Few things spark such heated debate in the cycling world as pedal choice and wheel size. I’ve been a fan of Crankbrothers pedals even before I went clipless years ago. I run Eggbeaters on all of my bikes, yes, even on my road bike. I run the same shoes for everything because my Giro Privateers are comfortable on longer rides than road shoes I’ve tried in the past. When I attended Interbike for Bikepacker this last year, I was given a set of Crankbrothers Double Shot pedals to test out from the Crankbrothers guys. They said they were for my commuter (which I didn’t have eggbeaters for because it’s my beater bike… see what I did there?), but I ended up using them on my ‘cross bike and an allroad adventure bike I was testing at the time.

The Crankbrothers Double Shot pedals are two sided pedals with mild flats on one side and a Candy like surface on the other. They’re made to be used with regular or clip in shoes and I thought they’d be good for the casual bikepacker or for people with a small quiver of bikes. These pedals are great for throwing on your bike that you take on adventure rides and you also happen to use it to commute to work, or out in the town for a night of debauchery.doubleshot_orange

I used these pedals for about 600 miles of wet, cold, rainy, muddy, California winter weather. I got stuck in peanut butter death mud, had to hike, and then smashed my foot in, clipped in, and rode away. I did encounter a few times that the platform side of the pedal dug into the mud in a few technical sections of the trail that might have been avoided with a slightly lower profile Candy or Eggbeater pedal. They were great for commuting in regular shoes without worrying about tearing up the bottom of your shoes with aggressive pedals. Another plus, with the relatively soft traction, flat side, they won’t tear up your shins should you miss the pedal.Crank Brothers--4

I threw the pedals on an extra mountain bike for a new to mountain bike rider to see what she thought. She’s raced CX on Eggbeaters so she had familiarity with them. She found them difficult to find where exactly to clip in compared to Eggbeaters. It was partially my fault for giving her some technical trails for her first mountain bike ride and she grew frustrated with the learning curve on the Double Shots. The platforms were not quite aggressive enough for confidence in technical areas without clipping in. Once clipped in, they were very secure and felt similar to the Candy pedals. The fit was very snug with the pedal, but after lots of muddy riding, the aluminum platform around the clip started to wear down a bit and the platform started to lose the tight feel. The clips were just as tight around the cleat, but there was some side to side rolling wiggle room after a while.

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Sadly, these pedals were stolen along with my cyclocross bike, so I don’t feel I’ve done them justice with a thorough long term review. I would not recommend these pedals for someone looking for technical confidence on flat pedals. I would recommend these pedals for the touring pace rider, or the one-bike-to-rule-them-all rider. They’re fantastic around town and for not having to worry about what shoes you’re wearing. The entire time I had them, the bearings were buttery smooth and I liked the orange paint. At 395 grams a pair and $89.99 for the pair I tested, they’re not featherweights, but they’re durable and will take a beating. I’m a huge fan of Crankbrothers customer service as they’ve replaced a few of my pedals in the past after thousands of miles of abuse. I think it’s a fair price for these versatile pedals.

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