impressed with mallet pedals

Dingus McGee · Jun 28, 2004

And they cost less than a lot of high end flats...when I go back to clipless those look like the ticket!

syadasti · Jun 28, 2004

Some of the Madcatz are running them cause I had some last year at the USO

I had some and Bryn was inspecting mine and thought I was a rep, heh...

kidwoo · Jun 28, 2004

Don't forget times. Pretty much the same attributes with a burlier pedal cage/platform.

syadasti · Jun 28, 2004

kidwoo said:
Don't forget times. Pretty much the same attributes with a burlier pedal cage/platform.

Eh? I've broke the front end off one of my time platform pedals and know people who have done the same (I weigh 138 lbs BTW).

Time picked up the shaped bars on their pedal from crank brothers (found on the new time XC pedals...) too...

bagtagley · Jun 28, 2004

Has anybody had problems getting stuck in these? I ran Eggbeaters on my XC bike, and in just the right situations, I'd get stuck. Typically it was when trying to get up/over technical obstacles. If I screwed up the entry where my front wheel was up and back wheel down (read: riding picnic tables) and I tried to unclip, I'd get stuck and just fall over. I'd never had this problem w/ other pedals, so I switched back to Shimano and never looked back.

Anyway, I really want to give the Mallet a try, but I'm a bit apprehensive.

Edit: Sorry for the Hijack. Thanks for the review. You've really got me thinking again.

buildyourown · Jun 28, 2004

I don't think you can claim that TIME ripped off Crank Brothers. While both make a great product, they are slightly different in how they work. Plus, TIME has been making that xc pedal for at least 5-6 years. If anything, it's the other way around.

And if you break to pedals in one season from rock strikes, you DO hit a lot of stuff. Hence the broken pedals.

syadasti · Jun 28, 2004

buildyourown said:
I don't think you can claim that TIME ripped off Crank Brothers. While both make a great product, they are slightly different in how they work. Plus, TIME has been making that xc pedal for at least 5-6 years. If anything, it's the other way around.

And if you break to pedals in one season from rock strikes, you DO hit a lot of stuff. Hence the broken pedals.

I said the shaped bars. Time created that style of mechanism, crankbrothers refined with the shaped bars, and Time now took that idea and has applied it to their XC pedal... I got my first mtb SPDs in 1992, so I think I know just a little about what is going on with clipless pedals :eviltongu

It was my second ride on them, it must have been a casting issue - my other pair had a season on it. I think the casting for the mallets is stronger either way...

GravityFreakTJ · Jun 28, 2004

I'm with ya bro. Love the mallets,mud is not an issue.H#ll they worked at Snowshoe!

Zark · Jun 28, 2004

Transcend said:
- no way to accidentally come out. Recently my pedals started letting me pop out accidentally. It was either a worn spring (hard to believe, they were new), or a used cleat, (also new). These CANNOT pop you out unless you rotate your foot, due to the mechanism on the egg beater.

I beg to differ Fraser. Several riders have found that Mallets will release when they come into contact with, say a rock, on the ground while riding. This spreads the bars resulting in you becomming unclipped. As you can imagine this would most likely happen in a rockgarden in all kinds of badness to land on, something a Shimano won't do.

My buddy Curt is on his second pair in a year, and who know how many cleats (they wear real fast). Don't get the idea that these are the be all and end all of pedals, they aren't. I was very close to getting a pair but after seeing them disengage from impact and knowing what I ride on, I'll keep rockin my disposable 424's.

kidwoo · Jun 28, 2004

buildyourown said:
I don't think you can claim that TIME ripped off Crank Brothers. While both make a great product, they are slightly different in how they work. Plus, TIME has been making that xc pedal for at least 5-6 years. If anything, it's the other way around.

And if you break to pedals in one season from rock strikes, you DO hit a lot of stuff. Hence the broken pedals.

Word. Time was the chicken that layed the egg. Crank Bros varied the theme that was already in existence.

