Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - crankbrothers candy qs

hey y'all
i'm thinking of getting the CB candy SLs... anybody here have any experience with them? i'm particularly interested in those days that you don't want to throw on your bike shoes (its hot as hell and you want to use your sandals to go get beer) and want to just ride the platform in your normal shoes... do the candys accomodate this? also has anybody used it with diadora geko shoes?
thanks
biki

I use 'em on two bikes and love 'em. however, I would never ride it without cleats.

I have the diadora geko shoes and the candy C (samething as SL only cromoly instead of Stainless Steel). Pretty good pedals - three ways to clip in (cleat on top, slide foot forward, pull foot backwards). Never tried riding without cleats though.

i love my candys. the platforms aren't for riding though...more just for support when you're clipped in. i've never tried it, but it seems like a bad idea.

if you want pedals that go both ways, check out the "mallet" from crank bros, which looks like it'd better support cleatless pedalling. Or, go SPD and get some Shimano m-324s or one of the many imitators. those are great pedals too.

Theres also Time Z Controls

I've got the candy's on my road bike, and eggbeaters on my fixed. It's a good setup...I like the support of the candy's for longer rides, and the simplicity of the eggbeaters for getting around town. The retention mechanism is a huge improvement over my old SPD's.

I tried riding the candy's with a pair of soccer-style slide sandals, and it didn't work very well for me. Something about the way the "wings" stick out from the relatively small platform, I think.

One other note, that's probably not pertainent to this forum: the crank bros pontoon road cleat is very hard to clip into the candy's. I ended up getting the quattro cleat, and I'm much happier.

I have Mallets, and they work decently for regular shoes. You can still feel the retention part of it though if you have soft soled shoes on. They work, but they're not ideal.

Atomlab makes a sweet pair of clipless pedals that have a big platform, here's the kicker....when you ride them with reg. shoes the retention system is springloaded and retracts into the platform.

I have Candies on the X-Check fix and use to run em on the 1x1 fix. Between the overall size and the fact that the spring mechanism protrudes above the platform, riding anything more than a mile or so can be uncomfortable. The 1x1 now sports Mallets, much more suited for non-cleated shoes but you'd still want something with a bit of tread to comp for the aforementioned spring protrusion.

Yeah, those Atomlab pedals look great, but I think they're kind of pricey. I had to go with the Mallets instead.

I have Mallets, and they work decently for regular shoes. You can still feel the retention part of it though if you have soft soled shoes on. They work, but they're not ideal.

that's good to know. i would only be using them w/regular shoes for short trips to the train station, and that sort of thing...when i have to wear nice (relatively hard-soled) shoes for meetings and stuff.

sounds like they will be forgiving on my pair of worn-out pearl-izumi shoes too.

How are Quattros with flat shoes? Seems to me the platform bit is bigger than Candies, might offer a touch more support (still not great though).

I have Mallets, and they work decently for regular shoes. You can still feel the retention part of it though if you have soft soled shoes on. They work, but they're not ideal.

I love the Eggbeater style pedals - I have them on all my bikes. I use the Mallets on one bike so I can ride with any shoes. They work fairly well, though I too can feel the retention part with regular shoes - its not a big deal.

do the candy pedals work with normal-style spd cleats, or do they require special cleats?

I used the candys with my big ol' hiking boots this weekend on my mtb bike. Not to be advised, but doable for short periods of time. I don't think I'd use non cleats with the candys on a fixie, but folks do with flipflops even!

sanford, yeah, they require special cleats. The Eggbeater cleats are actually made of brass, and have been said to wear out kind of fast, because they're so soft. Crankbros says they use brass because it's better to have the cleats wear out rather than the pedals.

So far, I've been using the same cleats for a long time, and they're still working fine. Crankbros.com has pictures of the cleats, if you wanna see them.

-Plink-

sanford, yeah, they require special cleats. The Eggbeater cleats are actually made of brass, and have been said to wear out kind of fast, because they're so soft. Crankbros says they use brass because it's better to have the cleats wear out rather than the pedals.

So far, I've been using the same cleats for a long time, and they're still working fine. Crankbros.com has pictures of the cleats, if you wanna see them.

-Plink-

cool, thanks. the reasoning for using brass makes sense to me, although i still wonder if some other material would wear slower and still not damage the pedals. i guess since the info was available via a search, i just asked a "stupid question"!

I think you probably did, but I'm one of those guys who hasn't been around that long, and am still learning, so I'm not jaded by those yet...

I've been guilty of asking those myself, that's for sure... :D

Whichever crackbrothers pedal you get you're going to be happy with them. I've been riding with Shimano spds for about 8 year and never thought twice about them, I just assumed that that all pedals were created equal. I found a deal on some eggbeaters and couldn't pass them up. These things are smooth as butter, best pedals I've ever used. Wish I would have switched over a few years back when the came out.

