I think it is worth reemphasizing that these clipless pedals are several years old and have thousands of miles on them. Perhaps as much as 40K miles between them. So it is hard to arrive at the conclusion that eggbeaters are simply junk. I am taking a different approach and reminding myself that if you ride anything long enough it will likely fail. It is a learning lesson to inspect my bikes more frequently, especially those with with components that have a LOT of miles.