I'm replacing a pair of the time z pedals right now because I bent the spindle. I also bent a crank on the same smack. The pedal body is fine though. Maybe they have a sweetspot?

I rode a friend's mallets for a run last year (painful wearing his itty bitty shoes though). The stompdown engagement/float/ feeling is almost identical between the two but it did feel like the mallets had a smaller target. The interchangable cage part of the mallets seemed to make them a little harder to stomp into than mine as well.

Either way though, they work a feel very similiarly........and way the hell better than spds.

kidwoo · Jun 28, 2004

syadasti said:
I got my first mtb SPDs in 1992, so I think I know just a little about what is going on with clipless pedals :eviltongu

Oh yeah? Well I invented the bessemer process that allowed you to forge your first rigid steel beach cruiser that you could ride up mt tam and invent mountian biking with. So I think I know a thing or two about stuff and junk and things.

Turley · Jun 28, 2004

I love the pedals but hate the cleats! The brass cleats wear out quickly and they ain't exactly dirt cheap to replace either

I wish there was an aftermarket alternative to the brass!

And bagtagley, I know exactly what ya mean about not being able to get out of them sometimes

Its pritty rare but I think it is cause you can't roll you foot out so when ya can't twist it out cause of your body position, you are stuck

Tully · Jun 28, 2004

I love my Mallets. I have never ridden Time, but I would definitely take Mallets over SPD.

Zark · Jun 28, 2004

Transcend said:
damn right.

As for the rock opening them up, that is what i was leary of. After having ridden the ste anne world cup course on them (read a whole lot of bitchin bad ass big orange spray painted nasty ankle and peadal destroying rocks) i am no longer leary. I landed on tons of crap, never had one disengagement.

Even if i had had one, the amount of times i could speed dab and then just stomp on them to either get back in or get going again on them flat, far outweighed any disadvantage from them opening from a rock strike (which would have to be very VERY precide to open them, those beaters are tiny targets...

Yeah, those 'tiny targets' are the lowest point on the pedal when viewed from a side profile and the first thing to contact the ground (on level ground for this example)

It's true you the incidents of this are going to be rare, but very disconcerting and potentially really bad!

Yes, pedals are all disposable in a racers hands, thats what I was getting at

I think all the clipless out are pretty fragile for DH. :mumble: I've gone through enough to know.

HRDTLBRO · Jun 28, 2004

I had been impressed withmy Mallets up to about three weeks ago. I hven't had the pedals 6 months, and my left platform broke off the axle at the bottom of the Snowshoe expert course. I'm not heavy at 160, but the pedal breakage was most unexpected. It's all good though, the brothers' customer service is great, and these will be going back on my new bike.

Dog Welder · Jun 28, 2004

I bought a "demo" set at Interbike for like 40 bucks.... That was 40 bucks well spent...crank bros on all my bikes now.

COmtbiker12 · Jun 28, 2004

bagtagley said:
Has anybody had problems getting stuck in these? I ran Eggbeaters on my XC bike, and in just the right situations, I'd get stuck. Typically it was when trying to get up/over technical obstacles. If I screwed up the entry where my front wheel was up and back wheel down (read: riding picnic tables) and I tried to unclip, I'd get stuck and just fall over. I'd never had this problem w/ other pedals, so I switched back to Shimano and never looked back.

Anyway, I really want to give the Mallet a try, but I'm a bit apprehensive.

Edit: Sorry for the Hijack. Thanks for the review. You've really got me thinking again.

I have mallets on my bike and like them but I've noticed that occasionally especially on a rough trail often times I can not get reclipped into the right pedal if I had stopped to take a break. Anybody else having that sort of issue? :confused:

Acadian · Jun 28, 2004

mtnbkr4235 said:
I have mallets on my bike and like them but I've noticed that occasionally especially on a rough trail often times I can not get reclipped into the right pedal if I had stopped to take a break. Anybody else having that sort of issue?

yes...

I've been using Candy SL's on my 5-Spot and sometimes I just CANNOT get reclipped!! :dead:

plus the CB have this dead feel when you clip in, it's like you don't know if you're reclipped until your first pedal stroke - and you guessed it, sometimes you're not reclipped.

