Speedplay Frog Chrome-Moly Pedal: Not just a great off-road pedal system, Speedplay Frog pedals are ideal for road riders who prefer a recessed, walkable cleat. Like their amphibious namesake, Frog pedals are equally at home in dry or muddy terrain.
Submitted by
Bodeen
a Weekend Warrior
from Germany
Date Reviewed: November 12, 2011
Strengths: None that I can think of. I mean, for Christ's sake, the casing is made of plastic.
Weaknesses: Where do I even begin... Cleats would not stay engaged. Just yesterday I went on a slow ride with a buddy of mine, I must have came unclipped several dozen times. The worst is while trying to get uphill when your shoe comes unclipped. It's just about enough to make you lose control, not to mention losing forward momentum...by that point you're pretty much forced to dismount and walk the rest of the way up the hill.
Bottom Line:
Goin' back to Shimano. Should've just upgraded to some XTRs instead of wasting money on this garbage.
Submitted by
PATRICK
a Cross Country Rider
from Saint Germain, WI
Date Reviewed: October 29, 2011
Strengths: Plenty of float and simplicity
Weaknesses: Not very durable, a cleat ripped off with just three months use. Also the clip in is problematic and not positve. I use speedplays on my road bike and like them. Used three years before having to replace bearings. I think these pedals were released to production prematurely. Just spent $40.00 + shipping for new housing with cleat. These things may be O.K. for fire road cruising however they are not up to the task for technical mountain bike riding or racing.
Bottom Line:
Speed play needs to go back to the drawing board with these things. Maybe engineer a fix and make available new cleats and pedal housings at minimal cost to people who paid good money for a terribly flawed product.
Similar Products Used: Egg beaters, Shimano SPD, Ritchie ( used Ritche's on one bike for over eight years wih absolutely no problem)
Bike Setup: Specialized 29er Comp, W/ Shram drive train.
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Submitted by
endo daze
a Cross Country Rider
from New England
Date Reviewed: September 20, 2011
Strengths: Super simple and effective design. Clip in and out is effortless, but holds secure when engaged. Float is awesome.
Weaknesses: Cleats do wear, but cleaning and waxing helps minimize.
Bottom Line:
Have used Frogs for a few years now, and use them on all my bikes off-road and on. Having the float is excellent. Gives you that much more freedom to move in the cockpit. Simple cleating system gives you confidence to get in and out in a flash. Have never popped out accidentally. Scratching my head at some of the others comments about fore-aft movement or popping out when pushing forward -- the cleats engage by pushing forward... Seem durable enough to me, and I like riding rock gardens and babyheads. Wish Speedplay would give them some attention as I'm sure the could be tweaked for the better (have some ideas). Wicked pedal.
Strengths: Knee friendly unlike most other pedals.
Easy in, easy out. Nothing in-between.
Easy maintenance. Grease every few months, more often if you ride more than I do.
Cleats are walk able and last a long time.
Weaknesses: If you do not consider that they are expensive: NONE!
Bottom Line:
Best pedals I have ever used.
I do not agree that it is difficult to know if you are clipped in or not, the only thing with these pedals that is different than many other (and far inferior pedals) is adjusting the cleat.
And that is not even difficult.
Screw on the cleats, do not tighten, put your shoes on the pedals, turn the shoe so much inward that it almost touches the crank arm, tighten the screws and you are ready to use the most knee friendly pedals I have ever tried.
Shimano, Crank Brothers, are not knee friendly at all, Time is a little bit knee friendly.
The frogs have one problem only and that is the price of them.
If you have knee problem, try them and after getting used to the wonderful free feeling in them you will like me probably never use other pedals.
I am now having the second pair of these pedals (first were stolen with my old Scott Strike Carbon) and if these are worn out before I am my next pair will be a - pair of Speedplay Frogs
Similar Products Used: Shimano
Crank Brothers
Time
(Twenty6 Predators not clipless and can not be compared)
Bike Setup: Ibis Mojo, SRAM XO, SMP, Formula R1, RockShox Revelation 20mm, Hope Pro3.
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Submitted by
Bifuss
a Racer
from Santa Cruz, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: March 2, 2011
Strengths: Nice free float sensation at first...
Weaknesses: Incredibly annoying for-aft play hurts my bad knees, come out way to easily, cleats worn after only a few weeks, cleat maintenance is a pain
Bottom Line:
Do not buy. The for-aft play will never be worth the buttery smooth goodness of float--please fix this problem speedplay, and I will then forgive you for my throbbing knees.
