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Updated: Garmin Vector power meter now compatible with Shimano pedalsGarmin Vector Shimano pedals - 2.jpg

Updated: Garmin Vector power meter now compatible with Shimano pedals

New cartridge kit allows you to use system with Ultegra pedal bodies
by Mat Brett
Wed, Apr 06, 2016 12:39
5

You can now use Garmin’s Vector power meter with Shimano pedals for the first time thanks to a new cartridge kit. Up until now you’ve only been able to use Vectors with Garmin’s Look Kéo compatible pedals.

Garmin Vector is a pedal-based power measuring system. You fit the pedals, along with their accompanying pods, to your cranks and your power data is sent to a head unit, such as a Garmin Edge bike computer, as you ride. The latest incarnation, Vector 2, impressed us greatly when we reviewed it last year. 

You can’t currently buy a Garmin Vector/Shimano system as a complete package. First, you need to have Shimano Ultegra PD-6800 pedals. Second, you need to buy a Garmin Vector power meter: either the Vector 2, which measures power from both legs, or the Vector 2S single-legged option.

Garmin Vector Shimano pedals - 1.jpg

Third, you need the Vector Cartridge Kit for Shimano Ultegra PD-6800 pedals. We've just heard that these are priced £99.99.. 

Finally, you need to remove the cartridge and axle from the Garmin Vector pedal body, swap the existing cartridge for your new Shimano cartridge, and install the axle and the new Shimano cartridge into the Shimano Ultegra PD-6800 pedals. It doesn’t seem like the most difficult job in the world. 

Obviously, this is a more expensive way of doing things than simply using the Look Kéo compatible pedals included in the Garmin Vector system but it does provide a solution if you’re dedicated to using Shimano pedals and cleats.  

Check out our guide to choosing a cycling power meter. 

We’ve asked for details on availability, of course, and we’ll update you as soon as we get those.

Garmin
Shimano
Vector
power
power meter
Mat Brett

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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5 comments

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kitkat | 8 years ago
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great to see expansion to shimano pedlas but they need to drop their dual sided solution by at least £200 but preferably more

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Richard1982 | 8 years ago
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I wonder why PD6800 an not PD9000, surely people buying vector pedals are going to be using Dura Ace?

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hennahairgel replied to Richard1982 | 8 years ago
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Richard1982 wrote:

I wonder why PD6800 an not PD9000, surely people buying vector pedals are going to be using Dura Ace?

 

There's an outboard bearing which interferes with the pedal pod

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macrophotofly replied to Richard1982 | 8 years ago
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Richard1982 wrote:

I wonder why PD6800 an not PD9000, surely people buying vector pedals are going to be using Dura Ace?

 

Makes sense not to use D-A when you look at the Dura-ace pedal - it is a three bearing design with a totally different inboard bearing. The Ultegra pedal (and the 105 for that matter) use an axle with bearings placed in a similar location and size to the Garmin pedal. Far easier to produce an axle adapter

I would also argue that most of the extra cost of the Dura-ace pedal is in the axle and bearings (which you remove with this cartridge adapter) rather than the pedal body. So the ultegra body is all that is "needed" to be bought for the lightest possible pedal with the Garmin internals

The key success of this for me will be the quality of that adapter and its bearings when in the ultegra body - if it isn't as smooth as at least the normal Ultegra pedal then forget it

I also wonder when Garmin will finally agree licences to produce their pedals for Speedplay and Shimano. Their technology would work with both (the strain gauge is inside the axle and the electron is in the pod so its only the pedal body/bearings on the axle that need to be changed. (okay, and some software adaptations)

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jasonbrim | 8 years ago
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I wonder if it works with the original Garmin Vector pedals or just the Vector 2 pedals. And if it needs to be the 6800 pedals, as I have the 6700, 7900, and a few other SPD-SL pedals I could use.

All my bikes had SPD-SL before (and most still do), as I usually keep the Vector pedals on my main road bike, so one of my pairs of road shoes still has SPD-SL cleats on, but I was about to buy two pairs of Look Keo pedals. That way I could have one permanently on another bike, and one I could move around on the others, so that I could have the same cleats on all my shoes again.

 

Depends on how much of a pain it is and the cost. But if it is cheaper than replacing all my pedals then it is worth it, especially as my partner has SPD-SL pedals/cleats on her bikes/shoes.

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