Crankbrothers cleats durability

Hi all,

Yes, I used the search engine but most if not all discussions I could find on this topic were really old, pre the overall CB did on their pedal range. No idea if this had any impact on the cleats.

So simple question, what kind are you guys getting out of CB cleats? 1 year of intense use?

Jeez. Basically forever. They are designed to wear out faster than the pedal though, hence the soft metal. In my experience the wear seems to be accelerated if doing a lot of walking, though I guess it would also be a factor of how many times you were clipping in and out.

long enough to not be able to remember last time i changed them in either pair of shoes, which reminds me i need to change them in the pair i wear most of the time. even with a bit of visible wear they still work fine, by the time they start causing issues they are very worn.

Basically forever.

Not in my experience, although I admittedly do a fair bit of push up/hike a bike riding so that will wear them out faster. I’ve never worn a set of shimano cleats out but rarely get more than a year from Crank Brothers (now on both bikes) before they start to unclip when I don’t intend to. They are by far the best pedals I’ve used (Mallet DH) tho so I don’t plan on changing

Thanks for all the answers.
Yeah, not looking for a scientific answer, hard to be objective without knowing clip ins and outs, how many miles walked, etc. More like to get an idea of the overall order of magnitude as in 6 months or 2 years or 6 years whatever. Because I know of people who swap shoes more often than they swap Shimano cleats, and on the other hand heard of horror stories of CB ones barely reaching 6 months.

@pothead why would you say makes your Mallets so good?

I know of people who swap shoes more often than they swap Shimano cleats

That’s my experience with the CB cleats. I’ve just fitted a new set to a pair of Shimano MW7s as they are replacing a pair of Shimano MW81s that I’ve been wearing on and off since 2015.

My “go out and ride” shoes that I’m in most rides will do a couple of seasons easy. My “session the slabs”, explore and bike park shoes are two seasons and done.
My race shoes have the same cleats from about 5 years ago.
My winter shoes again, a few seasons old now.
I use shoe shields with all shoes and premium cleats.
I down cycled my old cleats to my kid as he was learning clipless for the easy out.

The more walking the quicker you kill them ime. Walking up rocky and loose rocky steeps kills them faster than loamy trail rides obv.

That’s really interesting that you get them lasting so long, my experience (same for Time too) is that they wear really quickly, as you’d expect with the soft material. However mine are just used on the cross bike, but really not that many races that you’d expect a load of wear. The wear became very obvious when I got another set of cleats for a second pair of shoes

CB cleats outlast my shoes. New shoes, new cleats.

I’ve had years out of mine, I can’t remember when they were last changed. They look quite worn compared to a brand new pair but still function fine and I never unclip accidentally. I don’t do much walking in them but the cleats don’t protrude beyond my shoe sole anyway.

With Time cleats there’s the old trick of once they’re fairly worn you reverse them into the 17° release position and squeeze extra life from them.
Can the same be done with CB?

I find the CB cleats dangerous if you try and run the wider release angle, if your crank is in the worng position then you hit your toe against it and can’t unclip at all and have brief panic as I think I’m going to topple over

The thing with Time cleats is that worn down cleats in the 17°position behave like new ones in the 13° one. Thus my question

I think they start to dissolve on contact with air. Where’s Shimano SPD will probably still be clipping in and out long after our sun packs it in.

I’m surprised so many seem to get so much life out of CB cleats, I’ve always been disappointed. Perhaps I’m expecting too much. I always resist renewing until there is barely any lip left on them. They certainly don’t outlast my shoes.

Yup, surprised as well, positively so. Most reports I read in the past mentioned 1 year or so at the very most. I’d be perfectly happy getting a couple of years of from those

why would you say makes your Mallets so good?

The platform makes it easy to ride unclipped if I feel the need and they never clog up with mud. I switched to the Mallet dh years ago when there wasn’t much else around with a decent platform, had been using Shimano DX and while they will definitely outlast the mallets I found them terrible if unclipped and harder to clip into afterwards. There is a far greater choice these days tho

I’m tempted to try CB, I gave up on SPD as I can’t really avoid accidental unclips unless I crank up tension to the max (and then feel like I’m bolted to the bike)

I was a long time SPD user and switched to CB a few years ago, I like that I never accidentally unclip even though they have a fairly low tension, I have never pulled my foot out upwards like can happen with SPD’s (even with the release tension as high as it goes). The extra platform size also works well with slightly flexible shoes to give the feeling of a flat pedal but the security of clips. If I was only riding xc then I might still be happy with SPD’s but for more extreme riding I definitely feel Mallets are a better choice

Any more experiences around?

I love my candy 2’s, however they let me down a few weeks ago, at the start of a cx race I couldn’t clip in, the ‘spring’ in them had slipped out and I didn’t have the tools to correct that with me.

I was a bit miffed, and didn’t think they were that old. I checked my order history and I have had three sets of cleats (the current ones still going strong) since I purchased the pedals – in 2013. They have done me 7 years of cx races and a lot of gravel in between, and other than a regular clean have not had a service kit applied.

Ordered a new pair of candy3 the same day.

Never failed to clip in/out in all conditions, until they just plain wore out.