All the bikes in my family are Time Atac and the majority are fairly worn out. I’m also not set so keen on the newer style squared off single spring retention, they seem to click, squeek and wear out quicker than the old round wire with double springs. That pretty much only leaves with MX4 with the old style springs so I guess that will be updated at some point.

My only experience of ‘Shimano’ are Wellgo copies about 25 years ago.

Any other Time users taken the plunge and switched, and what to? They must be recessed cleat style and good at clearing mud. Nothing too expensive/exotic either as the initial swap would probably be four sets of pedals minimum once giving the first set a good trial period.

After avoiding Shimano for many decades as I demed them too “mechanical” in their “click” in I’ve found them a joy to use, predictable every time and absolutely bulletproof.

I’d used Time, Crank Bros for years and a brief dabble with Look previously.

After accumulating about 15 pairs of trashed Crank Bros I moved back to Time, to keep the “soft float” feel. But, the bars on Time pedals wears shoe soles out and as it’s the only contact point, once this happens they become looser and for me, I developed knee pain.

I took a gamble with new shoes and PD M520 pedals and now really like them. There is now no way I’d budge from Shimano for cleated pedals.

Don’t bother with anything fancy, PD M540 is as bling as you need to go or just go for the PD M520 (only difference is the 520 has a plastic adjustment collar visible and a pedal wrench flat / 540 is hex only). XTR have axle issues, I think XT may have longevity issues too.

Do it.

As above, I was a Crank Brothers user for years – liked the float and the clip in action, but got bored of the constant maintenance.

Switched to Shimano style about 4 years ago, and they’ve been great.
Much improved feel and float over the 90s SPDs (which is why I went to CB initially).

Couple of sets of PD-M530s, a PD-M530, and some Nukeproof CS. All been faultless.

If you prioritise longevity then Shimano is a no brainer, I ran them for years and they just keep going and are easily serviced. However I never got on with the SPD interface for more technical riding so switched to CB Mallet’s on my mtb’s, I prefer how they work but they require much more maintenance. I regularly grease the internals but they always seem to have a bit if play even with new bushings, I just put up with it as they still work fine. On my gravel bike I’ve stuck with Shimano as I find the interface fine for that type of riding.

I bought all my CB pedals second hand, plenty of people give them a try and then go back to flats so barely used pairs for half rrp are often available.

I’ve only ever used Time pedals, the bearings are easy to replace.

I liked Time but they’ve just been too high maintenance, cleats wearing/shoes wearing/multiple failures in the middle of rides 😖

I love the mud clearance so just keep one set for CX races only.

I’ve tried Look pedals on my gravel bike but they’re really just Shimano clones but not as durable.

I noticed most people racing CX are using Shimano though, so the mud clearance can’t be so bad.

So basically I’ll be gradually switching back to Shimano.

the bearings are easy to replace

With Shimano you’d never get to know this ✌🏻

Yes, switched to M540s in September after being on Time pedals since the mid 90s.

Felt a little odd for the first ride or two but that was mainly due to the cleats being in a slightly different position on my shoe. The Shimano cleats aren’t quite as recessed as the Time ones; I’m more aware of them when I’m walking. Not a big deal, though.

Main reason I moved away from Time was the lack of spare springs which, rather than the bearings, is what determines their lifespan.

Nukeproof Horizon CL or CS. SPD compatible, and all parts are replaceable which offsets the higher cost compared to Shimano (and waste, if you’re into that Guardian reading, tofu reading wokerati nonsense).

Their multi-entry, single release cleats are also pretty good and cheap.

For spare SPD cleats these £4.50 jobs from Tredz have been great…
https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Ryder-SPD-MTB-Pedal-Cleats_213127.htm

Still using mt 2006 Time ATAC XS Carbons with the worn but useable original cleats on the now badly dying Shimano shoes bought back then on my commmute hybrid. In fairness, they got little use ’10 to ’16. Been so many QC horror stories on ATACs made in the last ~10 years.

They used to be on my ’17 road bike, but then got my first set of 3-bolt pedals in ’19, Time Xpro10s. Cleats will need replacing I reckon by next spring at latest.