Submitted by
rjcarlson49
a Cross Country Rider
from TucsonAZ/EugeneOR
Date Reviewed: February 12, 2011
Strengths: Durability of pedal, weight, float, simplicity, low maintenance
Weaknesses: Cleat wears a little faster than I would like; probably should be cheaper
Bottom Line:
I am mystified by the people who claim these break constantly and easily. I have 3 sets on my mtn bike, road bike and tandem. My wife has 2 sets. I ride the mtn bike about 75 days a year. I finally had a pedal break the other day after many years of constant use. I had just been thinking that I really ought to replace them as I had not idea how old they were. I'm guessing 7 or 8 years.
I also have no trouble with entry/exit. 6 months in Eugene means I ride often in mud. 6 months in Tucson means I ride often in sand.
Lastly, I suppose it is personal preference, but I don't understand people who don't like float. I find the feeling of my foot being forced to a center to very annoying. Each to his own though.
The release takes getting used to. Without the correct movement you WILL NOT come out. With the correct movement you come out effortlessly. This means until it is second nature you will have FDGB problems in panic releases.
Similar Products Used: SPDs, Time ATAC (would not work at all for me),
Bike Setup: Turner 5-Spot, Talas fork
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
Tom Levkulic
a Cross Country Rider
from Orwigsburg, PA
Date Reviewed: November 21, 2010
Strengths: Light weight
Weaknesses: The pedal
Bottom Line:
Ok, rode spd's forever, built up a new ride lightweight put frogs, could not get used to the no spring retention, a slight ankle jerk and your out, would NOT give up because I spent a small fortune on them, "give um time" well its been 2 plus years...THEY S##K, Santa's bringing me new pedals!
Submitted by
mpowered2
a Weekend Warrior
from Holladay
Date Reviewed: October 13, 2010
Strengths: Easy in and Out, Lite weight and Simple
Weaknesses: Cleats break
Bottom Line:
The stuff rocks if your a weight junkie. The less I carry and the lighter my bike is makes a big difference on a long, hot day on the rocks. The Speedplay Frog Ti pedals are light and fast to get into but just in case you need to bail they are lightning fast to get out of. The only downside are the shoe cleats. We bike MOAB and the rocks are tough on them. But its a small price to pay when you play hard and if your used to paying the price for Ti play harder.
Bike Setup: Ellsworth Truth, Full XTR Group, Syncros Ti Seat post, SPOX wheel set, King Headset, Marzzochi Bomber X FLY, Seven Ti,
Performance Design Carbon Bars, Serfas ARC Ti Seat, Salsa Ti skewers,Speedplay Frogs Ti
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Submitted by
Mark S
a Cross Country Rider
from Pescadero, Ca, USA
Date Reviewed: August 6, 2010
Strengths: Very light well made
Weaknesses: Pedal is useless for a good circular motion, shoe comes out when pushing forward.
Worthless in general can't recommend it to anyone when so many useful pedals are out there. I'd rather go back to toe clips, pedals are are a fraud.
Bottom Line:
Do not waste your time or your money on these poorly designed useless pedals.
Bike Setup: Gary Fisher X-Cal 29er XT cranks riser bars otherwise stock.
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Submitted by
bubba13
a Cross Country Rider
from Bend, Oregon, USA
Date Reviewed: December 7, 2009
Strengths: Float, smooth exit/entry
Weaknesses: Breakage and fast wear.
Bottom Line:
I have ridden Speedplay Frogs for over ten years and I have had to switch to something more durable. First eight years I went through two sets of Frogs. Reasonable... The old design cleat was much better in my opinon. Pedals held up to abuse with minimal breakage. Then the redesign of the cleat. Two seasons of riding and two sets of broken pedals. Engagement not as secure and wear was too fast. It seems pedal quality dropped also. Plastic rotation stop tabs broke easily and rock strikes sheared metal ring easily. Needle bearing housings crack easily and look bargain basement cheap. Speedplay, please do a heavy duty version with real bearings and stout materials! Or at least offer inexpensive rebuild kits with good bearings to keep your customers happy.
Submitted by
DouceMan
a Weekend Warrior
from Stow, MA
Date Reviewed: October 27, 2009
Strengths: Light weight. Easy, quick unclip.
Weaknesses: Bearing design.
Cleat wear.
Bottom Line:
High Maintenance:
The inner bearing uses the pedal shaft as a bearing surface for the needle bearings. Unless you are meticulous about cleaning and re-lubing, the shaft is going to wear. This is particularly dissapointing when you discover that your titanium shaft is shot!
