A Pedal For Every Season – Mountain Bike Clipless Pedals
Component Reviews, Reviews | Guest Post | January 5, 2010 at 7:11 am
I am assuming you are all biking junkies. Hey, you found your way here, right? If you are a biking junky, then you have probably managed to collect an immense amount of crap over the years.
If you are lucky and over 25, you probably even have a couple of bikes in your garage. Maybe you got started on something you could afford a few years ago, and then got hooked. You then actually got a job that paid a few bucks and upgraded to a new ride to satiate the need to maneuver through the network of trails at your disposal in the most efficient way possible. But you never got rid of that first steed, did you? It is hard to part with your first lover, even thought you are in to someone hotter. And fortunately in the world of mountain biking, you don’t have to. You can keep the old girl around even though you found something faster or plusher. Or maybe, like Robb, you found that you just can’t commit. You need multiple mistresses to satisfy your compulsive pedaling. You took up road biking. You started cross racing.
Maybe this is just an indication of my perpetual state of adolescence, but at age 41, I found myself bumping up against Boulder’s unwritten law: That to stay married, you are limited to a 5:1 bike to spouse ratio. For some reason, I find it very difficult to part with old bikes. My father once asked “Why own more than one bike if I could only ride one bike at a time?” Then I asked him, “How many golf clubs do you carry in your bag?” You see, different bikes have different uses.
But there is a problem at the core of a bicycle’s more elementary parts. The pedals. Once upon a time, this was a non issue. But with the evolution of something as simple as a bicycle has come the development of a complex problem. We no longer throw on our Keds and go for a ride. We had to complicate it. First it was toe clips. Then someone came up with PowerGrips (kind of the 8-track tape of pedal devices). Then we went clipless. It started on road bikes. Then it migrated to mountain bikes. Before long, people had road bike pedals and road bike pedals. Each had their own kind of shoe.
The BMX riders, downhillers, and trials guys were pretty smart. They skipped the whole dilemma and rode the same set of Shimano DX pedals for 30 years with skateboard shoes. Brilliant.
But no one ever accused me of being too smart. I like road biking. I love mountain biking. And then things got kind of weird and I got into cross a little. No, not that — cyclocross! So anyway, I was a little irritated these bikes all came with a different pedal or no pedals at all. Now every time my life has felt overly burdensome, I have always found success in one word.
SIMPLIFY
Ride one kind of pedal across whatever genre of bike I had most recently fallen in love with. This meant sacrificing a few well marketed benefits of specialization as there is no one pedal system that is going to be perfect in every situation. I needed a cross trainer. You know – that shoe they invented in the ‘80s that does everything pretty well, but is probably not the best at doing any one thing. Add in that different pedals are not just genre specific, but condition specific.
It takes about 1.3 seconds to eliminate any road biking pedal. Honestly, why are these even sold to the general public? Don’t tell me they are stiff. Unless you are riding in the Tour De Wherever, no one should own a set of road pedals with accompanying impractical shoes. The soles have little to no grip. They are made of carbon fiber ice. They remind me of those shoes people buy to learn how to jump higher — great for George Costanza, but not for mere mortals. Improperly mounted, these systems will turn your knees 80 years old in a matter of weeks. You can only engage the cleat on one side of the pedal, which is always facing 180 degrees form where your cleat is. This is the kind of crap that makes people hate roadies.
That gets you to some kind of mountain biking pedal system. And this is where being my being a geezer helps you. You see, there are a lot of systems out there. You have your classic Shimano. You have your old school Ritchey. Hell, I even rode on some pedals called Onzas (Note from 198: these were my first set of clipless back in the day! You actually change bumpers to change tension.). They used an elastomer sprung retention system. Just a word to the wise here, never buy anything that has elastomer in it for riding. It is all crap that will break down in a single season. And it has been proven by countless products in a bin of crap in my garage. If anyone is looking for a Manitou III or Girvin shock, please call me. The point is, I have bought and trashed them all.
Here is what I learned:
- Never get a pedal that requires grease or another form of lube in the retention mechanism. These pedals are a mess. They are terrible in wet conditions. They are worse in dry conditions. This pretty much eliminates Shimano and Ritchey systems. They were cool in their day. They are not now.
