I had heard of this message, but this is the first time I’ve seen it. I’d say what site, but even though it was only 5 minutes ago, I honestly can’t remember what site it was. The site lost a visitor, because simply, I’m not going to adjust my habits for you, and neither will many others.
Apologies for the name but it does fit in perfectly with the tone of the review. I guess if you are reading this, you have already heard of a large amount of the “myths” surrounding Speedplay pedals. There is one article in particular that pops up in just about every debate on Speedplay pedals in which the reviewer is completely biased to Look, both shoes and cleats. Not going to link it here, so don’t ask. This isn’t a product comparison but a single product review. Anyway, I finally got my own set of Speedplays during the week and have now done a few rides on them so it is time to report back.
I got myself some Speedplay Zero Chrome-Moly Pedals, 
the guys on the right. Yes they are the cheapest that Speedplay offers but that would be due to the weight limit of 85kg that they have on their other pedals.
(Note to Speedplay: When customers email asking about the weight limit, perhaps suggesting these would be a good idea!)
Unlike the standard SPD pedals I’d been using, some Shimano 105s, these required quite a bit more work to get setup. In part because of the extra mounting plate that is required, but also in part because you need to adjust the float screws independently. Now don’t get me wrong, having independent float screws is a HUGE feature and not something I’d remove. I would like some shoes that support 4 hole mounting and I think Speedplay could do some more in this regard. Not all of us can afford custom sole shoes.
When you first put them on and clip in having never used them before, yes they are. The amount of float and the looseness of things is a bit crazy. Hell I don’t know if anyone could leave it on the default anyway. Like all new pedals, the clipping in and out process is a bit stiff for the first while. Since Speedplay have the retention mechanism in the cleat, you’ll need to go through the loosing process more often, but since the base is metal, it’ll be a whole lot less frequent.
But back to the point, the feeling of walking on ice is there, while the cleats are unadjusted, and you are not moving, and you are standing, and you aren’t really putting pressure on the pedals. Adjust the float and it can return back like standard float in other systems. Close the adjustment screws completely and you remove the float completely should you want it.
Once you have the pedals adjusted, most of the feeling goes away. If you are someone who used to have float, but kept the closing method extremely tight, then you’ll most likely still feel some looseness, but if you are keeping things that tight, you loose the benefits of float!
When you start riding these, the whole feeling goes away. Quickly. Really really quickly. By 30 minutes into the first ride, I’d forgotten I was using new pedals, pretty much what you want. When sprinting hard, the pedals don’t move around. The whole platform feels very solid and very attached.
This will be highly dependant on the shoes. With my Speedplays, I switches to some Sidi Genius 5 shoes. There are older models of these that have a recessed section for 4 hole mounting, pretty much making the cleat flat on the front of the shoe.
In my current setup, on grippy material, walking is actually easier than the only SPD-SL stuff I used. Foot is flatter and it really doesn’t get impacted by the large Speedplay cleat.
When on tiles however it is a slightly different story. I need to make sure that I do not put pressure on the cleat. Speedplay cleats have a medal base. Metal on tile doesn’t stick. They slide. Not enough to have had my foot actually slip, but enough to feel it. The noise alone is enough to make me be careful so maybe it is just the head playing tricks. Either way, while on the road, it is easier to walk with them.
I’m not going to bust this one because it is true. There isn’t one. If you take a ride on Speedplays you’ll quicker realise why. If you have Look Pedals and Shoes and have seen their “memory” positioning for the cleats, you’ll already know why. The angle of the cleat matters. A whole fricking lot. Knock it a degree or two out and your knees with let you know, but only after it is too late.
With Speedplays, you set the lateral positioning meaning how close you want your foot to be to the crank. There is some movement in the forward and reverse positions too. After that, you click in and let your foot find its natural position. If you had cleats that tried to force it, it’ll still try and just strain. Trust me, if you have had knee problems, Speedplays could be just the ticket.
Just because the pedal is smaller, doesn’t mean you loose any power transfer. Look at the size of that cleat! That is where your foot is putting the power into. That then transfers to the pedal into the spindle.
