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Crank Brothers
Eggbeater SL
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Submitted by
lonefrontranger
a Cross Country Rider
from Boulder, CO
Date Reviewed: October 13, 2009 | | Favorite Trail: | phil's world | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Purchased At: | full cycle | | Strengths: | float!! light weight and ease of entry/exit | | Weaknesses: | durability, maintenance, squeaks | | Similar Products Used: | OnZa HO ('92-94) SPD ('94-'99) Time ATAC ('99-current) now these | | Bike Setup: | 2009 Giant Anthem X2 stock, 1999 Schwinn Homegrown Elite XT/XTR (hardtail) Bianchi Pista fixie, new 'cross bike soon | | Bottom Line: | My boyfriend has eggs and has had mixed successes with them. He loves them (he's a lightweight XC rider) but he's busted up a couple sets on rocks, too. On the upside, Crank Brothers has warrantied both sets (including his incredibly spendy 2Tis) for free and with zero hassle. Bonus: these pedals are extremely light, easy to get in and out of, and the neutral float is a big, big plus for me. I've been riding offroad since rigid was the norm, god's grandmother was a girl and toeclips were standard, and these have been by far the easiest and most comfortable system I've ever used.
The downside of these pedals is that they are definitely more high maintenance than Times or SPDs. This is not really a pro or con, just something to acknowledge. You have to remember to lube them and change the cleats on a regular basis. If you're the kind of rider who never washes your bike and maybe gets around to lubing the chain once a season, then don't bother. Oh yea, if you beat them on rocks, or track skid your fixie, they WILL break, unlike some of the stouter brands. Again, this is more something to be aware of than a criticism. I am pretty certain owing to the weight and minimal design that these pedals are directly marketed towards the XC speed racer weight weenie set. So if you're going to freeride, beat them on rocks, are a Clydesdale, or otherwise ride like a fool, DON'T BUY THEM. Get something stouter or else don't complain when they disintegrate on you within a year. I mean you wouldn't realistically use a 28-hole radial laced wheelset with 15/16g spokes if you're into allmountain hucking or weigh >180lbs, so in that case don't assume Eggs are going to be your optimal pedal either. Mine also recently started squeaking like a rubber ducky on the climbs but that's just because I'm lazy and didn't add the shim first, plus I'm usually breathing too hard to notice anyway. I've got to change the cleats soon so I'll go ahead and do it then. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Sizzler
a Cross Country Rider
from Oregon
Date Reviewed: October 10, 2009 | | Favorite Trail: | Oregon Trail | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$60.00 | | Purchased At: | ebay | | Strengths: | extremely durable, easy clip in, simple design, fewer breakable parts, replaceable parts, easy to service | | Weaknesses: | cleats wear out quicker than i would have expected, but you can buy replacements. | | Similar Products Used: | spd clipless pedals, look pedals | | Bike Setup: | Santa Cruz Heckler and Surly Long Haul Trucker | | Bottom Line: | I highly recommend these pedals and if they ever die I plan to buy another set. I have been riding these hard every day for three years and they have never let me down. I originally bought them for my commuting/touring bike because of the multiple points of entry, and I have put thousands of miles on them and I was so impressed that I put them on my Santa Cruz for trail riding. They clear mud, and keep spinning like greased lighting through through very wet Oregon winters. I can't recommend these enough, I have seriously put them to the test and they keep on turning! Well worth the money and I wouldn't buy anything else.
| Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
astrat
a Cross Country Rider
from Toronto, Canada
Date Reviewed: September 28, 2009 | | Favorite Trail: | Buckwallow | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$120.00 | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Light, great mud shedding capabilities, easy in & easy out. | | Weaknesses: | Cleat wear. Although, the quick cleat wear is designed to save the pedals. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano SPD M540 and SPD Deore XT | | Bike Setup: | 2001 Klein Adept Pro w/ XT and Rolf wheels
2009 Kona Major One (ss cyclocross bike) | | Bottom Line: | Very easy to use, light weight, and shed mud very well - no more f'ing around with muddy spd's. They are also a lot more comfortable than spd's because of the extra float.
I haven't used them long enough to see if any quality issues will arise, but the way I think of it is: they cost half as much as a set of XTR's, weigh less, and are easier to use. If they only last half as long, I'll buy another pair and would have ended up spending the same amount of money - but had better pedals the whole time.
My bottom line: Don't think twice, buy Egg Beaters. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
k1lluaA
a Cross Country Rider
from ontario
Date Reviewed: July 10, 2009 | | Favorite Trail: | hardwood | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$90.00 | | Purchased At: | online, ebay i think | | Strengths: | hands down the best pedal ive been on, im lucky enough to own a pair of orignal eggbeater pedals, made from stainless steel, but with a much easier to service bearing system. never have any problems with getting in and out. ive gone through mud taht is like concrete and it just slides right off... | | Weaknesses: | absolutely none | | Similar Products Used: | shimano 520's | | Bike Setup: | 08 caldera with eggs. | | Bottom Line: | best pedals money can buy imo. and hell, they come in 4ti now and weigh nearly nothing | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
RobXC
a Cross Country Rider
from Baltimore
Date Reviewed: June 27, 2009 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | 4 points of entry, easy in, easy out, shed mud like its their job. | | Weaknesses: | Occasionally no click is heard, but that doesn't really matter, 99% of the time I'm not moving when clipping in. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano SPD's Deore XT | | Bottom Line: | I have never ever ever had to stop to clean my cleat or my pedals out. I was so tired of banging my cleats on my pedals to not only clean out my pedals but my cleats too. I spent more time cleaning than riding. Finally I got the SL's and I have never looked back. And I can literally count how many times I've accidentally clipped out...3. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Butcher67
a Racer
from Fort Collins, Colorado
Date Reviewed: June 25, 2009 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$70.00 | | Purchased At: | eBay Retailer | | Strengths: | Light weight and mud clearing | | Weaknesses: | Durability and Lack of Platform | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano, Time, Ritchey, Onza (remember those?) | | Bike Setup: | Single Speeder | | Bottom Line: | I loved them at first for their light weight, affordable price and simple design. Super easy to get into/out of and no mater how much goo I had on the bottom of my shoe I did not see any deterioration in the clip in/out. Even with heavy clay mud I could mash down through it and they would clip in. These would be a great race day type of pedal, especially in adverse conditions.
What I found after a few months of heavy use is the springs were getting weak and I had lost some feel as I could not really tell I was clicked in until I pulled on the back stroke. I also noticed that they were wearing a deep grove in the bottom of my shoes. I solved the problem of the shoe wear by using the plastic shim that came with the cleats. I also see that Crank Brothers now sells a Stainless Steel shim for a longer lasting solution - good idea as I was quickly wearing through the plastic shim. One adverse effect of running the shim is the ball of your foot right where the cleat mounts is taking more of the pressure so I started to get a sore spot on my foot. This is because the cleat is now pushed out past the part of the shoe that would rest on the edge of the pedal. I tried to build that up with shoe goo which worked until the shoe goo would wear away which only took a few rides.
About two months in I noticed the pedals needed a lube service, which was easy to do and took about 10-15 mins. Nice and smooth again ;)
3 months in the spring tension was so weak that I was starting to pull out of the left pedal with regular occurance. I replaced the cleats which were pretty much shot. The cleats are a soft brass which is designed to wear out vs wearing out the pedals. About a week later the left pedal failed all together when the spring broke rendering the pedal pretty useless. There is not any way to service this and I'm waiting to hear back from CB about a warrenty service...
To sum up, you pay for the light weight with increased maintence as you need to service the bearings regulary and the cleats wear out fast and are not that cheap to replace either. There is the wear issue on the bottom of your shoe - mine are carbon which makes this a serious concern - and the resulting change in the pressure point on your foot when you run the shim.
The breaking spring was the iceing on the cake for me so I'm going back to XTR SPD's which in hind sight are bullit proof. Just too much BS to deal with when trying to maintain a bike in season.
I'm a big guy 190+lbs and mashing on a single speed so the use perhaps revealed these issues in a short period of time. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Detective365
a Cross Country Rider
from Madison, WI
Date Reviewed: June 16, 2009 | | Favorite Trail: | Blue Mounds | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$80.00 | | Purchased At: | forgot | | Strengths: | Pretty much the same as everyone else on here; light, easy entry, pretty durable (I've slammed 'em into some rocks going pretty quickly) | | Weaknesses: | -Not much of a platform, which makes it slightly tricky judging where the clip is when it's under your foot. Candys are better if that's an issue for you
-Didn't come with the nicer, more adjustable pedal cleats! My cheapo Smartys did, but not these!
