Crank Brothers – Yes or No?

Looking at ideal bike builds, it seems that a lot of you hate crank brothers components (just fitted Iodine 2 bar and stem, very happy with them)

What Crank Brothers components do you like or dislike and why?

Running their cobalt 11 bars and cobalt 2 stem, several sets of candy/egg beater pedals, all functioning ok. Only failure so far has been a pedal but it was the entry level egg beater and the nylon bush is rubbish, and cross kills kit.

Love the Candy pedals. Great for touring, MTB and commuting.

I did have a faulty set of Egg Beaters once and sent them back for a bit of a service. 2pure just replaced the pedals. Can’t say fairer than that!

Oh and I’m unfashionably running a CB headset on my wee Ti hardtail. Despite tales of doom and rust, it’s absolutely perfect 3 years and many miles down the track.

Some Crank Brothers products yesterday.

Count me as a No.

mallets, 5 minute lifespan, re-built by the importers 3 times before I binned them. tried the revised version, lasted 5 mins. NEVER AGAIN !

Its a bit like RaceFace. You can’t go wrong with a single component, like a handlbar or stem. But as soon as thing rotate and use bearings which need to be sealed, they just fall apart.

Destroyed a Crank Bros BB in a very short amount of time. To be fair, I got through a RaceFace one even quicker.

I have CB pedals on all my bikes , they are not exactly fit and forget and i have had to buy a couple of the rebuild kits . But i just prefer how they work and feel over the shimano pedals i have used

I would avoid anything with a crank bros logo on the outside and a bearing on the inside. I have no experience of their “non-moving part” gear but I’ve been rather put off by their idea of what constitutes suitable construction and sealing for mountain biking.

On the plus side the customer service from 2pure is first rate. I guess they get a lot of practice.

im a big fan of the pedals, work great but do require a bearing change once a year or so

My old mallets are now in the spares bin after probably 8 years of hard use , only because they are heavier than my new mallets!

and have put in thousands of commuter miles sun or rain on my candys again with a couple of bearing changes

My egg beater sl’s are now 5 yrs old, never been serviced or rebuilt. They still work fine.
Oh and btw, my lynskey built frame isn’t cracked, and my 29er clown wheels haven’t exploded yet either. Don’t believe everything you read on here (except what i just wrote obviously) 😉
I’m not saying the other posters are making stuff up, its just that as with most products there are good batches and bad ones

Mallets, had 5 sets over the 2 of us, all bar 1 still working after 4 years. Candies the same. Just did a bearing change on the new mallets a grand total of 5 mins.

Best clipping pedals I have used, tried going back to shimano in the middle (had no pedals needed a set cheap) and lasted 1 ride. Not sure why you would put up with such a bad clipping mechanism. I also head the last release of XTR’s snapped & failed all over the place.

The rest no idea.

I’ve got a set of the new mallet dh pedals, been on them for 6 weeks or so and really rate them, head and shoulders above dx’s – I notice a few shimano sponsored athletes use them on the World Cup dh circuit too. The cleats are shite though, not sure which bright spark decided that brass was an ideal material for a cleat, already on my second set. Also fully expect to have to use the 5 yr warranty but for me there was nothing else on the market that fitted my requirements.

The cleats are shite though, not sure which bright spark decided that brass was an ideal material for a cleat, already on my second set

thats actually design, the cleat wears not the pedal.

Yeah I get that, I do a lot of non uplifted dh so I’m just going to have to accept that I’ll be replacing them regularly. Worth it though, best clips I’ve used by far for dh.

I really like Mallets too. Great clip-in and a nice big platform to spread the load without the need to wear ultra-stiff carbon-soled disco slippers.

But yeah, bearings can be an issue..

I’ve run CB pedals on both bikes for years with no issues. Just rememeber to service annually!

Candy 3s on one bike and Egg Beater 3ti on the other – very impressive if you ask me… ~200g pedal supporting a 90kg rider in all conditions.

Oh and I also have a new Cobalt 11 seatpost on the ‘nice’ bike. After a bit of faff with the seat moving on the first few rides it has been great (after smothering it with carbon paste).

For roughing it up in the hills in Scotland with a bit of pushing,fishing etc, I choose shimano as the brass cleats of the crank Bros are a waste of time and money for me.

Running Cobalt 2 wheelset (2012) and they’ve seen off some hammerings without complaint. Also back on an old pair of Eggbeaters I bought when they were first released. Never maintained them in any way and they still function well.

I love CB products ,im running pedals(Mallets DH) cobalt wheels (i’m 17 stone ) no problems ,saddle and kronolog (post is toilet but is gonna be replaced under warranty. I love the design and function and they are so sexy – the Apple of bike parts -but you need to service them . They make me smile ??

Never had a problem with egg beaters (on three bikes).