I use to race XC with Times and I never had this problem with them!

COmtbiker12 · Jun 28, 2004

Acadian said:
yes...

I've been using Candy SL's on my 5-Spot and sometimes I just CANNOT get reclipped!! plus the CB have this dead feel when you clip in, it's like you don't know if you're reclipped until your first pedal stroke - and you guessed it, sometimes you're not reclipped.

I use to race XC with Times and I never had this problem with them!

No kidding. I was at AngelFire NM for a race in early June, which is way tech. My first run I used my Mallets, and after a few spills and some rest-stops to drink some water, half the time I would jam my foot down and much to my surprise take a pedal and realize that it was not in. Often times it would take a minute or so just to get it back in and sometimes I'd just have to stop lean against a tree and be sure that it was in. I mean, once they're on its nice but damn, getting it on is a bitch.

SebringMGB · Jun 28, 2004

Without reading all the previous posts, im gonna chime in and say, i have ridden clipless since the dawn of my biking career, in the mid ninteys, and this is the first pedal that has glaring benefits over any other ive ridden. some feel a bit nicer, yadda yadda, but for me these pedals are a major depature from anything ive ridden. First off, ive never had accidental disengagement, to get in, you pretty much just mash yer old foot down somewhere on them (within reason) they are rebuildable, and the seals are tighter than a drum, so the likelyhood of them needing to be rebuilt is low. I cand tell you how many times ive taged low rocks, or bottomed out and drove them into the ground, and they still work as good as day one. If you are cleaver like me and you have a free 4mm allen key, they make one of the slickest bottle openers around

my only complaints, the tight seals make for a pedal that doesnt spin freely (i dint really think it matters) and there seems to be a pretty wide tolerence in the maufaturing of the eggbeater mechanism. making mine feel great, and others too tight or too loose

General Lee · Jun 28, 2004

No kidding. I was at AngelFire NM for a race in early June, which is way tech. My first run I used my Mallets, and after a few spills and some rest-stops to drink some water, half the time I would jam my foot down and much to my surprise take a pedal and realize that it was not in. Often times it would take a minute or so just to get it back in and sometimes I'd just have to stop lean against a tree and be sure that it was in. I mean, once they're on its nice but damn, getting it on is a bitch.

might be your shoes

. . . . . or not

syadasti · Jun 28, 2004

Transcend said:
As for the rock opening them up, that is what i was leary of.

It does happen with a on-target hit, but if you take a hard hit on most clipless pedals, your foot pops out.

As for people breaking pedals in one season on rock strikes...I'm not sure who said it or if they race, but the majority of DH racers trash pedals like no other riders would. You simply hit stuff you never even saw at speed and keep on trucking.

When my newer Time Z pair broke I didn't realize it until the end of the run and I unclipped - Diablo eats pedals for breakfast. I assume it was a bad casting batch cause my other pedal faced worse and didn't die...

Mallet cleats are very sensitive to the shoe area - they are wider than time cleats - a smaller area like on a northwave - they suck - a wider area like a shimano - works great. I used the times from 97 until last year almost all the models - carbons to the Z, etc... and I don't own any Time pedals any more...

Mallets and times have sh*tty bushing systems that aren't that great compared to some of the bearing/bushing setups found on decent platform pedals. Crank Brothers has better CS than Time and are easier to rebuild. There is a higher cost/more precision eggbeater XC pedal with a better bearing setup from Look, but I haven't tried it personally since its an XC pedal. You can't beat the price on the mallet's.

