Eggbeaters: disaster, ugh! How to use?
 

Apologies if this isn't the right CX forum for this question. My impression is that the other group is for "cx-like" bike questions but not so much the actual sport.

Anyway, I just bought 2 pairs of used Eggbeater pedals. Supposedly still have plenty of life in 'em. Candy C's (recently rebuilt) and Regulars (silver all). The cleats don't look worn.

I've been using old Ritchie-type SPDs and fell at a few barriers so I was fed up with them. They just weren't predictable enough. 1 in 20 barriers they grabbed me hard.

I use Shimano rubber sole sport-tour shoes.

So now these Eggbeaters... Often they seem like I'm not even really being retained. The cleats go so easily in and out of the pedals. But they seem to ride fine. They do seem like my feet are going to go flying out on some downhill turn, though. We'll see. No feedback there, yet.

Most of the time when I dismount for a barrier the PEDALS WON'T LET GO. That's all there is to it. A lot of the time even my RIGHT pedal won't let go hardly! It suddenly becomes DIFFICULT, like a tight road-pedal (I have some Looks cranked hard for road). Then I step thru with the right and rotate the left AND NOTHING GIVES! ...Except my ankle! I installed the cleats with double-dot on the right for 15 deg release. I just can't figure out how they work!!! If I'm riding along it seems like they're easy to fly in and out of -- effortless -- too much so, even. Both with the Regs and the Candy C's.

I stand at the barrier with my feet positioned and put my shoe in and out of the cleat and the left WON'T LET GO HARDLY. A couple days ago I was practicing and it seemed like it would let go if my heel was level when I twisted my ankle.

They're popular pedals so it must be me. I'm normally good at using stuff, but sheesh! What's the secret? Just been out flubbing dismounts for an hour... And I have no real repeatable pattern other than "when I dismount and try to get out I can't."

Did they come with cleats?

If not you will need Eggbeater specific cleats, you SPD type won't work.

If they did come with cleats check for wear.
Whereas with Shimano cleats the more they wear the easier they disengage, with Eggbeater cleats the more they wear the stickier they are to release.

Yeah, they're Eggbeater cleats. But, good idea: I'll look at an online pic of the cleats and compare them to mine. I hope it's easy to see where they wear. Maybe my local shop will have them also, to compare. Boy, I need LOTS better releasing. Sometimes. That's what so weird. Sometimes they're a breeze to get out of. Except when I *want* to get out of them. Ugh!

Could it be the shoes? Last year was my first season CX racing and I used an ancient pair of Shimano Mtb shoes from the back of my closet with eggbeater pedals. Over the course of the season I had to realign the cleat on these rubber soled shoes several times because the rubber bottom allowed the cleat to rotate a bit on each dismount and over time the cleat would move quite a bit, making dismounts difficult for this rookie.

I upgraded this season to a decent pair of shoes (Mavic Rush) and through many practices and three races I've had zero issues. They snap right in and out.

Good luck.

I've been reading that worn cleats mean overly easy releasing. Well, I look at em and they look fine. Maybe I'll try adding the plastic spacers...

If you have the spacing right you should have a lot of float -- like your feet turn without any scraping sensation at all. I've never installed the CB cleats and not needed to use the plastic spacer. Without the spacer my feet are tight against the pedal and clipping in and out is difficult.

If the cleats are used, there's a good chance that they're pretty worn. Those cleats are made of butter. I generally install new cleats every year on my CX shoes. Unfortunately brand new cleats don't work as well as very slightly worn cleats, so I try to get them on in time for a few weeks of practice riding before I start racing with them.

Can anyone confirm with me the notion that cleat-wear makes these pedals HARDER to get out of???

I bought these pedals (even used as they are) because I could semi-afford them and I heard they were coolest for CX and I was tired of getting occasionally tripped by my old SPDs at the barriers.

I installed the plastic shims. Now they seem to hold on even tighter. I can do a dismount if I do a big ankle rotation (as it seems to me -- it's set up in the 15-deg mode). But I just don't quick insta-runs with my ankle rotating frickin' outward that far. It's cornball and I'm gonna break an ankle. (Others out there lose their ankles to these things yet?)

I just LOVE bolting from a dismount ... when a pedal will let me.

It seems my method is to twist ankle outward some and also to twist a bit in the vertical plane I guess you'd call it -- I roll my foot off the pedal a bit. This is THE MOST SUREFIRE way of getting RETENTION with Eggbeaters. They really won't let go.

I suppose I should just do the "free the left foot first" routine -- but that's what I was doing with my SPDs due to THEIR unpredictability but with those at least I was TEMPTED to just run outta the pedals since they ALMOST always worked great. But almost ain't good enough.

