Thanks to all the legends for pioneering this hack! I’ve been tracking it for a while, and finally decided to take the dive after finding some Baldwin’s on eBay for $30.
As a mechanical engineer with a background in designing shafts and bearings, I thought I’d provide some insight into the layout of the 2 pedals I have, and how they fit together from an axial stackup perspective. See the attached layouts and explanations.
Ultimately, I chose to go with the method without the oil retainer on the crank side. This method matches the assembly method of the stock Assioma pedals, and allows for proper nut torque to be applied. I don’t trust Loctite by itself to hold the nut on in all conditions over time (though, I didn’t do so great in chemistry either!)
The only concern of this method is premature failure of the crank side bearings. However, the XPEDO bearings should provide decent life because they are shielded with rubber seals, as opposed to metal shields from Assioma. This concern could be further mitigated by machining down the oil retainer to ~1mm, or finding a 10x15x1 washer/shim to place between the BRG and axle shoulder (closest I’ve found is a Suzuki GSX-R 10x15x1.5 brake banjo washer, which could also be machined).
Wow, I didn’t believe how easy this hack was! It was even easier than I had thought. I went ahead and purchased a new pair of Favero Assioma pedals that I’m really excited to use. I want the ability to ride gravel with these since that’s primarily the riding I do and need the SPD pedals. I then bought a cheap pair of the Issi Flash III pedals. Brand new on eBay for $54. The conversion was so simple and seems to have worked perfectly. You do need the III version of these pedals because they are the only ones with 3 washers. The I and II versions do not have 3 washers. That would be the same for the Issi Flip and Trail pedals as well.
When I put the Issi pedal on the Assioma spindle, the pedal actual spins BETTER than when it’s on the Issi spindle. I took the small rubber washer out of the inside of the Issi Flash pedals and kept the Oil Retainer from Favero on the spindle. Used the Favero nut and then the Issi end cap. There’s no play in the Issi pedals when tightening the nut on the Favero spindle as there appears to be with Xpedo pedals. It’s really as simple as that! Unscrew the end cap on both, unscrew the nut on both, slide them off, take out the rubber washer on the inside of the Issi pedal, keep the oil retainer on the Favero spindle and slide the Issi Flash pedals on the Favero spindle, tighten the nut, tighten the end cap and there you go! Brand new power meter SPD pedals!
I saw above some people were having a hard time finding xpedos - If anyone is interested in the xpedo trvs duo pedal for this, I have a set I decided not to use that I’d sell for a good discount. They work - I documented testing them somewhere up in this thread, but only rode them a couple times. Flat one side spd the other. If I kept them, I’d cut off the platform with a dremel to make a super light one side low profile SPD (even with the flat platform side it’s already lighter than any of the other options) but I ended up going to keos.
We don’t support selling personal merchandise on this forum. The closest we have is the “Pay it forward” thread where the only payment is for shipping charges, not merchandise.
So I did the hack to Xpedo XCR (you can see my post above).
After a few rides (3-4) I am noticing a bit of a grinding noise when I pedal. It seems that the noise is not related to the hack itself since it is not during the pedals rotation but instead the metal to metal contact between the cleat and the XCR itself.
My experience in the past is mainly road SPD-SL which have a plastic cleat so you get no noise but the play and wear of the cleat. Now with the metal cleats, it seems I have the same float but sometimes, I get this metal grinding noise on the pedal stroke.
Has anybody experienced this? Is this a problem with the Spedo XCR, and will it be better if I try SPD cleats? I hear that the SPD cleat works with the XCR. Is this true?
I did the hack using different pedals (M-Force 4), but I’m not getting any grinding noises using SPD cleats (SH-56 multi-release). The SPD cleats are metal too though, so I’m not sure if it’ll help your issue to make the switch, but there might be differences in the shape that make them quieter. The SPD cleats should work just fine with the pedals though.
The Wellgo’s show a DU bushing on the inner side rather than the 2 sealed bearings of the assioma. The outer side shows a bearing (not sure of the size) as the assioma.
It maybe the outer diameter of the bushing matches the bearing size of the assioma. or it may not
I’ve found a set on ebay so I may give these a try - not possible to get Xpedo x4 in United Kingdom at the moment.
Seller is posting by hermes today so hopefully I’ll get them monday next week. I’m not convinced they’ll work but for £15 inc cleats I’ll give it a go to replace my gen 2 stages on the tracklocross
SPD creates a platform where metal cleats grind in metal pedals. I live where we have a lot of sand and I ride gravel. Once you get sand on the cleats and clip in, you can get the sound of almost sandpaper as you pedal. Is this what you mean? If so, that’s true of all SPD pedals.
Yes! This is exactly what the sounds is like. Its like a scraping rather than grinding.
I think its a normal metal to metal scraping between the cleat and the pedal. Nothing to do with the hack but a bit frustrating.
I mainly only hear it when doing hard intervals and transitioning from a “pushing” pedal stroke to a “pulling” pedal stroke, when I engage more my hamstrings than my quads.
I didn’t have to do any modifying to my Sidi Dominators, but I have small feet (39) and women’s shoes, which are often narrower than men’s shoes, so YMMV.
Fizik M3B required no cleat cutting. (A quite narrow, but comfy shoe.)
Lake MX237 definitely did, but it’s a super trivial thing to do. (A much wider shoe.)
I‘ve tried the hack with the Bontrager SPD Pedals. Although they pedal-body of the Bontrager only got 2 bearings (1 inner and 1 outer) and the axis is slightly different to the Assioma axis (see the Photos) the hack seems to work and the Bontrager pedal-body spins on the Assioma axis as easy as on the Bontrager axis. The power data is more or less the same compared to my Wahoo Kickr Core (average Power is exactly the same).
I used the Assioma Axis + Bontrager pedal-body + Assioma Nut + Bontrager Endcap (but also worked with the one from the Assioma). I couldn’t use the Assioma inside washer/O-Ring because otherwise the body would have been too tight to spin freely. However there is a rubber-sealing „included“ in the Bontrager pedal-body so I think it is alright. No wobbling/play of the pedal-body at all. I also didn’t had to use loctite etc.
The SHIMANO SH-TR5 work perfectly fine with this hack. No cutting at all. I have installed the SHIMANO SM-SH40 SPD-Adapter and there was also no cutting needed.
I bought the Favero Assioma Uno second hand. Has anyone any idea on how to re-register the pedal to my name/account? Atm whenever I start the Favero Assioma App I have to re-finde my Assiomas every time (by tapping on the magnifying glass on the top right). The App does not remember my Pedals in the App (see the screenshot).