-Pedal float makes it hard to tell when you're in or out of the cleat sometimes | | Similar Products Used: | Crank Bros. Smartys, Xpedo | | Bike Setup: | Salsa Mamasita XC niner | | Bottom Line: | Cleats clip in, hold when they should and release when they should for the most part; I like using the cleats in the lower float position, since it's easier to tell when you're in/out of the cleat. All in all, the cleats weren't cheap like my Xpedos, but they're simpler, and the springs haven't rusted like the Xpedos. No platform which was a wee bit tricky in the beginning, but nothing you can't get used to. As for the creaking/squeaking I've been reading about with a few other reviews, the problem might be that they didn't put the shim/spacer between their shoe and the cleat; I have Specialized shoes and needed the spacers. All in all, average in terms of price, very good in terms of performance. If they were a little easier to clip into after dabbing, I'd give them a 5 on the overall. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Dave Wright
a Cross Country Rider
from Greenville, SC, USA
Date Reviewed: June 16, 2009 | | Favorite Trail: | PMSP, Kanuga | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$100.00 | | Purchased At: | Performance | | Strengths: | No mud clogging, 4-sided entry, no adjustments req'd., lightweight, release when they should, don't when they shouldn't, surprisingly have not been bent by rock strikes | | Weaknesses: | Some creaking and clicking when breaking in new cleats. | | Similar Products Used: | Off-road: Ritchey SPDs. On-road: Look. | | Bike Setup: | Off-road: 2000 Marin Eldridge Grade converted to SS. On-road: Gunnar Sport w/ Ultegra SL build. | | Bottom Line: | I've been riding Crank Eggbeater SL for more than 5 years. I first put them on my mountain bike because I was tired of mud clogs that blocked clipping in at the worst times. Being pleased with the SLs, and really more of a fast tourer than a racer, I put a pair on my road bike soon after. I ride about 4K miles per year, split between road and dirt, and have been very happy with the SLs. They are the value leader in the Crank line, and probably also the most durable.
The cleats last a lot longer than Crank says. I get a couple years per set. Fresh cleats clip in and out a little stiffly. Worn cleats clip out more easily. When you start getting unintended releases is the time to mount new cleats. After 5 years I just yesterday had to order my first rebuild kit. Interestingly, it was for the road pedals instead of the mountain ones. Maybe the fine black powder that comes up off wet roads penetrates more than chunky trail dirt. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Old Stumpy
a Weekend Warrior
from Miami, FL USA
Date Reviewed: May 8, 2009 | | Favorite Trail: | Oleta Park | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$80.00 | | Purchased At: | eBay | | Strengths: | Very lightweight, looks sweet, nice quality and finish | | Weaknesses: | No spring tension adjustment, starting creaking after 30 miles, clipping in can be tricky, released on me during techincal decents that included hard braking | | Similar Products Used: | None really - just old reliable Shimano M-540s | | Bike Setup: | Stumpy Elite | | Bottom Line: | I wanted to like them as they fullfilled my short lived weight weineyness, but in the end, they just didn't perform. I could never get into them as reliably as the Shimanos despite them having 4 points of entry. The creaking is irritating, but I read that it happens with these, so no surprise. The kicker was a couple unexpected releases while going down steep inclines and braking hard - no fun for the old man. I only do singletrack/light trails, so I thought these would be a good match. too bad... | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
lewis82
a Cross Country Rider
from Alma, Québec, Canada
Date Reviewed: April 4, 2009 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$80.00 | | Purchased At: | Ebay | | Strengths: | Extremely easy to clip in and out, mud-repellant, light.
And awesome looks! | | Weaknesses: | They make a little noise when I climb hills upright. However I changed my shoes in the same time (Specialized, I don't know which model). | | Similar Products Used: | Cheap 50 bucks Wellgo SPD style crap | | Bike Setup: | Giant rincon 2006 (canadian model)
(yes I know it's cheap) | | Bottom Line: | I just love these pedals.
My other pair would constantly end up full of dirt (and we're not even talking about mud here) that made them awfully hard to unclip. I remember once: my cleat had moved while I was trying to unclip. The simple design of the egg beaters completely removes that problem: they stay mud and dirt free.
Also, they're much easier to clip and unclip. I tought I'd have a period where I wouldn't be used to them: it took about two hours of normal riding (not very frequent clipping/unclipping) to get it.
I was surprised to see that you can even ride without bike shoes. It's slippery, yes, but it's perfectly doable.
A negative point however is that they should give 4 cleats with the pedals. I unclip my left foot on the outside, so I get 15 degrees of float. But I unclip my right foot on the inside, so I get 20 degrees. That's a little bit unpleasant but I prefer to be able to unclip easily with my weaker foot.
Also when I climb hills standing on them they squeak a little bit. I don't know if it's the shoes or the pedals, but it only happens when there is some pressure (and I'm only 125 pounds so weight is definitely not the problem) on them.
Overall, these pedals are a great value and if you can find for under 80 bucks (in Canada), you should definitely buy them. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
yliow
a Weekend Warrior
from Australia
Date Reviewed: February 22, 2009 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$120.00 | | Strengths: | Easy to clip in and out. Light weight. Simple to use. | | Weaknesses: | Rusting even though they're supposed to be stainless steel?!? | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano SPD (PD-M424) | | Bottom Line: | Really easy to use pedals which clip in and out easily and give you a good solid hold when you're clipped in. Pity about the rust. I don't know why they're rusting even though I've hardly used them and not even in the rain. I payed extra for stainless steel so don't know why they're rusting! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Dano
a Racer
from Argentina
Date Reviewed: January 15, 2009 | | Favorite Trail: | lots! | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$120.00 | | Strengths: | WEIGHT!!!!!!, float, easy clip in and out | | Weaknesses: | needs maintenance, its a little bit expensive | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano 535, 520, eggbeaters C. | | Bike Setup: | merida hfs 4000, R7 super, crossride, XT/XTR | | Bottom Line: | I have already riden 10000km with this pedals and they are great. they only need to re-grease periodicaly the bearings. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
umichmurf
a Racer
from Ann Arbor, MI
Date Reviewed: January 1, 2009 | | Favorite Trail: | Holyoke Range, MA | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$80.00 | | Purchased At: | ebay | | Strengths: | Light weight
Untouchable mud/snow/whatever clearing | | Weaknesses: | Shorter lifespan than shimano
Requires maintenance (bearing rebuild, more cleat changes)
Less solid platform when engaged (but reliable engagement before worn out) | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano spd on mountain and road (515, 525, 959)
road:
Speedplay X.2
Look Keo
Have worn out and then replaced cleats on all above pedal types | | Bike Setup: | SC Superlight, F100, X.9, XT rings/crank, Juicy 7, Pro2... | | Bottom Line: | I race, and have raced both road and mountain, collegiate and not, for five years.
I've bought three pairs, to use first on my mtb, and then have swapped the used ones onto my commuter fixed gear. I've gotten up to two years use on the race bike, during which I'd swap on ~3 new pairs of cleats. The pedals generally need to be rebuilt after a year. After two years (think 3 new sets of cleats and a bearing rebuild) the pedal will have more play in the wing assembly, and won't hold satisfactorily even with new cleats (pull straight out with no heel movement). Then, it's time to replace them.
Compared to the spd's (515, 525, and 959, none ever needed to be rebuilt) that I used to ride, these definitely have a shorter lifespan. Of course, I run the SL, which are both significantly lighter and cheaper than the 959. I run them for the weight and the ease of engagement (nobody should ever try to clip into anything else in packing snow!)
I can't lock up the rear wheel on the fixed gear though, and am now cautious about sprinting and climbing - my foot comes right out of the pedal even with new cleats. The used pedals are beat again. I'm undecided if I'll switch new pedals onto the mtb and move the used ones to the fixed, or get new fixed pedals... | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
DaliTrout
a Weekend Warrior
from Knoxville, TN USA
Date Reviewed: December 24, 2008 | | Favorite Trail: | Backside of Airstrip at Dupont, NC | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$60.00 | | Purchased At: | ebay | | Strengths: | Durability
Ease of entry and exit.
Superior mud shedding capability.
Float is nice for varying riding position while still applying full power.
Extremely light weight.
Low profile prevents hits or scraps you get with bigger pedals. | | Weaknesses: | If you're not wearing the clipless shoes, you'd might as well stick your toes in the crank holes. Not street shoe friendly, but then again... when are you going to wear street shoes mountain biking? | | Similar Products Used: | Old worn out shimano clipless pedals. | | Bike Setup: | 2001 Schwinn Homegrown SS conversion.
1998 Klein Quantum Pro
2006 Raleigh Rush Hour Track Bike Fixie
Late 1970's CCM Formula 1 with suicide shifters. | | Bottom Line: | I love these pedals so much I have two sets as I hated to have to keep switching between the road and mountain bike setup. They work great for on or off road and I've never had any issues with hotspots due to their low profile. I'm looking for a third set for the Raleigh. I've hit these HARD on rocks and roots coming around tight switchbacks and nearly pole vaulted taking a road ride corner too tight, but they are bombproof. I took the advice from others on here and went with the SL over the chromo. Worth the upgrade. Not sure I can fit the bill for the Ti sets, but I'm sure they're worth it if you're a weight weenie. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
jobrienau
a Cross Country Rider
from Melbourne Australia
Date Reviewed: December 1, 2008 | | Favorite Trail: | Wombat trail | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$120.00 | | Purchased At: | Onlin store | | Strengths: | Fairly easy to clip in and out. | | Weaknesses: | Spring design and strength. | | Similar Products Used: | XTR SPD, Look Quartz (see my review all bad) LX SDP | | Bike Setup: | Giant Trance0, Kona Kula Deluxe | | Bottom Line: | Buy these pedals if you enjoy rebuilding things all the time. What alot of people don't seem to be saying here is that there is a rebuild kit for these pedals that comes with new springs. This is because the springs in them break all the time, and after talking to my local bike shop they fix them all the time and they all know about the springs in these things breaking. I mean really a rebuild kit. My last set of Shimano SPd's lasted 12 years without rebuilding! Any way the rebuild kit is nearly the cost of new pedals so when mine broke I went to Look quartz (another horror story see my review there). I am now back on Shimano XTR SPD's and I should never have gone away in the first place. They work for years on end and are just plain reliable. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Chris Rider
a Weekend Warrior
from Stuttgart
Date Reviewed: November 26, 2008 | | Favorite Trail: | Monte Stivo (Lake Garda, Torbole, Italy) | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$90.00 | | Purchased At: | bike-components.de | | Strengths: | Weight, look | | Weaknesses: | getting in, getting out | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano SPD 959 | | Bike Setup: | 2007 Rocky Mountain Element 70, Fox F100X, Race Face Crank, Hope Mono M4, SRAM X.0 | | Bottom Line: | I bought these pedals this early spring and rode them many times, also multiple day trips in the Alpes. During this time, I have not been able to get used to them. It sometimes took several tries to get in. Makes it very hard to start a steep uphill.
