Tripleshot Cycling

This is a story from a weight weenies forum. The first post is from a guy who began selling aftermarket rebuild kits for speedplay pedals, and the 2nd is the letter he received from speedplay lawyers. Interesting reading regarding speedplay's stance essentially on customers doing their own maintenance.

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To all of those who posted replies: Thanks for all of your support.

I am compelled to take the time to tell you the whole story.

In 1995 I began using Speedplay X2 pedals. Shortly thereafter I began racing. After one season my pedals felt notchy and needed a rebuild. I contacted Speedplay about a rebuild and was shocked at the high price. At that point I decided to take the pedals apart and try to rebuild them myself. What did I have to lose? They were no longer useable in their current condition and a Speedplay rebuild was not a good economical choice.

After taking the pedals apart I found that they were a beautifully simple design. Ingenious, in their simplicity. After sizing all of the bearings, screws, o-rings and retaining ring it took about two weeks to locate and order all of the parts. At full retail price the cost for bearings, o-rings and retaining rings was around $45. The rebuild went smoothly. I used the rebuilt pedals for a full three seasons greasing them every 1-2000 miles before rebuilding them again.

During that time many of my racing teammates and riding buddies were using Speedplay pedals and had the same problem I initially had. I offered to rebuild the pedals free of charge they just had to cover the cost of parts.

As time went on I found myself rebuilding pedals for friends of friends of friends. I then began ordering bearings in larger quantities lowering the hardware cost to around $20.

I got so good at rebuilding pedals that I can now do a full rebuild on a pair of pedals in around 15 minutes if the spindle screws didn't strip out. When Speedplay switched their hex head screws to torx head the problem became very prominent. With the hex head screws only about one in ten were a problem. With torx head screws it was one in two. Some came off very easily. Others would not budge without extreme heating.

Side note: Have you noticed that Speedplay has been using red loctite on their bowtie screws for models 2009 and newer? I guess they are trying to keep people from replacing bowties as red loctite is for extreme/permanent applications and the glue does not let go until the temperature reaches 350+ degrees farenheit. There is no need for anything more than blue loctite on the bowtie screws as they are not subject to extreme pressure. You can probably get away with out using loctite at all for the bowtie screws. This will not stop anyone who really wants to replace their bowties. It just makes it difficult causing screw heads to strip out.

I am not saying I rebuilt hundreds of pedals a month. More like 2-3 a month, but over the years the numbers add up. Everyone who has had pedals rebuilt by me continue to come back to me since my rebuilds have met or exceeded the performance and longevity of their original Speedplay builds.

This past year I began researching how big the demand was for quality bearing rebuild kits for do-it-yourselfers. I found hundreds of posts from people trying to find the right bearings, screws and instructions. Many of the posts, I found, posted either the wrong bearing size or very bad incomplete instructions. I even found post where someone broke the retaining ring for the cartridge bearings and was instructed that it would probably be OK to put the pedals back together and use them without the retaining ring. Not to be confused with the needle bearing
thin wire retaining ring which really serves no purpose in my opinion and was only added to later models. The cartridge bearing retaining ring is structurally necessary and is the only thing keeping the pedal body from sliding into the spindle damaging the spindle and possibly causing catastrophic failure.

I was compelled at that time to begin selling bearing kits on eBay with sound and proven instructions and at a good price point. To this day I have not made a penny selling rebuild kits. I am just happy to help fellow riders keep using Speedplay pedals instead of switching brands due to the high cost of OEM parts and the complete lack of good rebuild instructions.

My first auctions on eBay had the word Speedplay in the title. The auction description clearly stated that the parts were aftermarket. eBay notified me that the owner of the copyright asked for the auctions to be removed and subsequently cancelled the listings. eBay's email instructed me to put the words 'fits Speedplay' in the title so that consumers did not think that the bearings are OEM.

I relisted the kits with the word 'fits' before Speedplay. One week later I received an email from eBay stating that Speedplay asked for these auctions to be removed. eBay went on to state that the auction DID NOT violate any copyright laws. Only that the Verified Rights Owner asked that the items be removed. Reading more into eBay's VeRO rules found that their stand is that if the original copyright owner asks for an item to be removed, they will comply. Speedplay even had my listing for a New-In-Box X1 cancelled. No modifications to them at all.

