MTB pedal advice

Discuss light weight issues concerning mountain bikes & parts.

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J.v.S.
Posts: 223
Joined: Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:09 pm

by J.v.S.

Dear all,

I'm looking for a ww pedal for the missus. What would you recommend in terms weight/ price/ durability?

Thanks a lot for your advice.

by Weenie


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FIJIGabe
Posts: 2241
Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2012 6:07 pm
Location: The Lone Star State

by FIJIGabe

I've had good luck with the Egg Beaters line from Crank Brothers. you can get them in varying weights, depending on how much you want to spend. Pedal engagement requires minimal effort.

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Liggero
Posts: 955
Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 11:49 pm
Location: Netherlands

by Liggero

speedplay frog:

-bomb proof.
-All stainless, even the cleat.
-the best by far for the knees.
-Light AND reliable, with triple bearings.
-Easy clip on and clip off.
-Easy maintance and service, with hole for injecting grease.
-mine have 15 years and still spinning perfectly. 2 pairs of cleats, waiting for a third set now.
Happy Trails !!!

mentok
Posts: 577
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 9:58 am

by mentok

I got sick of eggbeaters and their vague, temperamental engagement. i persevered for a long time, but it got to the point that they were genuinely costing me seconds in XC races so for me the SPDs were the better option despite the weight penalty.

ymmv, just offering my 2c

DanW
Posts: 1243
Joined: Fri May 02, 2008 5:39 pm
Location: Here, there and everywhere

by DanW

I have also persevered with Crank Brothers pedals due to:
- Low weight
- Cheap custom Ti spindle length options
- Affordability.

However these CB pedals have downsides causing me to switch:
- The bars are pretty likely to destroy your shoes- I am getting through the aluminium shoes savers pretty quickly!
- They are a disposable part in my opinion
- Even using the rebuilt kits can not get around the quick loss of spring tension causing almost unrestricted float
- Fast wear to the axles causes play at the axle.
- Cleats wear exceptionally fast. Mine would last only a few rides before almost unrestricted float started appearing. Not good when combined with the sloppy springs.
- The two points above contribute to the biggest negative I can see- very, very little support of the foot. This is not just due to the small size but the general sloppy interface between cleat and the bars of the pedals. If you clip a shoe in to the pedal and manipulate it in all directions you can see there is very little restraint in any direction. This may or may not irritate any knee issue you may have as was the case for me.

I now use Shimano XTR and I think most people eventually concede and take the extra weight of an SPD based pedal based on overcoming all of the issues noted above. I held off for a very long time due to stubbornness but am glad I made the switch! My knees thank me :)

P.S. Speedplay are the work of the devil if you search this forum and others ;) All jokes aside, there are two schools of thought with pedal float and everyone is different but my belief is that the bike should be fit correctly (with a pedal with a small amount of float) and there should never be any need for the large amount of float with designs like Speedplay. If anything the extra float may upset a lot of people joints rather than help them- the pros tend to make some mods to restrict the float if I am not mistaken???

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devinci
Posts: 2904
Joined: Sat Jan 03, 2009 9:43 pm
Location: Canada

by devinci

sure the egg beater are easy to clip in but I experience quite a few unintented clip out during descents.

I just bought the new look s-track, they are a very different pedal. Huge contact area. Very clear clip in feel and clip out. Time will tell if they are durable

cakiss
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: Belgrade,Serbia

by cakiss

Look quartz, around 60E, durable and mid range weight, no pressure points easy to clip in/out, good mud clearance i have them around 2 years, riding in wet, mud dust, so far no issues

gifted child
Posts: 103
Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2007 3:59 am
Location: Butuan City, Philippines

by gifted child

Also in the market for new pedals, my nine year old egg beater ti already have a significant play on the left pedals and needs to retire, havent found any rebuild kit for sale so I guess ill have to change to a new one, eyeing on the egg beater 11, but also thinking of trying other brands. Never really had problems with my egg beaters thou..
Xtr is just too heavy for my liking....
* How about the xpedo magforce 8 ti? Any inputs on those pedals? They work like SPDs right? They are fairly light at 215 grams listed.

leugene
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu May 22, 2008 10:21 am
Contact:

by leugene

Was it already decided in the same forum that best ever mtb pedals are Time?

ratherbeintobago
Posts: 70
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2011 9:26 am
Location: The High Pennines

by ratherbeintobago

Time ATACs FTW except they do have the same problem as CB pedals with the retention bars wearing transverse grooves in the soles of your shoes.

They are much more robust though; CB pedals (and indeed everything else they make including wheels and, bizarrely, seatposts) 'enjoy' a reputation for fragility, especially when subjected to UK riding conditions ie. rain/mud.

I am really keen to see what the upcoming Speedplay Syzrs are like; adjustable float and metal-on-metal contact between pedal and cleat sound really promising. On the downside, they seem to be taking a looooong time to get to market, and GOK what they'll cost.

thisisatest
Shop Owner
Posts: 1980
Joined: Sat Jun 13, 2009 4:02 am
Location: NoVA/DC

by thisisatest

A lot off Eggbeater issues are solved with paying attention to tread-to-pedal interface. The bars will not wear the soles of your shoes when the bars don't touch the soles. The tread on the sides of the cleat are supposed to rest on the pedal body. A slight amount of tread compression is ideal. For shoes with worn tread, you can build up the pedal or tread, or Crank Brothers makes plastic snap-on pieces that take up the space. I highly discourage the "shoe savers" as they make the shoe interface much, much worse.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 4 Beta

sstefanov
Posts: 93
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:18 pm
Location: Sofia, Bulgaria

by sstefanov

I have been running the Xpeedo XMF08TT since two months and they have been great. Much better mud clearance than the M980 XTRs and also bigger 'platform'.

So far, I am quite happy with them, as I do not see any negatives compared to M980s.

What I do like about the SPD style of pedals in comparison to Time and CB (I have been a Time Atac XS user for 10 years before switching to SPDs last year) is that with the SPDs the shoe/pedal interface is via the cleat. This way you can shim your cleat if needed and have a much wider and more stable pedalling platform.

Stefan

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

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