So what is the best for if you have one set up and want to be about to clip in or just walk out of the house with your flip flops? AND have a decent smooth pedal

I think, if you don't want to spend the cash to get the Atom Labs, (which look pretty sweet), I would say that the Mallets, maybe with the longer "teeth" attached to them would be good for regular shoes. Or, get some pedals, I think Shimano might have some, that have platforms on one side, and clipless on the other.

I don't think there's a perfect solution though. The Atom Lab ones look great though. http://www.atomlab.com/

I've got the candy's on my road bike, and eggbeaters on my fixed. It's a good setup...I like the support of the candy's for longer rides, and the simplicity of the eggbeaters for getting around town. The retention mechanism is a huge improvement over my old SPD's.

Can you tell me more about why you like the retention mech. better? I use Shimano M520 pedals now and am thinking about egbeaters and/or candy's for the purpose of better retention so I don't clip out on hard skids. Do you think the eggbeaters hold better?

Al

I'll jump in also. I've heard of people accidentally clipping out of their SPD's, and that's never happened to me with my eggbeaters, while skidding, and while using them on my mountain bike, hopping over things, and just being in rough terrain in general.

It seems, that with Eggbeaters, when you pull up, they tighten. I'm sure if you pulled hard enough, maybe they'd release, but if you look at the cleats closely, and look at the retention part, it seems that when pulling, they kind of pull inward, and clamp down harder, if you get what I mean.

I haven't used SPD's, but I rode around with a fixed rider, who said he pulled out of his all the time, even though they were new, his cleats were new, and they were adjusted very tight. I've never had that issue with my eggbeaters.

That's my 2 cents...

That's my 2 cents...
A very helpful 2

Now I need to decide between eggbeater vs. candy (yellow). While I am so much not a 'looks' person I still have a bit of trouble with the yellow on by blue bike, so am leaning towards eggbeater. I don't think I'll miss the platform, some say that there is really not much difference in feel/support. I've never had a problem clipping in either.

Al

A very helpful 2

Now I need to decide between eggbeater vs. candy (yellow). While I am so much not a 'looks' person I still have a bit of trouble with the yellow on by blue bike, so am leaning towards eggbeater. I don't think I'll miss the platform, some say that there is really not much difference in feel/support. I've never had a problem clipping in either.

Al

Blue and yellow go pretty well together. I have a blue bike with yellow decals, barwrap, tires and pedals (candy). Looks pretty good, except yellow gets dirty FAST.

Yeah, I'd have a hard time putting yellow pedals on a blue bike also...

My Mallets are blue, and they match my blue bike perfectly, which was an interesting coincidence.

As far as the platform goes, I have eggbeaters, and mallets, the two opposites, with regards to platforms, and I really can't say that I like one more than the other. The platforms can be helpful, but I'd rather have the candies instead of the mallets, as the platform feels too big sometimes. But, I'm not sure if I'd rather have the eggbeaters over the candies, as I've never tried the candies.

As far as feel/support between mallets and eggbeaters, I don't feel a whole lot of difference in actual usage. They're both great, and they both are comfortable to ride for long periods of time.

Eggbeaters are supposed to have about 6 degrees of float. One thing about the mallets vs. eggbeaters I've noticed, is that on the eggbeaters, I can really feel the float, and on my mallets, because the bolt on teeth, and the platform in general touches the bottom of my shoe, they are a bit harder to clip in to, and the float is not nearly as pronouced, because the rubber is touching the pedal, and it's not a "free float". (I hope this is making sense).

At this point, I prefer using the regular eggbeaters, because of that.

-Plink-

Blue and yellow go pretty well together. I have a blue bike with yellow decals, barwrap, tires and pedals (candy). Looks pretty good, except yellow gets dirty FAST.

Yeah, except it is really blue and grey with a touch of red and the yellow pedals would need some other yellow components to balance it out. The other bike is white and black with some blue highlight and also again the yellow pedals would stand out. And I said I'm not a looks person, ha ha.

Al

if you really wanna be able to use your clipless pedals as platforms get some looks, alot of my roady friends ride em and i'm sure the big flat pedal design makes em great for not clipped riding. i've never seen them used on a fg though so maybe theyre not good for it

Oh, and they have those things that bike stores have, to clip on clipless pedals so people can try out the bike without clipless shoes on. They're made of plastic, and add a platform to one side. My friends dad left his on, and uses them sometimes when he's just wearing regular shoes.

They seem to be sturdy enough, and I bet they'd hook you up at a store, if they have extra ones lying around.