I then relisted the bearings omitting the name 'Speedplay' completely. I only referenced them as lollipop shaped pedals. I then posted rebuild instructions on Weight Weenies. Speedplay continued to try to have my eBay listing removed, but had no grounds and so the listing went on undisturbed. I guess I was really eating into Speedplay's profits. On average I was selling (at my cost/no profit) 3 bearing sets a week!!! Retirement in Costa Rica, here I come!!!!

Finally, last week I received a letter from Speedplay's lawers with a Cease-And-Desist order naming the Weight Weenies post with instructions as well as my auctions. If I did not immediately delete the posts and end the auctions they would press charges against me. Their main points were that if someone used my instructions and rebuilt the pedals and became injured I would be held liable. Furthermore, I have not had the bearings I sell bench tested to meet Speedplay requirements.

Speedplay knows full well that any good industrial grade bearing is overkill when it comes to pedals. Pedals are low rpm and not under extreme torque or stress and so this is a non-issue. All the bearings I use are rated at 85000 rpm (needle bearings rated at 23300 rpm) with a total dynamic load capacity of well over 400 lb per pedal.

Speedplay also stated that with my instructions someone could now manufacture Speedplay pedals and in so doing infringe on their copyrights. Huh??? If someone wanted to manufacture Speedplay pedals they would take a set of pedals apart and copy them. There is no need for my instructions. That is like saying that instructions on how to change a car tire can directly result in someone manufacturing car tires. How the hell can I, a regular do-it-yourselfer go from maintaining and changing out bearings to being able to mass produce Speedplay copies? Does anyone here have a secret Chinese factory they would like to give me access to?? Just kidding here.

I know that legally Speedplay has no grounds to come after me, but I know that the US legal system is such that it could make life very tough for me. If I am subpoena'd in court, I would have to travel to San Diego and appear. Even with no ground they could try to press all kind of charges and I would need to get a lawyer. Afterall they have lawyers on their payroll. How much will that cost me?

I have finally decided to throw in the towel and give up. After using Speedplay pedals for my road bikes exclusively for 15 years I am now looking for something else. I will be selling 7 sets of X1 pedals in the near future.

Hey Speedplay: I bought all 7 sets brand new at my LBS. This is a prefect example of the ability to rebuild your pedals actually increasing sales. Had I not been able to inexpensively rebuild my Speedplay pedals I would never have bought them for all of my bikes. I would have switched brands 14 years ago. How many hundreds of sets of pedals did they sell as a direct result of my extremely positive comments and recommendations over the years.

Can't sell my X1's on eBay because Speedplay will use the VeRO rule and have it cancelled since I know that they are watching me. So I will list them in the WW for sale section soon. I will probably not get as much as I want because of this post, but I don't care.

I used to be a huge fan and proponent of Speedplay pedals recommending them to all of my racing buddies. After experiencing first hand Speedplay's tactics and 'mob mentality' I am very sad, but at the same time very relieved to say: good bye Speedplay, and good riddance.

Now the search begins for a suitable replacement........

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My name and my wife’s name
My home address

Dear Mr. and/or Mrs. (my name), a/k/a “Frikinspit”:

We represent Speedplay, Inc. (“Speedplay”) with regard to its intellectual property matters.

I have reviewed various postings on the Internet which you have made, including (They name this WW post as well as eBay auctions here)

It appears that you are offering products for sale or actually selling products that infringe upon one or more of Speedplay's intellectual property or other legal rights, including, but not limited to, "(My ebay auctions listed individually here)"

It is clear that despite referring to Speedplay as "(Brand X - lollipop shaped pedals)" in your offerings, you are selling and offering to sell a material component part of one or more inventions patented by Speedplay--namely, its patented Speedplay bicycle pedals, covered by at least U.S. Patent Nos. 7,174,807, 6,494,117, and 5,546,829. These cleat/pedal systems cannot be made without the material component of the part you are selling, i.e., the uniquely shaped bowties, spindles, and bowtie bolts, that work together with the rest of the cleat/pedal systems. These parts fit into the pedal and become a complete, unique Speedplay pedal. That unique pedal is then used with the unique Speedplay cleat system. Moreover, the parts cannot be used with any other brand of pedal parts and the pedals cannot be used with any other brand of cleat systems. Finally, there is no substantial non-infringing use of the product you are selling and offering for sale. This violates 35 U.S.C. Section 271(c).

In addition, one of your customers (or with your instructions) could buy this component part from you and, buying component parts from others, essentially build and sell a patented Speedplay product. This violates 35 U.S.C. Section 271(b).

