Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is a review after 1hr of riding with these pedals. I ride a recumbent in South Florida, have been using both SPD pedals with sandals for casual rides, and Look Keo Carbons with racing shoes for more rigorous workouts. Been a serious cyclist off and on since 1967. While the Look system always worked well for me on diamond frame bikes, this set up is not ideal for bents. Hot feet, unsure footing when stopped, and difficult click in and release are the main factors. SPD with sandals are more comfortable with cooler feet and safer stops and starts, but secure engagement and easy release proved illusive. After 4 plus years and over 12,000 miles of frustration on the bent it was time for something new. I decided to give Crank Brothers a try. I wanted to use sandals primarily. Since sandals flex for walking some sort of pedal platform is very helpful for support. The Candy series pedals offer a small platform not as big as other pedals, but the trade-off is light weight. Rotating mass is a very significant factor is cycling performance and at 304 grams these pedals are quite lightweight. The Candy 3 pedals are noticeably lighter than my SPD pedals were and similar to the Look Keo Carbons. These pedals feel very smooth and the bearings are serviceable and completely re-buildable, which is encouraging for longevity. Crank Brothers has a good reputation for customer support and parts should be readily available for these pedals. These pedals look and feel like high quality products. The cleats mounted in the shoes with no problems. Metal shims are available from Crank Brothers in three thicknesses if there is a compatibility problem with the shoes. The first thing I noticed upon clipping in is that engagement was at once easy and very secure. Gone is the trade-off between secure engagement and ease of release that is an inherent characteristic of SPD. There is not an adjustment nor a need for one with the Candy 3s. Disengagement with Candy 3 is also very easy. There is 6 degrees of float, which is adequate. The cleats can be installed to disengage at 15 degrees or 20 degrees, I set mine at 15 degrees and it feels just fine. Riding the bike I felt that the platform is adequate underneath my flexible soled sandals. A longer ride has to wait for the weekend, but first impressions are that the compromise between light weight and adequate support offered by the Candy pedals is pretty well sorted. I tried spinning at a very high cadence such as one might do in a sprint, and mashing a big gear up a hill at very low cadence. My feet felt fine, there were no unwanted releases, the light weight was noticeable. These pedals offer a very high level of performance and comfort for my application and are priced competitively between Shimano XT and XTR, two high grade SPD pedals for comparison. I will write a follow-up after gaining more experience, but at first blush these are worthy offerings.
The following comments are added as a follow-up. I have used these pedals now for almost 1 year and approximately 3,000 miles. All that was written above is accurate. The pedals have proven to be efficient, reliable, and comfortable in use with sandals. Although the cleats are still OK, they are wearing down and will undoubtedly require replacement at some point. The functionality of the Crank Brother system is so high that this is only a minor disadvantage. In summation, a total of 3 more bicycles have been retrofitted with these pedals including 2 belonging to my wife, who is not a gear head by any means, and she loves them too. In 44 years of adult cycling including competition, these are quite simply the best bicycle pedals I have ever encountered. Highest recommendation.
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