What is the most common pedal choice TDR racers?

[krefs]

My suggestion would be Shimano XT. They've proven themselves in my book...I've got 5 pairs of them and have yet to have a single issue with one of them. I switched to XTs after riding Crank Bros Egg Beaters and Candys for years. They seemed to have an average life span of roughly 6 months for me, and then they'd get replaced under warranty. That was fine for 'cross, but not acceptable for anything remote. From what I hear, their reliability has not improved in the past couple years.

[sthig]

still really enjoying the Mallet 3's. 

[Cosmo K]

This is one of the most difficult decisions for me for this year.  On the road I ride Speedplay with a 59mm spindle on the left side (50mm is standard).   I love the float on these.  Unfortunately, with frogs you can no longer get the extended spindle so I'm left with trying to figure out what pedal to use.  I use spd's for crosscountry and love them but once I hit 75 miles, I start to have a problem.  I can't find any pedal maker now making an extended spindle for mtb pedals.  I may have to try to modify a cleat...which is obviously not optimum.  Any insight/ideas would be appreciated.

[fotooutdoors]

This is one of the most difficult decisions for me for this year.  On the road I ride Speedplay with a 59mm spindle on the left side (50mm is standard).   I love the float on these.  Unfortunately, with frogs you can no longer get the extended spindle so I'm left with trying to figure out what pedal to use.

Have you looked at aftermarket options?  I have stumbled across http://shop.titaniumspindles.com/ before, and they seem to have decent reviews (if not high in volume).  At any rate, I would give them a call to see if they have what you need if Frogs work best for you.  I understand the float issue; despite durability problems, I am currently running crank brothers (though nothing on the scale of TD) because they have more float.  Good luck!

[Cosmo K]

Thx...I've sent them a couple of emails over the last couple of weeks and no response yet.

-- Mark

[2013TDhopeful]

Thanks for all the advice guys.  I ended up ordering the XT pedals based on peoples' comments regarding reliability.  There seemed to be lots of stories about eggbeaters failing, but very few about the XTs.  Of course there are many exceptions to this statement, but that seemed to be the consensus.  I have not put them on yet (saving them until the last minute), but they don't spin very freely???  Hopefully they will spin faster after some use.   

[MattL]

I am using what seems to be an uncommon choice: time atac xs carbon. Not the lightest, but ultra reliable and built to last.

[mmeiser]

fascinating thread, especially since others experience seems so like my own.

was a huge crank bros fanboy.  Got my first set of egg beaters around 2000. I believe they were first generation.  Road them for years on mountain with no problem.  Started riding road with them in 2006ish... started breaking the springs on them. Probably 3 breaks. Always the right. I have right ankle problems. Went through cleats like crazy too, in retrospect it was because of lack of platform. Probably both issues in fact.

Tried some crank bros quattro which I really liked, but broke the blades perhaps three times.  Minor annoyance. Crank brothers always replaced no questions asked. Always on the right.  I believe do old ankle injury I have a lot of right shoe motion and it was litterally sawing through the blade, plus there was a void (hole) in the blade at the exact wrong spot.  Still I loved my crank brothers.  I was putting 10k miles a year on this time started touring (multi-day rides) and doing my "century a week" thing. I expected things to wear out.  (I was in denial)

About this time I got both a set of Mallets and Acid realizing I needed more platform.  Loved the Acid, but broke the axle.  (right side)  This is unforgivable in my book.  Even though I didn't blame crank brothers I got them warrantied and set them a side to give to someone else.  To dangerous an issue.

Then I broke the Mallet axle on the right side while doing the first ever trans Wisconsin.  That is when the awesome owner of the bike shop in prairie d'chen (sp?)  Wisconsin *gave* me a pair of old well used Time Atac Alium pedals which have since turned me into a Time ATAC fanboy.  I still have them though I don't ride them as much. My weapon of choice is the Time ATAC with the large platform, for some reason blanking on the name, not the z-strong but similar.

I like the alium but I need a little bit more platform.

BTW, I have yet to have to rebuild my new time ATAC. We're taliking 15k or more miles in the last 2-3 years. Maybe 20k.  They still ride as well as the day I got them.   The alium I've had to rebuild only once. Just plum wore out the bushing. They failed gracefully gradually getting more play in them as the bushing wore out.  The gracefulness / predictability and longevity of the bushing made me just more of a fan as did the ease with which you can rebuild them.

On the other hand I used to rebuild the crank brothers about once every 9mos to a year. Keep in mind we're still talking 7500 - 10k miles.  Easy to do, but when they failed it was always unexpected and trailside. And when they fail they come completely apart and are not rideable.  I became an expert at trailside crank bros pedal rebuild.  To this day I always carry a pedal rebuild kit and make sure have the proper tools.  It's no more annoying then getting a flat really. Of course... never had anything but the crank brothers fail trailside, but then I haven't been using the Time Atac that many years yet.

In summary... I would not hesitate to recommend Crank bros to lighter / normal sized riders. (I'm 6'5" / 250+)  Especially riders new to step in. However I would hesitate to recommend them to anyone doing the divide. 2700 miles off road requires the most durable gear one can buy.

**Time ATAC are bomb proof**

Some other notes. ***you will eventually wear out the platforms of the higher end Time ATAC*** i.e. the carbon, which is why I prefer alium or other aluminum platform.  Not only longer wear, but I believe the platform can be rebuilt with a bead or two of tig/mig, have a pair of aliums I'm waiting to try this with.  I prefer though just larger platform on my atac to reduce wear even further. Larger platforms also reduce cleat wear and shoe wear.

I find both time and crank brothers work far better in mud and snow then Shimano. 

Due the design of shimano spd the surface contact area is not as large or as sound as the ATAC design.  Throw a little mud or snow in it and it's much easier to fowl.   To be very specific the surface area on the top edge of the shimanos are large and flat and tend to pack down material around the cleat, especially snow. Whereas the time atac and crank bros mechanism uses two bars which are impossible to clog with mud and snow and tend to push mud/snow out from around the cleat naturally. 

BTW, I still have the scars from using shimano spd, the edges of the step in can become sharp / jagged on he pedal and every once in a while while pushing the bike or quick dismounting in an emergency they would tear my ankles an calves up pretty good. I've gotten a few good bruises from crank bros and time atac, but never any gashes as I used to with shimano.

[Long Haul Greg]

I found a great deal on a full XTR group (2011 Trail) about 500 riding miles before departing for last year's Tour Divide.  The right pedal started making some worrisome noises in Northern Colorado, but made it down to my Mexico crossing at El Paso/Juarez.  I was running out of leave time as I approached Kremmling CO, so I left the GDMBR and did a bee-line through Southern Colorado, Santa Fe, and on to the border.  No Tour Divide completion for me last year, but at least I made it from Canada to Mexico.  After I got home, I took a close look at the right pedal.  The seal was gone, and the race was two bearings short of a full-count.  I had a couple sets of XT pedals onhand, so I replaced the right pedal and kept using the left XTR until it started showing wear problems last August.  I've done similar swaps from XTR to XT on the drive train.  I've heard many seasoned riders who prefer XT over XTR for many components from a durability perspective.  For me, I'm totally sold on XTs for endurance riding.  They're rugged yet compact/light, comfortable over long distances/pedal times, and are easy to clear of mud/snow.  I've got 14 June circled on my calendar and I'll be sporting XT pedals with high confidence.