In addition, a customer's replacement and use of your non-conforming "after-market" parts would void the Speedplay warranty on its pedal system and your failure to advertise that fact causes your advertisement of your parts to be misleading in violation of numerous state and federal statutes.

Finally, we do not believe the evidence would show that you have sufficiently tested or constructed the replacement parts for safety and reliability such that consumers using the products would be safe. Customers using such replacement parts on their bicycles might assume they would be as safe as using OEM parts on a Speedplay pedal system and we do not believe this to be true. We have examined your parts and find that the screws that you sell (and perhaps manufacture) do not meet either manufacturing or safety requirements specified by Speedplay. You do not explain this deficiency or difference in your advertising of your product.

As a result, we believe your advertising not only to be misleading, but to be in violation of numerous state and federal consumer safety laws. Customers who were to purchase and use your replacement parts in Speedplay pedals, and then have their pedals damaged or worse, be injured, may make claims against or sue Speedplay, which would necessitate Speedplay defending those claims and seeking indemnity from you including its attorneys' fees and costs.

We demand that you immediately cease and desist from selling, offering for sale, or advertising your after-market products on the Internet or otherwise in any manner that violates Speedplay's trademark, patent, and other intellectual property rights, as well as statutory and common law rights, including consumer rights to safety and protection. We also insist that you take down from eBay or any other Web sites all references to Speedplay or its products as currently referenced. If you fail to do so, Speedplay will seek all appropriate remedies available to it under the appropriate federal and state statutes and common law. Regardless of whether you choose to cease and desist in your present conduct, we also demand that you now preserve and maintain all copies of any paper or electronic records or documents relating to this dispute, including e-mails, letters, communications, memoranda, and Web sites and eBay pages and caches, including all metadata, that relate to or concern any manufacture, distribution, licensing, advertising, marketing, attempted sale, or sale of any titanium, aluminum, steel, or other replacement or "after-market" part for any Speedplay product (or any other purported substitute for a Speedplay product in whole), including communications you or your company (if any) have had with any manufacturer, distributer, wholesaler, or seller of titanium, aluminum, steel, or any other replacement or "after-market" party for any Speedplay or "Speedplay-type" product (or any other purported substitute for a Speedplay product in whole) since August 1, 2009.

This letter is not intended to be, and should not be construed as, a complete statement of the facts or of our rights and remedies, all of which are expressly reserved.

Sincerely,
(Speedplay lawyer info and signature)

crazy article i have speedplays.... thats lame.

Never used them, but given the behavior, can't say it's a company I'd like to deal with.

I think the companys position regarding liability has merit since they would have to defend themselves in a lawsuit, even if they had no liability. The rest of it seems like harassment designed to scare the guy off (sounds very Apple-ish). Case in point. Search ebay for speedplay and you'll see plenty of pedals for sale, both new and used.

oh, and the letter posted by pugrot on page 10 of the thread is hilarious

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum ... &start=135

Frikkin' lawyers. Always poopin' the party.

Nothing like a good intentioned lawyer to tarnish the corporate image! I wouldn't place too much negativity on Speedplay as a company. This is all lawyer crap, and little to do with their company. They are charged with protecting the patents, and I guess tinker-boy got a little too close to that, in their eyes.

Speedplay are great pedals, and I certainly wouldn't contemplate boycotting them just over some silly fluff threat of litigation.

The strange installation practice, maybe meant to limit the pedal lifetime.. i.e. deem them non-servicable, is how they bond, with Locktite Red, the bearings to the pedal body. I guess they think the circlip isn't going to hold it in there well enough. Could be, but saying it's a patent infringement to service bearings is ludicrous. I have no issue with the claim that warranties would be null and void, so the stinkin' rotten lawyer letter at least one point.

What I find even more curious is that in all the years I have ridden with Speedplay, 15+ years with X2s, now Zeros, I never once felt that the bearings needed to be replaced. I greased them at least twice per year and that was it. So, I guess the plaintiff and his growing base of customers must be very fussy, very abusive to equipment, or something in the middle. As he said, the bearings of this class are 'overkill'... so not sure why they need replacing at all for the expected lifetime of the pedal. I know the metal clip points and the lolly pop plastic bit tends to wear out well before I start whining about the bearings.

