i've read a lot around this site without posting, so i'm finally going to just join in on the discussions from now on.

on here i've read a lot about crank bros egg beaters, but i haven't found the exact answer to what i'm wondering, though people have alluded to a conclusion... do egg beaters create real painful hotspots on long rides (i ride 300+ miles/week) because of the small surface area? i figure that very stiff shoes my reconcile the problem, but i'd rather get proof from those who know.

if not, i definitely think i'm going to pick up a pair of these guys!

to be short; yes, they do. you'll be much happier with the eggbeater candies or better yet, the quattros. More surface area = better power transfer and more comfort. Plus the Quattros have a better bearing set and tend to last longer.

-Robb

Welcome to the silliest, awesomest, bestest bikeforum...

SPDs have a similar sized contact area, and not many people are complaining. I'd think comfort depends more on the shape of the sole and the kind of insole you have. 'Course, a stiff sole can't hurt.
Are you a messenger? 300+ miles is a lot...

Edit: I'm pretty sure that the frame aroud the candies will not touch your shoes, or only just. Don't think it will add any support. Otherwise, how the hell do you clip in/out? That silly thing is designed to allow you to ride in street shoes if you must, but I hear it's pretty much useless at that as well. As to the quattro, I have reservations about that, too. Anyone used them?

I think if you have flexy sole shoes you might find somewhat of a problem. I've used beaters for years with no foot issues but my Sidi soles are stiff. I don't ride 300mls/week though.

i'm not a messenger, but i ride 7 days a week independently (meaning i'm not obligated to ride to work or school), in rain or shine, on top of being a commuter biker (i have no car!!), which is about 10 miles each way, 5 days a week... so it just works out that i ride a lot. i just love it, once i get on a bike, i always just hate getting off!

thanks for the advice though, it's a shame that i have absolutely no way of trying them out for a while before getting them..

p.s.- you guys rule... around my town there are a lot of older bikers who really despise the younger generation of bikers for getting into it.. i bike because 1) i love it, it's fun 2) it's way better for the environment, and 3) it's way better for my body... along with a many other more marginal reasons... but the fact of the matter is, these older biking purists don't care about any sort of cause, they just see themselves as an elite group, which i think is complete garbage. needless to say, i have a very provincial (but excellent) group of biking friends with which i can discuss all of these topics, and naturally they don't all have first hand advice.. i guess all i'm saying is, thanks a lot for not being a bunch of old biking codgers. :-D

i had quatros on the geared bike. you can only use road shoes with them. i wish crank bros. would modify this, but the width of the spindle part that connects to the cranks is overly fat and hits the sole of non-road shoes, making them difficult to impossible to click in. sure, i could chop up the soles of non-road shoes to make them fit the quatros, but doing that would ruin their walkability.

the deal breaker is that the quatro's smaller q-factor doesn't feel natural to me. and because i could only use road-specific shoes, it made me less inclined to use the bike for commuting, errands, seeing friends, etc.

but to answer the o.p.'s original question, i've yet to experience hot spots w/ regular eggbeaters (seems shoe choice has more to do with it) and i find them more comfy and functional (though at a noticeable weight cost to the quatros).

Hey less o' the "old" you young whippersnapper! I'm only 58.

I have a 30 mile round trip commute everyday and I haven't had any problems with the normal beaters. I'm using particularly stiff shoes either, crappy old shimano shoes from 1997 or something hahah.

I've been thinking of picking up a pair of quattros but keep putting it off... Maybe I should do it today... I have gotten hot spots with my eggbeater SLs with mountain shoes... not too bad but started to get a little annoying near the end of 80kms. I'd blame the shoes first though as they don't fit 100% perfectly and could be stiffer.

i ride the eggbeaters, occasionally on long rides, and i have yet to experience any pain in my legs aside from sore/stiff muscles if i overdo it, which is hardly attributable to the pedals.

i'm also a big fan of the louis garneau ergo eco shoe (or whatever it's called). very walkable, moderate stiffness, just a bit heavy is all.

i ride on beaters all the time and have yet to have any probs. using them with sidi's.

