After reading the post the other day about the $49.95 price on Egg Beaters at Colorado Cycle, I
decided to order a pair and see how they performed. The first things I noticed were the detailed
installation and use instructions, printed in a type size that's actually readable (!), and the
no-nonsense size of the box the pedals come in - just big enough to hold the pedals. It's really a
good idea to read the instructions, otherwise you'd never guess that the two supplied cleats are
different and just what the difference is (one releases earlier when rotating out of the cleats).
I mounted the cleats in the exact same position as the SPD cleats that I removed (the Egg Beater
cleats are different from the SPDs and are not compatible). Moving the cleats into the Pedals felt a
bit different from the SPDs, but was easy. The biggest difference I see is that rotating out of the
Egg Beaters is smooth as butter, therefore appearing to take less force than my SPDs. That didn't
make sense to me, so I looked carefully at the SPD pedals (a low priced double-sided pair from
Performance). The pedals had a nice finish - everywhere but on the pedal surface that contacts the
cleat. That surface was VERY rough and no doubt accounted for the problems I'd sometimes had getting
out of the pedals. If you're currently riding SPD pedals, take a look at that surface. It would be
pretty easy to smooth it out with a Dremel tool and stone wheel.
Unlike my SPD pedals, there's no adjustment of any kind on the Egg Beater pedals. Even so, the Egg
Beaters release much easier than my SPD pedals, even when the SPDs are set to the lightest possible
setting. The only negative I see with the Egg Beaters (and it's a trait shared with most of the new
pedals) is that there's quite a bit of resistance to the rotation of the pedal on its spindle. No
doubt the use of the cartridge bearing (and lack of a ball bearing on the inside) is responsible for
that. I don't know why we accept that - my old rat-trap pedals with free ball bearings on the inside
and outside of the spindle spin freely with very little resistance.
Anyway, at $49.95 I doubt that you could do better than the Egg Beaters. And the fact that the
cleats will fit perfectly in the recessed clip area of my ATB shoes means that they should fit any
existing bike shoe.
FS in Angier, NC