Having bought a light weight (ish) frame, I decided to get some Eggbeaters (cos they are so light). Despite the howls of derision about their durability, I took the plunge none the less.

Having used said peddles for 2 summers I have had the replace them with Shimano M520’s as they simply fell apart (twice).

I post this negative comment as a warning, nothing less.

Welcome back to the fold.

So we were right and you were wrong?

Can I say on behalf of the STW believers “told you so”?

With any shimano SPD, get the plastic tool and open them up, fill the inside of the pedal body with grease and do this periodically. Forces clean fresh gease through the bearings and pushes all the crap out from the inside.

How much maintenance did you do?

The new ones have a 5 year warranty so if they do fall apart they get replaced.

Thought this was a user report on the new ones.. anybody tried them yet?

No, they’ve all lost faith.

I’ve never really understood this….

My eggies have done, what 7000+ miles?. They are just on their second set of bearings. I’ve never had the cage come off the spindle (last time was close because had to wait for bearings to be restocked…), so it’s just a question of replacing the cartridge bearings when they start to get some play.

Compare that to the 80-1000 miles between bearing replacement on external BBs 🙄

My egg beaters are great and still going strong, managed to crack a 105 crank arm and pull the sole of a shoe on the turbo trainer and the pedals are still going strong.

I changed from SPD to egg beater (style pedals) because I kept pulling out of SPD’s and if you squirt them with grease every so often they will last a long time.

I mainly use candy’s for that extra bit of protection to the wings. But will be investing in some new style ones when these give way, hopefully not for a while yet.

And if they are good enough for Gee Atherton they are good enough for me on the downhill’s 🙂

Yeah I’ve never got this. Just yearly routine maintenance and they last ages. I think my oldest set is 2004 the newest is 2006.
In fact my oldest set, the outers have almost worn through
So it’s weird, I had admittedly the cheapest SPDs and both sets went i.e body coming off axle.
This has happened with a set of Eggbeaters, but to be honest they did give me plenty of warning, and even when they do fail the nut holds them on the axle so you can limp home.
I do know that riders that like to get their wheels off the ground and Eggbeaters don’t mix.

…even when they do fail the nut holds them on the axle…

No they don’t.
The hole in the middle of the outer race is bigger than the nut.
Once the bearing has collapsed, the pedal body, complete with outer race, will slide over the spindle, complete with nut and inner race.

…so it’s just a question of replacing the cartridge bearings when they start to get some play.

Except that I have found the time between the bearings feeling or sounding worn to them failing completely can be less than half an hour.

Despite my criticisms, I still use them, but with the following provisions.
Having broken two egg beater spindles, I now use ward Industries titanium spindles which have got a 235lb rider weight limit.
Ignore Crank Brothers’/2pure’s advice on bearings. Remove the rubber seals and purge the bearings with grease far more often than the recommended 100 hour interval.

broke a candy spindle in half. now on times. have sold two sets of cb candys and given 4 or 5 other sets away. it was safe to say i had ‘bought in’ to the eggbeater system, and it cost to move away, but the times do appear to be very good.

Yeah, seen a few CB pedals fail. A warranty is all very well, but it doesn’t give me confidence when riding down a hill quickly.

my eggbeaters never failed I hasten to add, but lost the faith. Back on M520s now. 🙂

it is quite depressing, the mallets work better than the shimano dxs
lower profile, better in mud, wider platform, wider angle of entry, easier to ride in non spud shoes etc etc

i just got lazy and didnt replace the bearings when they were worn last time so i think ive shagged the axles now

if they could sort out bearing life they would wee all over the shimano offerings

How much maintenance did you do?
people maintain pedals? that’s crazy talk.

Only maintenance I’ve done on Times is squirt a wee bit of lube behind the rubber seal if it’s a wee bit squeaky. Numerous pairs over 12 years.

“people maintain pedals? that’s crazy talk….maintenance I’ve done on Times is squirt a wee bit of lube behind the rubber seal”

so, you’re crazy too, then?

On the flip side of this argument I have had many many sets of shimano pedals fail and have moved to crank bros which havent failed me yet.

I liked the idea of egg beater style pedals, bought some, less knee pain than before but then realised that I could get a similar offering from Time that actually worked without sudden failure, high maintenance rate and extortionate costs for spares. Admittedly Times aren’t as pretty but as they are hidden under my foot most of the time I’m not all that bothered.