Some kind of Crank Bros quattro knockoff that I think is new. And you can change the colorzz!



(I use beaters on all my bikes, road and fixed, and I have no complaints. I use mountain shoes, Adidas Minrets I think, or generic stiffer road shoes, and I ride about 100 miles a week.)

you should strongly consider time atac's. i waded through hundreds of threads and reviews when i was choosing a pedal, and i drew the following conclusions. take them with a grain of salt.

- the only advantage that eggbeaters have over atac's are weight. the durability of the eggbeater is frequently called into question, but nowhere nearly as much as all flavors of the candy and smarty.

- the atac's two sided entry is just as "can't miss" as the eggbeater's 4 sided entry

- when you push down on an eggbeater pedal, the wings spread slightly. this causes an undesirable sensation for some

- the atacs sport better bearings

- the atac cleat doesn't wear nearly as fast as the eggbeater cleat

- some people have a problem with the eggbeater c and mxr chewing up their soles.

- you can get adjustable release tension on the xs, xs carbon, and xs titan models - i like it.

- the atac has a larger platform

+1


I rode two sets of Time ATACs (the ones above and the Alium) before I rode eggbeaters. After a month, I went back to ATACs (above) and have never been happier. You can even ride them without cleats for short trips around the corner and such.

Plus, the eggbeaters squeeked which drove me crazy.

+2 on the Time ATACs. I haven't ridden with Eggbeaters, but the ATACs are so good that I don't need to. If you're really worried about support, I feel that the platforms help a lot.

those Time atacs look awesome, but since price is a major variable, are they much more expensive? the way you described them, they seem so superior to egg beaters that they couldn't be within the same price range. (i would just look this up on google or whatever, but i've always been able to get way cheaper bike parts with a little guidance..)

If you look on Google, you can get the Aliums for about $50. Here's one site that has them.

ahhh so sweet, thank you guys so much. i will definitely report back on my decision and affirm that you guys are the masters!

These are no longer available. Arguably the best color/style ever. I recently saw a pair go for like $80 on ebay used and beat to heL.

Time pedals currently come in a handful of styles and materials. Every LBS (local bike shop) has a selection in stock.

+1 for that. i recently switched from some crap SPD pedals to candies and i'm loving it. i also waded through forum searches trying to decide between atacs and beaters. the deciding factor was that i had a 20% off at performance and the candies were $50... SOLD!

but man do they squeak like crazy sometimes. i think it's just a matter of clearence on my dominators, i put the shims on this morning, we'll see how that goes...

So I've gathered ya'll love the egg beaters, for various reasons. I can abide by that.

However, have ya'll tried the speedplay road pedals? They have *so* much float. I <3 float. My knees <3 float. It's the pedal equivilent of going commando.

Can't walk for **** though.

No sqeaks
no unwanted disengagements
no hot spots

Dom 5's
SL's X 3
C X 1
Candy C (shim required!)
Mallet C (shim required)

would love to try the atacs, but have too much invested in eggbeaters.

One last gripe (are you listening Crank Bros?):

With the ATACs I can float and feel the "wall" (for lack of a better term) at the end of the float and positively know where the end of the float is. So I can line my foot up on that wall and ride on it when I want to switch it up a bit.

With eggbeaters, there is no such "wall" to let me know where the end of the float is. So, sometimes when riding I'd want more float, but would be reluctant to go for it for fear of disengaging.




Edit: With the ATACs I've used Sidi Dominator (currently), Nike Kato III strap, and Lake (can't remember the model)

at first riding with the shims seems like it's too high up, but no, that's how it's supposed to feel. aaaahhhh float, my knees love you.

except for...

that's going to take some getting used to. namely during skidding. i'm finding that sometimes i pull my foot one way or another when i skid, but i don't think i pull enough to unclip.