- Never buy a pedal that has a dainty spring mechanism or where the tension mechanism is in the shoe instead of the pedal. This may be fine on the road, but these systems break down quickly in cross and die on the trails. This is because you will encounter some walking or running in these endeavors and the rocks and grit eat away at the mechanism under the weight of your body. This eliminates Speedplays.
After you sort through what you don’t want, you get down to what you do want. To operate across multiple riding conditions and styles, you need:
- A simple mechanism with very few moving parts
- Plenty of lateral play
- Something that is sturdy
- Two-sided entry
- Sheds mud
- Reasonable weigh
- Preferably a system that has multiple options such as a platform option as well as something sleek but will use the same cleat regardless of which version you are using on different bikes
- Has reasonable price points available
This really gets you down to two pedal systems. Both are great options and may be a bit gender specific. They are Time ATAC Pedals and Crank Brothers Pedals.
Personally, I am a Time ATAC guy.
The Time ATAC Pedals:
Have a very simple retention mechanism.- Come in a variety of different versions, all which use the same cleat.
- Are generally a little pricier, but they last forever.
- Come in a variety of options. At the lower price point, you get an aluminum body with a cromoly spindle. At the top end of their line, you get a lighter weight but more expensive carbon fiber version with a ti spindle.
- Have great clearance.
- Shed mud better than any pedal out there and are indifferent to heavy dust.
- No lube required.
- Positive engagement and disengagement and are very smooth at both.
- Time is great about keeping the cleat the same from year to year so you do not have to worry about them muddling your system.
I have used these for years and have never had one break down. I use them on my mountain bike, my cross bike, and my road bike. They have great clearance for road biking and allow me to use a stiff-soled mountain bike shoe that works well whether I want to use them on the trail or while cornering on sweltering pavement.
There is one caveat – these pedals tend to work better for riders weighing 160 lbs. or more. While the engagement is crisp, lighter riders sometimes have trouble creating the torque to exit quickly.
The second recommended pedal system is from Crank Brothers. Crank Brothers pedals share most of the qualities listed above for the Time ATAC, but they do have some advantages to the Time ATAC:
Anyone can get in and out of these pedals, male or female. They disengage a little easier than the Times.- Price. I do not know what it is with these pedals, but you can always get them for less than retail. I have seen them sold online at prices as low as $30 per pair for their base level Candy model (Acid Model Pictured).
- They have a broader array of styles. They make a low end Candy with a 2-sided entry or a full ti race model in their Eggbeater model with 4-sided entry. They even have a Mallet model that you can use for DH. In addition, they have a road version if you want something with a sleek platform with very good clearance.
- The downside to the Crank Brothers pedals is durability. This is just my experience, but their road pedals tend to lose aesthetic pieces over time. They still function, but they tend to lose the metal side plates by the end of the season.
Hopefully these suggested models get you to a place where you can simplify your riding life without running up too much of a bill. At a minimum, it gets you down to one pair of shoes. I have found a good Sidi mountain bike shoe will work across the board as well, but that is another tech review.
Find the best prices on each brand by clicking here: Time ATAC Pedals | Crank Brothers Pedals
More on the reviewer – Eric Pringle:
In his day job, Eric runs Integrated People Solutions, a full service executive search and HR Consulting firm. But after work and on the weekends, he likes to pack in as many miles as he can on the trails of Colorado and Utah. His passion for bikes goes way back to getting hooked on BMX racing as a kid in Michigan. Later, he got into road biking and doing a few road crits. In 1987, he bought his first mountain bike and has been hooked ever since. He has spent extensive time mountain biking in Colorado, Utah, California and even a little up in British Columbia. Older and slower, he has turned his focus towards pleasure riding and a few marathon events. He just finished is 11th Leadville 100 in as many attempts. He also enjoys a lot of road biking and a little bit of cyclocross. Always a tinkerer in his garage, he has tried a lot of bikes and countless parts looking for that perfect combination of strength, quality, weight, and value. All of this in the hopes of finding that perfect ride where it all comes together hassle free and fast with a few bucks leftover for a beer and a burrito. One step forward, one step back.
Riding Image by Alice Teoh
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Tags: clipless pedals, mountain bike components, mountain bike pedals, mountain biking, mtb pedals
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The Crankbrothers for me. I’ve used them for years of road and mountain biking to include adventure racing. I’m rough on my bike and I’ve never had to repair one. I use various types for road and mountain and passed on my Mallet C’s to my wife who is now a believer. Great design all around.