Eggbeaters on oldest bike, think they have had one rebuild in years, Candys on two, very sloppy on the SS, and mallets on the DH (which flies-ish) and they all work very well – eggbeaters did cut up soles of shoes until ‘savers’ came along – so pretty pro them here. Like the look and build of the Shimanos but ‘sprog’ James pops out of his fairly often off road, rarely if ever have I popped out of mine. Both of us run Shimano (mtb) spds on our road bikes, just seem right there.

I’ve got a mate who has broken several sets of eggbeaters but he’s a big lad and is pretty ‘heavy’ them – he rides like an animal.

He also gets through bottom brackets on a regular basis for a similar reason.

Oh and maintenance is non-existent – he’s a replace when it breaks type. A simple strip down and re-grease occasionally works wonders with CB pedals.

My oldest set of spds is 17…granted they’ve not been in daily use for a while.

Had my eggbeaters for 6 years now, done thousands of miles in them and dinged them plenty of times on rocks and such and they’re still going strong, admittedly i do strip and clean them every 4th ride or so. Damn good pedals.

No they don’t.
The hole in the middle of the outer race is bigger than the nut.

Oh yes they do
On my desk here I have a fully stripped and cleaned set of Eggbeaters with all the bearings, bushes and seals removed and the nut keeps the body on.
Every time I strip a set I dispose of the innards and put the nut back on so I keep the same body on the axle.
I’ve had two sets fail, but to be honest I kept riding on them when it was only the grease holding them together.

New ones = different design, better sealing, revised axle…I’ve gone back we’ll see

Having had a pair of year old eggbeaters seperate themselves from the crank, I’m not convinced by them. They are pretty and if the new ones are better, I’d go for a pair.
But;

admittedly i do strip and clean them every 4th ride or so. Damn good pedals.

If I had to strip and grease any bit of my bike every 4th ride, so for me at least once a week, I would consider it utter shite!

New ones = different design, better sealing, revised axle…I’ve gone back we’ll see

After 4 rides is quite a lot. I just purge mine every four’ish months. I just see the moving parts as consumable so the only time I touch them is when they’re new or going in the bin.

I use time. Their maintenance said: “spray down with hose to get mud off
“. Every 4 rides? IMO, not fit for purpose.

Had a pair of the ones with a cage around. Had trouble clipping in even though I cut half of the sole of my shoes off. Swapped for some original stainless ones and replaced the bushing and bearing. They still wobbled. Gone back to shimano and time. Never again.

Time every time – I did manage to mess up one pair. They were original and I smacked them on a rock and bent the axle. A bit. They were still good enough to use for a month or two until I could get a new set.

I tried Crank Bros and the just didn’t work as well. And if you smack them down on a rock (pedal strike as the foot is putting the power down) the diagonal shape of the bars means they release just as your starting to pull up – somewhat annoying.

I’ve borrowed Shimano and they worked well but didn’t feel right for me.

So Time it is.

I even use a set on my road bike when I’m commuting – not as good as Look Keos when you’re riding but a damn sight less dangerous at roundabouts.

SPD has been bombproof for me and the new designs shed mud well. Suits me Sir 🙂

Do any SPD users still have problems clipping in when the pedal is full of ice or compacted snow?

On behalf of the Time users on this thread – we’re the smug ones with the virtually indestructible pedals, with float, that work in all conditions and don’t need maintenance.

Unfortunately I also bought Juicy brakes – which is what I spent the first hour or so on this evening maintaining

Blinking double posts

Used to use eggbeaters, regular maintenance kept them sweet.

Problem was the ‘made of cheese’ brass cleats that didn’t last 2 minutes….and at £14 a pop…..

“If I had to strip and grease any bit of my bike every 4th ride, so for me at least once a week, I would consider it utter shite!”

Didn’t say i had too, that’s just what i like to do. Takes about 10mins each, like to keep my bike tip top and i enjoy fettling, if that’s ok with you that is?

oldgit, yes I suffered that problem last winter, but a quick scrape with a penknife and all good again, not ideal but a slution none the less 😉

Do any SPD users still have problems clipping in when the pedal is full of ice or compacted snow?

Absolutely, but tbh I find its a bigger problem in the shoe/cleat area – especially as snow usually means more pushing than normal.

done a few services on my mallets but at least I can, my Shiamanos had all sorts of crappy bushes and stuff inside most of which dribbled out. Had 1 set of candys fail on the outer bearing – money back all others going strong.
For the main point they feel so much better. Clipping in is easier, when you are in you are in and getting out is cleaner – held right up to the point of release.

And they look better

so, you’re crazy too, then?
a fair point. yes, but only a tiny bit, once every few years.