Review: Crank Brothers Stamp Flat Pedals

fIn Issue #113 of Singletrack Magazine, we tested 17 different pedals as part of our Flat Pedal Group Test.

Crank Brothers is most notable for its line of clipless pedals that utilise the Eggbeater mechanism. The brand also makes flat pedals too, having previously offered the 5050 for those who prefer not to be clipped into their pedals. The 5050 is long gone however, and in its place is the Stamp pedal that we have here. One of Crank Brothers objectives in developing the Stamp was increased reliability over their previous pedals, and going by this test the engineers seem to have succeeded. Crank Brothers is so confident in the Stamp pedals that offers an unheard of five year warranty.

Not many pedals have grease ports, but these do at the ends of the axles. That said, we’ve ridden two pairs of these through the winter and only after that did they require a bit of attention: there was no play or grittiness, but they had started to spin more freely.

Rather than fitting tiny bearings into the thin bodies, the designers have specced the Stamp pedals with hard wearing Igus LL-glide bearings developed specifically for Crank Brothers, which are basically hard plastic, self-lubricating bushings.

Rather than a nut on the outside end, the axle is cleverly held in place with a plate at the crank end, with two bolts that seem to allow you to fine tune how freely the pedal spins – though it’s possible to lock them down so tight they don’t move at all.

Available in two different platform sizes, the recommendations in EU shoe sizes are small pedals for 37 – 43 (UK 4 – 9), and large for 43 – 49 (UK 9 – 13.5). Platform size is 100mm in both dimensions for the small, whereas the large are 111mm by 114mm. They’re some of the thinnest pedals we have on test, with a body thickness of just 11 – 13mm. We confirmed weights as being 345g for the small pair, and 375g for the large, which is really impressive.

Despite the massive cutouts paring the bodies down to minimal amounts of material, I found they didn’t shed mud quite as well as I expected them to. Sopping wet mud isn’t a problem, but the protuberances housing the pins, as well as the little shelves around the edges, were just enough to grab hold of stickier stuff. Flat pucks of it would pack in under my feet and only really shake loose on long descents.

The pins are standard M4 grub screws, available widely and cheaply. Crank Bros advertise the pins as adjustable for grip, and I’d definitely recommend winding the front and back pins out a bit to increase concavity. I ended up replacing the outermost pins with some longer grub screws. All the way in, the standard ones barely stick out a millimetre.

Any bowl shape the pins create is spread out so far on the large pedals that it seems to become less effective, and Hannah, riding a small pair, reported similarly. There’s not really any room in the pedal bodies to reduce thickness over the axle; they really have been pared down to the limit such that concavity is limited and the axle bump sticks up a little on the inboard side.

That’s not a bad thing for every rider; trials rider Ali Clarkson has said on his YouTube channel that he gets on really well with these, particularly because combined with a pair of Five Tens, they’re grippy enough for everything he does, but not so grippy he’s stuck to them. Depending on your riding style or how much you crash, that might be you too.

Overall

A well made, fully featured, slightly blingy, durable flat pedal suited to different sized feet. The Stamps have been a fine and reliable pair of pedals to ride, but if you demand maximum grip they might not be the ones for you.

Review Info