i have eggbeaters on my Mt./cruise around town bike and i love them. i think that they are the "Candies." i will probably stick with them cuz, well, i like 'em. My question is: do the eggbeaters with the platform offer anything of benefit on a touring rig??? Thanks.
Ashe.
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I've got standard eggbeater c's on my fixed gear, and Smarties(i think...they are the cheaper ones) with the small platform on my LHT. I like the eggbeater c's much better, they seem to click in alot easier, and i cant feel a difference with the platform. Although I did stick my shoe onto the pedal of the smarties, just to see if the platform makes any contact, and on my shoes (Shimano M075) they actually sit perfectly on the platform. But like I said...i can't feel a difference. I just like that the C's without the platform clip in easier, and are made from nicer materials.

For the last 4 years I've been using the Quattros for all of my riding, including road, tri, and touring. I quite like the platform, although I have never tried the regular egg beaters. I find the Quattros to be extremely easy to step into, thoughtless to clip out of, and very comfortable even for rides as long as 100 miles with no hot spots to date.

Eggbeaters are simply not designed for long distance riding. They are intended to shed debris and clip in fast and always. The platform versions, reduce the clip-in speed a little, but that's not an issue for a tourer.

Candy Stainless and the Quatro's are suitable for road use, IME. The platform can really help reduce lateral pressures on the knee. I have never bothered with Smarties as they seemed pretty low-end intro pedal system and probably not up to the demands of a serious long distance. Candy Cro-moly's would be preffered to a Smarty.

Nevertheless, unless you're really young and bold, I would recommend a platformed pedal.

Remember, you're gonna be pedaling for 21 hours on a 3 day tour... Any shoe will wiggle enough in that time to cause hurt relying on the shoe's stiffness alone.

If you have an SPD shoe, a set of Candy's would be a cheap but good experiment. If you don't have shoes or pedals, Quattro is a great option (as are Look Keo, or Shimano pedals, for that matter.) From what I have read Speedplays are complicated and tend to hot-spot. YMMV.

I just gave up on eggbeaters and and I am now using Candy's and about to buy Quatro's and buy a road shoe to keep my feet working with my knees. IMO, the eggbeaters are designed for muddy conditions and/or under 50 mile rides.

YMMV. I'm middleaged with some pronation issues. But like I mentioned, the Eggbeater naked leaves all the lateral support to it's binding spring, your shoe, your hotspots, and your threshold of pain!

Some shoes might not benefit at all from the platform of quattros or Candy's, if they don't make contact with them.

All the best.

I just realized one last argument against eggbeaters for touring.

With Candy's or Quattro's you have a surface to apply 3M Reflective tape to. With Naked Eggbeaters, you can only put a loop of Reflective tape around the bolt area, and the crank arms, or the heal of your shoe.

I live in New York City so I am always under lights, but car drivers are blind! Especially those white delivery trucks...

The more reflective and blinking "fred" crap you can put on your bike and person, the more likely it will be that you successfully breed or simply see your grandchildren again!

If you're touring, and your on a lonely road at night or dusk, you want to light up like a friggen' UFO on the road after dark!

I am not joking!

All the best!