If you have a high end carbon sole I can’t imagine it would feel any different. My carbon sole has no flex so it shouldn’t matter what the attachment is. I switched to SPD pedals for a week and 1 race when I borrowed a bike and I couldn’t tell the difference 
. Then again, some people are particularly sensitive to these things and/or it’s in their head.
1 Like
Your feet push with the lugs on your shoes, not the cleat. They ride on the round part, not the beater. The platform you see on some MTB is for foot protection and maybe floppy shoes.
Also, there’s no such thing as more or less efficient cycling shoes. There are soft soles that destroy your mid foot on a long ride. But there isn’t really an efficiency argument.
I didn’t like them. iIRC, they didn’t really have any free float or a well defined disengagement point.
1 Like
I tried going from Shimano MTB pedals to Eggbeaters (don’t recall the model) for cyclocross. We dated briefly and then decided to see other pedals. I did not like them at all. Found them very difficult to clip into, especially “no look”.
2 Likes
I have been using Eggbeaters for years and had them also on my road bike until I won a pair of Shimano road pedals in a raffle.
- I would not worry about efficiency, stiff shoes are much more important.
- The pedal feel is marmite: I love the floaty feel, but it is not for everyone. I am securely clipped in while not feeling being locked in. Unlike with Shimano pedals you don’t have a sharp boundary between being clipped in and clipping out. That never bothered me.
- Crankbrothers pedals are better on my knees.
- They need maintenance. I never did any maintenance on my Shimano pedals and none ever broke on me. Crankbrothers pedals need maintenance. You need to make sure the bearings are greased and sometimes replace the bearings. I had one pedal fail on me, the pedal body separated from the axle.
I still love them and got three Crankbrothers pedals for a bargain (all second-to-top-of-the-line), only $50. That was right after I bought a fresh pair. I am set for a while pedal-wise 
1 Like
This is it, right…
Crankbrother riders: “I love these pedals, I got three new pairs for the new season!”
Me, on shimano spds: getting told off for putting my old pedals on a new bike build again…
9 Likes
It seems that the reliability issues don’t apply to the 11 titanium version.
1 Like
Is it they dont apply or they are sold in a lower volume and not as many people comment about the failures on them?
I had the Eggbeater Titanium (predecessor to the 11’s or whatever, not the 11’s) and they exploded on me also. I was okay with this however as I really never got along with the feel of them not being somewhat locked in, went back to XTR’s and was happy with them and have never needed to replace them.
I will say that after 3 hard seasons on the XTR’s they felt a little tight, so I did pull them apart and found dirty grease, a quick repack and they have been like butter and “new” feel again.
3 Likes
I’ve ridden the candy for 6 marathon mtb races including Leadville no issues. 2 thoughts buy a cheap pair like 30 on eBay and see if you like them the experience will be the same. Or buy the equivalent of the 11 but without the to axle then buy ti axles on eBay they are around 60 I found a pair from Switzerland if the China thing concerns you. That was the way I went
Used to ride Eggbeaters/Candys for years. High maintenance pedals, constantly servicing and replacing bearings. Ate into my shoes, had to install this metal shield. All for the sake of saving a few grams.
However, this here made me finally switch to proper pedals, body coming off a brand new pair of Eggbeaters or Candys (don’t recall exactly). Luckily at hour 9 of a 10 hour ride.
Tried some lightweight Xpedo M-Force 8 Ti but these needed quite a lot of maintenance as well. And disengagement was not perfect. Simply went back to XTR, I don’t care about the weight anymore. I just want a robust and care-free pedal.
7 Likes
I’ve ridden Eagbeaters for at least 3 years on my XC MTB and have never had an issue. I forget which specific version I got, but I got the non-Ti ones and then replaced the spindle with aftermarket Ti spindle which was cheaper.
I pedal strike all the time, no issues.
I’m pretty sure I have Eggbeater 3’s that I replaced the spindle to an aftermarket Ti one.
I revoke my claims that I’ve never had an issue with Eggbeaters. I had one fail in the exact same way yesterday during a MTB stage race. It was 3 years old and had been subjected to plenty of pedal strikes, but still plan to make the jump to XTR.
Just adding to this thread because I had my eggbeater 11s fail the same way as @sryke recently, however I had used them for 4+ years and never done any sort of maintenance with them, so that likely contributed to the failure!
Have just ordered a pedal refresh kit and based on the following video, looks pretty straightforward to give them a new lease of life:
3 Likes
I recently built a gravel bike and switched to XTR after reading up on the common failure mode of Eggbeater’s which I’ve had on two cross bikes for years but to be perfectly honest those two bike saw little use overall. Now that I’ve logged a few hundred miles on the XTR’s I’d not bother using Eggbeater’s again. Though I did not experience a failure I find the XTR’s to be easier to use. Firstly, cleat position is far better, helping place the ball of the foot over the axle much like a road pedal. I never really liked the mid foot positioning of the Eggbeater’s but in use it only is noticeable when clipping in. Efficiency wise I cannot tell any difference. Secondly the XTR’s are more positive when clipping in. Lastly and this may be purely personal but I find the XTR’s easier to locate prior to clip in which in tricky spots adds confidence. To be fair I never found the Eggbeater’s to be a problem but after moving over to the XTR’s I prefer them.
I’ve used Candys and Eggbeaters in the past without any issues. They can be really light and have a really smooth float in my opinion.
I switched to SPDs because i felt they worked better with shims. 
1 Like
Per my periodic post on this subject, I’ve used Crank Brothers pedals - mainly Candys - on my road bike for nearly 20 years and never had the oft-cited reliability problems we’re always hearing about. The main thing is to be lucky in life, so I’ll continue until I ain’t.
As you wrote, they’re super light for the price and have really nice float, so I Hold Fast and refuse to desert! 
2 Likes
I tried a set of eggbeaters on my cross bike years ago and thought them awful. I had to take a dremel to lugs on the soles of my shoes before I could mount the cleats, they were harder for me to engage and disengage, and then they fell apart.
I would never use any pedals with Titanium spindles, especially on a gravel bike where your more apt to have pedal strikes. The weight saving is not worth the risk of a catastrophic failure and Titanium spindles are more likely to crack. That is why pedals with Ti spindles all have weight limits (which I am at or just over in any event). SPD pedals work and are reliable.
On a group ride several years ago, a rider pulled the cage of their spindle like that image. It was his second pair that separated like that. The first time he jammed his ankle into the bare spindle and had to DNF a race because he was bleeding. He was ‘sponsored’ and said it didn’t matter because he got ‘free’ pedals, but someone mentioned that ‘free’ in this case meant donating blood and risking an infection. I thought ‘Good point!’. 
I was curious about them and had almost bought a pair several times, but after that decided I value my ankles more than any possible weight reduction that they might provide. (And not being a racer, I was just considering them because they look unique)
He said,a t the time, he was nearly done with them and would be asking what other brands (if any) he might have access to.
I do like the SPD pedals, and have several models on a couple different bikes over the years. Got a pair of the silver cleats for free. JUST SAY HELL NO!!! They release for any god, or bad, reason. Yeah, sometimes ‘free’ comes with a cost…
I wish I could use Shimano pedals, but they exacerbate my knee problems. Zero knee issues with Crankbrothers pedals.
On the flip side, two Eggbeater pedals have separated. Their Candies and their Mullet pedals have been sturdier, no problems there apart from bearing maintenance.
With Shimano pedals, I have never done any maintenance on them. Ever. Virtually indestructible.