The pedals also do not have a point where you know that you get if you turn your foot further.
They are really poor compared to the Shimano 959 I used before.
Positive are look and weight.
I think I will change to Ritchey's V4 Pro Logics or Look Quartz...
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
P_Poland
a Cross Country Rider
from Warsaw
Date Reviewed: November 16, 2008 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Purchased At: | lbs | | Strengths: | weight!! float - neutreal for the knees unlike spd!! easy clip in and clip out, mud doesnt have anywhere to stick.
theyre beautiful! | | Weaknesses: | paint on the spring wears of (like that was of any importance)? price maybe? hard to find any even if im trying to be picky | | Similar Products Used: | various spd's up to xtr | | Bike Setup: | http://www.mtbr.com/cat/bikes/xc-hardtail/giant/terragodisc/PRD_425443_1527crx.aspx | | Bottom Line: | best i have ever ridden. its not better than shimano (even xtr) - theyre uncomparable! i had some problems with pain in the left knee due to the spring tension while riding shimano. after i bought theese little jewels the problem vanished. add the way they clean themselves of mud, the weight difference and the looks on top and you get probably the best you can buy. 6 degree float makes it safe for the knees if yours are not perfectly straight ;)clip in is easy, so is clip out but you have to get used to them, cause in the begining you feel like your feet are going to clip unintentionally out in a second. durable, went through crashes, couple of times taking most of the impact - nothing but scratches on the side cap. on the other hand always clip out when you need them to - f.eg. when flying over the handlebar and down the slope :)
my first choice. will never buy shimano or similar system again. was thinking also about time's but eggbeaters are lower. probably my last mtb system. only possible change is for higher models in the future. LOVE THEM! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Biknbryn
a Cross Country Rider
from Gold Coast
Date Reviewed: November 5, 2008 | | Favorite Trail: | Nerang | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Purchased At: | eBay | | Weaknesses: | Take a little to get used to, but well worth it! | | Similar Products Used: | Crank Brother - Candy C
Shimano SPD
Shimano SPD-SL
| | Bike Setup: | 2008 Giant XTC Alliance | | Bottom Line: | The weight is unbelievable, enough said
These are the single best pedals i've ever used. Coming from spd's i found they were really easy to clip in and out of, a bit too easy. But now im used to it, its the perfect amount of retention.
I've smashed them on rocks, roots, curbs and never had any amount of bend, not even so match as a scratch usually.
Amazing | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
justjoshnya
a Cross Country Rider
from Lake Ozark, Missouri
Date Reviewed: October 9, 2008 | | Favorite Trail: | Four Winns, Lake of the Ozarks State Park | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$120.00 | | Purchased At: | Oz CYcles | | Strengths: | Light, stiff, long lasting, no corrosion. Rebuildable and greasable. Best clip in clip out action. Good float, shed mud. almost maintenence free | | Weaknesses: | none | | Similar Products Used: | time atac, shimano spd | | Bike Setup: | custom built 08 Trek Fuel EX 8 | | Bottom Line: | best mtb pedals for sure. wish i could afford 4 ti. Not good for road bike though, too much float. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
troy esch
a Cross Country Rider
from andover, Minnesota
Date Reviewed: June 6, 2008 | | Favorite Trail: | the one I'm on | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$120.00 | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | easy in / easy out | | Weaknesses: | It is possible to accidentally unclip | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano | | Bike Setup: | '08 Giant Anthem 1 stock for now | | Bottom Line: | I tried Shimano for a while. I could not get use to them. I could not unclip in a hurry. Hated em. Gave up on them and went back to platforms until recently tried the egg beaters. I like them much more than the shimano's. easy in and easy out. perfect amount of float. It took almost no time getting use to them. 3 chilis for value.. $120 is some dough for pedals but worth it. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Chris Hammond
a Cross Country Rider
from Ferndale, MI
Date Reviewed: April 15, 2008 | | Favorite Trail: | Flow | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$90.00 | | Purchased At: | American Cycle & Fitness | | Strengths: | Sheds mud very easily, good float, 4 sided entry, easy to clip in and out of. looks cool. | | Weaknesses: | The most I've got for this is, I clipped out on accident while climbing, once in a ten miles ride. That's the worst I've got. And that's probably because I'm bad at riding a bike. | | Similar Products Used: | None | | Bike Setup: | Specialized Stumpjumper, Egg Beaters, Fox F90RL | | Bottom Line: | These are great cross country pedals. I'm sure if you're a downhiller, or freerider, you'll want something with more platform, but for the cross country rider, you can't go wrong here. I bashed these off rocks, and you wouldn't know it. I filled them with mud, and had no problem getting in and out. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Bomber
a Weekend Warrior
from Columbus Ohio
Date Reviewed: March 6, 2008 | | Favorite Trail: | Gooseberry Mesa | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$50.00 | | Purchased At: | On line | | Strengths: | Strong Durable, easy to clip in and out. Mud not a problem | | Weaknesses: | None that I can think of with the SL model. Now the C model on the other hand, Ive seen break. | | Similar Products Used: | None. Started riding CB clipless pedals and never been upset or disatisfied to try anything else. | | Bike Setup: | Turner 5 Spot | | Bottom Line: | The bottom line is. The product is great. At first clipping in is a little tight, but once a little wear to the cleat happens, clipping in and out gets easier. And of course, when the cleat is worn out then you do run the risk of clipping out unexpectedly, sometimes when you bottom your pedal out on a rock or log. It happens sometimes, its part of riding. Ive never heard of so many people breaking this pedal until I read reviews. Ive had mine for four years, theyve been used in the rockiest of areas out west and the bearings are still holding up fine. Its a shame when someone buys a product and it doesnt perform as expected, so they just right off the product. You have to expect a little difference between something new and what you are use too.....Id probably feel the same way about shimano pedals (not feeling the same or weird) because Im not use to it. And as for customer service. CB's is second to none. The sent me a free pair of Spindles when I called, for a pair of pedal that I purchase on Ebay. No questions asked except for the address they would be sending them too. I just dont see companies ignoring customers the way it is talked about on some of these reviews. And if they are, its just plain ignorant for them to being doing that, especially in this industry. I guess Im lucky to admit that I have never had a problem with customer service from any biking related company. Customer service from company Ive ever dealt with has been top notch. Anyway, sorry for going off on a rant. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Cameron Bell
a Cross Country Rider
from 10348 Carriage Drive, Brighton MI USA
Date Reviewed: January 20, 2008 | | Favorite Trail: | Highland Rec. | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$67.00 | | Purchased At: | Nasbar | | Strengths: | Works well in mud and snow conditions. Easy to clip into. Comes with grease port and cleats. | | Weaknesses: | Easy to break. Bearings don't last very long. Company does not always stand behind product. Very poor communication after many attemps through Crank bros. customer service and Nashbar's customer service. I had one set replaced and then they broke again. I was "brushed off" by both Crank bros. and Nashbar. I no longer will buy or support either company if they can't even reply about their product. | | Similar Products Used: | Look road pedals, 747's, 949's | | Bike Setup: | Hairy Gary steel hardtail. XTR drive train M960, Chris King headset and hubs. Dave Thomas laced wheels, Thomson stem and seatpost | | Bottom Line: | If you want a good mtb pedal and you don't care if they break down the road then pick up a pair of egg beaters. If you take care of your things and want to use a product for a long time and just replace bearings and cleats WALK AWAY FROM THESE PEDALS. ZERO CUSTOMER Service!!!! Use Shimano pedals instead. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Ed W
a Cross Country Rider
from Helena, MT, USA
Date Reviewed: December 15, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$109.00 | | Purchased At: | Great Divide Cyclery, Helena | | Strengths: | Simple, work very well, easy to rebuild, light weight and minimalist design for great shedding | | Weaknesses: | sometimes retention spring releases and unclips you when you bounce the bottom of the pedal off something on the downstroke. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano-type | | Bike Setup: | Specialized stumpjumper | | Bottom Line: | Great pedal for cross country oriented performance. I've heard it requires quite a stiff-soled shoe otherwise the rider can feel the foot arch bend over the spindle. No problem with a performance shoe. I've also heard that the models lower than the sl are definitely more cheaply made and less durable. If you're going eggbeater, cough up the dough to get in at least at the sl level. Which means you're spending quite a bit for a pedal. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Kevin Andrade
a Cross Country Rider
from Needles
Date Reviewed: November 21, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | Bootleg Canyon | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Purchased At: | came on bike | | Strengths: | Great for mud, good float. | | Weaknesses: | Breaks, didn't last long. They hit the ground and get bent, don't work, then break when you attempt to straighten. Shouldn't be used on mountain bikes, unless you ride in muddy conditions. | | Similar Products Used: | shimano pedals, performance and nashbar pedals, icon & richtey pedals. | | Bike Setup: | Pedals came on my new 07 Cannondale Carbon Rush 2 | | Bottom Line: | The only reason I had these pedals is because they came on my new mountain bike, so I thought I'd give them a try. They worked satisfactory, but were too difficult to get cliped in. You got to be right on the money for them to clip right in. Then when you hit a rock, you really feel it, it kicks you pretty good, bends the egg beaters, and then they break,,,,,,,done ! ! ! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jared