We disagree on Speedplay Frog pedals – these things rock. I’ve been using them exclusively for almost 15 years now. Because they don’t force your feet to be in a specific position it is easy on your knees, easy to get out of and makes for less apprehension because there is no counter force when you want to unclip.
I run them on my MTB and road bike and use my MTB shoes on both bikes – keeps it simple.
I actually use Shimano XTR’s on everything.
I started off on my first mountain bike with Shimano SPD’s. Most of the experienced guys I was riding with were on Eggbeaters or Times. After upgrading to the XTRs and constantly fighting proper tension settings for easy entry/exit, I decided to give the eggbeaters a try.
Now, there are eggbeaters on all 5 of my bikes – road, cross, and 3 mtbs. Shed mud easily, good clearance, and with 4 points of entry they are very easy to get in and out of. Even though I’ve had great experiences with the eggbeaters, I may give the Time’s a go-round this upcoming season…
I think my favorites are still the Times out of all of them. I have had durability issues out of Crank Brothers pedals.
SPD’s are just so widespread (incl. review bikes) that it makes more sense for me to run them.
I have various Crank Bros. pedals on all my bikes (road, touring, and mountain). They tend to be inexpensive –but avoid the Smarty model, which is the cheapest of all but cannot be rebuilt. The Mallets are good if you want something with a bit of a platform so you have the option of riding in shoes without cleats.
I agree completely – I had thought about branching out to a different pedal and shoe type for my road cycling, but you’ve convinced me to stick with the eggbeaters – I just need to make sure I have a pair for all of my bikes as well as for my wife’s bikes!
Shimano M540 for me, cheaper than XT for pretty much the same pedal. Not sure why you discounted shimano pedals in the write up, My previous shimano PDM 545’s have lasted over 10 years without any maintenance at all. I’ve only replaced them for the 540’s because I wanted something lighter and didn’t need the cage. Crank brothers fell apart quickly when I used them and they also had a very vague clip in. Wasn’t sure if I had actually clipped in or not half the time.
I think Look Quartz pedals are often over looked (pun intended). They function similarly to the Times, they offer lighter weight, for a cheaper price. Don’t forget, that look was the inventor, and pioneer of the clipless pedal.
The only negatives are that the cleat / pedal interface is adjusted by mounting shims between the shoe and the cleat, after two trial and error attempts, I was able to obtain perfect engagement and release. Also long term durability has yet to be seen, mine are only a couple months old, but still work, and look like new.
They may be a newcomer to the mountain bike scene, but I think they are worth a mention
You are totalloy wrong about shimano pedals
I have seen more broken crank bros pedals in my day and more wrecks related to them
I never lube my shimanos sometimes in the winter i use a dry teflon spray to keep the ice and snow from building up but that is it
I know more people that ride shimano than any other pedal
Totally agree with Cracker B.
Shimano requires NO maintenance for YEARS. I have had 520’s for over 4 years of constant abuse, and they are still running strong – and those are entry level! I’ve been waiting for them to break so I can justify upgrading, but it seems like that will never happen.
Crank Bros break all the time and require you to replace bearings – how did you not mention that?
Actually 198 didn’t write this piece. Just another person’s opinion. Me? I run SPD on my mountain bikes and Speedplay Zero on the road. If I had it to do over again, I’d just run SPD on the road bike and keep things simple. When my wife got a road bike, I convinced her to do so as it makes walking around so much easier than those crazy road cleats!
Never have had an issue with SPDs so far myself.
I used the entry level Shimano SPD 520 when I first went clipless. After about a year I switched to Time ATAC. I have not a single complaint. Have a pair of Crank Bros. Candies that I’ve never installed because I have been so pleased with Time.
I started with clips and then power straps. Then I rode clipless for about 17 years including Crank Brothers. Then, last year, I switched to flats and 5.10 shoes and I am not looking back. You did mention flats at least. But I am convinced now that they are the way to go for all mtb riding other than xc racing and a high level. “Vans” are not good for trail riding. If you were to invest in modern 5:10 bike shoes with the stiff midsole and quality $100 flat pedals form Crank Bros, Atomlab, etc. you would see the difference and it would change the way you ride for the better.
Also make sure to only get pedals that have threaded pins. Makes a HUGE difference over ramped pins…especially with 5.10’s. When I have on my 5.10’s and threaded pins…they might as well be clipless. Shoes stick like glue.