Darn, I had such high hopes for these Eggs...

OK, I guess I'll spring another $20 for fresh cleats. My shop is holding their last pair for me. Fingers crossed... Though I *assume* that in reality new cleats will hold my feet TIGHTER to the pedals. Ugh!

What's wrong w/ the SPD's? Easy to adjust, in & out no problem.

As I mentioned a couple times, they're great like 11 times out of 12. It's that twelfth time where the pedal suddenly doesn't let go like it did before and I go splat across the barriers that is a wee bit vexing...

I have 2 pairs of SPDs and haven't figured out how to get rid of the occasional stray malfunction no matter what the setting is I use. One set is so loose I can fly out just in corners but I think that even those sometimes grab in a fun-loving way...

Well, I got the new Egg cleats. They're smaller, without side-wings. We'll see if either my Regs or my Candie-C's like em and will let me go so I can run with both legs and without dragging my bike behind me in the dirt from my left foot...

Well, rats. The new cleats do the obvious and retain slightly better than the old ones. Whew, I just don't see how people use these for CX. The most reliable and secure retention moment for me with these pedals is when I'm stepping thru with my right foot in a highspeed dismount. I'm batting ZERO with these pedals! I can pretty much do a slower uphill dismount with flinging the feet sideways vigorously, like a sashay. Nothing like a full-on bolting run. If I try even a somewhat fast dismount I'll end up hopping one-legged on my right foot, dragging my left foot behind me, bike attached. And that right foot hits the ground darn hard as it takes all my momentum on it with ZERO of the weight transfer a normal CXer might expect as the left foot releases. Argh!

This is with both the Regs and the Candy-C's.

I also moved the cleat to the front then to the back. No diff.

If I try to unclip at any other time it's a breeze. The ONLY time I CAN'T is when I HAVE TO.

I don't have money nor do I have time to fool with this stuff.

The only reason I'm going nuts here is that I love CX. It's the first time in decades that I've loved bike racing. And I love the dismounts most of all. No braking. High speed. MAXIMUM FAITH. Now I'm in a real pickle, eh? ZERO FAITH now. I'll have to build back up. I'll now reinstall an SPD pedal on my left-side and do some comparisons there, to figure out which of my pedals I might be able to trust.

So I lost the $22 of the new cleats. Maybe I'll try to return them. Sigh. I suppose I can resell the 2 sets of useless Egg pedals.

I imagine they do clear mud nice.

I just thought their rep included easy dismounts.

PS: I'm back on my SPD's. Tried em a few times. Whew, my confidence is back, thank heavens. They work great. ...I'm still leery of those stray malfunctions, though. Really leery. I almost got hurt bad twice in my last race. Total luckout rescues of turning total highspeed splats on solid wood barriers into crazy skip tumbles that weren't so bad, only minor bruising and destruction of the race itself, ruined lap, etc. But at least maybe there's something that can be done. Who knows what (lotsa lube maybe) but it's better than ZERO good dismounts and ZERO confidence.

PPS: Just had a great workout with over a dozen perfect fast dismounts with my nasty ancient old SPDs... Fun!

FYI, I always once I have my right leg in position I always pre-clip out of the left pedal just a second or so before I get off.

Yeah, that's the most reliable method. But then you sometimes have a slip-off, or I've read that sometimes you get accidentally clipped back in then get a surprise.

When I use that method I unclip left first then right. Sounds like you get out of the right first. But then all my weight is on the left. How do you unclip with weight on left?

I twist my whole body slightly to the left. Just enough to feel it unclick then "surf" until the dismount.

Eggbeaters are like tubeless for cross. What I have heard does not make me inclined to try them.

Cheap Shimano SPD user here.

I've used Egg Beaters in something like 75 CX races. I've gotten stuck twice, once from sand packed in around the cleat and the other time I think I just tried to dismount too late and panicked.

As I said above, brand new cleats do need to be broken in a bit before they work smoothly. I've heard that worn out cleats cause problems with unclipping, but I've never experienced it.

I have switched everything to Crank Brothers. The big thing is the lack of any feedback from the pedal when exiting. Now I just know where it is so it's not an issue. I use only the candies, the little platform helps for some reason.

As you found out, worn EB cleats make it easier to release, not harder. Using the plastic shim or a metal cleat guard also makes it harder to get out. It does take a little time for it to get easier as the cleat and the sole of your shoe wears. The thing I found with EB versus SPDs is with the increased float, you also have to twist your foot further for them to disengage.

