I'm condidering a change from SPD to Egg Beaters – anyone found it a change for the better or worse?

I found it better for my knees

Yes, my knees prefer Eggies as well, and I like the fact you cany pull UP out of them like SPDs

Lots of people will be along with horror stories about them falling apart in about 30 seconds, but if you keep on top of the maintainace (Grease every 2-3 months, rebuild when the bearings go slack) they'll be fine. 🙂

Lots of people will be along with horror stories about them falling apart in about 30 seconds

Mine fell apart in less than that – 2 pedal strokes & it disintegrated 😀

Liked them but prefer Time Atacs, probs I had with eggbeaters was the cleats wore the underside of the spring so they were always loose otherwise they lasted ok

I switched back to SPDs.
You can't adjust the tension in the Egg Beaters, which meant I would occasionally unclip when jumping or leaning hard on corners.
The cleats also wear out quickly.
They also fell apart 10 miles from home.
The only advantage is you can still clip in easily when your cleats are full of snow or mud.

Doug

I have them on all my bikes – either egg beaters for off-road or Candies for road and track. I've snapped one of the arms on one, belting a rock at Afan. They were actually 'Look' egg beaters made under licence. Also had one pair fail completely – bearing collapsed and the pedal came off the shaft which then made a nice little hole in my calf! For hard off-road use I don't get much more than a year out of the cheapest ones. The Candies last much longer, less abuse I suppose. Never have knee problems and mud clogging is never an issue. Cleats are soft and wear quicker than SPDs but I think you get two sets of cleats with all new EB's anyway.

I wouldn't go back to SPDs.

I changed from SPD to egg beaters, never looked back.

I have had them on all my bikes for about or over 2 years and never had any problems with them falling apart. All I do is get a grease gun and the plastic thing that is supplies with egg betters and squirt loads of grease in them ever month or so…

i used to pull out of the SPD's all the time, that is the main reason I changed to them.

Great pedals, great design, plus the new ones are getting better with the bearings and bushes etc…

I must have been lucky with mine by the sound of it. I ran a pair of mallets for 3 years with no maintenance (or cleaning really) with no problems at all – just sold them.

I switched back to SPDs for most of the same reasons as thesurfbus.

I'm a lazy @rse so use SPD's as there's zero maint. and never seen a SPD pedal body detatch itself from the axle mid ride!

You can't really feel when you're about to unclip with eggbeaters. I tend to shift my feet on the pedals when cornering and so on and kept twisting out without realising. I prefer the feel of SPDs, although egg beaters are better for knees and in mud.

I prefer egg beaters, but they only last a year (in my experience). On my third set now.

Lots of people will be along with horror stories about them falling apart in about 30 seconds

Told you so.
😉

Told you so.

But even the people who say they are good pedals are saying they only last a year and need to be maintained every couple of months – doesn't sound very good to me! Think I'll stick with my ATACs whcih are good for my knees, still clip in the mud and snow and have no accidental unclipping with the tiny added bonus that they don;t break or need more maintenance that a trophy wife!

I must be incredibly lucky then – I'm still on my first set of egg beaters (I forget how long I've had them, but it's an early set with the rubber plugs in the end instead of the screw in cap) I actually greased them for the first time this summer; still going fine; though I've gone through a few sets of cleats.

Are people realising that a serviced pedal as per the instructions give no problems?

I must have about 3-4 sets myself and cannot look past them.

>Are people realising that a serviced pedal as per the instructions give no problems?

I think quite a few people think that having to service a pedal every 3 months or so to stop it falling to bits is unreasonable.

so does an spd but without ever looking at it.

I think you might be missing the point a little bit – my fault for not actually explaining myself… coffee is on the way so normal service resumed shortly!

The design features of the eggbeater (in its current form) necessitate it being a user serviceable product.

If you want low profile, superior mud, ice, etc performance, lightweight, 4 sided clip in, indefinite life then its the pedal for you.

If you don't need/want these features then shimano is the way forward.

Thats how we sell them anyway. It's all about expectation.

better for clipping in in mud, ice, snow etc, and i also feel more 'attached' to the pedal

worse for falling apart/maintenance.

but i'd never go back to shimano.

Eggbeaters still serving me well for commuting duties, 18 months maintenance free

yeah i know what you saying but in one years bike shop graft i sold eggbeaters to six people who brought them back with huge gashes down the inside of their legs (and others that got lucky when the pedal came off) we stopped selling them.
allso found that when you phone the jolly scot folks that bring them in you would be told to just get your customers into rebuild kits.
why?should you need to?

if anyone has any problems they just need to get in touch and we'll help you out. info@2pure.co.uk

thanks
ran@2pure

I am a little older so remember well the flats with noo grip, to using toe clips on MTBs 😯 then the first spds, clogged all the time, then to the first Time Attacks, really good in their day, just heavy and catch things large, then on to the first Egg Beaters, still on my best bike 6-7 (+?) years later – On Cranks EBs of various sorts on all my bikes never had any problems with pedals, go through a few cleats, the straight Egg Beaters arms can wear through the bottom of your shoe plates, Candys an Mallets stop this. Have done two bearing/bush sets (easy to do).

see they are jolly folks though. 😀

run candys on my commuter acids on my xc abd mallets on my dh, the 1st gen mallets are still going strong after 4 or 5 years and have survived 3 megavalanches, loads of abuse, mud, rain and crap
Ive changed the bearings once and its a ten minute job

they are much better in mud than spds and i like the extra float you get too never looked back

Hi Nonk,

Not sure who you have been speaking to. Of course we will try and encourage people to use rebuild kits but our first course of action would always be to help the customer and get them sorted. Sorry if you have felt let down.

ran@2pure

Nonk – to be frank i find your claim exceptionally hard to believe.

why? do i have an axe to grind with anyone? no.
i have seen this so many times its is i grant you beyond beleif.
2pure are one of the best firms to deal with in the trade as is evident in this thread but that product is a mare.

Lets agree to disagree.

I am in a good position to know the actual truth seeing as it was my job to deal with the returns at 2pure for over a year…

i was dealing with martin.
nice to be branded a liar though bikechain.ta.

play nice boys.

Nonk, martin works externally, if you have other returns it may be easier to call the office or drop an email. What shop is it and I'll get you the details of your contact in the office.

thanks
ran

no matter ran i personally have left the trade these days anyroad but it was a north wales dealer.
i may have implied in the other post that you guys are not helpfull it was not my intention you are for sure one of the best out there.
the stuff maybee much better now but for a while 07/08 ish it was poor.

Apologies Nonk – that was not my intention.

Your experience differs from mine.

I owe you a beer for being a twonk.

feel the love

hands shook allround. 😀

Just to add my opinion…

I was using both SPDs and egg beaters on different bikes a few years ago and wanted to stick to one type; I really liked the feel and function of the egg beaters but decided I felt more comfortable with SPDs when things got a bit more exciting as I could get out of them more easily – the adjustable spring is the key I suppose. I never had any problem with the egg beaters longevity but the commonly held view that SPDs are more reliable than egg beaters was also a factor with me.

My Shimano boots to needed lots of packing under the cleat to ensure they work as intended. Using both the supplied shims on MW02s was just about enough. Mine have had no maintenance since I got them, so maybe some grease could be a good idea.

For what it's worth, of the 2 sets I've had fail both have been in similar ways, and neither due to maintenance (or lack of).

The first set: one of the springs that grasps the cleats snapped.

The second set: two of the springs that grasps the cleats were mashed by a rock displaced (and rotated upwards) by my front wheel.