I have to remember why about 90% of the team I was on switched to Speedplays back in the mid 90's. It was because we got tired of snapping tabs on our Look-style cleats during hard efforts and sprints. They wear out so fast and get thin from walking on them right at the critical interface point... so unless you changed your cleats very frequently, you ran the risk of clipping out just when you don't want to. Case in point... LA during a critical chase back. He clips out, cleat was damaged in his crash. Of course it would get damaged... it's made of weak cheap plastic.

Look designs could go a long way to make a durable interface point on the cleat... say carbon/composite with maybe Titanium plated tabs, or at least something durable, and less prone to abrupt failure.

In all my years riding Speedplays, I have accidentally clipped out Zero times. I guess that's where the name of their newest model comes from

4827north wrote:This is all lawyer crap, and little to do with their company.

I can't resist expanding on this a little.

There's an international principle of intellectual property law that certain claims to intellectual property can be challenged if it can be shown that a claims-holder has not taken steps to protect such claims. In other words, Speedplay's lawyer's letter to tinker-boy is at least partly driven by the need to universally protect an interest of the company. From an IP perspective, they're likely less worried about some guy effectively modifying and reselling a few of their components and more worried about a competitor violating their patents and subsequently saying to a court: "Well, Speedplay didn't shut down tinker-boy, so they're not acting consistently with their patent claim and should therefore lose their protection from copycats."

The stuff about preserving documents etc. sounds draconian, but is really just there to give Speedplay an advantage should the matter proceed to litigation and tinker-boy subsequently says he burned his file. Speedplay's words are again directed as much at a future case-management judge as they are to the letter's recipient.

The warning of possible liability in the event of a rider getting hurt using the modified part and suing SP is well-founded. But again, Speedplay is pre-emptively bolstering any such future claim for indemnity from tinker-boy. The words are written again for a future judge or jury having to decide whether it's fair to let Speedplay tear a financial strip out of tinker-boy when SP is successfully sued by a user of the re-built pedal. Such decision-maker could read this letter and think: "Well, they did warn him. I think I'll throw him to the wolves."

So if tinker-boy realized some of the rationale behind what, on its face, is a very threatening and intimidating message, he may not feel so acutely and personally targeted, and may see that Speedplay's lawyers are simply protecting its interests, as they're paid to do. Much of the scary language isn't really directed at him, but at competitors, judges and juries, in the event problems from tinker-boy's activities arise.

Well said, Rolf... as I summed it up 'Lawyers doing what their paid to do'.... nothing malicious intended by the directors of the company, to be sure. I.e. don't let the work of the lawyers skew your view of Speedplay the company or its products. They're just doing their job.

Did I convince anyone to try Speedplays? I love them, lawyer warts and all.

Rolf wrote:

4827north wrote:This is all lawyer crap, and little to do with their company.

The warning of possible liability in the event of a rider getting hurt using the modified part and suing SP is well-founded. But again, Speedplay is pre-emptively bolstering any such future claim for indemnity from tinker-boy. The words are written again for a future judge or jury having to decide whether it's fair to let Speedplay tear a financial strip out of tinker-boy when SP is successfully sued by a user of the re-built pedal. Such decision-maker could read this letter and think: "Well, they did warn him. I think I'll throw him to the wolves."

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I'm curious, Rolf

Is there a way they could have protected themselves from claims such as this from users of these "aftermarket" rebuild kits (all warranties null and void, etc) without actually shutting down his selling of the rebuild kits?

The lawyers must be able to recognize that the public perception of this is going to be negative for the company, and is going to look like they are attempting to do nothing more than monopolize the sales of these components at a high markup. These components are standard OEM, not a SP design, and are peripheral to the part of the pedal they hold a patent on. Just look at the reactions in the posts on the weight weenies forum. Like brad said, in this case, they are effectively shutting down someone offering a bearing servicing kit, which falls under wearable parts and routine maintenance.

Oh sure, there are always other ways to minimize liability, including warnings on packaging and product literature that modifications or servicing by parties other than the manufacturer or authorized service dealers may compromise the safety and integrity of the product and may lead to catastrophic failure and injury and loss to persons, lives, limbs, kittens etc.

The call of whether or not to shut down some little guy to protect their IP claims in the face of possibly negative PR isn't that hard to make, depending on the circumstances. When they look at the possible reach of any negative reaction to their letter to tinker-boy (even given his obvious web-following at Weight Wieners, ISpendMoreOnBikesThanRent.com and other such hangouts for skinny dudes), they hold that up against a possible fight with a competitor making cheap knock-offs of their basic design -- and the downside of sending out a threatening letter seems inconsequential.

