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Calling Egg Beater boffs?

10K views 44 replies 14 participants last post by  DLd 
#1 ·
Right, here goes. I apologise in advance if I've posted in the wrong section or whatever.

My goal is to build a light weight, good looking set of Egg Beaters, for as little as possible.

My evil scheme is to buy some Egg Beater C pedals, upgrade with some titanium axles like these and then finish them off with some green end caps to finish them off.

Now, the pedals weigh 296g stock, vs my current Egg Beaters that weight 286g (not a lot in it). If I swap to the Titanium axles, I should be able to get them down to around 230g. Not great, but not bad either. All for less than £80.

There are a couple of concerns. I'm not 100% sure the parts I'm looking for are all compatible. I know it says they're compatible with Egg Beater C in the description of the spindles, but I'm wondering if anyone can confirm this. I have no idea if the end caps will work either because the whole website is in German. Also, I want to know what bearings the Egg Beater C's use? I'm worried they use those horrible bushings that basically ruined everyones perception of Egg Beaters. If I knew what year the Egg Beater Cs were, it would make life a lot easier.

Rather than messing around, am I better off just biting the bullet and buying the 11s? Or should I look into getting different pedals all together? I am a big fan of the Egg Beater system, but needs must.

Thanks guys.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
The Eggbeater C is the old model that uses the "dreaded" bushing on the inner part of the spindle near the cranks, but it has a sealed bearing at the farther end of the spindle. Personally have not had any issues with the bushing on my 4 year old Eggbeater Ti with about 3500 kms though I rarely ride in mud or rain.

If you want something that does away with the bushing then you should get these:

++ eggbeater3 pedals :: crankbrothers.com ++

If you don't mind the bushing on the inner part of the spindle then these should do:

++ eggbeater2 pedals :: crankbrothers.com ++

If you get the 2 then you should get these as you're likely to destroy the plastic caps on the 2 the first time you try to remove them:

(They come in several different colors)

J&L CNC MTB pedal End Caps/nut for Crank Brothers/Xpedo/Wellgo/Tioga/Exustar-Grn | eBay

For Ti axles get these:

Ti Spindles Fit 2011 Crank Brothers Egg Beater 2 Pedals | eBay

They claim that their USA Ti is better than the Taiwanese ones.

They fit the EB 2 and 3, but note that they are about 45 to 50 grams lighter than the stock spindle and not 60 grams as claimed. Installation is pretty easy.

An EB 2 or 3 with Ti spindle will be 230 to 235 grams and cost around $160 total, it's up to you if you want to spend another $200+ to save another 60 to 70 grams by getting an EB 11.
 
#4 ·
Thanks very much for the info. I do already have some EggBeater 3s. I should have mentioned that I''d like for them to be black and green if possible? (I know, I'm a tart). Which is what attracted me to the Egg Beater Cs in the first place.

Could you please provide a solution for the Cs? I'm not discarding your advice by the way, just weighing up all of the options :)
 
#5 ·
$240 for 11's is a great price. If you can scour Ebay and find a pair for that price it could be the way to go, they won't be black though.

If you want black then your only option would be the EB C's, I believe these spindles from Ward Industries should work:

95.85 Long Ti Spindles Fit Crank Brothers Egg Beater SL | eBay

You can email Ward Industries just to be sure.

Home Page

As for the caps, I believe all Eggbeaters take the same type of cap.
 
#6 ·
That's really useful information mate, thank you very much. I might go for that option instead ;)

Again, I know im being a tart but they'll look mint on my bike ;)

Are the older Egg Beaters (with bushings) noticably rougher than the newer ones, or do they feel exactly the same?
 
#7 ·
i have destroyed every pair of eggbeaters either by wearing them out(bushings and bearings) or getting a minor pedal strike.

crankbros will not warranty my older ones so i had to throw them away and now have had the same issues with the newer ones from my Ti versions to my cheapy ones on my commuter.

i like the design, but they do not last.


researching other pedals with the same float(for my knee) now.
 
#8 ·
I have almost 4000 km on a pair of EB Ti's plus a few hundred km each on a pair of EB2 and Candy 3. No issues so far. I've been very careful with pedal strikes since I've heard that CB pedals don't like them.

Rebuild kits are available when bushings and bearings wear out but I have yet to replace anything due to wear.

I've honestly have not noticed any difference between the EB with bearing + bushing and the ones with bearings + bearings. But I can imagine getting greater play when the bushing wears out but since rebuilding is so easy I don't feel it's an issue.
 
#23 ·
Getting confused now......

If I am correct both the 1 & 2 share the old design (bushing+bearing) and only the 3 use the inner needle bearing

My Ti spindles (Ward Ind) are starting to show significant wear in the bushing area, so I think the right move would be to switch to EB3, hopefully the needle bearing run on an inner steel sleve, and not on the bare spindle......

Please confirm
thanks
 
#39 ·
I have some blue Candy 3s that need rebuilding and wondering if I can ditch the platforms in the process?

Fred
I would strongly recommend against running eggbeaters without the guard unless you ride very tame trails. All it takes is a single rock strike and they're done. Heck, maybe even just thinking about rocks will cause them to break, they are very fragile. If you pedal strike during a race you'll be very sad when you can't clip in/out, and the plastic guard on the Candy 3's is super lightweight anyway. The more expensive pedals come with metal, which is heavier, but more durable.
 
#32 ·
Went ahead and contacted Crackbrothers to inquire how much their spindles weigh. They said they weight about 30g each or about 60g total. TiSpindles.com lists their spindles as weighing 62grams total. So, theirs no real weight advantage to swapping out the spindles. There is supposedly a strength and reduced flex advantage.
 
#38 ·
This photo shows the old style cromoly spindles on the left, and the short Ward Ind. Ti spindles on the right.



The new spindles should be around the same weight, and Ti is usually about 2/3 the weight of steel.

BTW, my 2 Ti with short Ti spindle eggbeaters are 189g. I train on Eggbeater 3's (289g) and race on the "3 Ti's"
 
#41 ·
Maybe you live somewhere without rocks, or maybe you're just a super clean rider, I dunno. I tried cageless eggbeaters about 5 years ago in AZ and broke 3 pedals over the course of 6 weeks. Thankfully all were just trail rides, but I was afraid it would eventually happen in a race. The retaining springs bent every time I had a pedal strike against a rock (crank bros replaced them all btw, which is pretty awesome). When I got the 3rd replacement pedal from crank bros, I transferred them to a road bike and I am currently running the composite cage for xc and the metal cage for trail. I tend to have a lot fewer pedal strikes on my xc bike, due to a higher bottom bracket and usually riding it over tamer terrain. IMO the weight saved by eliminating the cage is not worth the risk. Candy's with the composite cages are already lighter than all but the most expensive naked eggbeater, and are 100 grams lighter than XT.
 
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