As and when the ATACs die, at mo I’d be inclined to try a pair of Boardman MTBs https://www.halfords.com/cycling/pedals-pegs/boardman-mtb-team-pedal-357756.html

My wife uses SPDs after trying CRank Bros and not getting on with the ‘vague float and clipping in feeling’ and hasn’t looked back. I prefer SPD as well but after spending a solid year finding clipped I wasn’t any faster that on flats and the shoes were more comfy. But if I went back it would be with some SPDs again.

Shimano pedals also seem to last forever with minimal servicing and the cleats are cheap to replace.

Want to borrow some M520s, @spooky_b329?

With Shimano you’d never get to know this

Maybe, but I would need to replace the pedals on 5 bikes.

Never had Time pedals fail on me during a ride and have used them since about 1997.

SRAM have bought Time’s pedal business, so waiting for the relaunch. When I raced CX I started on SPD but found they were not good in mud or snow, so have always used 2-bar pedals from Look or Time since. Can no longer get cleats for the Looks, so just down to Time.

The Time sole wear is easily solved by CB shoe shields.

However my recent XC8s fell to bits just outside warranty which was a shame as I loved them otherwise.

Since SRAM acquired Time pedals I’ve been waiting for them to announce that they’d fixed them/reverted to the old bullet proof design. Sadly not so far.

I know Wahoo have worked on Speedplays, so just need SRAM to follow their example as a good corporate custodian.

@dovebiker snap!

Thanks everyone, I was expecting some left field recommendations but sounds like I should give Shimano a go! I’ve just remembered I’ve got set of almost new XT pedals that came on as secondhand bike…would have sold them but previous owner was a hamfisted gibbon and one of them has tiny cracks in the axle around the hex head.

Times (hah) are tight at the moment so no pocket money to spend for a while so at least there will be an opportunity for SRAM to shake up the Time pedal range before I fully commit to switching!

@belugabob, thanks I’ll let you know if I want to borrow them!

I know Wahoo have worked on Speedplays, so just need SRAM to follow their example as a good corporate custodian.

Wahoo completely stuffed up the speedplay redesign. They’ve already had to do a recall on the recall. So i hope SRAM don’t follow their example…

And FWIW, the new times aren’t that bad (reliability wise), well worth the improvement in function over anything else on the market. And I’ve only broken a couple of MTB pedals in 25 years. And probably 5 or 6 road pedals (usually the old TBT pedals, terrible cornering angles!). Bearing wear has have killed another 2 or 3 pedals. The bodies are usually so ground up by then, it’s not worth replacing the bearings. (i usually only get the low/mid range ones, cro mo axle level, so not that expensive to replace.)

@Spooky_b329 – horse shoes taking priority over cycling shoes?

@mert ahh that’s disappointing about Wahoo. I’d heard great things about the easy tension cleats but not about recalls.

My Time XC8s failed due to the spring retention pin chewing through the plastic pedal body and irreparably coming adrift, which anecdotally is very very common with the newer ones.

I switched from my old Time Roc Atacs about a month ago. Been using the same set for almost 20 years and they are still fine, a little wobble on the axles but that’s it. I’ve never done any maintenance on them.

I only swapped as I replaced my road bike with gravel and wanted to put MTB pedals on it, figured it might be a good time to swap. I splashed out and went XTR, on the MTB too. I do miss the additional float from the Time’s but am getting used to it.

I was a Time Atac user for years. The idea of extra float was what attracted me, and the mud clearance.
What I didn’t like was that as the cleats wore down (and they do, a lot) release got easier and new set of cleats would be so stiff that you’re guaranteed to have a couple of clipped-in falls before they felt normal again.
I’m now on Shimano. Float and mud clearance are fine.
Look for road though and flats for uplift days and pub bike, even though it’s fixed wheel.

XT SPD’s are bombproof as are M520 or M540’s. Been running them for years, so no worries there.

Used to love Time pedals – but as their price increased I moved to CB which were similar but not as good. Now on Shimano & I think after the apocalypse all that’ll be are cockroaches & Shimano SPD pedals.

At the end of time, when the universe is spent, the stars extinguished, and the earth turned to dust, there’ll still be a ton of Shimano SPDs floating through the darkness of space, spinning freely on their original bearings.