All the arguments about having a smaller area seem to suggest your foot will warp around the pedal which is nuts. First off, your average cycling shoe shouldn’t have a flexible bottom like say a runner. If it does, your off to a bad start and you probably want platform pedals. But after this, the area that the huge cleat is supporting covers nearly the full pressure point on the ball of your foot gathering all that power and putting it where it is needed, into the pedals.
Speedplays are not without fault. While setting them up, the little adjustment screws to control the float stripped. Each cleat has two to control the inward and outward float – a great system I must say – but the screws are made of two soft a metal. I did eventually get them to turn to what I needed but a stronger screw would have been nice.
For Pros who get custom modelled soles, it isn’t an option. Older Sidi Genius shoes supported 4 hole mounts too so that looked good, but the newer stuff doesn’t. It means you are using a converter plate from 3 holes to 4 holes which adds to the stack height. This is still lower than my old SPDs but I would have liked it to be lower again.
Probably what I hear the most when talking about Speedplays. They ain’t cheap. The cleats are usually twice the price of SPD style cleats too. Part of this is probably who they are aimed at. Speedplays do not seem to be aimed at your everyday cyclist, more the road warrior or racer, which is a pity. If I had known about Speedplays when I started cycling, it’d have been a no-brainier. Proper clipless road pedals AND double sided entry.
Which brings me onto the benefits of Speedplays.
Yes there are pedals which have this but very few road pedals, which I find quite strange. I still have marks on my legs from where I didn’t clip in correctly and caught my leg from back when I was starting to cycle. All painful experiences. So much that I can remember the few bad ones pretty vividly.
With my Speedplays, yes I’ve had a few times where I didn’t go in immediately, however not once have I slipped off in the month I’ve been using them. Worst is that I simply can’t pull up but I can push down and get some power in. Means I can move away when in traffic. Getting in properly is usually just a case of wiggling my foot and click, in.
The base is metal so it should wear better than the plastic SPD systems. Since they are at least twice the cost, they should last twice as long right?
Obviously I’ve yet to be using them long enough to know just how long however I’ve quite a bit of walking in my Speedplays due to the ice of late here in Ireland so they do show some wear. Enough that the fronts and visibly tilted in where they contact the ground. While this may seem bad, I have to compare this to my SPD cleats which were pretty tore apart through a much smaller distance walk to work a few months back, and that was with brand new cleats. True I did cycle on the SPD ones for another 4-5 months, but the yellow rubber was long gone, and I stopped just before the plastic got too thin to hold the cleat into the pedal.
The Speedplays should be the same and continue going, however they have a long way to go before the wearing causes problems. Worst case I think will be if it wears into the screws so I can’t get to the threads, but there are ways to sort that.
After a few cycles I had already made my mind up. I’m completely sold and probably will never use another pedal. I’ve bought another set of Chromos for my new dream bike which I’m building right now, this time in red to match the paint job (its a Cervelo S2 – 2009 colour scheme).
For anyone starting road cycling and going clipless, I’d recommend them. Yes they are more expensive, but they are worth it. If you are commuting mainly, there are cheaper options in shoes that you can walk in normally and they are a better option for the commuter. But speedplays for everyone else.
The entry went up today for the La Marmotte 2010. Go get yours over at http://www.sportcommunication.com/
Makes the event so much more real and keeps the training so much more required.
See you there!
Acronis Backup, a great tool. Backs up files. Lets you set a real schedule (Windows take note). New one seems to compress your older backup files to save space. Forces you to buy new products with every new version. Does not reply to emails outside of maintenance contracts (which you can not renew). Makes it hard to upgrade.
What? Hold on a second. Maybe something is amiss here.
I’m a user off Acronis Backup products for close on 18 months now. I’ve been using the TrueImage corporate product. And I’ve been reasonably happy with it, but then I haven’t used it to do any full restores. I did try to pull a large file from a backup in the past. But that didn’t work. it repeatedly crashed while trying to do so. Support, who responded at the time since my maintenance contract was in date, weren’t much help. If the file was critical, I’d have been pissed. Luckily it wasn’t, and a few days and another disk later, I managed a full disk restore, mounted the new disk as an external drive, and then copied the file off. Painful.
