Posted on February 22, 2022 by Jordan Villella

In early September 2019 Wahoo surprised us all by announcing that they had acquired the SPEEDPLAY pedal brand. A cycling electronics brand buying a pedal brand? Surely they had a power meter pedal in mind? Sure enough, Wahoo teased a photo upon the relaunch of the SPEEDPLAY ZERO line, letting users know to start saving—it would only be a matter of time until the long-awaited SPEEDPLAY/Wahoo power meter pedal powered up.

Now we can finally see the full Wahoo POWRLINK ZERO pedal-based power meter, and all the features it’s packing.

The POWRLINK ZERO is Wahoo’s first power meter pedal system, based on the iconic dual-entry SPEEDPLAY road pedal system. Wahoo kept most of the features from the initial Wahoo Speedplay Zero line; dual-sided entry, and pedal float that is adjustable to between 0-15 degrees, and added some very cool tech features.

“Wahoo has always been at the forefront of providing athletes with accurate, reliable power data with our KICKR series of indoor smart trainers,” said POWRLINK ZERO product manager Katie DuPree. “Now we’ve leveraged that expertise to create a pedal-based power meter that lets athletes get the same robust performance data when they ride or race outdoors, with the added benefit of dual-sided entry and great aerodynamics.”

The new POWRLINK ZERO processes power via strain gauges connected to the stainless steel spindle. The unit differs slightly from those on the market, coming with a respectable 75+ hours of battery life from a single charge. Yes, charge. The new pedals use a rechargeable battery that connects via a proprietary horseshoe-style charging cable.

The power reading accuracy is within the same +/-1% as the KICKR series trainers. Wahoos’ new POWRLINK ZERO pedals play well with third-party apps and devices, via ANT+ and Bluetooth, and are backward compatible with legacy SPEEDPLAY ZERO cleats.

The POWRLINK ZERO will come in two offerings; a single-sided power option (left power measurement only) and a dual-sided power option (both versions use dual-sided pedals in terms of the clipless function).

Not exactly, those looking to recreate their fit to the millimeter will have to do some slight math to get everything dialed with the new POWRLINK ZERO pedals.

First off the spindle is slightly longer to accommodate the “power pod” growing to 55mm from the 53mm standard. The stack height also grew slightly, from 11.5mm to 13mm. Wahoo said this was to accommodate unclipping and the size of the power pod on the spindle.

For more information on the Wahoo POWRLINK ZERO pedals check out Wahoofitness.com

Jordan Villella is a staff writer for BikeRumor.com, covering cross country mountain bikes, gravel, road, and racing. He has been writing about the bicycles and bike culture for 10 + years. Prior to BikeRumor, Jordan raced at the professional level and wrote for MTBR and now-defunct Dirt Rag Magazine. He’s covered races, including World Champions and World Cups, where he loves to report what the pros are riding. Based in Pittsburgh, PA, Jordan spends his time coaching cyclists with Cycle-Smart, racing bikes around North America, playing with his two fantastic kids, and writing music.

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Q factor increased by how much?

Q factor is from the outside of the crank arms, independent of pedals. Article notes that spindle length is +2 mm, so total stance width would be +4 mm

Never mind these pedals, when is Wahoo going to offer cleats to fit the 14 pairs of Frog pedals I have on various bikes?

No such thing as a Wahoo Frog, Speedplay maybe, but not Wahoo. The Frogs have been discontinued, even before Wahoo acquired Speedplay, so you’re SOL.

any word of crash replacement?

Nothing yet, we’ll get you the info

Any idea how the power is measured with a pedal-power-meter?

The system measures the Force over the spindle.

But how does the system know the Lever Arm?

When the force is perpendicular to the crank, at that point, the crank length is the same as the lever arm. That is one spot only. What about the other degrees of the turning crank, when the lever arm gets all the time a different length?

So, how does the system know these parameters for getting the Lever Arm? – the DIRECTION of the force over the spindle; – the POSITION of the crank; – the ANGLE between the two.

Only by knowing all these parameters the system can calculate the Lever Arm.

(then, along with the Force, comes the Torque; and then, finally, along with the RPM, comes the Power)

The YouTube channel Peak Torque goes into this in detail with his review of the Favero Assioma pedals. Simplified for mass consumption, but explains the concept well enough.

Nothing like a zero Power Meter;-)

“Made in Vietnam” Didn’t take Wahoo long to move pedal manufacturing from the US to Asia.

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