a Cross Country Rider
from Daphne, AL USA
Date Reviewed: October 28, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$75.00 | | Purchased At: | Ebay | | Strengths: | SImple, well made | | Weaknesses: | None yet | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano SPD | | Bottom Line: | I am really impressed with the eggbeaters. They are very simple. I love how easy they shed mud and clip-in. I use these for mostly cross country riding, often in very muddy conditions. If you don't mind having no tension adjustment then these are the way to go. I haven't had any extra wear on my shoes and the cleats seem to hold-up well thus far. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Michael Murphy
a Weekend Warrior
from MN
Date Reviewed: October 23, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | Mt Kato | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Strengths: | Great design... | | Weaknesses: | ...no retention adjustment. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano SPD, Wellgo clones, etc. | | Bike Setup: | Way too many to name | | Bottom Line: | I was psyched to try these; they were a gift from a buddy of mine. I put off installing them for quite a while because all my shoes have SPD cleats. When I finally tried them, I wasn't terribly impressed. There's no retention adjustment... that's not that great for me. I had trouble getting out of them a few times when I tested them... I've been riding SPD for like ten years, and haven't had real problems with them since the first week. I guess I'd rather run any basic SPD clone pedals instead of these. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
ryan holcomb
a
from folsom
Date Reviewed: October 16, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | chico, ca | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$120.00 | | Purchased At: | lbs | | Strengths: | light, good looking, easy in, VERY easy out when needed. | | Weaknesses: | first impression is very different than the typical Shimano setup | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano | | Bike Setup: | 08 HKEK | | Bottom Line: | WOW! There is a very noticable clip-in CLICK like Shimano, but once in, I feel a good amount of float. The best feature is I don't come unclipped when pulling up. With Shimano I did sometimes. Unclipping is very easy. more of a slide out than the Shimano slide and unclick feel. eggbeaters feel much faster. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Kari Veikkolainen
a Racer
from Finland
Date Reviewed: October 6, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | Borlänge trails | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$100.00 | | Purchased At: | ActionSports | | Strengths: | light weight, dont get stuck on mud or snow | | Weaknesses: | they destroy shoes very fast, poor bearings, glip off easyly if the pedal hits to ground, Cleat needs to be changed often. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano 520 | | Bike Setup: | Stumpjumper FSR Expert 2006 | | Bottom Line: | If you drive a coule of hours per week light cross-country I'm sure you're going to like this pedals. If you drive 3 or more times week I'm quite sure you need to change bearings to these pedals and cleats to your shoes atleast once/year. These pedals will also eat bottom of your shoes.
First feeling when I got these pedals was - These are great! Unfortunately that feeling lasted only for a week until the pedal bearings broked first time. Now I have changed the bearing three times during one year. I never had that kind of problem when I had almost cheapest shimano's (PD-520)... | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Andrew
a Weekend Warrior
from London, UK
Date Reviewed: October 3, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$120.00 | | Purchased At: | Merlin Cycles | | Strengths: | Light, easy clip-in, FLOAT! | | Weaknesses: | They look really flash and someone will try to steal them if left on the street. | | Bike Setup: | GT i-drive 1.0 | | Bottom Line: | Excellent pedal. I never notice them, and that's what I want. No problems with mud, excellent float. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Stephen
a Cross Country Rider
from San Diego, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: August 31, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | San Juan Trail | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Purchased At: | waltworks.com | | Strengths: | lightweight, easy clipping in, good float, confident physical connection to bike, easy clip-out, work well in mud/water/???, look pretty cool (i like the minimalist thing) | | Weaknesses: | my only difficulty has as much to do with clumsy pedaling as it does the actual pedal -- if i stroke down onto a rock or something, that pressure will unclip me. this is ALWAYS on a tech climb, and ALWAYS means i start the section over or hike the remainder.
i can see the problem with clipping out when you don't want to, but my theory would be that it has to do with the way your knees/ankles move when you pedal -- maybe a pedal that will hold you firmer in one place would be a better idea. | | Similar Products Used: | shimano spd -- death traps in mud.
crank bros. candy and mallet | | Bike Setup: | waltworks 29er. assorted sram, xt, deore. disc. | | Bottom Line: | good stuff. stainless steel seems perfect -- sexier than cr-mo, but not as ridiculously expensive as ti. the mechanism is beautifully simple, but i can see that it may not be the thing for everybody. the egg beaters w/o the platform are WAY better than the mallet or candy, because the platform definitely gets in the way of clipping in, and is a terrible platform for riding without cleats, since the spring mech will roll you right off the pedal, anyway. my recommendation is to go either fully clipless with the egg beater or fully platform with some other, non-clipping pedal.
good riding. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
SKRX
a Cross Country Rider
from C Falls, MT
Date Reviewed: August 14, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | Flathead NF Fire Roads | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$95.00 | | Purchased At: | EBay | | Strengths: | Easy to get out of, lots of float, don't clog up, 4 sided entry, light and strong, rebuildable. | | Weaknesses: | A little hard to find the sweet spot sometimes when trying to clip in. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano SPD 535 (SPD stands for Stinking Piece of Dung) | | Bike Setup: | Jamis cro-mo hardtail, Manitou R7 Super fork, XT, lots of other upgrades. | | Bottom Line: | These pedals are a huge improvement over SPD's in my opinion. I am an old-school cross country rider who grew up with clips and straps. In the late 90's I bought a pair of SPD 535s and tried three different times to make the transition to clipless. Every time I went back to my clips and straps, because I was scared senseless by the inconsistent and difficult release from the SPDs (yes I knew how to adjust them). The SPD pedals absolutely destroyed my confidence and I swore I would never use clipless pedals again. Then I found the Eggbeaters. What an incredible difference! Easy release, easy entry, plus they're light and they look cool. I love the reversible right/left cleats that let you choose whether you want a faster release by swinging your heel out, or in (which I prefer). I can't believe I didn't discover these sooner. I have finally made the transition to clipless thanks to the Eggbeaters, and my confidence on technical terrain is no less than it was with clips/straps. If you are a clip/strap rider looking to make the transition, I would highly recommend these over an SPD type pedal. If you see a homeless guy riding SPDs, he probably dug mine out of the landfill, 'cause that's where they went!
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Al
a Weekend Warrior
from Rome, NY
Date Reviewed: February 26, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$85.00 | | Strengths: | Weight. Intuitive design. | | Weaknesses: | Does not keep you clipped-in on the down stroke. WAY too easy to clip out of. No sense of security. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano pedals. | | Bike Setup: | Jamis XLT | | Bottom Line: | If you are a bigger guy/gal and require a more positive click when stepping in/out of your pedals...the Eggbeaters are not your pedal. Although a cool concept, and they may work well for lighter folks out there...I would suggest a pedal with adjustable spring tension for you. They keep your feet clipped in on the up-stroke pretty well, but when hammering on the down-stroke, my feet would always find a way to un-clip...even though I would consciously try to NOT clip out. Cool pedal, but only for bean poles. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
base
a Cross Country Rider
from Tampa, FL USA!
Date Reviewed: December 25, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$100.00 | | Purchased At: | LBS of course | | Strengths: | indestructable! | | Weaknesses: | zero dude! | | Similar Products Used: | time atac xs | | Bike Setup: | stumpjumper fsr expert 05' | | Bottom Line: | Whoa! do NOT look at any other pedal. Why? these are the best, as they do not bend, they have excellent float, they are ergonomically correct, they look cool, and they will make you a better rider. they shed mud better than any other pedal on the market. they will not bend or break, no matter what surface you bang them off of - i have hit everything with these babies and they keep on taking the abuse. i have done NO maintenance on them over the last 2 years and they continue to perform flawlessly! clipping in and releasing are effortless, in both directions for clipping in, and you can pull out in any direction. i have yet to have them spin around and hit me in the shin - not once. these are beautiful pedals and they get comments all the time from all riders. they work well and they look good - and they will make you a better rider! they are worth $129.00 retail. even the brass shoe receptor has not worn out yet, and it is the only wear part. the customer service from crank bros. has an excellent reputation too. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Julien De Braekeleer
a Racer
from Belgium, Temse
Date Reviewed: November 9, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$100.00 | | Purchased At: | 't Fietshuis, Melsele | | Strengths: | Light, very vast clicking, feeling free, looks great | | Weaknesses: | Too easy to click out! Only 6 months and allready worn out??? Or just a warranty case? | | Similar Products Used: | Time ATAC Alium (2004), Time ATAC XS (2005) | | Bike Setup: | Trek Top Fuel 98. Tuned: full XTR, Pace RC39XC, Bontrager X-Lite wheels | | Bottom Line: | I planned to buy the pedals but didn't want to make the cost for new pedals because my Time's worked great (the Alium one). But when 2006 series became available with the blue spring, I couldn't resist!
