Posts Tagged ‘Crank Brothers’

I love the ease of use of my Crank Brothers Eggbeater pedals.  I’ve used them extensively for off- and on-road purposes.  Mud clearance, ease of engagement, ease of clipping out and range of motion are incomparable.  Customer service has also been responsive and informative.  However, I have experienced numerous failures with Crank Brothers pedals.  I have had the spring break, end-bolt disappear, cage bent, cleat fail and other miscellaneous failures.  I’ve even started to have a collection of old pedals where one broke and I keep the other for replacement of future failures.  It isn’t always the same-side pedal so it’s not something funky I’m doing with one leg.

I believe the cleats are designed to fail before the pedal as they’re made of a pretty soft metal.  However, in my experience, they tend to last as long as the pedal.  Overall, I think Crank Brothers pedals are very comfortable to use but have average or below-average durability.

Here are several tips if you use Crank Brothers pedals:

1.  Don’t buy the Smarty pedal.  It’s worthless.  It may fail almost immediately.

2.  Inspect your pedal and cleats regularly after 1000 miles (assuming your an urban commuter).  You don’t want a catastrophic failure to occur when you’re hopping a curb.

3.  Only buy the pedals which have forged cages.  The Smarty and others have a stamped cage that is weak at best — must be built in China.  However, don’t blame it on China.  The designer, in this case Crank Brothers, tells the manufacturer what to make.  The design responsibility lies with Crank Brothers.  They only make what Crank Brothers tells them to make.

4.  Save your old pedals.  You’ll likely want to buy more Crank Brothers pedals because of how easy they are to use but if you ride a lot, the pedals will fail and you’ll need a spare.

A User Need for Crank Brothers:

I want pedals and cleats that will last  5 grand of urban commuting yet are still as comfortable to use as your current designs.