Crank Brothers Quattro Pedals

ive been riding with some standard shimano SPD pedals and the obligatory toeclips+doubles and im finding myself useing the SPDs increasingly more often. at first i found myself rarely using my SPDs, but now it doesnt feel right without them. ive just got some bootie socks to cover my shoes as well which is great for riding this time of year as i got sick of having frozen feet.

i want to get some better/fancier clipless pedals now, and ive been looking at the crankbros pedals. they look real nice and crankbros seem to be a solid reliable company.

has anyone had experience with these pedals? how are they for fixed riding?

i aslo ride SS and geared, so experience with them on a freewheel would also be interesting.

they are fine IMO. i have them on my road bike. Corny has them on his fixed Ithink.

they feel solid and secure, i have never unclipped from them.

Haven't used the quattros although I use candys on one of my mtbs, Found them pretty similar to spds to use, bit more of a platform which can come in handy though. I would defo advise getting double sided (or 4 sided pedals) as getting into single sided pedals can be a right pig anyway on a freewheel bike if you accidentally knock the pedal upside down. Also have a look at speedplays - but they require road shoes (a bit less good for walking in but the speedplay cleats are metal so they shouldnt wear to quick)

There's nothing wrong with SPDs, especially the more expensive models, although little real gain above XT level at best.

Each type of clipless pedal has a slightly different feel to both engagement and release so there are some you will get on with and some you may not. If you are happy with the cleat mechanism and release I'd stay with SPDs.

For what it's worth, I've used

• SPDs
  
• Time MTB
  
• Crank Bros (eggbeater and Candy)
  
• Speedplay Frog (MTB pedal)
  
• Speedplay Zero (road pedal)
  
  

For MTB use and general commuting I don't think you can beat Time, IMO, with Shimano SPD as a close second. I still use Speedplay Zero as my road bike pedal system, but they are less convenient around town where you may want to walk around the pub or a shop so MTB style shoes are much more practical. I'll never use Crank Bros pedals again. My Candys were fine on the commute bike, but they (or at least the bearings) just aren't sufficiently robust for off road use and I want the same pedal system for commuting and moutain biking so Time it is.

HTH.

yeah, i have MTB shoes so dedicated road pedals are kind of out of the question.

to be honest i think id just get used to whatever pedal i was using and i think all of the major brands would probably be fine.

im going to borrow a freinds set of looks for a couple of days to see how i feel about them. unlike alot of bike componants i think pedals are somthing i need to try, becuase whatever i choose ill probably end up having on all my bikes.

the crank brothers are fine, had them for about a year, eighteen months, I've got two sets of quattro's fixed and geared, wrecked a pair of the sl quattro's, not quite sure how, the end plates twisted away and the bearings started making a horrendous metal on metal squeaking sound, got another pair which seem fine, and I'll be using the busted pair for repair/maintenance/figuring out how the fuck i can take them apart duty.

the cleats wear out quite quickly, even the premium ones, which means its time to learn how to trackstand.

But I am thinking about getting some time atacs, for the track bike and if I like those may swap all the pedals over...

That's the thing with Crank Bros, you have to plan on replacing the bearings every 6-9 months if used off-road, probably every 12 months on road. Although my Candys were fine for 3+ years of daily commuting on one bearing set because they came with the regreasing thing that you screw into the outside edge of the pedal. Oh, and yes, the Crank Bros cleats are very soft and wear very quickly compared to anything else out there.

They are very easy to service, unscrew the cap on the outside edge of the pedal, unscrew the nut on the end of the axle and the pedal body comes off. Bearing kits are (relatively) easily available too, but it seems like Crank Bros are about the only pedal design that needs them so frequently.

Time ATAC FTW.

For melon, you're spot on about trying different pedal types, as you'd be surprised how different they can be (Speedplay Frogs anyone?!). Just my opinion, but I'd go for Times before you waste your money on Crank Bros.

I never thought that I'd ride with clipless pedals. I've got two bikes, one for dicking around on that has clips and straps and the other for riding longer distances. I got some Time ATAC's and some cheap Sidi's for the second bike, and now I don't like riding distances without them. Seriously brilliant if you want to go fast/ride a long way.

I've got some quattros on my fixed. Really nice connection, but not as easy to click into as the eggbeaters. Interestingly using the quattro cleats with my winter bikes eggbeaters felt great, really positive. The Quattro cleats do not clear snow or dirt though (I'd say they collect it) so you can find yourself unable to click-in in the wrong conditions (or as happened to me unable to click out, ouch).

The platform on the quattros resists the natural float, you get with eggbeaters, but I quite like this.

Nice pedals for road use. Personally I really like the feel of them and the fact that I can have the same mechnism with different pedals on different bikes. But, like you said pedals are a personal preferance thing.

I like the look of them too.

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use quattros and eggbeaters and like them both - there was some warning about using eggbeaters while brakeless because apparently theyre easy to come out of but ive never found it - recently went back to my quattros which were sitting on my (fucked) geared bike gathering dust and theyre a lot more comfy than the eggbeaters.

so to conclude: me likey

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