Mountain Bike Pedals for a Roadie

Bert is a road rider and is going to give mountain biking a go, he isn’t sure which pedals would be best for him to use. He uses Speedplay Zeros on his road bike at the moment and has seen Frog and Crank Bros Egg Beaters, he wants our opinion on these and any other mountain bike pedals we like

Question: Hello,
I’m a Roadie going to do some mountain biking. I use Speedplay Zeros. For mountain biking I’ve looked at the Frog and the Crank Bros. Egg beater. Would you say one of these or another would give the quickest and easiest entry and exit and mud clearing.
Thank you, and I really enjoy your work!

Hi Bert,
Get out on yer mountain bike, its good for a change from your road bike. The pedals are very important, you need to be able to get in and out of them in a hurry and you don’t want them to foul up with mud. We will look at your choice and make a suggestion of our own.

Frog’s from Speedplay

Frog

Frog’s maybe the best for you as you are used to how they work as they are made by Speedplay and you are using the Zero’s. The Frogs have a recessed cleat for easier walking/running and the cleat doesn’t clog up as it is self cleaning when you engage the cleat. This also makes it easier to release from the pedals also, so you don’t get stuck! The Speedplay are knee friendly with a non centering float and are very light with a single retention system. The frogs are very well designed and manufactured in a tough resin composite body; these should suit your riding.

Crank Bros. Egg Beaters

Egg Beaters look very basic and the float depends on which shoe plate you use, the cleats are either 15 or 20 degree release angle and they tend not to foul up in bad conditions as they are of a very open design and have few parts. The pedals also have a lot of shoe contact and give good stability. They are a very workman like pedal that maybe isn’t the most beautiful to look at, but they work and that’s what is important.

All the Egg Beaters

Our Choice

Shimano SPD

We like the Shimano SPD’s, they are small and light and were the first created SPD’s. The PD-M970 (XTR) pedals are the best that Shimano manufacture, they have a strong and durable chrome-moly spindle, the open binding mechanism is designed to clear mud easily and the binding claws have been coated with Flourine to allow easy entry and release, they also fit Shimano Off-Road shoes perfectly and they are some of the best on the market.

The Conclusion

We like the Shimano SPD’s, but I think the Speedplay Frog’s could be the best for you as you already have the road version. Not sure about the Egg Beaters, they are probably a good pair of pedals, but we have never used them. So there you have it Bert, get the Frog’s and leap onto your mountain bike and we are happy you like the site.

Egg Beaters