. I knew nothing about until I got a proper bike fit with a smart dude who knows a lot about human biomechanics, Neil Stambry. Therefore, my left leg used to squirrel around on the pedal a lot to compensate for these issues. I started my journey on some cheap Shimano pedals though and after six to eight months of experiencing some knee issues, I was suggested speed play pedals and I transitioned and my knee issues went away. Now, obviously if you've got issues yourself, like what I had and like many do, you will want to get that resolved longer term but the speed play system will give you your legs, your feet, your hips, the flexibility to move in a pattern that won't provoke injury. Compelling reason number five is agility. One of the weird things about road cycling, about buying bikes is we buy pedals, we screw them in, we clip in and then we start riding many, many hours without considering a very important topic which you can hear more about up here, it's called Q-Factor which is essentially how far apart your feet are on the bike when clipped in but here's the thing, some people have wide hips, narrow hips, duck feet, pigeon toe, the list goes on so what you may find over time is you may need smaller spindles or longer spindles to improve power delivery on the bike and mitigate injury and Wahoo Speedplay have a far greater range of spindles to accommodate those needing to change Q-Factor. The only thing you need to keep in mind is if you change the spindle yourself, whether it be a Wahoo spindle or aftermarket, apparently from what I've heard you will lose your warranty which I feel is something Wahoo should change or resolve but something you should be aware of but just ultimately know you've got that flexibility there with the Wahoo Speedplay system. Two additional items on agility, number one as you progress your cycling now, as a beginner you may want to start leveraging power and knowing you're in a pedal system that also has a power option is a really good thing and I can tell you after using these pedals for the past four to five months, they tick all my boxes, they are easy to use, they are reliable and they have accurate power readings and number two as you continue to progress you might want to think about doing some racing, local criterium racing perhaps or maybe you just want to go fast in your local bunch ride and there's a bit of cornering involved, well because of the slim profile, with these pedals you actually get better cornering clearance than say these. So the three considerations, number one, if you do a bit of research online you might bump into some forums and articles which articulate a manufacturing flaw with some first to market Wahoo Speedplay pedals. The issue was described as lateral play as you can see here. I've spoken to Wahoo before I published this video and they do put their hands up, there was a manufacturing issue with some pedals in those initial batches but it has since been resolved according to Wahoo. Consideration number two, while the pedals no longer require you to replace the internal grease which they once did and I never did it because I disliked doing stuff with my hand so this was a big improvement for me but you'll definitely still wanna add some dry lube to the cleats every few weeks to ensure smoother engagements and longevity. And consideration number three, yes, when you take it out of the box the cleats system does look intimidating but just know as somebody that dislikes doing something with their hands it's not as bad as it looks. I'll put a tutorial in the video description below if you wanna check it out. So now that you've heard the five compelling reasons with three considerations as a beginner cyclist are you willing to spend roughly $100 USD more on a set of clip-in pedals? I'll be keen to get your thoughts below and I'll catch you in the next video.