The lately problem with restoring came from me needing to find a folder on my desktop that I knew existing sometime 5 months ago. All fine I thought, I’ll do a search of the files and it’ll show up. The product doesn’t support searching? Oh your HOME product does but your business one does not. Fine so. I’ll “test” the home version and see if I can switch to that. So in goes the trail version on a blank machine. The initial search looks promising. Finds a few text files in the first backup. I’ll leave it search and see if it can find the files I’m after.
A day later, Windows is still searching, still reading files, sort of, but no results. Watching the accesses, it is bouncing through the individual files in sequence, but then repeating. The Windows search service had also crashed and was unable to index inside the TIB files.
How about Google? They can search everything! And yes, there is an iFilter for Google Desktop. But, and there always is a but, it won’t search the archives either. It craps out.
Again, luckily, I managed to find the files I needed by browsing through a few days in June looking at the desktop each time. Can’t say I’d like to do that for something that went missing randomly.
I don’t know if they make this purposefully hard or not, but finding an option to upgrade took time. Hell I can’t even remember where it was now. All I remember was that the upgrade from the old TrueImage to the new Backup10 costs MORE than buying the home version outright as a new customer. And to add insult, the Home Version has more features, not that you can be sure they work either.
Looking at the upgrades began due to the fact that TrueImage does not work on Windows 7. It has just been added to the DoNotExecute list that Microsoft have in the OS. And it was added by Acronis. There is a way around this list, and everyone who has bypassed it has had NO problems with the program. We can only guess that Acronis have had some reason as to why they did this. Of course it would have nothing to do with their new product coming out. A new product that may or may not actually support Windows 7. The Home one does, but I wanted business style products.
When I didn’t find the upgrade option or any mention of it, I did email Acronis via my customer area. They even replied with one of those auto replies to say the email had been received. All I wanted to know was if the product was supported on Windows 7 and if it could be fixed. If not, what was the upgrade path so I could do it.
Having to wait over a week and counting for a reply to upgrade has left a bad taste in my mouth. It reminded me of the past experiences of the product and it failing. Also being unable to renew the maintenance support after the initial 12 months is worse. But more so since they operate in a 14-16 month product release cycle going on other people I’ve talked to. That would only be the case to case people to not get product updates under their maintenance agreement and be forced to upgrade or buy the brand new product each time.
It is the lack of support that as sealed the deal for me. TrueImage has been uninstalled from my laptop (not that it worked since I swapped to Windows 7). I’ve already begun searching for alternatives. The inBuilt Windows Backup may do the trick if I can get it to run on weekdays only. One I am itching to trial is inSync by a company called Druvaa. I’ve been testing their new Server backup tool and am VERY impressed with it. So something like this would be overkill for personal use, but it may work. Especially with the dedupe, it may make it a good option. Time will tell. All that is sure is Acronis will not be getting any more of my money, or any from any of the companies I work for. Their loss.
Anyone who has a Garmin cycle computer for any length of time seems to experience this, and it is a pain to fix.
The TCX files are stored on the Garmin device in the History folder and are simply an xml file which logs data when needed assuming you use the smart recording. The problem is that occasionally, it doesn’t write all the data correctly or drops some data leaving you with a corrupt file. This used to happen whenever the device crashed, although they seem to have fixed that. Now the mapping functions just get to 100% and then sit there.
The first time it happened, I simply broke open the TCX file and edited the xml to make it parse correctly. It did allow it to be imported into SportTracks although with some amount of data loss. Further attempts did show that the data loss is because it isn’t actually in the file.
If you are going for this approach watch out. VIM syntax highlighting is really slow. I did come across firstobject XML Editor (which is free) and can parse and reorganise the xml to let you find the line with the problem. Honestly Garmin, line 2 position 2014798 is quite hard to get to!
Since the data isn’t always in the TCX file, it can’t really be recovered properly. Yesterday for instance, it dropped over the laps up the hill we were climbing, pretty much loosing the only important section of the ride.
Since I did need the data from yesterday, some more Google time was spent to try get things back. With lots of tests, I found a way that has restored the TCX back giving near perfect data. Simple and free too.
