I am considering switching to Crank Brothers Eggbeater pedals from Shimano SPD and would like opinions from others who have used them and either continue to do so or have switched away from them.

Love em. Use them on my commuter/CX bike and will admit it's nice to be able to walk around normally in MTB shoes versus road shoes.

You can service them quickly and easily and the four-sided entry is really nice.

Only complaint is the "softness" of the brass cleats, which is a common refrain. But that wouldn't keep me from buying them. In fact I'm going to Candy's on my CX soon.

I likes um on my trike..







Not able to walk in the road shoes as the heal very small.

What is the reason you are wanting to switch? I've used them both - started on SPDs, went to Eggbeaters, back to SPDs, now I'm back on Eggbeaters. I use them on my mtb and CX bike.

If you primary use if commuting, my opinion would be to stay with the SPDs simply because they have less float in them than the Eggbeaters. That's the main reason I switched back to the Eggbeaters - I wanted more float while keeping a higher tension. To a lessor extent I liked their mud shedding ability, but this has been improved in the newer SPDs. I also found it was easier to clip into the SPDs, although with a little practice I can get in just about as good on the Eggbeaters.

As far as walking around, since the cleats are similar, I don't think you'll notice a difference.

I might have mistakenly suggested that I use road-style SPD shoes/cleats, this is not the case, I use MTB-style shoes and cleats so I'm familiar with the walking advantage of MTB shoes.

However, it appears that you like the Eggbeaters (apparently, on both road and MTB shoes), this is good to hear.

Lately, with a new pair of shoes that has less gap (left to right) between the ridges of the "tread", I'm having difficulty clipping into the pedal and I thought that the style of the Eggbeater might be better suited for these shoes (Diadora something-or-others).

love eggbeaters- no brainer decision! 4 way entry, fwd or reverse entry, easy to maintain, great float, simple adjustment, mud shedding, tiny cleats and platform options if you want.

More than likely you are having problems because the tread is new on your shoes and it makes a tighter engagement (meaning the tread is resting on the flat part of the SPD pedal). This problem will go away as the tread is used (or you can sand down the tread a little). With Eggbeaters, the tread still rests on the pedal body, although there is typically more play - Eggbeaters even sells extensions to help make it fit tighter.

Without measuring, I assume the width of where the cleat engages on the SPD vs. Eggbeater is very similar.

I'm a total Egg Beaters fan boy. I've got them on all my bikes. I took this picture of my "collection" about four years ago.



I've since taken advantage of Crank Brother's trade in program to upgrade the two low end pedals on the left to Candy 3's.

The one thing I will say about them is that you do have to rebuild them periodically. Of the eight pairs I've owned, four have gotten crunchy in some way and two of those I neglected long enough to actually have the pedal come apart while I was riding. My experience is that they need a rebuild after about 2000 miles of riding. That said, it's a simple job -- about $15 for replacement bearings and maybe 15 minutes of work to take them apart, clean them, re-grease them and put them back together.

Personally, I love the extra float, and they unclip very smoothly even in panic situations.

Are you talking about actual Eggbeater pedals with no platform or Candy mini-platform pedals? I've always used Candies or the Mallet full platform pedal for extra support and a bigger target during remounts.
I know the CX and XC types prefer Eggbeaters for mud clearance and lighter weight but the Candy is equally popular since it is a little bit bigger than the common SPD like an M520 for about the same weight and clears mud equally well.

their 'mallet' will let you pedal in your spongy sole shoes running too..

I'll start off by saying that I *really* like eggbeaters, and all else being equal, I would run them on all my bikes. The easy in and out is great. However, I switched to Shimano SPD on two bikes (specifically M540).

Here's why: I had a spring break in one eggbeater pedal (an eggbeater C) that probably had less than 3,000 miles on it, and nearly all road miles at that. This made the pedal useless, and it seemed a little too soon given how they had been used. I had also needed to replace the cleats and bearings in that time span. I googled the spring problem, and read a ton of reviews to decide whether I wanted to replace them. This has been a common problem in the past. People also find that the wings break sometimes. (For what it's worth, Crank Bros e-mailed me and said the spring and other aspects of the pedals are now improved with current models).

I started researching Shimano SPDs, and generally found great reviews for the M540. People on Bike Forums reported that the bearings last a really long time, as do the cleats. The pedals themselves typically sell for a little less than the eggbeater 1 does. I'm very value conscious and also hate throwing things away before they have given good long service (I work in the solid waste field, and have witnessed the endless line of garbage trucks waiting to dump at the landfill).

Given all that, it seemed like the Shimano M540's were worth a shot. They don't clip in or out as easily, but it's never been a problem to clip out, even in a pressure situation. I don't notice that having a little less float is a problem at all. After using them for almost a year, I'm thinking of buying a pair for a third bike.

I LIKE CANDIES!

hee hee hee...

I evaluated eggbeaters, spd's, and time atac's when I was trying to decide what to go with.

This was before they redesigned them, eggbeaters had a terrible reputation for reliability. I'm not sure if that's improved with the redesign or not.

I went with the atac's in the end. The spd's had a not-so-great reputation for handling biking and hiking the bike in the winter, whereas both the atac's and the eggbeaters sounded flawless. (I've carried my bike through snowbanks, and the atac's have never given me more than the slighest hesitation before clipping in again).

The eggbeaters were easy to clip in and out of, but there was no firm feeling that told you that you successfully clipped in. It was just sort of a guess "well, I put my foot down, I think I'm clipped in maybe?". I liked that I could solidly feel when the atac's actually clipped in.

The eggebeaters had some annoyance with mountain biking where if you hit the bottom of the pedal on something it could cause you to come unclipped. The atac's didn't have this problem...though to be fair, I later read that some later redesign of them did, I'm not sure what they're selling now.

Both the eggbeaters and the atac's were better than spd's for not making the click-clack sound while walking around. Neither are perfect. If you're on concrete they all usually make a sound, but on other surfaces the spd's were worse.

I personally still prefer the atac's. If you wanted to go with the eggbeaters, biggest question for me would be to see if they improved reliability with the redesign.

My experience is the I love 4-sided entry and how it is easier to clip in compared to SPD. That said, several thousand miles kills these pedals' bushings and cleats, which makes them relatively costly to maintain vs SPD's. They also will eject your foot if you bash the other side against a rock; not an issue if you don't mountain bike, but it is for me. I have not found mud-shedding and ice-shedding to be as divergent between these two setups as others have suggested, and I do ride 4 seasons in Wisconsin, so I encounter said ice and snow.

In short, if money wasn't in play and I had dedicated shoes to each system, I would ride CX and winter commute on eggbeaters and mountain bike, summer commute, and tour with SPD's.

I like them because they are easier to clip in than SPD's. However, I like SPD's better for keeping your foot/ leg better aligned (less lateral rotation) for better mechanics/ ergonomics.