The cleats wear quickly which manifests as annoying play. Also, the recent 1-piece design seems to wear much quicker on both the cleat interface side and the outer surface. My guess is that this change was done as a cost reduction and the steel is a softer grade.
Submitted by
Pelly_NH
a Cross Country Rider
from Merrimack, NH
Date Reviewed: April 1, 2009
Strengths: Total freedom...the float on these initially feels like you're standing on ice, but you adjust and will never settle for another pedal again.
Weaknesses: The original speedplay frog cleats were infinitely better...Over time, the design slightly changed for the worse. Regardless, still a great pedal.
Bottom Line:
Whether XC racing, going downhilling at various mountains, jumping, or just bombing around...the Frogs were exceptional. Living in NH, I needed a pedal that would hold up to some serious mud and take some punishment given the rocks/roots of New England. I've used Frogs for several years...the only component choice that never changed.
Submitted by
devo_stevo
a Cross Country Rider
from Brigham City, UT, USA
Date Reviewed: March 18, 2009
Strengths: Light, good float and easy release when everything is clean. they make good road pedals.
Weaknesses: Don't look at that mud or sand or water that attracts dirt to your shoes or you won't be able to get into or out of the pedals.
Bottom Line:
I bought these thinking that after all these years Speedplay would have these things dialed in great and they would be a good pedal. I have known a few people who rode these and they liked them a lot. I have been riding on the road lately and barely took them off road today for the first time and I have to say that I haven't been this disappointed in a product for a long time. I had to cross a small stream and my foot got wet. Suddenly I couldn't get out of the pedals and when I finally did, I couldn't get back in them without some serious effort.
In the end, I think that Speedplay should simply market these pedals as road pedals. I have been using them as such since January and have been quite happy with them in that capacity. As far as I'm concerned they are not fit for off road use and will be coming off of my bike before I ride it again.
Similar Products Used: time ATAC and some old Shimano spd's
Bike Setup: Giant Antem 2 with some parts on it.
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Submitted by
supermuts
a Cross Country Rider
from Arnhem, The Netherlands
Date Reviewed: February 21, 2009
Strengths: The free float just stole my heart because I got bad knees resulting from 25 years MX- and enduro motorcycle racing. The stiff feel and not easy unlocking of i.e. SPD hurted my knee. The free float and easy disengaging is one of a kind. I use them both on my MTB and streetracer.
Weaknesses: Mud and lose sand sometime can be a hassle. Engaging them straight form back to forward is the best way to clean the combo and let it engage as you want. But going the other way will stuck the stuff inside and bring not engagement and/or uneasy to get out. The old cleats where better, made a sound when engaging and didn't wear that fast. Especially at the side clips, the achilles heel of this system), get easier abuse then the old ones. At the oldies you could turn the side clips and so could be used a little longer.
Bottom Line:
Important is cleaning cleats and pedal after each ride and spraying them with cheap teflon spray (cleats only). Engaging from back to forth is an important you-should-do that also to prevent unnecessary wear out. In total will a set of cleats last approx 10 months. I have currently 5 or 6 complete sets bought cheaply via Ebay and will use these babes for hopefully many many years.
Similar Products Used: SPD but that was a short experience.
Bike Setup: Merida carbon Team fully, XTR shift and disc brake with Tune wheels incl NOtubes rims.
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Submitted by
Bobby Dee
a Cross Country Rider
from Lonodn, UK
Date Reviewed: November 10, 2008
Strengths: Float!
No spring tension to overcome when engaging/disengaging.
Weaknesses: Cleat wear.
I managed 6 months per set of cleats road commuting. In both cases I wanted to replace at 4 months but couldn't justify the cost.
Poor mud clearance.
Bottom Line:
I got these because they were on sale. I'd heard about and liked the idea of the free float design.
First few months were absolutely amazing in every respect.
Then the cleats started to wear quicker and quicker.
4 months on and traffic light sprints were prone to the odd pull out. Not nice.6 months and cleats wore through completely.
Tried these on a cross bike and they jammed up with the mud: Poor.
Second set of cleats wore out totally and I couldn't face another £30, so got some more Atacs second hand and new time cleats.
I'll miss the free float, but I'll have complete confidence in my pedals again.
I am just posting because I recently switched from Candies to Frogs. I did this kinda randomly when I was on vacation in Northern Michigan. One of my candies froze out and was un Read More »
