Comments on: Falling out of love with Crank Brothers’ pedals

By: Shimano XT HollowTech II bottom bracket | woollypigs

Shimano XT HollowTech II bottom bracket | woollypigs — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:06:25 +0000

[...] But yesterday I started to feel some play when pedalling. At first I was thinking that this was the Crank Brothers pedals which were playing up again. They were so I swapped my pedals over so that I can fix them later, thinking that that would be it [...]

By: Will T Smith

Will T Smith — Tue, 18 May 2010 07:24:28 +0000

I will concur with the negative assessment of Crank Brothers pedals. They are a great concept with poor execution. I’ve busted about 8 spindles on Mallets. I had an acid fail after 7 months road use. It just had lousy seals. The bearing seized and I spun the potmetal spindle threads right off the thing.

The final straw came when a pedal sheared off when hitting a root sending me into an uncontrolled crash and separating my shoulder. Crank Brother had the promise of good things but ended up being poor attention to detail and poor manufacturing.

If you value your time, money and health, don’t buy Crank Brothers.

By: a review of Lake I/O SDL cycling sandals | woollypigs

a review of Lake I/O SDL cycling sandals | woollypigs — Fri, 07 May 2010 22:35:56 +0000

[...] feel a difference in the sandal in how they were clipped in and I was at first worried that it was my new eggbeaters falling apart on me again. I checked the pedals and found them ok, then I checked the cleats only find a crack in the [...]

By: alex

alex — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:30:19 +0000

hi
Always looking at Crank Brother Pedals.
I have used Time for 11 years. The 11 year old work A-tacs work still. The Z platforms i use day in day out have worked with no maintenance for 7 years. Some bottom of range Aliums need greasing, as the spindle does not spin easily. However the more expensive ones just work. Never had a spindle snap and i have hit everything on an MTB downhill.
I would like Time to offer Z platform style with small pegs in them like the Crank Bros Mallets. Thats the only improvement they need to make. I use platform style peddles as you can use normal shoes once in while.
Your comments echo a lot about crank bros comments else where.
No clogging in mud( I cycle the south downs a lot), just work. Never know why they are not more common.

By: Arne Boberg

Arne Boberg — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:02:32 +0000

I concur with the quality of Crank Brothers pedals. I have gone through 3 sets in 2 years. My 14-year-old son has gone through as many. Either the outer bearing gets “lunched” or the spindle gets badly scored by the sleeve bearing. The sad part is that Crank Brothers patent expires in 2018, giving them a monopoly on the eggbeater design until that time. I have sent a request to Crank Brothers asking them to improve their products. I at least hope to hear from them that they are “working on it”.

We will most likely be switching to the Time ATACs – I hope that they are equally good for entry and for dirt tolerance. It would be sad for Crank Brothers to have a monopoly in these two categories when they cannot build a product that will last.

By: rogerzilla

rogerzilla — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 07:14:08 +0000

I’m not sure about SPD longevity either. Generally they develop bearing play after 1000-2000 miles from new. They are serviceable with care (3/32″ bearings are very fiddly to handle), and a bit of play doesn’t actually damage them immediately, but I don’t find them to be low-maintenance.

All pedals have the disadvantage of being the closest bearing to the water and mud and there not being much room in the package for decent-sized balls. Shimano tried a pedal with an oversize axle and bigger bearings in the 1980s, but as well as being an new and incompatible standard, the cranks tended to break at the pedal eye.

By: woollypigs

woollypigs — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:20:39 +0000

Hi Kymbo Yes the cleats do wear down a bit fast compared to others, you can get harder Crank Brothers cleats. In my job I do tend to walk a lot in my cycling shoes and therefore wear down the harder cleats faster. Though I since I got my Lake I/O SDL I haven't changed cleats in nine months. The main reason is that the cleats on the Lake's are recessed much more than one the Shimano and Specialized cycling shoes I had before, both pairs wore out the cleats in under six months.

By: Kymbo

Kymbo — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:00:20 +0000

After first riding clipped for about 3 years on SPD and then converting to CB, My main personal issue was the life of the cleats. I have read all the palaver about Crank Bros making them softer for the sake of the longevity of the pedals. But I am not so sure, myself. Other than that, my only problem had been with the MXR entry level pedal models which I pretty quickly flogged out and spewed bearings. (warrantee job the first time.. the second time…. meh)

I have since gone back to clips & straps for the commuter bike.

I do like the design of the Eggbeater.. but experience tells me they’re best dedicated to MTBing and not every day use.

By: Anth

Anth — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:18:59 +0000

Hey Woolly!

First off, cheers for the link.

Secondly, that pretty much all sums up exactly my feeling about Crank Bros. I’ve used them now for about 5 years. I’ve got a set on three different bikes, used Eggbeaters, Candys and Quattro SL. The Quattros actually feel quite solid, though they’ve only done about 1000 miles. The main commuting bike ate the pedals for breakfast, and the mountain bike just destroyed them. The looks are great, and the ease of use can’t be beaten, but after having that spindle break yesterday my new Time ATAC Aliums arrived today, and are already fitted to the bike. Will see how they fare heading home.