Hi Chaps,

Does anyone have experience of the Crank Brothers Mallet 1, 2 or 3 and the Shimano Trail pedals?

I’d be interested to know what you thought of the two, and which you found better overall….

Cheers

Ricks

I have Mallet DH if that counts. I much prefer the float compared to Shimano.

Mallet 3,best one to get. Bearing change is a 10min job (before somebody mentions that) float is great, feel is good, forward and backward engagement good platform nothing to complain about really.

Cheers chaps,

I do like the idea of the Mallets and being able to be unclipped on steep, offcamber slippy root sections, so I can get a random dab in.

The Shimano trails looks totally spot on for everything but doing that, theyre low profile, light, decent bearings, cheap cleats… but not sure about the unclipped performance.

time. float of CB, reliability of shimano. you’re welcome. 😉

Time, float of CB and even more reliable than Shimano

😉

Seriously, get Times. Fit and forget brilliance.

Have tried both, extensively.

I’ve had Mallets and Candys, the latter was lethal with my Spesh SPD shoes as there was no grip at all when unclipped, especially if wet. The Candys came off my bike very quickly after I almost ended up under the wheels of a lorry thanks to slippage and vague clipping-inness.

The Mallets have been a mixed bag, the first pair disintegrated halfway through a day out in Epping Forest. The second and third lasted the distance but the clip mechanisms began to feel noticeably baggy over time. Although rebuilds are a doddle, the wear rate of the cleats makes them a yearly purchase which proved an annoyance with three bikes.

I replaced them with plain old Deore Trail on my hardtail, XT Trail on my XC bike and DX on my AM bike. It’s been three years now and the Shimano stuff just keeps on going with minimal effort. Clipping in is much more positive and adjustable too, at the expense of float. Cleats are made of steel and just last and last. When running unclipped, the small platform cage of the Trail pedals are surprisingly effective.

BTW, I have two sets of Mallet Mk1 pedals looking for a good home if anyone is interested?

Is there any difference in how easy it is to walk in the different cleats? It’s one of the things that has always put me off clipless systems off-road. I love my SPD-SLs on the road bike, but have always used flats off road as most rides involve some walking/carrying often on steep and loose surfaces.

Not really. Most cleats are recessed into the shoe, regardless of the platform. Theyre very different to road cleats.

Got to say it too, Time for the durability of Shimano plus performance of CBs.
Got time pedals now on all my bikes and even the base models are outlasting shimano m20s. The grip of the DH/Strong Time pedals is fine for those , oh ya bugger didn’t get clipped in before I committed to that section moments and seem to be much easier to emergency bail/dab from too.

+1 for time pedals as above, you can get ones with a platform too