I bought these to replace some Shimano 105 pedals that I had before. If you want pedals that are easy to clip in and out of and don't make you walk to much like a penguin than these are for you.
With the previous pedals I was using I was struggling to consistently clip in to them which made setting off from a red light awkward and there were a few times I looked kinda dumb trying to clip-in in the middle of the intersection. With these I can pretty much clip-in first try without looking. There's no vagueness if you clipped-in or not, there's a loud click and you can feel the cleat connect with the pedal.
When you first open the box there will be a couple sheets of paper with instructions on them. FOLLOW THOSE. The cleats take a few minutes to install on your shoes because there are a few steps to follow and a bunch of small parts that you may need to switch for other small parts depending on your shoes. One thing the instructions don't mention is once you get the cleats on the shoes and you try to clip in for the first time it probably won't work and that's because the spring in the cleats is really stiff at first and will take a bit to loosen up. What I did was straddle the bike and clip in and out over and over again for a few minutes to get that spring to loosen up. Once I did that I didn't have any problems but there was a bit there when I thought I would have to return everything because it wasn't working or I had broken something.
Once reason why people like Speedplay pedals so much is because of all the float they offer you. The first couple of rides I did it felt weird (especially while standing while pedaling) because your feet move around so freely but you quickly get used to it and the float is adjustable with the little grub screws on the side of the cleat. With the 105 pedals I could go about 20 miles before my right knee would become sore but with these I haven't had any issues.
The reason I bought the Pave's instead of the Zero's is because they supposedly handle dirt and water better because of the cutouts in the pedals. I have't had a chance to really test that because I bought these right before summer.
I mentioned earlier about walking in these. With the 105 pedals I found walking to be fairly awkward but with the Speedplay cleats its been much better. Its not like walking in a normal pair of shoes by any means but its much easier than the 105 cleats. There's a lot more rubber touching the ground with these.
I would also recommend buying the Speedplay lube. It helps to keep the spring lubed and also keeps water out. I apply a couple drops of the stuff every few rides and everything seems fine.
