New Pedals

This weekend I upgraded the pedals on my bike, going with the Crankbrothers Eggbeaters. I went with the entry level option of this pedal as opposed to some of the more expensive, upgraded options. Looking at the pedals, it's obvious where the name comes from: they look like, well, eggbeaters. 

The spindle for the entry level eggbeaters is made from forged chormally steel, the body and the wing are made from stamped steel and the spring is made from 300 series stainless steel. With some of the higher level options the body and wing are made from cast stainless steel instead of stamped steel (and the highest level option is made mostly of titanium), but since I'm just trying these out for the first time I didn't really feel the need to spend the extra money.

 

After doing 40 minutes on the trainer with them today I can say I really like them. They are much more minimalist and lighter than my previous pedals, and after figuring out how to use them they are easier to clip into and out of.

It took me more than a few attempts to figure out how to clip into them. My previous pedals had a platform that guided the cleat on your shoe into close to the right position to clip in. The eggbeaters don't have that and it turns out that on my first few attempts I had my foot positioned too far back on the pedal (the pedal was too close to my toes), which meant the cleat on my shoe wasn't engaging the pedal. Once I realized this and moved my foot forward, clipping in became very easy. After a little more practice this winter on the trainer I think it'll be second nature once I get the bike back out on the road, which is the goal.

I decided to upgrade because I was having problems clipping in easily with my old pedals. I could get my right foot clipped in well enough, but had problems clipping my left foot in. This led me to fall more than once. Unclipping was usually not a problem, but I was always a bit scared to stop for traffic as I was tentative about getting my left foot clipped back in. 

I'm hoping the eggbeaters help this. The big strength of the eggbeaters is that the design allows me to clip in regardless of the position of the spindles on the pedal - with my old pedals, I had to make sure the platform was aligned correctly, which led to problems.

As of now, I'm quite happy with the pedal and am looking forward to working with them more.