Onza pedals these were my first clipless. As said lasted a season…
my 2 cents (with over 25 years of mountain bike experience) I am willing to give the Time pedals a try but they appear to me to have the potential for the same unnacceptable problem that the eggbeaters have -unintential release because you hit the bottom side on a rock. All the reviewers who recommend eggbeaters are dismissed as cross country weanies (relax many of my friends fit this mold and it’s fine by me if that’s what you ride) but for those of us who actually ride in crazy boulder fields like Lynn, Ma and Vietnam, MA – eggbeaters are simply an accident waiting to happen. For those interested there is a pair of eggbeaters somewhere in the woods near the power lines of Vietnam – thrown there by me when the disgust of them overcame me. What do I ride? spd – the big 545’s (cage pedals) yeah they are not as durable as they should be but the in and out is extremely reliable – with only exception being the deep snow of winter freezing in them – at which point we all revert to platforms. Also the reviewer mentioned SIDI shoes in a positive light – he was kidding right? Again if you like SIDI you ride cross country (see previous disclaimer) SIDI’s are carbon ice on rock – a ridiculous over-priced product whose unbuckling is UNRELIABLE!
Glad to see some good discussion on the article. To clarify, the intent of the article is to run one type of pedal across different riding platforms. It was not intended to be a product endorsement, but I wanted to throw out some experiences I had had in terms of what worked for me and what didn’t. Every beard is different – shave with what works best for you
Regarding the concern about the Time’s accidentally releasing, I have not had that problem. If anything, they are initially hard to get to release until the cleat wears in and the springs have had some wear. I ride XC, Freeride, Cross and Road. Mountain biking here in Colorado is very rocky and pedals take a solid beating.
My experience with the Time pedals is the same as Eric’s. Initially a little more difficult to release. I ride a number of areas in NC and SC where contact is made with rocks due to the slightly lower bottom bracket. Possibly one time in the last 1000 miles have I experienced an unintended impact release.
I’m with Jack M on the issue of Crank Bros pedals releasing your cleat if you hit the underside of the pedal on a rock. The Time pedals don’t do that because a rock hit on the bottom of the pedal forces the two bars holding the cleat closer together due to them being parallel to each other, as opposed to the Eggbeaters which have retention bars that criss-cross about the spindle.
My Time Aliums were my favorite pedals but after they broke I went back to SPD-M540s for cost reasons. I like the very positive engagement feel with SPDs but I was always adjusting spring tension and quickly they were not holding my cleat well enough. So, I eventually went back to Crank Bros because they’re cheap and reliable enough, despite my previous experiences with unintentional release. Flat pedals are out for me as a singlespeeder; I need to be able to pull up on the pedal or I’ll have to walk up a lot of the hills around LA.
One big complaint about Time and Crank Bros: brass cleats. Those things wear out or deform fairly quickly.
Only kinda off-topic, but relating to your road-pedals comments.. I agree with you to a certain extent, but to say they’re worthless entirely is a little over-simplified. For example, I like the fact that my road shoes are (virtually) guaranteed to be clean and not caked in mud.
Oh, and also, road pedals aren’t necessarily single-sided. I run Speedplay Zeros on my road bike and they’re double-sided (and awesome).
As for CX/XC, I run a variety of Crank Brothers pedals. I have friends who swear by Time, but I figure I don’t have any issues with Crank Bros (assuming the cleats aren’t worn out.. yikes!), so why experiment? They clear mud well, the eggbeaters are 4-sided and I can enter both “toe-first, “heel-first” and sometimes even the ” I’m just going to kick at you and hope for the best” (most often encountered during a CX race, post-remount). Plus it means I can have a set of Mallets if I’m riding technical stuff or at the bike park (combined with a pair of Shimano DX shoes).
Plus, as a designer I can’t ignore their “inspiration” page: http://www.crankbrothers.com/inspiration.php, which endears me to them a little more.
Thats a new criticism of SPDs-the need to lube them??? Been using Shimano forever and have no reason to switch. I have 959s that are 7 years old, no maint, and they are as smooth as the day I got them. They are beat to hell too. Have tried Time-not nearly the positive engagement-Crank Bros-personally hated the engagement but thats just me and eggbeaters not enough of a platform for me.
Recently got the new xtr pedal and they are better than than 959s in terms of engagement.