At first I thought they clicked out so quickly and wonder if it was normal. After a few weeks I dindn't care anymore, but after only one month I could move one part of the clam for about 1 or 2 mm.
This week when I wanted to go for a sprint I clipsed out just by pulling the pedal! Also turning my heel outwards, I clipsed out whitout ANY resistance! My cleats are olny two months old an worn 3 time a week. Normally that couldn't be the problem...
A friend of me had the same problem with two pairs of the same pedal, send them back to his dealer and had them both back replaced by new.
Will I get the same conditions? Now I'm thinking to go back to the Time's. But they weights so much... | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Bill
a Racer
from Tampa, FL
Date Reviewed: November 3, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$100.00 | | Purchased At: | the web | | Strengths: | light weight, reasonable cost (the Ti models get expensive though), pure simplicity, easily rebuildable. | | Weaknesses: | none for this rider, but some may have more confidence in a pedal that looks more substantial. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano, Frogs, an entry eggbeater model, and some oem stuff. | | Bike Setup: | aluminum hardtail, XTR, King hubs, SID race, avid brakes, ect.. | | Bottom Line: | These are a really good pedal for this rider. Just like about any clipless pedal once you get used to them everything feels right. They don't have nearly the float of a pedal like the FROGS, but I like the firmer locked in feel that these offer.
I always read the reviews here before buying anything because buyers experiences speak more than any advertising hype. So, on the negatives I heard.
Some said they slip out or stay locked in the pedal when they fall. Well, at some time, I imagine one will unintentionally disengage from the pedal, but that's just the way it is. With any clipless pedal there is always a feeing that you might stay locked in, but experience will have you disengaging the cleats like second nature (or in your sleep). Same with skiing, or any other bindings.
Another buyer claimed the pedal cages broke to pieces all the time. Well, nothing is impossible, but that is highly unlikely. There is over a year of 6 days a week riding of all Mountain variety's on this set with nearly a 2oo lb rider and that is the last fear I have, -- them coming apart. Though I understand they look like you could break them. There will probably be a lot more breaking than the pedals, in that case, and the pedals would be the least of your concerns. Though then again, maybe that rider received a defective set.
Another complained about the soft cleat material and how the cleats wore out more quickly. That could very well be, as the cleat material is purposefully made of a softer material than the pedals. This way the cleats wear out and the pedals do not.
One thing that is great about these is to routinely service these pedals all you need to do is inject some grease through
the axle with the supplied fitting, and then wipe off the over-flow.
Also, when the bearings wear out (about 7500 miles on the last set until they were really loose) the rebuild kit is readily available from Crank Brothers for about 15 dollars.
Now, we mainly do XR racing at this point, but one riders claims that the bottom of the cages get caught on obstacles, and that seems believable if you are the kind of rider whose trails regularly have your chain ring grinding over logs and so forth.
Anyhow, for us these were a really good investment and the value rating is for the stainless steel model we use. Had we bought (and would love to) one of the Ti models the value rating would have to be lower.
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Joel
a Racer
from Phoenixville, pa
Date Reviewed: October 20, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$100.00 | | Purchased At: | lbs | | Strengths: | Light weight, ease of use, durability and 4 way entry! | | Weaknesses: | none until recently. The 06 pedals are releasing too early. | | Similar Products Used: | Time, shimano. | | Bike Setup: | Cannondale F-600 | | Bottom Line: | These have always been a very good pedal, light weight, STRONG, extremely capeable of shedding mud and debris. Easy to get in and out of especially if going over the bars! But I have a new (2006) pair of these guys and they release way too easy, I don't know why, I have never had the problem before. Overall a great pedal, very capeable of racing every weekend and riding hard 3-4 times a week, these guys are VERY durable and will last a very long time. Just pay attention to the new ones, I don't know if they made a huge batch of bad cleats or if its a design flaw. If it weren't for my recent problems I would havae given them perfect 5 Flamin Chilis! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Brandon
a Cross Country Rider
from St Paul
Date Reviewed: October 9, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | Lebanon/Memorial | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Light and they look cool. They shed mud and dirt nicely. | | Weaknesses: | Inability to keep me in the pedal. | | Similar Products Used: | Various shimano pedals | | Bike Setup: | NINER Sir9 SS | | Bottom Line: | These pedals are not for me. I can not wait to get rid of them.
I like to be in my pedals in time of need. I have spent TOO much time bent over from getting a saddle in the jewels due to my feet clipping out at undesirable times. I have tried changing the release angle...and that still didn't do it. Bottom line, for me these are not it!
However, if you are just starting out with clipless pedals I WOULD recommend these. They have easy entry and easy exit. Once you get used to them, move onto a pedal that you can adjust and that will keep you in when you need to land a drop or twist your body around a boulder or tree. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Ben Dillard
a Cross Country Rider
from Reston, VA
Date Reviewed: August 17, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$65.00 | | Purchased At: | BeyondBikes.com | | Strengths: | Very smooth entry/release. SPD compatable cleats. Strong. Light. | | Weaknesses: | None | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano M545 | | Bike Setup: | Specialized FSR XC | | Bottom Line: | Great pedals. Much smoother than Shimano. They take a beating on my FSRXC due to its low BB height, but they show no signs of breaking. It was a little scary at first since the release is so effortless I was afraid that I would unclip unintentionally, but that has not been the case. I would recommend these to anyone. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Rich
a Cross Country Rider
from Louisville, CO, USA
Date Reviewed: July 16, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | any at Winter Park, CO, USA | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$80.00 | | Purchased At: | eBay | | Strengths: | Solid pedal/cleat interface. Consistent release. Value. Weight. Mud and snow tolerance. | | Weaknesses: | None. | | Similar Products Used: | Time ATAC Carbon, older Shimano SPD. | | Bike Setup: | Rocky Mountain ETSX-70 with fancy bits added. | | Bottom Line: | This is a great product. I upgraded from the CrMo stock eggbeaters that I had used for a year and a half. The Eggbeater SL has *perfect* feel and release. They never pre-release, but always release when they should. The CrMo Eggbeaters were okay in this regard, but the SL is outstanding. The Crank Brothers Eggbeater design gives much more consistent release than the Time ATACs and will release in the mud and snow unlike the Shimano 747 SPDs. These pedals would be a great choice for anyone not needing a platform-style pedal. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
robotkiller
a Cross Country Rider
from JAX, FL
Date Reviewed: July 11, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | Tested or demo'ed only | | Strengths: | Looks slick, light as hell. great value | | Weaknesses: | Too much float, waaay to easy to clip out | | Similar Products Used: | Candys, 959 | | Bike Setup: | IF steel deluxe rigid | | Bottom Line: | I demo'ed these to replace my Candys. They were terrible. Where my Candys had a small platform that gave a little resistance to the shoe, the Eggs were just too floaty and clipped out with almost no effort. Clipping in is too effortless -- there's hardly any click.
Having owned Candys I have to also mention the worst feature of Crank Bros pedals - the stock brass cleats. So soft they are worthless after a couple of months.
The eggs are not a bad pedal, it's all a matter of taste. I like to feel tightly attached to my pedals when climbing or riding rough terrain. The Eggs seemed to ready to unclip any second - not confidence inspiring.
Too bad -- they are the best looking pedals on the market, are almost the lightest and are a great value. If you like the loose, indistinct pedal interface then the Eggs are the way to go. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
adam mcneill
a Cross Country Rider
from Ballston Spa, NY, USA
Date Reviewed: May 8, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$45.00 | | Purchased At: | EBay | | Strengths: | Easy to clip in, shed mud amazingly, low maintenance, light and look great. | | Weaknesses: | I have used them for about a year and 4 months and the cleats need to be replaced becuase I keep popping out randomly. Also, left pedal bearing is sticking probably needs to be replaced. Getting out can be difficult | | Similar Products Used: | shimano | | Bike Setup: | NRS 1 | | Bottom Line: | Great pedal over all love everything about it except getting out and lack of adjustment. Has never let me down yet so I would defintely pick some up if I were you. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jody Mason
a Cross Country Rider
from Thousand Oaks, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: May 3, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | Los Robles, Sycamore | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$79.00 | | Purchased At: | online bike store | | Strengths: | ease of use, good feel clicking in and disengaging, look great, function wonderfully | | Weaknesses: | little spendy, but worth it completely | | Similar Products Used: | Time Atac | | Bike Setup: | '05 Giant NRS1 | | Bottom Line: | Bike I purchased came with Time's. Similar idea in pedal design, but just couldn't disengage regularly. Thought it was me and I just needed to learn the correct "feel". Even checking out reviews from this site, sapping cleats, etc. I would keep falling over going up hill over technical sections and MTB was no longer becoming fun. Confidence was going downhill. And I didn't just try for a couple of weeks, almost went a full year trying.
Started asking around, group I road with had 9 out of 10 using Egg Beaters. Purchased after 8 - 10 months of Time, and couldn't believe that I hadn't made the switch sooner. Have had no problems...even raced last weekend in muddy conditions and they worked flawlessly.