First, go into the menu, select training -> Courses -> Create New
Select the file that has the problem. Give it a name and hit mode again. It’ll save the file to the device
Copy this GPX to your computer. Go online and grab a copy of TCX Convertor. (I’d recommend donating if it works and you can)
Open the file in TCX Convertor, then with the export menu, export it as a TCX file choosing the option for history. This will regenerate the broken TCX file and save it out for you letting you import it into SportTracks or Garmins software. And best of all, all the points will return.
Why Garmins device can’t do this I don’t know. It stores the ride data somewhere else other than the TCX files and can create the course even when the TCX is missing huge sections. Either way, I’m glad I’ve found this and I hope it helps.
Anyone who has worked with storage systems, or even large personal installs has heard of them. Double disk failures. Words you never say. Ever! You can be banished from the server room for even suggesting it is possible!
But the reality is it can, and does happen. It is why we have hot swappable disks, or even hot swappable drives. I’m even looking at some array by NetApp which has something called DP or Dual Parity which, they say, can handle two separate disk failures without taking down the array. Something that sounds very interesting really. The Dell / Equallogic array we have on test currently runs in a type of raid 50 so you can lose two disks but only from separate arrays. The other two disks are running as hot standby disks to allow for online rebuilding.
My current, dilemma we’ll call it, is with a much simpler setup. Intel based server with 8 SATA disks connected to a 3ware card doing Raid-5. It is a high end 3ware card too, a 9650. (I do NOT recommend these cards. We have numerous other performance issues with the cards in both Windows and Linux, the Windows ones being much worse, currently stopping me copying backups). Anyway, to make things a little more challenging, something every admin loves in their day is a challenge, the server is remote. In another country remote.
Anyway, this machine has been running fine for nearly a year. Raid array sitting there taking files happily enough. When I started testing some further backups recently, I ran into some troubles. Most of it looked to be Windows related so the usual apply the updates, reboot the machine and see what happens. Only on the first reboot, wham, disk 8 offline. Ok, so I’ll finish the updates and then worry about getting another disks over to be put into the machine. Next reboot, disk comes magically back online but in a degraded state. Strange, we’ll let this rebuild and return tomorrow, see if live has returned to normal.
Sleeping on things and letting the array rebuild and everything looks to be great and just a temporary problem that we can forget about and move on. Never a good idea but when you are overworked, what can you do?
Another day passes trying to move backups across and we hit another windows error. This time requiring a registry fix to increase the IRQStackSize. So I bang in the first change and reboot. Login and strange, the system is locking up it appears. Open the 3ware webpage and get prompted with something I’d not seen until now.
Raid Status: Inoperable
Luckily these are backups, no live data lost. We can fix this. Hell lets try a reboot and see. Can’t do anymore damage can it?
Rebooting fixes disks, magically. Both disks back online. Array in a consistent state. Why not leave well enough alone?
…
More windows problems and another reboot. Back to two disks offline. Reboot again and one disk gone. Useless, useless, useless.
If this was a live server, with live data? I’d probably cry. There’d not be much else to do. You could probably have it rebuild by replacing the disk that was going offline the most, but I’d move as much off as quick as possible. In this case, since it is a backup server, I’ll be getting the guys local to the machine to remove and reseat all the drives. And check the cables inside the case. And then destroy and reformat the array, and the filesystem, with full formats all around.
And then to top it off, 10 reboots, minimum, when the server isn’t looking! If they all work, then maybe, just maybe I’ll look at trusting it again. Any problems and I guess I’m on a plane 🙁
Well I think I’ll be putting the really critical data onto more than one backup server in future. At least more of the fileserver data anyway. The massive exchange backups will need to be looked at.
Enterprise level SANs are cheaper than you think when you factor in the cost of fixing setups like this. Okay so you aren’t going to be able to get a SAN for twice the price of a server with 16x1TB drives in it, or even three times. You may get a low spec’d one however, and if it gives more piece of mind, maybe that is worth the cost? I know that if faced with the decision in future, I’ll probably recommend a SAN and attached server for a file server assuming it is above the 1TB mark. Lower than that, you can probably get anyway with the multiple servers, replication software AND backups. Replication software is NOT backup software. Delete from live, deletes from backup.
I don’t know. All I can hope is that reseating disks and cables fixes the array, gets it online and lets me start transferring backups offsite. Another box is going to be added to give more backups, hopefully point in time backups too.
