The Most Indestructible Pedal? Shimano SPD Pedal Review (M8100 vs M9100)

[Music] hey everyone thanks for tuning in my name is Neil with bike packing.com and today we're going to chat about the most indestructible pedal I have ever used that's right this is an SPD pedal from Shimano and this specific one is the PD 780 and it has withstood the test of time hands-down the most durable piece of gear I have used to date so today I'm going to chat with you about not only these pedals but also xtr pedals and some differences between XT and XT are so taking a look at my bin of clipless pedals 9 times out of 10 if I reach in here I will find a Shimano pedal because I like them so much that being said I have used a bunch of other pedals like EC time I've seen pedals come into my bike shop that have come in destroyed I've broken these time pedals I just keep going back to Shimano just because they are reliable so Shimano started making SPD pedals back in 1990 so that's been 30 years of pedal innovation and manufacturing which is pretty impressive Shimano SPD stands for Shimano pedaling dynamics and basically this specific pedal has dual sided clip ins so basically you can clip in on either side they do make specific pedals where it's flat on one side and clip in on the other side and they also make different styles of these like a trail pedal that has a little bit of a bigger platform you can adjust the tension or the release of the pedal by a three mil allen key here on both sides so ensuring that they're both at the same tension is is important and basically all you need is an 8 mil allen key to install and uninstall on the bike so back in 2014 I purchased these XT pedals and at the time the model was the PD 7 80s and that's what this is we are now on the PD 8100 s so I think that's two or three generations of pedals since I purchased this one but this pedal has endured a ton since the new generation came out this past year it has endured the tour Divide Colorado trail race Arizona trail race a number of different bike packin rides races and then everyday pedaling the cool thing about this pedal is I haven't touched it the only thing I've actually ended up doing was tightening the axle and other than that nothing's nothing's been done to it and the bearings and everything just feel and glide like day one so real quick I want to compare all of the xt pedals that i've used so this one i have in my hand which i got in 2014 is the pd 780 they now have the pd 8000 which was the previous version to the pd 8100 basically the differences between the pd 8000 and the pd 8100 are very minimal just cosmetic the difference between the pd 780 and the pd 8100 is basically the stack of the pedal and when we're talking about stack of the pedal we're talking about the distance between this point and this point and this one is 20 millimeters the PDM 9000 versus the PDM 9100 alright so the main differences between the two are as follows they added a wider aluminum body that extends all the way down to the end of the pedal where the pedal man that is wow that creates more surface area it's rounded which is supposed to aid in shedding mud so technically you're not putting all of that all of your shoe on that contact patch so that's almost making up for lost space there the other difference is upgraded bearings and acts so this whole system that the aluminum pedal body spins on is upgraded with new bearings and an axle and there wasn't any issue in the first place in my eyes and they've made it better which is pretty awesome and then the other thing is the stack height is identical on both pedals alright so just talking about upkeep and maintenance and what I've found works and what I don't really necessarily even need to do so almost all of the pedals that I've used have not even been touched the only thing that you might notice in Shimano SPD pedals is a little bit of play in the axle and that's normal over time it loosens up and any of your bike shops can can tighten that and that's a really good time to just replace all of the grease within the axle and the pedal itself the other thing I've noticed is sometimes especially in really dry climates it takes a little bit more effort or the pedal kind of gets stuck to the cleat so I've used some try flow on these Springs right here and just putting a little bit of try flow and then actually kind of trying to clean off the oil itself so it doesn't attract more dust but sometimes that helps urgently just dunking it in water I've done that on a bike packing trip and and that will help aid in the release to date I have not replaced any bearings or axles in any of my Shimano pedals I own six or seven Shimano pedals and all of them have the exact same bearings in axles so why choose a Shimano pedal over any other pedal it's pretty clear this pedal itself has seen tens of thousands of miles through dust mud water and everything in between and it is held up and which stood the test of time six years almost no maintenance at all another wonderful feature of these pedals are the cleats that they come with they are hands-down the most durable cleats out there sure then might be a little bit more bulky and heavy but really that's a small price to pay for something that is durable so between the body the bearings and everything in between the Shimano XT R and XT pedals are by far the most indestructible pedal out there so what's next deciding between the two xtr pedals come in at 180 dollars XT come in at 120 besides weight which is pretty negligible you're looking at 28 gram difference between the ex TR and the XT the main difference is the stack height so the stack height on the XT our pedal is 16 millimeters the stack height on the xt pedal is 18 millimeters so the other feature that has me going towards the XT our pedal is the axle body so the axle body is this piece right here and the axle body on the XT pedal is slightly thicker than the one on the XT our pedal so this opening area in these pedals allow mud and rain and elements to kind of shed through that allows you to clip in with more ease and while I still don't have enough time only roughly a year on these new xtr pedals I can't speak on the bearing and new axle that being said I can speak on the reliability thus far and they seem to work wonderful no difference is it's just a standard Shimano pedal that I've come to love and that about does it for the most indestructible pedal out there the Shimano XT 780 but obviously I'll have to get back to you in six years on how the PDM 9100 turns out until then I'll be eating a bunch of pizza going for bike rides and if you have any questions please leave them in the comment section below so until next time pedal further [Music]

Channel: BIKEPACKING.com

Views: 53,194

Keywords: Shimano, SPD, SPD PEDALS, Clipless Pedals, Pedals, Cycling Pedal, MTB Pedal, Mountain Biking, Shimano XTR, Shimano XT, bikepacking, durable pedals

Id: oGQvHzzb16c

Length: 8min 21sec (501 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 29 2020