[email protected] wrote:
>
> I'm certain that there are lots of consumers out there who love them but if it was a good design
> then Lance and the rest would have used them.
Oh, please.
So the those "lots of consumers out there who love them" are simply ignorant, and do not recognize
that the SPD design is "not good?" They seem to work just fine. If they are generally "not good,"
why aren't people abandoning them en masse?
What does Lance know about my feet that I don't know? What does Lance know about my pedals that I
don't know? What does Lance know about my bikes that I don't know?
"It's not about the pedals."
> If Shimano believed in the SPD/SPD-R pedal they would not have redesigned their road pedal.
How do you figure? They (and copycats) still sell a lot of them. That sounds like a "good
design" to me.
> Does Lance use the new Shimano pedals, and Shimano products in general, because:
>
> - Shimano products are superior to their competitors products? No.
How could the components used by a any sponsored professional uniquely determine what products are
"superior?" Does anyone believe that Lance could not have won the TdF with Campy? So why is your
question asked in the first place? If "what pros use" doesn't say what is good, then you can't say
that SPD pedals are good or bad based on whether or not a pro uses them.
> - Lance has brand loyalty to Shimano? No.
What does this have to do with anything? What does it answer?
> - Shimano pays Lance seven figures to use the stuff? Yes.
So then "what Lance uses" has little to do with what is really superior. Make up your mind.
> Consumers should not believe that Lance has tried the new Look, Campagnolo, Time, Speedplay and
> Shimano pedals and has decided to use Shimano because they work the best.
Then why should we assume that anything a sponsored rider uses indicates too much regarding design
quality? (I don't make the assupmtion -- short of clear failures, product use by a pro only says a
product *may* be successfully used by others.) So we don't know much regarding "how good SPD is" for
road users based on what any sponsored rider does. About the most we can say about Lance's rejection
of SPD-R is that he didn't personally like them. It signals nothing other than a personal choice and
that does not translate into "SPD is not a good design."
> There are lots of pedals on the market that would please Lance. He rides Shimano because they
> offered to write the biggest check.
Maybe, but I doubt you really have that much inside information to really know how much influence
the Shimano check _alone_ has. Shimano's sponsorship is certainly only a fractional amount of
Lance's total earnings. What is the fraction? How much does he care to twist the screw and get a bit
more out of this particular sponsor? All said, he might be fairly content with the equipment and the
check -- that means any other sponsor would need to overcome that inertia to draw him away.
GGGOOOOOOOO LLLLLLLLLLLAAAAANNNNNNCCCCCCEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