Backups really are the largest cost for something you never will use. I do honestly hope I never have to pull any data from backups, ever. It is possible what with Volume Shadow Copies on file servers and raid disks for servers. And maybe real permissions for applications, but that is another day!
I’ve recently started using the In Private browsing feature of IE8 more and more, and no not for Porn!
For testing sites I’m developing or doing a clean Google search, it would usually involved closing the browser, clearing cookies / cache etc. and then restarting. It is now reduced to Tools -> InPrivate Browsing, and bang you’ve got a clean browser session. And I know Firefox supports this, but they really make it unusable if you run Firefox with lots of open tab (currently I’ve 36 and it isn’t a busy day) because it shuts the browser down, opens the private browsing mode and then restores things after it is finished.
I guess I’ve long since used two browsers. Firefox for personal stuff and general web development tasks. IE for Intranet net applications and not the InPrivate feature.
If only someone would invent some proper work spaces for a browser. And some better way of storing/organising favourites.
Through one of the feeds I watch I came across a story of a woman who sings to herself while working in a supermarket.
How could this make the news you ask? Well the Performing Right Society in the UK, the group who collects royalties, decided to contact her and threaten so sue her if she didn’t get a performance licence. She laughed thinking it was a joke. Funnily apparently it wasn’t. They were actually serious about wanting to sue her.
Where they see the gain is beyond me? Sue her for what exactly? She doesn’t make money from it. It isn’t even her job. But yet they tried…and then relented to public pressure once it became public knowledge.
Really you have to wonder what is going on in the music industry. Monopolies are a bad thing and I completely understand why even artists don’t like supporting the man!
Full article available here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/8317952.stm
Some things don’t change, and in computers, while it may look to be moving really fast, a lot of the ideas have been floating around for a while. Technology enables technology.
I read about the book “Coders at Work” which the author kindly posted up a few interviews online. Bill Gates has one from 1986 (found here). It really is a truly insightful read. Bare in mind that this is pre windows, and not just gui windows. Hell it is pre CD Rom.
While talking about 4k memory limits, the thoughts of 650meg of data accessible to a program must have seemed surreal. Our minds aren’t capable of understanding numbers like this anymore. Best way I can explain it is like moving from only having data available from your harddisk to having data available from a Google data centre.
One of parts that really hit home was when Bill Gates starts talking about what is a effectively a Google Maps mash up.
GATES: CD ROM is totally different. We hope with CD ROM you’ll be able to look at a map of the United States, point somewhere, click, zoom in and say, “Hey, what hotels are around here?” And the program will tell you.
Quotes like that really do show how far ahead he really was. The internet was only being born but here he is thinking on new ways to display data.
If 1986 can give thoughts that only come to live today, what ways will people start displaying data in the future. Sure todays BIG computer problem is more a data problem than a technical one.
For those who have never done a support job, it probably isn’t really very obviously. Even for those who have done phone support, it may not have occurred. Currently I’ve been dealing with a lot of support issues via email and via ticket system and a crazy pattern has come up.
For about 20% of the problems reported, they do not get fixed, and the user in question never comes back.
Think about this for a second, a person goes to the hassle of emailing a problem in, and then doesn’t want to get it fixed. Maybe in some cases, they just found it easier to ignore? Who knows? But the pattern is really showing itself every time I go clear off old open tickets. It is probably a good sign that we need a “awaiting customer” customer state like so many other systems.
Customer: Hi, I’m having a problem with X.
Me: Could you describe the problem so I can fix it please?
…..
Customer: Hi, my application is running strange.
Me: Please call me whenever suits you so I can dial into the computer to fix this.
…..
Customer: Hi, my Y isn’t working. It does Z.
Me: Can you tell me when is ok for me to test the fix?
…..
In the case of the last one, the user reported a problem with his phone. Very strange forward one too one I could run 2-3 test calls. However no reply when asking when it would be ok to fix.
So maybe we need a challenge on submitting a ticket to the system? Are you sure you really have this problem?
Or perhaps a disclaimer? Fixing this may require more than just this email?
Someday hopefully we can read peoples minds and understand what they want, although since they usually do not actually know what they want, that probably won’t help either.