Hey guys,
I want to change my current pedals to eggbeaters 3, and use them with my Sidi T-3 shoes, anyone has any experience with using these pedals in triathlon? I read really good analysis of these pedals concerning friction.
Never in a triathlon but do have on mountain bike. I’d warn you about their quality. My eggbeaters 3 fail on an annual basis. They fix them for free but still PIA. My Eggbeater Candy are 8 years old with zero problems. It’s their new Eggbeater 1-4 that appear to have serious quality issues. I just received my set back from EB a few weeks ago, however I always have a spare set ready to go. If they don’t fall apart, I don’t see why you couldn’t use them in a triathlon. I’ve done 50+ miles on a mountain bike with them with no issues. I just prefer more of a platform on my tri bike.
Highly recommend AGAINST using Egg Beaters and other MTB pedals on non-MTB shoes. It can be done, but there is a lot of rotational play or toggle (ankle rocking laterally) that causes increased stress on the Achilles heel and up through the knee to stabilize.
plus you’re running through transition on a metal cleat–read: slip n slide.
Egg Beaters are great pedals and I use them on the MTB, but not for road/tri. If you can find Crank Brothers Quattro cleats (discontinued but available with a search) you can reduce or remove the toggle and use the EB pedals effectively. I’ve done this personally.
I used to run egg beaters on all my bikes. I had the quattro cleats on my road shoes. It was a nice setup because I could use any shoes with any bike.
I learned a very hard lesson about maintaining your equipment with this setup. The cleat on eggbeaters are brass and wear down over time. This doesn’t result in a immediate failure but will make you more likely to pull out during hard accelerations. During a sprint zone on a local group ride I ended up pulling out and doing an endo at 33mph onto the road. Got a nice grade 5 shoulder separation and many hospital bills out of that. After the crash I found out my cleats were really worn down which is the most probable reason they pulled out. So its my fault for not maintaining my equipment but I don’t think this would have happened on my good ole’ speedplays. I end up breaking the spring every couple years on the speedplays but they never release even when the spring is broken.
I’ve used mainly Eggbeaters on my full-suspension, my hardtail, my cross bike, my road bike, and my tri bike for the last decade or so. I’ve heard the complaints from others (reliability, durability, etc.) but for me it’s been zero problems and awesome performance. Crank Brothers makes a 3-hole road cleat that works well. As far as the lateral angle issue, yes, they don’t hold your sole as tightly against lateral inclination as big-cleat pedals, but it never bothered me.
Alex
Highly recommend AGAINST using Egg Beaters and other MTB pedals on non-MTB shoes. It can be done, but there is a lot of rotational play or toggle (ankle rocking laterally) that causes increased stress on the Achilles heel and up through the knee to stabilize.
plus you’re running through transition on a metal cleat–read: slip n slide.
Egg Beaters are great pedals and I use them on the MTB, but not for road/tri. If you can find Crank Brothers Quattro cleats (discontinued but available with a search) you can reduce or remove the toggle and use the EB pedals effectively. I’ve done this personally.
question (and not really meant as a hijack)… is the play/rocking you’re describing caused by the pedal or the fit? My guess is the cleat??
somewhat curious as I’ll be trying xxc events this year and the rapid wear of the cb cleat has me contemplating going back to spd…???
If you are only using them for a triathlon bike, I would recommend getting a road specific pedal.
Hey Guys, thanks for replies, I just read that they have lowest friction among all pedals, so I wanted to try them out, but then I think I will stick to my Look Keo, i will just upgrade them.
I used them a few years ago for a specific purpose – mid sole cleat location.
It worked well. I leave the shoes on the bike, so running in and out of transition wasn’t an issue.
I had eggbeaters on my MTB for one season, that was too long. I could never get accustomed to the release, and had way too many tip-overs where I couldn’t get a foot free. The one where I almost broke my leg was the one that finally got them off the bike. It has Shimano XT’s on it now.
I started on Look pedals in 1988, and have never switched from them on my road bike. They are still my favorite of all time. I just recently switched to some Look Keo Blades, and they are my favorite yet. They hang really nicely when you’re foot is down at lights or intersections, making the toe-in catch much more likely.
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