Definitely recomend. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jp
a Cross Country Rider
from salt lake city UT
Date Reviewed: May 1, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Lightweight, great mud clearance, cool looks. | | Weaknesses: | High maintenance, must re-grease after only a few months. The cleats do not last. These pedals have worn grooves in my carbon soled shoes. | | Similar Products Used: | time ATAC | | Bottom Line: | These aren't bad pedals, however I'm a little disappointed with them. I got rid of my time ATACs that I'd had for 5+ years and decide to go with these. I never had to do any type of maintenance to my times and they never developed any bearing play. These however require regular maintenance. They also have worn grooves into the bottom of my shimano carbon soled shoes. The are lightweight and perform great in the mud, but if I were to buy pedals again I would go with the times. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Brian
a Weekend Warrior
from Bozeman, MT
Date Reviewed: April 30, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Purchased At: | packaged with bike | | Strengths: | not much, maybe the clean clips when you have a inch of mud on your shoes | | Weaknesses: | only two options for release, randomly release now, especially at critical moments. have worn grooves in the bottom of my sidi shoes | | Similar Products Used: | cheepo shimano | | Bike Setup: | turner 5 spot, raceface atlas cranks, xt/xtr mix, sidi shoes | | Bottom Line: | these pedals suck. they have destroyed my shoes, they dont stay clipped, they've worn deep grooves in my shoes, they ar expensive.
most of all, if you get in a technical spot and have to lean the bike over, and then have to unclip, THEY WONT, and down you go.
After 1 year of riding (montana summers only 4 months) they are shot and need to be replaced.
Dont Believe The Hype. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jeffs888
a Cross Country Rider
from Atlanta, GA , USA
Date Reviewed: March 26, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$59.00 | | Purchased At: | eBay | | Strengths: | light, cool looking, mud shedding ability (only a benefit if you ride in the mud!!!) | | Weaknesses: | lack of adjustable tension, small platform | | Similar Products Used: | different ypes of clipless pedals | | Bike Setup: | Specialized Rockhopper '05 | | Bottom Line: | I read all the reviews ahead of time and still decided to try them out because my single biggest issue in searching for the right pedal was the ease of entry and especially exit.
While I liked the positive click when engaging the pedal, after a while I realized that the lack of any ability to alter how much tension or play you could have in the pedal, especially for exiting, was going to be a problem.
I also found that the small platform bothered me and that what I really wanted was something more sublstantial under my feet (like a shimano 540 or 959).
The mud shedding open feature is amazing if you are running in the mud allot, but reality is that it isn't a big enough part of my riding time to worry about.
There are tons of these on ebay so the MSRP of ~$120 or so is totally unnecessary.
All in all a good pedal, juts not the right one for me. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
G$
a Cross Country Rider
from F-town, 810, MI
Date Reviewed: March 18, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | Whichever I'm on | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$130.00 | | Purchased At: | Online | | Strengths: | Good looks, ease of cleaning, retention, entry | | Weaknesses: | None so far | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano ___ (fill in the blanks) | | Bike Setup: | Klein Attitude upgraded w/ XTR and Hayes disc | | Bottom Line: | Only problem was getting foot in on one side (which was operator error due to ill-placed cleat on shoe). No problem whatsoever with emergency releases--had several spectacular crashes where I flew farther than the bike--and obviously came out of the pedals every time. Unwanted disengagements are non-existent. $130 included Eggbeater SL and some nice Anwer shoes (Nashbar, Performance?) as a combo online. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
base
a Weekend Warrior
from tampa, fl
Date Reviewed: February 23, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | alafia | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$89.00 | | Purchased At: | price match @ LBS | | Strengths: | i have reviewed this product several months earlier. these pedals continue to rock. speaking of rock, i have smashed into several along the trail, and these pedals are barely scratched and function today as they did when brand new. entry is a snap! and exit is unbelievable. i have been in all kinds of tight situations, including only being able to release toward the inside- toward the bike, and these pedals release just fine. i have not had them release when i do not want them to, like on tough climbs. | | Weaknesses: | none so far ! | | Similar Products Used: | time atac xs | | Bike Setup: | 2005 specialized stumpjumper expert 120 (fsr) | | Bottom Line: | everyone that i ride with that is any good uses this pedal. i bought these pedals for many reasons: they look cool, they are light weight, they have an excellent warranty, the company is american and they back up their products - period! you need to buy with confidence when you are buying a product that you trust to get you through your riding - i work all week long and when i ride i want something that is going to be there for me when i am doing what i have waited all week long to do - the eggbeaters are there for me ! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Andrew Douglas
a Cross Country Rider
from Tucson, AZ
Date Reviewed: January 27, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | Any and Every | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$60.00 | | Purchased At: | Bob's Bicycles.com | | Strengths: | Light, great preformance in mud, cheap when compared to the others on the market. | | Weaknesses: | Developes a slight amount of play. Un equal release tension between pedals and even sides. | | Similar Products Used: | Ritchey, Shimano, Time | | Bike Setup: | MOTO LITE with all the goodies. | | Bottom Line: | I have used the Crank Bros for three years now and they are the best. This is the third pair and there have been some improvements made but it still has a little play after a month of riding. It would alos be nice if the release tension was adjustable but still the best pedals you can buy. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Tim
a Racer
from New Zealand
Date Reviewed: January 16, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$80.00 | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Price, better release and engauging than SPD's, light, | | Weaknesses: | A lot poorer release and engauging than ATAC's, wear out quickly, wear out your shoe soles as well | | Similar Products Used: | ATAC's (3 pairs over 8 years), SPD's (1 year) | | Bike Setup: | NRS1, Stumpy Pro, GT Karakorum all pretty much stock | | Bottom Line: | Have been a Time fan in the past. Never had good experiences with SPD's. So I thought I would give the Egg Beaters a go on my new bike. Well after 10 months of riding I am now going back to some new Carbon Time ATAC's (even though my old Alu ATAC's still have pretty of life) as they are better in performance.
For the price the Crank Brothers are excellent but the ATAC's are the performance pedal but are more expensive.
The eggbeaters wear out quicker than ATAC's, the Crank brothers release is not as good is alot more variable than ATAC's, they do release when when you hit rocks with your pedals (I thought this was a false belief as they should in theory close tighter if you hit the front bar on the pedal) this maybe because my foot is turning on impact on hitting rocks or the rock is hitting the back bar on the pedal, but never had this problem on the ATAC's (maybe the Candys with the platform like the ATAC's are better). I have tried both release options on the Crank brothers and still get some non releasing on crashes which I didn't have with the ATAC's. The bars on the egg beater have worn rather deep groves into my Spec. Mountain Comp. Shoes and the egg beater bars have worn out alot quicker than ATAC's. The engauging is not as positive and I find I have a harder time searching for the pedal and a larger effort is needed to engauge the Egg Beaters over the ATAC's (but way better than SPD's especially in mud). I have never had any bushing problems with the eggbeaters like some people told me to expect.
If you are after a cheap good pedal that will last for a year of solid riding then the Crank Brothers are great. But if you race and are a hard rider and want to have a great pedal that will be reliable for 2 years at least then pay the extra go the ATAC way. I have never heard of any of my riding mates having any problems with ATAC's expect the higher initial price | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Mike
a
from Canada
Date Reviewed: January 6, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Purchased At: | JensonUSA.com | | Strengths: | Strong
Very Light
Easy clip in and out
Excellent mud shedding
Easy to service | | Weaknesses: | I haven't found any weaknesses yet. | | Similar Products Used: | SPD | | Bottom Line: | They're light, strong, they look good and perform exceptionally. Cleaning and maintenance is easy as pie. I love these pedals, all of my bikes now have Crankbros on them. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
caudex333
a
from Colorado
Date Reviewed: December 20, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | any | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$65.00 | | Purchased At: | ebay | | Strengths: | Superior mud shedding design, minimal parts, ease of servicing/rebuilding, clipping in and out, price, warranty/customer service | | Weaknesses: | None (Maybe the lack of a tension adjustment but I have found no need for one on the Egg Beaters) | | Similar Products Used: | Time, Frogs, and a long time user of SPD's | | Bike Setup: | Scandium/carbon hardtail race machine | | Bottom Line: | Review is for the 2005 model. All around great pedals and highly recommended. Possibly not a great beginer pedal or those just making the jump to clipless.
Had a hard time deciding between the new Time ATAC XS Carbon or the Egg Beater SL's but super happy I chose the Egg Beaters. My biggest fear with the Eggs was the lack of a platform. However to my surprise I found I did not need it. I find the pedals CAN be ridden unclipped however not as well as a platform pedal. Further, the ease of clipping in was another surprise even on hills and in technical sections. The four sides greatly help since there is no platform to help guid you in. All you do is step on the pedal anywhere and roll the pedal either forward or backward to clip in. You can let the cleats do a lot of the work by alowing the front or back lip on the cleat to "grab" the pedal bars to get your foot in position to step in. After riding them for a while you should become used to placing your foot in just the right spot to step down to clip in making the engagement even easier. I find the platforms on the Candies a nuisance and unnecessary for XC riding. Also, I did not find it necessary to cut up the tread on my SPD compatible shoe to fit the cleat or help with clipping in. I did use the shims that come with the pedals only because I did not want the pedal bars digging into my carbon soled shoes.
