Beaten, Bruised, Back for More...

The other night, upon returning home from the latest TNS ride, I was greeted at the doorstep by a white padded envelope.

Inside was a pair of refurbished Crank Brothers Eggbeaters—the original stainless steel model (now called the "SL") I bought too long ago to remember—along with a checklist from the "Pedal Spa" (I shit thee not, that's how CB refers to what I assume is a subdivision of their customer service department) indicating the type of maintenance they had received.

I arranged this relaxing vacation a couple months earlier after one of the pedals, perhaps weary of being trod upon for years, revolted by breaking free of its spindle in mid pedal-stroke, all but stranding me some three miles from home on a chilly evening. I finished my ride by leaving the cage clipped onto my shoe and pedaling with a deliberately inward pressure on the stroke to keep the damn thing in place. A slow journey, to be sure. And none too safe on a fixed gear.

I knew that this scenario would eventually play out, because it had happened to several of my friends over the years, usually under less than ideal circumstances. So you would think that being aware that each additional ride¹ on these things brought them that much closer to self-detruction would make me consider swapping them out as a sort of preemptive strike against failure. Alas, I am a cheap and lazy bastard sometimes, and pulling off another successful ride on aging components (worn tires, threadbare sidewalls, decrepit carbon fiber bits, etc.) is like the taste of stolen candy or the apples you'd scrump as a kid from a crotchety neighbor's tree: somehow, the risk involved made it all the more sweet. Just ask DimminentfailureT about that—he'll tell you.

Although any warranty on the pedals had long since expired, I figured what the hell and sent off an email to Crank Brothers explaining the situation and asking about my options. To my surprise, a representative by the name of Anka Martin responded by telling me that CB would be happy to warranty the pedals. All I need do was mail them and CB would take care of the rest.

I did, and they did.² Nice to know that Crank Brothers has yet to go the way of some other companies (read: Avid) whose level of customer service seems inversely related to their profit margins.

1. To their credit, these pedals have truly taken a beating. They've kept me attached to the bike through countless stints over rocks and roots and through mud and snow, and along endless miles of macadam and crushed stone, in weather good, bad, and ugly, under conditions of steely sobriety and wanton drunkeness. I forgive them their one indescretion.

2. From what I understand, CB has redesigned the cage/spindle interface on newer Eggbeater models to preclude the sort of malfunction described above.