Posts Tagged ‘tips’

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.

A sidewall failure of my Sweetskins MTB tire today reminded me of a temporary fix I once read about and actually used once. When you tear the casing of a tire, you can be seriously disabled. You’ve probably blown your tube and replacing the tube won’t fix the tear. A temporary solution you can use is to place some sort of paper currency, preferably a small value bill, between the tube and the location of the tear in the tire. You can then pump up the tire and the bill will keep the tube from protruding from the tire hopefully long enough for you to arrive at your final destination. If you’re like most people, you probably carry a cell phone and can call the wifey or a beer-drinking buddy to come and get you, but why involve an undesirable vehicle when you don’t have to. Besides, it would be more fun to impress your buddies with your ingenuity and adventurousness by fixing the tire with the dollar trick (hopefully with your buddy’s dollar).

I admit I did not use this trick today. Conditions were very wet and cold and getting another flat on affected tire was not unlikely. When I got the flat, I was only about a half mile from work so I cyclocrossed it the rest of the way. It’s good to know that I can still run that far. Then, I caught a ride home with a buddy who lives a few blocks away. I missed an opportunity to re-confirm my dollar trick. Even I am prone to weakness sometimes.

Duhhhhhhh, right? Not really. You would be amazed at how easy it is to drop your head (and eyes) toward the ground on a ride. Dropping your head can be caused by several factors. First, it takes effort to hold your head up and it just feels good to relax your neck. Second, the most natural response you have on a bike when you are tired is to drop your head. Observe professional riders on a breakaway towards the end of a race. There not just dropping their heads for better wind resistance. They’re beat. Third, sometimes it’s just fun to look down and watch your muscular legs churning the pedals.
How do you avoid dropping your head? Try these:
• Become aware of your riding position and whether you are keeping your head upright.
• Practice. Mountain biking is a good way to practice maintaining a good head position because there are always upcoming obstacles.
• When bike commuting don’t kill yourself trying to make it from point A to B five minutes faster than last time. Part of bike commuting is interacting with your environment and lowering your environmental impact. Ride at a mild or moderate pace and enjoy the scenery. Speed will come with better fitness. However, even the fit can wear themselves out. I have a friend who was bike commuting on a time trial bike in the UK. He was working hard and dropped his head resulting in a rear end collision with a disabled vehicle. The crash pushed the aerobars up through his mouth, breaking his jaw and knocking most of his teeth out. It’s very easy to hit a parked car just ask anyone who has ridden in a city a lot.
• Buy a helmet-mounted mirror. I don’t use one (I rely on hearing) but this can alert you to traffic behind you without having to turn your head. I have also seen the handlebar mounted versions but these require you to look down – exactly what you don’t want to do. I don’t highly recommend any rear view mirror because I don’t think they’re that useful. Most of the time you can hear rear-approaching traffic. I’ve also read that most bike-undesirable vehicle crashes do not result from the rider being hit from the rear. I use the check way ahead of you, quick glance back method for assessing rear-approaching traffic.
• Don’t look ten feet ahead of you. Look 100 to 150 feet ahead of you. I typically can spot a trouble area on the road well before I get there. Rarely do I need to slam on the brakes to stop. This method is used by fixy riders who know they can’t stop quickly. I think it’s a good practice even if you can.
Hope that helps.

Okay, I’ve done it. I do it frequently. However, I ensure that I slow down and look and I never put myself or drivers of undesirable vehicles in danger. I also never even inconvenience undesirable vehicle drivers.

I never rode on many club rides. I guess I always felt a little uncomfortable around those rides because I didn’t have a Cervelo and $250 wrapped around my body in the form of spandex. When I did finally join the first club ride of the year in the spring of 2003 in northern Indiana, I got exactly what I expected. Somehow, since we were in a large group, traffic laws did not apply. We consumed the whole road, disregarded traffic lights and stop signs and were generally only interested in ourselves. That was my first and last club ride.

While cyclists rant and rave about how undesirable vehicle drivers have no respect for cyclists, cyclists rarely chide each other for irresponsible riding behavior which leads to disrespect. We frequently only focus on our own interests and think we have more right to the road than others. I feel even the League of American Cyclists places too much blame on drivers and not enough on cyclists.

One of the main reasons that club rides are mislead is the jokes that are usually the best riders in the group. They are faster than most in the group and they know it. I find them hilarious because match them up with a pro and they got nothin’. Especially the lame-os in northern Indiana. It’s like a grown man spiking a football and doing a touchdown dance after mowing down a team of peewee football players.

The most common reason I run a stop light is because I cannot set off the sensor to get the light to change. I think this practice is safe and keeps traffic flowing normally. However, on my daily commutes the traffic, even in mid-town Memphis, is pretty light. In a more congested city, this practice may not be so safe. As for stop signs, if there are other vehicles present, I most certainly stop and wait my turn, just like an undesirable vehicle.

My message to cyclists: Ride respectfully and you will earn respect. Ride like a jerk, be treated like a jerk.