Overall, I highly recommend for anyone looking for a great pedal. If possible try before you buy, everyone has their own opinion. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Hernan
a Weekend Warrior
from New York, NY
Date Reviewed: October 20, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | "Defacing public property" | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$110.00 | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Very strong
They hold on and stay on
Lightweight
A definite conversation piece
Excellent customer service - sent me replacement pedals quickly (see below) | | Weaknesses: | With new cleats, you better be ready to go down (HARD) with the ship, cuz you're NOT clipping out in time! After they get worn, it gets a bit better, but if you mess around, you're still going down...
Lack of adjustable float. Although they have a good amount of float before you clip out, riding with your feet off-center feels like just that - off-center. It feels like the spring is always pulling your feet back towards the neutral position, so if I ride with my heels pointing outward a bit for a long time, I end up feeling the strain at the knees (I'm 22 years old - not old, and I don't have knee problems).
The bolts that you use to take off the pedals rounded on me the first time I tried to take the pedals off - customer service sent me a replacement pair of pedals within a week.
Riding clipped in (on Sidi Dominator 5 mountain bike shoes - so it's not the shoes) the small contact surface becomes painful during long rides.
I won't say you can't, but it is painful to ride with regular shoes.
When I first got the pedals, I found them very hard to clip out of. After some reading on the Crank Bros website I learned that the cleats can be set in one of two ways (dotted cleat on the right foot, or on the left), to vary the amount of float before the pedals disengage. With the new setup, I did a lot better, however I do wish that I could adjust the pedals to make it even easier to get out of them. As they are, I can only use them for light XC, and swap them out when I want to do more technical stuff.
Sometimes it's hard to clip into them because they roll away from you. | | Similar Products Used: | None | | Bike Setup: | '05 Gary Fisher GED, stock except for King headset and eggbeaters - she's heavy but I love her :) | | Bottom Line: | These pedals HOLD ON TO YOU HARD. I have never even come close to clipping out by accident. So if that's what you're looking for - go for it. On the downside, if you want them to let you go (if you're falling, for example), you might run into some issues... although it is kind of funny to watch your bike tumble over you while still attached to your foot...
I gave them a good rating because I recognize that they are good for what they are intended to be - a cross-country pedal for people who mostly keep their feet on the bike. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
base
a Cross Country Rider
from tampa
Date Reviewed: October 2, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | boyette/alafia/croom | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$89.00 | | Purchased At: | lbs, price match | | Strengths: | easy release | | Weaknesses: | none farso | | Similar Products Used: | time attac xs | | Bike Setup: | 2005 specialized expert 120 (fsr) | | Bottom Line: | one ride is all it took. on my previous pedal, the time attac xs, there was a huge learning curve, as i bit the dust several times during learning to unclip. however, the egg beaters let go with the slightest movement. clipping in is twice as easy and clipping out is even easier. i am able to release the pedals even toward the bike, whereas most have to unclip away from the bike. but, as we all know, unfortunately there are times that we have to unclip towards the bike, of which the pedals can safely and easily do. i have no regrets buying these eggbeaters and i am looking forward to giving them a run for the money and putting them to the test. i will report back in a few months ..... | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Craig McBrierty
a Cross Country Rider
from Edinburgh, Scotland
Date Reviewed: September 20, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | Glentress | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$70.00 | | Purchased At: | chainreactioncycles.com | | Strengths: | Vert light, easy to service and a breeze to engage and disengage. | | Weaknesses: | Sometimes too easy to disengage and tricky to fit. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano SPD's and Look pedals | | Bike Setup: | GT frame, Marzocchi Z2 atom forks, Rolf Dolomite wheels, Magura HS33 brakes and XT/ XTR groupset | | Bottom Line: | I got these at a good price and use them on a road bike so mud clearance isnt an issue. They are great and so much comfier than Look road pedals.
Recommended as they are so easy to use and need next to no servicing. I ahve done about 1000miles on them with no trouble.
They dont look like thy would suit everyone but give them a try and you'll not want to back to Shimano. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jeff
a
from Rocky Point, NY
Date Reviewed: September 5, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$110.00 | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | impossible to pack with mud.nice looks.lightweight. | | Weaknesses: | a little more difficult to install. | | Similar Products Used: | bontrager RE1 | | Bike Setup: | '99 Trek 8000 | | Bottom Line: | great pedal. cannot get packed with mud,dirt,etc.nice to be able to engage from all 4 sides. there isn't much adjusting that can be done to release tension so if you don't do alot of dabbing these are great. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Craig
a Cross Country Rider
from Johnstown, CO USA
Date Reviewed: July 24, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | today's | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$120.00 | | Purchased At: | Nashbar | | Strengths: | Light, simple | | Weaknesses: | Adds more to the Q-factor than SPD pedals (4mm per side) | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano, wellgo, ritchey | | Bike Setup: | Custom built Cannondale Prophet | | Bottom Line: | The bottom line is they work, and they're light. Engagement is about the same as SPD (click is a little more distinct on the eggbeaters, tho). Release is easier, especially if you've been through the mud. I've never had any issue with accidental release or lateral float.
They do add a little more to the Q-factor on your ride than a typical SPD (4mm add'l to each side). This may or may not be a problem for you, depending on your build and other equipment. Some of the newer cranks (like the XT) have a gigantic q-factor and these pedals exacerbates things a bit. If you have 4mm to spare, tho, they are great pedals.
I got mine as an OEM (haven't had the problems the other OEM reviewer had with them, either) deal w/ some Answer shoes. $120 got me both the shoes and the pedals, so value is ++ | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Edward Hallgren
a Weekend Warrior
from St. Petersburg, FL USA
Date Reviewed: July 17, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | Alafia River State Park (Florida) | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Purchased At: | OEM 2005 with GT Avalanche 0.5 | | Strengths: | Superior mud clearing design | | Weaknesses: | OEM versions have bearings over-torqued, too much float, even with two circles on your right shoe; the 4-way entry is a feature of the 4-sided pedal, not a benefit to the rider, unless displacing mud/debris from shoes | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano 747's | | Bike Setup: | OEM Eggs, Crank Bros cleats, Northwave and SIDI Dragons | | Bottom Line: | I am writing this because of the OEM Eggbeaters, which came with my 2005 GT Avalanche 0.5 bike. I flipped my SPD’s to the Crank Bros cleat, without any problems. The Egg is a great pedal, in and out, stable, stiff; and no worries about releasing inadvertently. When I picked up the bike, I noticed the pedals did not spin freely when compared to my Shimano 747’s, but that is normal on a new bike set up at a LBS. Setting up your bike and maintaining it is important, and believe me, I take care of my bikes; clean the bike after every ride; set pressures in tires and fork, lube compos, and identify any problem spots, when they occur. The problem with these pedals is that the bearings were set up too tight from the manufacturer. I hoped the pedals would loosen up after break-in. This did not happen, and the right pedal is now extremely difficult to turn manually. I have only run these pedals for 3 months, and looked forward to putting my 747's on the bike, but now that a necessity, as I have to adjust the spindle torque on the Eggs, which is not a normal part of pedal maintenance. I have ridden my 747’s for 7 years, and they are easy to maintain, even after long salt water beach rides (Bal Harbour/Surfside, FL) and submerged lime rides (Oleta River State Park, FL) and the only part I have needed to replace is the $1 rubber seal on the spindles. Please understand, this is likely an OEM issue, and you will not experience it with OTC Egg Beaters, but OEM parts should be equal or marginally better, when set up on a stock bike. The OEM product gets 2 peppers, because it does not stick to clipless shoes when un-clipped as do 747’s, it does not spin fast like 747’s, and it was released from the factory without proper torque. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
João Santos
a Cross Country Rider
from Lisbon
Date Reviewed: July 16, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | Cross Country | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$70.00 | | Purchased At: | Ebay | | Strengths: | The right price, they are light, stiff, they have easy clip in and out, easy mud off, everything is great and easy in these babies....just keep pedaling!!! | | Weaknesses: | I defy who finds one to prove it!;) | | Similar Products Used: | Sucky platforms, Welgo's, Shimano's | | Bike Setup: | Total custom for Cross country and home made full suspension bike. | | Bottom Line: | If God is to Ride with cleat pedals, I believe these are the ones!!! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Celeste
a Racer
from Fort Collins, CO
Date Reviewed: July 4, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | Mount Falcon, Morrison | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$65.00 | | Purchased At: | ebay | | Strengths: | Easiest, most reliable in & out pedal I have ever tried!!! Lightweight. They won't accidentally release your foot if you pull up too hard or when you're trying to hop, even sideways! They're about as comfortable as any clipless pedals when you aren't clipped in or are riding in regular shoes, but with how easy it is to get in & out, you're more likely to spend more time clipped in since you know you can get out. These have made my riding much much better and made me more likely to take chances. | | Weaknesses: | Those 1/2 inch posts that stick out on the sides. Be careful if you have shoe laces that they are tucked in or they could snag. These also hurt like a mother if they dig in just right in a crash. | | Similar Products Used: | Eggbeaters candy, Shimano, Time ATAC. | | Bike Setup: | Trek Fuel 90 | | Bottom Line: | THESE ARE THE BEST PEDALS FOR LIGHTWEIGHT RIDERS!! At 105lbs, I have the WORST time finding pedals I can get in and out of easily. These have an audible "click" when you're in, unlike Candy, where you're never quite sure until you pull up and your foot goes flying. They release in mud unlike Shimanos. Easier to get in & out of than Time, which I ended up falling over with about 3/4 of the time. Once you try eggbeaters, you'll never go back! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
tumbleon
a Cross Country Rider
from Always Changing
Date Reviewed: June 25, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | 8 Ball | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$80.00 | | Purchased At: | www.bikerbob.com | | Strengths: | Light, strong, and perfect float | | Weaknesses: | use an allen to get them off. | | Similar Products Used: | spd | | Bike Setup: | Yeti Koko, X.9 DT, RF cranks | | Bottom Line: | Great! first switch to Crank Brother eggbeaters. Faster in and out than SPD. more predictable and they shaved some weight for free! non stick, good float without going to far. easy in and out. clears mud well. Tagged some rocks and obstacles w/o problems! fantastic pedal.
