The next generation of Shimano road pedal is here.
Dave Rome
Some secrets are better kept than others. For Shimano, information about its new SPD-SLR road pedals was seemingly kept in a leaky bucket that at some point got kicked over. We first got wind of these new pedals over a year ago, and since then, we’ve seen the kerfuffle of Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen attempting to switch bikes at Roubaix, which resulted in those two, and the cycling world, realising the new Dura-Ace pedals were incompatible with the old.
Now, those next-generation road pedals are official. Shimano has released both Dura-Ace and Ultegra versions of its new SPD-SLR pedal system. The key selling point is reduced stack height, achieved via new cleats that move the fore-aft adjustment into the sole of the shoe. Meanwhile, there are still options for those with existing fixed-mount three-bolt road shoes.
Going alongside the new pedals are some fresh shoes. Shimano’s flagship S-Phyre road shoe has been updated in the SH-RC910. Meanwhile, Shimano is also releasing an Ultegra-level road shoe, the SH-RC810. Both of these come with Shimano’s recent rethink in last shaping and sizing, with the wide getting wider. At the same time, Shimano has replaced the women’s-specific last with a non-gendered narrow option.
Before I get into the pedals and shoes, let me quickly answer the big question you’re thinking. No, there is no official news of a matching R9300 or R8200 groupset to join the already released R9300 wheels and now pedals. All rumours suggest new groupsets aren’t coming till sometime next year.
The short of it: Shimano’s new generation of road-specific pedal. It’s lower in stack, lighter, and a bit easier to get into. But it comes with a loss of compatibility with pre-existing options.
Highs: Takes a well-proven system and offers minor refinements throughout. The stack height of Dura-Ace and Ultegra pedals now matches and is lower than before. Still the benchmark for bearing durability and road cleat walking.
Lows: Marginal benefits given the compatibility confusion and limitations introduced. Stack height benefits only exist for those who use shoes with a sliding cleat mount.
A renewed focus on stack height
Shimano’s pre-existing SPD-SL system was released in 2003 and since that time has become the most popular option in the road cycling market. Updating its widely liked system wasn’t on my bingo card for Shimano, especially given the new SPD-SLR is incompatible with the SPD-SL that so many of us know and use.
Shimano is kicking off its SPD-SLR introduction with Dura-Ace (R9300) and Ultegra (R8200) models. Again, the headline on the SPD-SLR system is that it lowers stack height, now sitting at 12.5 mm versus the previous 14.8 mm figure of Dura-Ace R9100. Yep, just a 2.3 mm reduction, a number that looks far more impressive as a percentage (15.5%). The bigger win is that for the first time, Dura-Ace and Ultegra pedals now have equal stack heights, with the new R8200 pedal sitting 3.3 mm lower than its predecessor.
SPD-SL on the left, and the new SPD-SLR on the right. It’s a visible stack difference.
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