brooklyner

What is the difference exactly? Which do you recommend for a road bike? If I am using mountain/touring shoes? If I am using road/racing shoes?

hmai18

They both use the same mechanism. The EB has is lighter because it has no platform and a slightly wider Q-factor.

If you are using MTB shoes, you will need to use either the standard EB cleat or the quattro cleat without the plastic part that surrounds and protects the brass cleat when walking.

If you are using road shoes, you should use either the road cleat (which is just the standard EB cleat with rubber pontoons for less slippery walking) or the quattro cleat. This is because your shoe will have no recess to mount your cleat in and no tread. You can also use the standard EB cleat, but it will get dinged up from walking and it will be slippery as hell.

Quattro cleat:


Road cleat:

brooklyner

dang, chosing pedals and shoes is more overwhelming than picking a bike! so which would you recommend?

ckleps

for you, living in brooklyn, I'd go with the eggbeaters. Its a tiny looking pedal and if you every lock up your bike or commute to work thats a plus, because It could be a bit of a deterent to a run of the mill bike thief. I once had a fireman borrow my mtb to access a fire I found in a forest preserve and he kept slipping off the pedals.
What kind out distance do you plan on riding. If you have a shoe with a nice stiff sole, the extra platform on the quattros won't make a huge difference especially if you aren't going long distances.

brooklyner

but how about for a quick ride without bike shoes? seems it would be a lot easier with the quattros, right?

ckleps

yeah to a certain extent, but the pedal mechanism is slightly raised above the platform, so you a still putting your weight on a small area if you aren't wearing cycling shoes. you could also grab a pair of these if you decide on the eggbeaters.
https://www.performancebike.com/shop/....cfm?SKU=18311

hmai18

I went with EB's because of the weight factor and simplicity. I have Sidi Zetas and I find that the sole is plenty stiff, so I don't really find a lack of platform when I'm out of the saddle and really cranking it.

tache0n

I personnally will not buy Eggbeaters again.. I started haveing knee and hotfoot problems. I tried out speedplay zero's and could not believe the improvement. I now believe what helped me the most was the adjustable float. My roadie friend says that it was the bigger platform that fixed my problems but I think I know my body better then he and just "feel" the pedaling angle (toe in versus toe out) is better now.

Your mileage may vary.

Laguna

I have the Quattros and sometimes use my bike for a quick ride with sneakers or flip flops (i live in Laguna Beach where we do crazy stuff like that). Anyway, the Qs generous but not obstrusive platform makes them very versatile to say the least.

mrballistic

check out the candys as well. they're a great middle solution. i have them on my fixed and mt bikes. no hot spots at all.... love 'em.

thewalrus

you might want to consider the candy SL, which is the same mechanism with a smaller platform pedal. it's intended for mountain bike use but should work with either kind of shoe. also, it sells for HALF the price of the Quattro SL.

samp02

I use the candy Sl's on a road bike. Very nice. Anyone use Quattro's with MTB shoes? Does it fit??

97 Teran

I've got Candys on my MTB and eggbeaters on my road ride- it's great to have the same cleat system on each bike so I can switch shoes if necessary. I've entertained the idea of getting the quattros for my road bike in hopes that I could walk more easily (the eggbeater road cleats are a good solution, but could be even better... they still wear down from contact with my front steps and the occasional stoplight dismounts quicker than I'd like- I just got a new pair after having the previous ones less than a year.) However I don't know how well that big housing that surrounds the quattro cleat helps you walk... but it certainly looks to protect the cleat from walking wear. As someone mentioned, the quattros might not work with mtn/atb shoes(in fact I expect they don't, but don't know for sure), so consider that, whereas candys and eggies work with anything.

hmai18

The plastic that surrounds the cleat on quattro cleat do a decent job of protecting it from dings. It helps somewhat with walking, but it's just hard plastic so it's still pretty slippery. Now, if they made the quattro cleat protector out of rubber, that'd be ideal.

Trevor98

First let me say that I have both and use both (plus Mallets) and they are both good. However, the quattros feel more stable while standing-- especially using worn in cleats.

Secondly the idea of using any of the platform version of eb's with street shoes is problematic. The four sided pedal protruding above the platform will simply roll along the eggbeater at the worst possible moments. The Winwood platform is ok but the better solution are the crankbothers adapters (https://www.cambriabike.com/shopexd.asp?id=11556). These are put on the eggbeater pedals when they are sold on new bikes and can be found at some dealers as well.

Peek the Geek

What kind of shoes, exactly? If you've got a touring/rec shoe, you might have to grind down a significant amount of tread to allow the Quattro platform to fit (less so with the Candy)

brooklyner

some may scoff, but i am thinking about these diadora ultraspins. i guess the eggbeaters or candies would be best with them, right? quattros only with a road shoe, yes?

Peek the Geek

Yeah, I would personally go with the Candy. I've got Candys on my mtb and quattros for my road bike. The Candy pedals will interfere less with your tread, so you'll have to do less (if any) grinding. Grinding is pretty easy, btw, with a dremel tool.

As for the eggbeaters, depends on the stiffness of the sole and the length of the rides. If the sole isn't real stiff (which it usually isn't for touring/rec shoes, to allow for easier walking), then you may prefer having the platform the Candy offers, especially for any quick jaunts in regular shoes. But if your rides aren't real long, it shouldn't matter much. I can't speak as an expert, though, since I've never used Eggbeaters.

Murrays

We've got candys on our tandem and looks on our road bikes. I put the EB cleats on my old Sidi road shoes with an adapter plate similar to the QuattroI'm thinking about picking up some non-candy EB's for our other bikes.

Personally, I don't see the appeal of the Quattros; they're more expensive and heavier

-murray

filtersweep

Can you prove that? I think it is an optical illusion- or at the very least my EBs seem to have the same Q-factor as my SPD-SL road pedals.

For road, I'd recommend the EBs- no real need for a platform on a road bike.

hmai18

This is a pretty crude way to do it, but assuming that the two pedals are being represented at the same scale, the EB's have a very slightly wider Q-factor. Is somebody who has both willing to do actual substantive measurements?

thewalrus

I highly doubt the quattro platform will fit inside the tread "hole" on a MTB shoe - even with the shims mentioned on the crank brothers website.

mooncricket

Whichever you choose, you might want to buy spare bearings ($15-$18/set) if you're going to be traveling far/out of country. It's sadly funny that instead of fixing/addressing the bearings problem, Crank Bros opted to include a little instruction/schematic page on how you the consumer should/can repair your bearings. The early sets of EB didn't come with this instruction. Frankly, I think it's a lame and lazy approach on their part. I had a difficult time locating the bearings and a tough time replacing them.

Say, the Candys were $50 on sale, then you have to go out and hunt down little itty-bitty cheap bearings for $18 to replace them.

If I get another bearings failure, it's bye-bye to Crank Bros forever.

I have EB and Candys. The EB bearings failed. The Candys looks like they will fail too, squirting out an awful lot of grease everywhere.

johnny99

Can you use Crank MTB cleats with the Quattro pedals?

Trevor98

yes. although sometimes the tread on the shoes makes engagement difficult and you have to press pretty hard- even with the spacers.