Just bought an Iodine stem and, well, it’s still stem-like. Looks good too.

the apple of bike parts

That’s why I hate them then…

I recently had a new deep cup headset fail. Bottom cup cracked right through landing a small jump. As it was a steel FR model I was not impressed and will now avoid CB.

Had some egg beater Candys years ago too and quickly went back to Shimano

the Apple of bike parts

Ha! Apart from the fact that Apple computers always come right at the top in industry reliability surveys. So perhaps more like the direct opposite of CB?

The one thing Crank Bros do really well is a lovely glossy expensive looking box. Other than that, the only thing I’ve had of theirs that wasn’t rubbish ( several types of pedals, headset, Joplin ) was a pair of grips.

Those that never have issues despite never servicing the pedals: how much riding are you doing and in what conditions?

I rode mine right through the winter snow and knee deep spring floods before they finally went pop.

I have to admit I do like the action of clipping on the CB pedals but after getting through 4 rebuild kits at £15-20 a go for 2 sets of pedals (1 candy, 1 mallet) over 2 years of riding from new and having both mallets fall apart on a ride I ditched them. They may be fine in some conditions but wet Britain isn’t one of them in my experience. Although the newer ones may be better designed.

I now use Time pedals. Clipping mechanism almost identical, they have pedals equivalent in performance and function to every CB pedal and are practically fit and forget. 3 sets on 3 bikes and after 4 years still haven’t touched any of them……..

Graham S, my Sl’s stay on one bike that I use year round, off and on road, whatever the weather. No huge jumps though..
I also own a pair of V12s which have needed to be serviced, and some EB 11 ti pedals that I do service as they were soooo expensive! So I want to look after them.

I guess I was lucky with the ones I got. That or I’m just not enough of a riding God 🙁

I experimented with some mallets after years of using Shimano. The Mallets lasted 6 months before the bearings went and the pedal sheared off the spindle during a ride. I got them rebuilt under warranty but they did admonish me for not maintaining them properly. The cheap Shimano pedals I had on the bike for 5 years prior did not get a single minute of maintenance time from me and functioned perfectly. Safe to say, the rebuilt mallets are still sitting in my shed and I’ve moved back to Shimano.

I also struggled with the engagement on the CB pedal, although I found disengagement somewhat better than Shimano.

Not tried any other CB components.

The pedals are brilliant, but disposable, even the expensive ones.

I’ve got Joplin 4s in two bikes. I fitted boots to them from new and they’ve been great.

They really can’t do bearings though.

No!

Iodine wheels – bearings very poorly sealed and the freehub prone to exploding.

I actually have zero complaints about the CB multi-tool I’ve owned for about 6 years now.

I have always liked the look of the little rubber bit on their seatclamps that covers the frame slot. Whether the QR mechanism itself would crumble to dust I have no idea.

Egg beaters snapped at the axle whilst out of the saddle – quite a nasty fall resulted. This was after years of persevering with crap cleats and useless pedals (candy’s and smarty’s).

Will not go near crank brothers again. Also find my new shimano pedals easier to clip in.

Their product packaging is lovely.
Their products?
Never owned any, but several riding mates have had rides curtailed due to pedal bodies remaining attached to their shoes whilst the axle remained in the crank…..

Got some Iodine 3 wheels on my bike and must admit I can’t fault them. Nice and strong, bearings are running fine after a year and through all the crappy conditions of last winter, they’re a reasonable wight and even worked fine when I snapped a spoke. Which was replaced f.o.c. by the importers and could be done without having to remove the tyre.

I also have their bars and stem and whilst I’m aware of their reputation, again I can’t fault any of it.

YES
Their aftersale service is beyond amazing.

Got a Joplin 4 (with a diy inner-tube boot) and it’s been faultless. My Joplin 3 was pretty ropey though – but 2pure sorted it.

Their multi-tools are pretty decent.

I must be pedalling all wrong as I have a pair of eggbeater C’s which must be 7years old and still on the original bearings and bushing!

There is a small amount of up/down play at the bushing end and slight pitting to the spindle at the same area but otherwise working perfectly.

Probably could remove the play with a service kit but will wait till they die and replace with a new set.

I shall put the longevity down to filling with grease from new and annual deep clean and regreasing.

Got a pair of Candy C’s as well that are newer but still fine after a couple of years.

LOL.
snapped a candy SL axle in half and ripped a set of goretex shimano boots in the process. run time pedals on the bike collection now and no problems at all in 4 years or so.

The box for my 50/50s is beautful
The little tub for the spare pins is cute
The pedals are really grippy
Their office on Laguna Beach is pretty cool
But:
The anodising appears to be made fairy dust so they’re slowly ging pink /grey
They weigh loads.
Who the flinking blip designs a grease port to flush the bearings and then specially designs a set of seals for the the other side of the bearings that stops the grease from being expelled?
Gorgeous intricate product deigned by surfing hippies. Never a good mix.