got them Super Ass Cheap at www.bikerbob.com! (a LBS near my location) Check them out, they rock! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
mark b
a Cross Country Rider
from Vail, CO USA
Date Reviewed: June 24, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | son of middle creek | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$55.00 | | Purchased At: | mountain sports outlet (MSO) | | Strengths: | mud shed, easy clip in/out, did i mention mud shed | | Weaknesses: | nothing | | Similar Products Used: | shimano, wellgo | | Bike Setup: | kona hardtail, marz SL Freeride '03, xt/lx, easton, and race face, etc..... | | Bottom Line: | got a great price(cost) for these pedals, but totally worth the $119 reatil. Didn't really need to do any triming of sole of my Specialized shoes, i did do a bit, but it wasn't neccessary. the mud shed is unbeatable. My bike, shoes, and myself could be caked in mud but the pedals stay clear and clean. Holds my weight well...6'4 220.
only pedal i will use from now on. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
B Griffith
a Weekend Warrior
from Columbus Ohio
Date Reviewed: June 21, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | Any | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$78.00 | | Purchased At: | Bike Warehouse Columbus Oh. | | Strengths: | Light 266g
Easy in and out
Strong
Small in size, so you dont hit to many things on the trail | | Weaknesses: | None so far
| | Similar Products Used: | Crank Brothers Mallet M | | Bike Setup: | Jamis XLT 2.0. Swinger 4 way coil. Marzocchi Z1 FR. All XT and Hayes Hyd. disc brakes. | | Bottom Line: | Great pedal for XC. Very light and small. Dont even notice you have pedals.
Great design. Easy in and out.
Mud does not affect them. They work in any riding condition.
5 chilis for value, because I got them on sale. I think the C (chrome) type will work just as well and theyre cheaper. All Crank Brother pedals work the same. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Geoff Seaborn
a Cross Country Rider
from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Date Reviewed: May 15, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | Gatineau Loop | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Purchased At: | Bob's Bicycles | | Strengths: | Light weight, 4-sided entry, easy to install, great design, amazing service and customer care. | | Weaknesses: | Since getting used to the release of the pedal isn't really a weakness, and the shoe wear is negligible, there are none so far. | | Similar Products Used: | SPD | | Bike Setup: | Custom set-up - aluminum hardtail cross country frame. | | Bottom Line: | Although these pedals are a bit expensive, by the time they are mounted on your bike, you won't regret anything about them. They are a huge upgrade over shimano pedals - they just feel way nicer to enter and exit, and the pedal float is much more reliable. I found myself popping out of my SPD pedals pretty often when I didn't want to be, even with the float angles adjusted. I really like the eggbeater design, and the stainless version is a solid pedal. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Christian
a Cross Country Rider
from Dundas, Ontario, Canada
Date Reviewed: April 30, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$90.00 | | Purchased At: | eBay | | Strengths: | Lighweight, simple design | | Weaknesses: | cleat/shoe wear, lots and lots of float in every direction (could be a strength, depending how you feel) | | Similar Products Used: | Ritchey, Time ATAC, Xpedo | | Bike Setup: | Light mag hardtail | | Bottom Line: | Easy in, easy out (although they did stay engaged once during a crash - I flipped over, landed on my head, and was still attached to the bike). Float EVERYWHERE, including laterally which I think wrecked my knees. After 40km of Xcountry a day most summers in the past without trouble). I (and my physio) think it was from my foot rolling off to the side under the incredible amount of float these things offer. Last season was pretty much lost for me, and now I can't really train this summer either as I wait for my knees to get better using my old floatless Ritcheys (slowly but surely...). I really hope that my knees aren't done for, but I'm young and hopeful.
Lots of float isn't for everyone - if you start feeling pain don't believe everyone when they tell you that it can't possibly be these pedals. It's been almost a year now since I switched off the beaters, and I still have some pain - but I think if I'd ditched them sooner I wouldn't be in so much trouble. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Lance
a Weekend Warrior
from Wellington, NZ
Date Reviewed: March 27, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Purchased At: | Torpedo 7 | | Strengths: | Design. Easy in, easy out. Solid feel. | | Weaknesses: | Collecting shin! Hurts. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano, wellgo, shimano, shimano. | | Bike Setup: | 2004 Kona Kula Deluxe | | Bottom Line: | Love these pedals. Notice how the design is the same (simple) yet the materials differ? (Why haven't Shimano done this? Why are the ugliest SPDs cheap and the sleek ones expensive?) Easy in, positive click. Easy out, noiseless. No accidental outs. Makes great contact with the bottom of the shoe. Simple and effective. Crank Bros rule. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Barkdog
a Cross Country Rider
from Salem
Date Reviewed: March 18, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | mckenzie river, alpine trail | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$70.00 | | Purchased At: | ebay | | Strengths: | Weight; ease of entry; mud-shedding ability; exotic look; can make lemon meringue on the trail, if the urge strikes. | | Weaknesses: | Not free; release feel takes some getting used to, but I like it now; have to replace all my Shimano now 'cause I love these. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano m520's; and the Shimano with a small platform (474?). | | Bike Setup: | 2005 Stumpjumper FSR 120 Pro. | | Bottom Line: | (This review is of the 2004 stainless / "SL" version.) ve been anticipating getting these for some time. I've been pretty happy w/ my Shimano m520's, but wanted the weight savings and was anxious to try Crank Bros....
Despite being smaller than my Shimanos, these pedals are shockingly easy to get into. Unlike my Shimanos, no need for "toe first, then push down heel." All you do is line up somewhere near the pedal and push. Awesome. Also, and again despite being smaller than my Shimanos, you CAN pedal a little without being clipped in (just as easily as on my Shimanos, by putting the pedal on the shoe instep) if, for example, you get off on a severe uphill and can't get back in right away. I'll be doing that less, though, because of how easy and quick they are to get in to.
I didn't like the release feel as much, at first. I kept my Shimanos set at about 85% of the way to full tight; there's usually a pretty positive click when you clip out. The Crank Bros. (using the earier release position for the cleats) actually feel a little easier to clip out of, and you can't tighten them. My main worry was that I'd inadvertently clip out, since the spring felt less tight than on the Shimanos. Also, there's more of a transition period as you twist through the range of the spring, which mainly amounts to a different "feel."
But now I like it. I've had no accidental releases to date. So the net result is they're easier in AND out than my Shimanos; the release feel is a little more vague, but the clip in is positive-feeling and stinkin' easy. So worth it.
And I'm glad I didn't get the Candys. They'd be awesome, but I don't think the platform is necessary if you've got stiff shoes. I plan to have these for a long time and use on all (including road) bikes. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Lucas Fowler
a Racer
from Waco, TX United States
Date Reviewed: December 22, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$120.00 | | Purchased At: | www.nashbar.com | | Strengths: | These are very good pedals. I havent had any problems with them coming unclipped when I dont want them too. They are light for the price. | | Weaknesses: | I havent found any yet though I am sure there are. | | Similar Products Used: | Never used chromes but I think they would be the closest comparison | | Bike Setup: | 2003 Gary FIsher Tassajara | | Bottom Line: | These pedals are a very good deal.(Especially when they were only 120 with Answer shoes combo) If you want good pedals for the money then these are the pedals to get. If you are a serious or not so serious rider then these are good for you. I am a racer and these are great for that. If you are a casual rider and have the extra money I would go with them too. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Lucas Fowler
a Racer
from Waco, TX United States
Date Reviewed: December 22, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$120.00 | | Purchased At: | www.nashbar.com | | Strengths: | These are very good pedals. I havent had any problems with them coming unclipped when I dont want them too. They are light for the price. | | Weaknesses: | I havent found any yet though I am sure there are. | | Similar Products Used: | Never used chromes but I think they would be the closest comparison | | Bike Setup: | 2003 Gary FIsher Tassajara | | Bottom Line: | These pedals are a very good deal.(Especially when they were only 120 with Answer shoes combo) If you want good pedals for the money then these are the pedals to get. If you are a serious or not so serious rider then these are good for you. I am a racer and these are great for that. If you are a casual rider and have the extra money I would go with them too. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Eric
a Cross Country Rider
from Zeeland, MI, USA
Date Reviewed: November 17, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Strengths: | Weight, easy to use, customer service, design | | Weaknesses: | none so far with the stainless | | Similar Products Used: | Eggbeater chrome | | Bike Setup: | Schwinn Mesa GSX with XTR derailler | | Bottom Line: | I broke a pair of chrome eggbeater, and Crank Brothers replaced them for free with no conflict. They gave my an upgrade to stainless because my crome pedals broke three times. The design on the stainless is much better, and seems stronger. They also seem to operate better when it comes to clipping in, and I haven't have any accidental releasing that I had with the chrome. I really like eggbeaters, and in my opinion, stainless is the way to go. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
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