I may have found a solution.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=344163

I just spoke with a helpful tech person and he suggested a couple things:

#1 : That the pedal releases best when unweighted. Perhaps I can revise how I dismount to unweight before I rotate my foot.

#2 : That my old shoes may have tread that is worn low/thin enough to make the cleat stick up more and grab the pedal too deeply. (I do notice the cleats 'clacking' the floor when walking with my old Shimano Touring shoes.) It's the REVERSE problem that the included plastic cleat-shim is designed to cure (too much tread is a problem as well). Indeed, for newer models of pedal they have a kit to accommodate worn-out shoes to "shim" out the pedal body/shaft to keep the wings from grabbing too much. He suggested clipping in a shoe and checking to see if there's a gap b/w shoe and pedal. If there is then the SHOE needs the shim (or pedal-body).

So I'll give these ideas a try, as best I can with what I have. If need be, maybe I can make my own shoe-tread shim to test this idea (my pedals are too old for the pedal-shim kit).

The TS guy was very helpful and I do appreciate that! Now for more testing...

I do like the increased lightness of these pedals and the easy clip-in's (I sometimes stab at my SPDs for frustrating seconds) and the mud-clearing.

Nine or so races into my first season on egg beaters, I love them. Not a single issue getting out, and I'm getting back in more consistently than I did with SPDs or attacs. This is also my first season in the 3s, and the only place I am consistently besting my opposition is the barriers. Do you have another pair of shoes you can try? Maybe the lugs on your current pair are interfering?

I still plan to test the two ideas. I invested the rare few hours early on in trying them and haven't had time to change my cleats back to the Eggs since. Pedals are easier to change. I plan to see if I have the gap problem the TS mentioned. But, yeah, it might be a shoe problem. But it might be opposite of the usual "too much lug" problem that requires use of the shim. I note that SPD doesn't seem to have this fussiness, but I like the lightness and ease of use of the Eggs so I'll try again when I can. Probably for next season at this point. I don't mean to slam these guys, only to be candid. If it proves my soles are too thin I'll be happy to change. However, I'd think they might want to add something to their FAQ about this. Still, it would be weird that nobody else has posted about thin-soles that I've seen. Yet the TS seemed to know about it. If it is the case I would've appreciated finding out back when I was fiddling and suffering and putting time in trying to sort em out.

FWIW the proper technique is as you approach the barrier you unclip your left foot and put the weight on the pedal with the center of the sole of your shoe. Then unclip the right and bring your right leg to the left side and move your right foot forward the left one. coast till you are one step away and then run the barriers.

That way you are guaranteed to not kill yourself unclipping at the last second ;)

I'll probably just start relying on that method. I've also been reading that the "cowboy" is the best way and is also less risky. I suppose with every method if one doesn't focus then things can go wrong! ...But I'll try again sometime to use the Eggs and use the Tech guy's "reverse shim" pedal-shimming advice and see what happens. I note that Lennard Zinn shims his Eggs rather than using the cleat-shim for a reverse shim as well. I wish that info was easier to find when I had time and was fussing with it!

Old thread I know but... curious to hear if this did this help at all? The only time I've had issues with Crank Bros pedals is yeah, if too much of the shoe tread is contacting the area around the pedal (then when you're putting weight on a foot to unclip it makes it even worse). In these cases I've used the provided shims for my shoes. But it sounds the opposite of what you may have.

The system alerted me to this reply. Yeah, it does seem like the opposite, and, no, I haven't tested yet. But will soon, now that the bike season is back. (Got in 100 local XC ski outings!) I'll post results...

Their Mallets would give you a platform for when you dont quite hit the pedal mech square on, every time ..

I'm not sure the shims are really addressing a problem with shoe tread contact. It moves the cleat away from the sole of the shoe. Even using Pearl Izumi All-Road shoes, which have a very shallow tread, I've had to use the shims to get enough float. I think the problem is that the top of the pedal gets pressed too tightly against the sole of the shoe otherwise.

Crank Brothers makes a tread contact sleeve to solve the opposite problem (not enough tread contact). I've used these in conjunction with the cleat shims and the result was pretty good -- not as much float as I'd have without them, but also not too much friction with the pedal body. The tread contact sleeves only work with newer pedals (2011+), and they have the downside that you need to disassemble the pedal to install them.

Another solution is to just wrap something around the pedal body. Here's a pic of Katie Compton's pedals from 2009 using such a solution:


http://cdn.media.cyclingnews.com/200...edal_2_600.jpg

My anecdotal evidence shows that this is true. My guess is that as you spin your shoe the cleat turns and widens the pedal until it pops out but if your cleat is worn down enough it won't widen the pedal as it gets turned. Make sense?