Also the mallet platform is superior to the time platform in terms of riding unclipped. Its one of the few platforms that doesn't feel like total crap when riding it. I think Marshall from Endless runs them and was raving about them months ago...

buildyourown · Jun 28, 2004

SebringMGB said:
If you are cleaver like me and you have a free 4mm allen key, they make one of the slickest bottle openers around

If you ran the TIMEs, they work as a bottle opener WITHOUT an allen key. So there. :eviltongu

kidwoo · Jun 28, 2004

Added bonus:

Both times and crank bros pedals release when you hit a rock on the bottom (unused rails) I've done it on both styles. This is one of the reasons why the times have that rising arch thing that faces foward on the downside of the pedal in front of the rails. They also increase your abilty to truly satisfy a woman. Mallets simply give you the illusion that you have a bigger penis.........for those who need that sort of thing.

Acadian · Jun 28, 2004

kidwoo said:
Added bonus:

Both times and crank bros pedals release when you hit a rock on the bottom (unused rails) I've done it on both styles. This is one of the reasons why the times have that rising arch thing that faces foward on the downside of the pedal in front of the rails. They also increase your abilty to truly satisfy a woman. Mallets simply give you the illusion that you have a bigger penis.........for those who need that sort of thing.

I just shot beer out of my nose...LOLOLOL!

you foo..

syadasti · Jun 28, 2004

Bryn's bike w/mallets - he switched after seeing mine last year (13.9" BB height on this 8" DH bike BTW - pedals in great condition):

rockracing · Jun 29, 2004

...and it looks like you can get some to match your doublewides....

DNA · Jun 29, 2004

mtnbkr4235 said:
I have mallets on my bike and like them but I've noticed that occasionally especially on a rough trail often times I can not get reclipped into the right pedal if I had stopped to take a break. Anybody else having that sort of issue?

Yeah, only it is the left pedal on my mallets.

manhattanprjkt83 · Jun 29, 2004

I am running the shimano 424's right now because of their light weight, i have always been a die hard spd fan other than that i pretty much hate shimano. I tried the egg beaters when they came out and did not like them because of their small size for my xc bike. Has anyone converted from the cage style shimano's to the mallets? I am thinking this might be the ticket now that they have a more substantial pedal available??? Let me know what you think!!!

DRB · Jun 29, 2004

A guy running mallets around here had numerous problems with not being able to consistently get clipped in on one pedal. He called Crank brothers and they had him shim the cleat out. Since then he has had no trouble at all.

syadasti · Jun 29, 2004

DRB said:
A guy running mallets around here had numerous problems with not being able to consistently get clipped in on one pedal. He called Crank brothers and they had him shim the cleat out. Since then he has had no trouble at all.

Yes, the cleat area must have enough clearance. My Shimano shoes work perfect with no shims. My Northwaves have all the shims and are hard to clip into still.

These Shimanos are the best clipless shoes I've owned. I would like to try the Specialized Sawpit or Adidas Hematoma - they also look good, but I haven't not looked at their cleat mount area - its pretty important with these pedals...

Acadian · Jun 29, 2004

syadasti said:
My Northwaves have all the shims and are hard to clip into still.
.

my Shimano Carbon's have the shims and are also hard to clip in my SL's.

Recently I decided to give clips another try - few days ago I ordered a pair of Time ATAC's.

syadasti · Jun 29, 2004

Acadian said:
my Shimano Carbon's have the shims and are also hard to clip in my SL's.

Recently I decided to give clips another try - few days ago I ordered a pair of Time ATAC's.

Yeah the shoe interface can vary even within the same company's line. They need to make a clipless IS mounting area for shoes :think:

Jeremy R · Jun 29, 2004

I gotta agree with the hooker-loving Kidwoo here.
The Times own.
If you use a skate-style SPD like the 661 shoes, they will hook up on the platforms as well. I did ride my XC shoes on them, and it was a straight up slip and slide if you were unclipped.
I like the Times because of how narrow they are.
I just hit them on less stuff. I have beat the crap out of mine all year, and they are holding up.
I have not even tried the Mallets though, so I can't really compare the two.

kidwoo · Jun 29, 2004

Jeremy R said:
I gotta agree with the hooker-loving Kidwoo here.
The Times own.

And let's just say that since I've been sticking my feet to some o'them sexy little time z's, well, the comps come a little more freely from the ladies these days

cha cha cha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

impressed with mallet pedals

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