SpeedPlay Nanogram Zero Titanium Pedals

Description

Speedplay Zeros have proven to be one of the best pedals to dance with; light, low stack height, and incredible cornering clearance. The Speedplay Zero Nanogram Titanium is that much better and represents a major step forward for what is already the pedal of choice for Team Saxobank-Sungard. Speedplay decided that their light pedal wasn't light enough. We wrote a review of the stainless steel-axled Zeros last year and found them a pretty amazing component. Turns out, there were ways to make them lighter. So Speedplay did just that and call it the Nano. 65g per pedal is feathery light. A quick eyeball reveals nothing different. In some respects, nothing is different. Same shape spindle and body, with bowties and indents at the same places. But a second glance shows something is up. There are no wrench flats on the spindle. That's because the titanium spindle has a fitting for a 6mm Allen key on the end of the spindle. The black body isn't the usual composite plastic but hard carbon; the bowties aren't steel, but aluminum. And the bolts holding the bowties together are titanium. There are more changes still. There are still three sets of bearings inside the pedal, one needle and two ball. But the larger of the two ball bearing sets have ceramic balls running on stainless steel races. (They investigated making the other two ceramic as well, but couldn't find ceramic needle bearings and found no performance difference swapping in ceramic on the smaller balls) The bearings are lubed with a lighter grease that further reduces friction. Yes, they'll need more frequent lubing, but the performance benefit is worth it. At the far end of the pedal, a titanium bolt holds the pedal body on the spindle. On the near end, a new rubber o-ring featuring nanotubes keeps grease in and the outside out. The cleat also looks the same. And is similarly different. That the spring kit is black, not yellow, is obvious, but you can't see that the plastic housing is carbon. Likewise, it is h...