I’m wondering whether I should convert to crank bros pedals from my shimanos. I ride on a pair of M424 and ive heard that the crank bros candy pedals have good mud clearence and they look pretty cool too. does any body have a pair of these that they would give a good review? or is there anything else under £50 that are great pedals?

Just get Time ones and save you self the bother of having to limp home from halfway round a ride as you pedals have self-destructed.

I’ll second z1ppy’s comments on the crank bros pedals.
Had two different sets on two bikes,& was forever rebuilding the damn things with the bush+bearing repair kit,despite using the supplied grease gun adaptor to grease them regularly.
Also,the cleats wear out vv quickly.
On a ride in the lakes,miles from anywhere,unclipped my right foot,thought “that feels heavy”,looked down,& the pedal was still attatched to my shoe!!A bodge & careful riding got me back eventually tho.

unclipped my right foot,thought “that feels heavy”

LOL !

times and shimano are both very reliable, times have better mud clearance and float, i think you can clip in and out of shimano’s easier though and are more adjustable and can be found cheaper (i got my xtr pedals for £50)

I dont think you could go far wrong with either though.

i can’t comment on crank bros as not used them

I have just switched to crank bros candy SL at christmas as I was fed up with my shimano spd’s getting clogged with mud / snow etc. So far not able to be objective as the ground is so frozen there is no gloop to be had! Certainly clip in / out is not problem.

Can anyone recommend a good grease to use to avoid the above hinted at collapse?

Cheers,

grizzlygus…. 😉

should have put “that feels heavier than normal”

Time, every time.

I’ve run egg beaters on all my bikes and never had problems. I put a bit of grease in every couple of months which takes two seconds.

Same as Dasha – egg beaters on my bikes, no problem. Not so keen on Candys or Smartys though.

I’ve got egg beaters on my geared bikes and candy’s on the singlespeed.

Broken one egg beater about two years ago but the candy’s have been neglected badly and I’ve never had a problem.

you want M647s.

ime, crank bros and time are way too hard to clip into compared to shimano.
I had M424s but ditched them ‘cos they got clogged up, tried time atac and egg beaters and hated them – you really have to stomp around and twiddle your foot in all different directions to get it to engage, so got the M647s and never looked back. they’re under £50 now.
http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/?fn=product&productId=423&categoryId=81

M424s are non-mud-shedding design. M647s are totally different ‘open’ engagement mechanism, the cleat just pushes the mud through them but with the M424s there’s nowhere for it to go.

Quite keen on Shimanos personally, I like the positive feeling click in you get with them, I’ve had Shimano SPDs since 2001 and they’ve gradually got better with each generation, also it’s very rare you get so bogged down you can’t clip in. £18 for a set of M520s with cleats, bargain.

I’m not a fan of SPDs with platforms, you seem to get the worst of both worlds. Heavy, harder to clip in SPDs combined with a slidely platform you can barely stand on, then again, maybe it’s just the shoes I wear 🙂

If you stick to the eggbeaters you will be fine. No problems with my beater SLs, one set are over two years old with good use, and still on original bearings. I have had problems with a set of Smarties so would personally keep away from the semi-platform variety.

OF the Crank pedals Eggbeaters are probably the best. I’ve worked in bike shops all the time Crank pedals have been on the market and seen enough fall to pieces after a matter of weeks to know to avoid them. Shimanos are tough as old boots, great engagement and release. If you’re having clogging problems, Time is the way forward. They still have easy and positive engagement and build quality is far far better than Crank Bros.

I run CBs – at the Bristol Bike Jumble I can usually pick up endless pairs of OEM Candys and Acids with new cleats for next to nothing. Which is a good thing because the cleats are made of cheese and so are the bearings. I’ve not had any spectacular failures though but that’s normally because I’ve picked up yet another pair and replace them as soon as they get a bit crappy.

I’m going back to Shimano though as the one thing that bugs me is not being able to swap bikes with your mates who are all on Shimanos!

I think if CB could sort the cleat life and reliability, they would actually be the best system – they’re less direct in their initial clip in and out but when you’re in they feel the most fluid and natural in terms of float.