Current Equipment Setup - Pedals

This is the second entry in my 'Equipment Setup' series and it is on my current set of cycling pedals, my Crankbrothers Eggbeater pedals.

The ones I use are the cheapest in their eggbeater line, with a website price of $59.99. However, at the time of purchasing these, I had the misfortune of dealing with a rather deceitful bicycle shop in Damansara Utama that sold them to me for northwards of RM300 (that's about $75 according to todays exchange rates) and claimed it was their best price. After doing a decent amount of research, I was able to find many other stores selling them for around the RM150-180 price range, almost half of what I paid. Ever since then, I have never set foot in that store again and have dissuaded and cautioned many from doing business with such a shady group. Nonetheless, the damage has been done and I've taken it as a rather costly lesson, one that I hope many will learn from me rather than first hand.

Now that that's over, on to the pedals. Those of you with a decent amount of cycling knowledge may be familiar with this brand but if you're not, fret not as Crankbrothers are more established in the mountain biking scene. The main reason why I'm currently using these pedals is because before I became a roadie, I was an avid mountain biker and was looking for a decent pair of pedals then. As time went by, I grew an interest in road cycling and got my first road bicycle a little over a 18 months ago, I was never a fan of the 'standard' flat pedals that came with the bike so I interchange my Crankbrothers pedals in between both bikes regularly.

A quick run through of the specs (information taken from the Crankbrothers website):

eggbeater 1

4-sided entry / superior mud shedding.
customizable float and release angle.

• spindle material - forged scm435 chromoly steel 
• body material - stamped steel 
• wing material - stamped steel 
• spring material - 300 series stainless steel
• release angle - 15° / 20° 
• q-factor - 52mm 
• cleat - premium brass cleats with shims included 
• weight - 290g per pair 
• warranty - 2 years

Immediately out of the box, the pedals have a very minimalistic look to them and are significantly lighter compared to most flat pedals out there. In hand, the weight difference between one compared to a full carbon Dura Ace pedal is barely noticeable. The words 'crankbrothers' are laser etched on on inner surface of what is essentially the stepping platform, ie the part that makes contact with you shoe, while the Crankbrothers logo is on the outer surface.

The way these pedals work is essentially similar to most clipless pedals with the main difference being, as a result of the 4-sided entry mechanism, one would not have to spend too much time trying to orientate the pedal with the cleat of one's cycling shoe prior to clipping in as one would have to do with a conventional one-sided road pedal. This reduces clip-in time as well as reduces the risk of possibly embarrassing 'clip-in' problems. They're incredibly easy to use on the roads and become almost intuitive after 1 or 2 weeks of use but the trails are where these pedals truly shine as a mountain biker will require to clip in and out more frequently than a roadie and doing this smoothly and quickly could mean the difference between a sick run or toppling-over like an utter newbie because you couldn't unclip in time (lets face it, we've all done it before).

I've had my pedals for a little over 2 years now and the pictures below are about a day old at the time of writing this post.

As you can see, they're still in great shape with the exception of a few dings and scratches here and there, nothing out of the ordinary for a mountain bike pedal. The tension mechanism is just right in my opinion. With a decent pair of shoes, they offer a slight bit of float while still keeping you shoes stuck into them following drop-offs and jumps on mountain trails,

Despite they're relative lack of a large stepping area, I experienced no hotspots on the soles of my feet even after hours of riding, both on road and mountain. And taking into account the fact the soles of my shoe aren't even carbon, I'm confident these pedals will be reasonably comfortable for even the most pampered cyclist. 

Apart from that, these pedal are incredibly easy to clean due to their skeleton-like design. If you're on the trail and you get a little mud in them, a couple of taps with your shoes should get the job done. Plus, I've had my fair share of spills on my bike and a couple of those wipeout had these pedals striking hard rock and gravel. Despite all this, I've yet to heard a single creek or squeak coming from them.

Moving on to the cleats, as with most mountain biking pedals, the cleats these pedals come with are minimalistic in design so as to not obstruct the riders foot work and mobility when he or she has to dismount and push or carry his bike, while being sturdy enough to withstand gravel, rocks, mud and everything else nature throws at you, From the picture below, you will notice that the cleat on the right has 2 dots or indentations that are lacking in it's counterpart. The dots function as a marker because the cleat on the right is designed to disengage from the pedal sooner due to it's narrower release angle in comparison to the left cleat. So, in the event one is more right foot dominant, it would be wiser to attach the 2-dot cleat on the right shoe so as to allow the right foot to disengage faster and make contact with the ground sooner.

Picture taken from E-bay

Here are some recent pictures of the cleats on my relatively banged-up pair or Sidis. There is definitely a break-in period with the pedals, with the clip-in tension gradually reducing, making it easier to clip in and out, but after 1 or 2 weeks, the tension more or less remains the same.

A downside to these pedals to the best of my knowledge is that, in comparison to pedals from say Shimano, you can't adjust their clip-in tension. It's not really an issue to me but then again I've never experimented with adjustable pedals before and I'm sure a lack of tension adjustment would be an issue for some.

The aforementioned 2 dots

In short, these are a great pair of pedals and I would strongly recommend them to anyone looking to get their first clipless pedals, even roadies. I've yet to mention this and I'm sure this is almost blasphemous to some roadies but I'm not the type who buys too much into marketing, Even though I don't doubt a proper road specific pedal and shoe would allow me to transfer my precious Watts into the crank more efficiently, at the end of the day, I can't tour like Froome, sprint like Sagan or climb like Contador. I'm only mortal and I feel that the few seconds I would save per hour of cycling are not worth the convenience mountain bike shoes and pedals have to offer. Touring, getting groceries, stopping by a cafe, are all so much easier in mountain biking shoes. As a result of this, I don't know if I'll ever pick up a pair of road specific pedals and shoes once these guys die on me. Only time will tell.

Once again, thanks for reading! If you have any thoughts, or questions, feel free to leave them in the comment section down below and I'll try my best to answer.