As any TripleShotter who's seen my bike is painfully aware, I know (and care) sweet ____ all about bikes and bike components. So I'm not in a good position to comment on whether what this dude is doing and selling amounts to modifying their patented assembly or whether it's just helping other people with their maintenance. But it may be instructive, if you really care about this, for one of you engineers to study the detailed content and plans of Speedplay's patent claims here, here and here and determine whether what this guy is doing violates the patents.

Patents can be claimed on the design of a specific component, but they can also be (and are usually) claimed on the configuration or specific assembly of a number of components. The components themselves can be patented individually, or they can just be standard parts, available to all without restriction, and the claim is just for a new way the patent-holder figured out how to put them together.

If you re-read the lawyer's fourth paragraph, you'll see he is referring to exactly this concept.

Warranties are a different consideration. Warranties and guarantees are about a manufacturer's obligation to produce goods that are fit for their intended use. What many people don't appreciate is that while the terms of a manufacturer's warranty sounds like they're giving you protection (e.g. "we offer a 2-year warranty on parts"), the purpose of these terms is actually to limit the manufacturer's obligation. Without the limited warranty language, they may be obliged, under certain commercial legislation, to replace defective parts or products over a longer period.

Right. Back to the day job.

thanks Rolf

I've been on the engineering end of probably a dozen engineering patent applications over the years, several of them for things I designed.

From my experience, (and I generally tried to avoid the legal side at all costs) to successfully patent a new configuration of off the shelf components, you need to demonstrate that your configuration or utilization of the parts are being used in the application of a new engineering idea. The configuration you present in your application is necessary and required to demonstrate that the idea can be realized in a practical invention, but does not necessarily represent the only possible application or configuration of the idea that your patent would protect. If anyone can demonstrate and document that the idea has been realized in a practical invention by others in the past, patented or not, the IP is then public domain, and you have no claim for a patent.

The part of the speedplay pedal that they are trying to protect seems to be nothing more than the configuration of the bearings and retaining clips on their pedal spindle.....hardly unique and not really within the scope of the intellectual property they do hold the patents for with respect to the bowtie shaped pedal, the design of the float and release mechanisms, and associated cleat system.

Josh.E wrote:I've been on the engineering end of probably a dozen engineering patent applications over the years, several of them for things I designed.

Is this one of your patents? http://www.google.com/patents?id=hhYJAA ... &q&f=false

As I understand it, repairing a patented device is legal, reconstructing is not. It seems hard to argue that replacing bearings is reconstructing. Speedplay seems quite customer hostile for no good reason, the negative PR this could generate seems worse than the money that could be earned from repairing pedals.

I'll continue to support companies that encourage repair and customization of their products.

I'll certainly defer to your assessment of Speedplay's patent claims, Josh.

IP's a funny world. This one on a new method of swinging on a swing is always one of my favourites. It's just no fair. I came up with that when I was 6.

My favourite quote (you just can't make this stuff up):

Lastly, it should be noted that because pulling alternately on one chain and then the other resembles in some measure the movements one would use to swing from vines in a dense jungle forest, the swinging method of the present invention may be referred to by the present inventor and his sister as "Tarzan" swinging. The user may even choose to produce a Tarzan-type yell while swinging in the manner described, which more accurately replicates swinging on vines in a dense jungle forest. Actual jungle forestry is not required.

And I've always thought these were great inventions for people with bad habits, like eating and smoking.

LOL! I was thinking of applying for a patent for a method of going to the toilet, whereby the person repeatedly pounds on their knees, while seated on a regular toilet when suffering a bit of constipation. Feel free to call out like a wild monkey in the jungle. My mother-in-law swears by this technique. I think it patently works. Next time you've eaten too many bagels, or cheese, try it! License to use hereby granted solely to Tripleshot cycling members in good standing. Patent pending.

Geez, Brad. I'm usually the first one to cross the Boundary of Propriety. Now I can't get the image of your and your mother-in-law's colons out of my head.

We're currently 4,738 km from the thread topic. At this rate, Roland will have no choice but to finally sequester us in a Pickle Juice forum. At the least, I think it's time to kill my e-mail alerts when someone posts after me on a thread -- it's wasting all of our time!

Time spent on the TS Forum is not time wasted.