Thanks for the review. I’ve also had these for a few years for long distance gravel and offroad bikepacking. They’re very grippy and stable for chunky gravel and steep descents likely overkill for smooth surfaces. Their exceptionally large size spreads foot pressure and placement on all day rides. Currently I get about 12,000km per service (replacement igus bearing kit). Nb Igus bearings last 5-10 times longer if properly greased with Moly or similar greases (on Igus site but not crankbrothers support). Overpacking with grease then removing that small ‘grease’ screw to bleed off excess during assembly. Overpacking also reduces pitting on the crankside bearing surface from water ingress. I keep using them ok with up to about 1mm lateral play on the crankside bearing but point I service is when the inboard axial ‘play’ has increased to the point where the preload no longer keeps the dust seal engaged.
Interesting review, I respect your opinion. I own them and must say, I´m absolutely amazed abou them, they are super grippy and comfortable. Maybe the point is, that they are gravity discipline pedals.... 12000 km is almost unreachable in gravity and they are primary designed to be grippy and tight... it´s like, you don´t buy offroad car to perform on a highway... But I will see after few seasons. I was just really surprised about the huge difference between our opinions.
That makes sense as I found them too grippy for my purposes. Their durability is still awful though. Appreciate the information and feedback. Have a great day. Jay
The only thing I agree is that these pedals are a complete wast of money if you use them for turing. For MTBing they are not, if you value reliability and don't want to end up with a shattered pedal while in the middle of nowhere. So far I used mine for the past ~6000km, striked them on rocks, at speed, more time than I can count and they still work flawless. Those stud screws (dunno what the exact name is in english) are a trade off. They are extremely grippy ( both on shoe, calves and shins) and they do wear down to the point where they become a pain to remove, but they are also replacable, easy to find in any hardware store and inexpensive, so you can change them more often BEFORE they become a pain. As for mantainance, I serviced 2 pair of stam7 without any issue on the disassembly. Everything came out easily. The grease port you mentioned is not to introduce grease but to to expel the excess when you insert the axle and its boot.
MKS Lambda has been our go to pedal for a long time now. Roughly $60 and have lasted a long long time for us. Slap some Power Grips ($25ish) on and you're golden. We are on our second pair but only because I was starting to worry they may fail on us. However, our first pair had probably every bit of 20,000 miles on them before swapping them out for the second set. Cheers from Florida! ~Ron
I've never tried MKS pedals but I am willing to give them a try. I have a pair of Shimano GR 500s on one of my Surlys and a pair of Hope pedals on the other. When I have to change I'll definitely check out MKS first. Thanks for the tip. Take care. Jay
MKS fan here. Good looking and infinitely rebuildable. Cup and cone bearings - clean, adjust and regrease every 5 k kms. My Surly currently has the Bear Traps on, purchased here in TH for 1900 Baht. The Gordito is another recently added wide, attractive pedal.
That's really interesting and the second vote for MKS. All the better for me if I can get them here and not have to pay tax or postage. Where did you get them from?
Last time I was in the States four years ago I bought a pair of Meet Locks pedals off Amazon for $30. Zero maintenance for those four years until they started clicking and I opened them up yesterday and cleaned them out and put some new grease on them. They’ve been good for 40,000 km so far and hopefully they’ll be good for another few years. They look pretty much like yours and probably come from the same factory. I enjoyed the review and learning the fact that more expensive isn’t always better.
I very much appreciate the information because I am always on the lookout for decent pedals. I incidentally switched to Shimano XT flats they are bloody superb but not cheap! Take care and ride safe.
Interesting review. I have used Crankbrothers Candy S1 clipless pedals for years now without any issu🚲es. Maybe the key word should be, yet! I have over 4000 miles (about 6500 K) on the touring set so not the distance you're talking about here. Not sure if there is any difference between the Candy clipless pedals and the flat pedals you are discussing here. I haven't had to service them yet, but not sure I would want to after seeing the problems you have had. Anyway, will definately steer away from the Stamp 7 as I am seriously thinking about going back to flat pedals.🚲
I have also just uploaded a review of Stamp 2 pedals which were actually worse. I would not take the chance and if you are going back to flats I don't think you can go far wrong with Shimano.Good luck!
@Biking360 Thanks, Jay. I believe that you have a video review on them. I'll go back and check it out as I continue this process. Cycling is basically over as weather conditions head to winter, so l'm not in a big hurry to figure this out.🤔
I have a set of the SPD/combo pedals and like them too. Best of all they are Shimano so are pretty much bulletproof. I don't know why I don't use them more so maybe I will put them on for my next tour and give my shoes a dust off.
Definitely one to leave alone. I now have a set of Shimano PD-GR 500s and they have never been touched in 6,000 km and are running sweet. I also have a pair of Shimano Ultegra SPD road pedals that have well over 30,000 km on them still haven't had to service them at all. I'm sticking with Shimao and Hope though I might also give a set of MKS pedals a try courtesy of the suggestion below by @PedalPowerTouring.
Sounds like you bought the wrong pedal mate. use them for what they are designed for and they are fantastic pedals. Super grippy and light. This is the problem with social media.. why didn’t you by a down hill rigg to do your 12,000k on? Because it’s not designed for that?
I've had a couple of similar comments and I hold my hands up to them being the wrong pedals for my specific needs. An error on my part. That fact notwithstanding I still would expect them to not need servicing quite so often. I appreciate the input. JP
Wow what a disappointing product from a renowned company, have you contacted them about it? In comparison, i still have spd pedals on my gravel bike,time atac xc which i 've used also for12k without even considering the need for maintenance....
I contacted them immediately when I got the issue with changing the grub screws. They offered to replace them but I had to decline because I was within a couple of weeks of going on a long tour and they could not get replacements to me before I left and unfortunately at that time I had no backup pedals. With subsequent problems. I now honestly can't be bothered with the hassle of having to send them back to the US as I will still get a rubbish set of pedals as replacements. I have therefore decided just to never buy anything else from Crankbrothers and chalk it up to experience.
Thanks for the review. I’ve also had these for a few years for long distance gravel and offroad bikepacking. They’re very grippy and stable for chunky gravel and steep descents likely overkill for smooth surfaces. Their exceptionally large size spreads foot pressure and placement on all day rides. Currently I get about 12,000km per service (replacement igus bearing kit). Nb Igus bearings last 5-10 times longer if properly greased with Moly or similar greases (on Igus site but not crankbrothers support). Overpacking with grease then removing that small ‘grease’ screw to bleed off excess during assembly. Overpacking also reduces pitting on the crankside bearing surface from water ingress. I keep using them ok with up to about 1mm lateral play on the crankside bearing but point I service is when the inboard axial ‘play’ has increased to the point where the preload no longer keeps the dust seal engaged.
@@chriswilliams2025 Thanks for the detailed comment and information. Very useful 👍
Interesting review, I respect your opinion. I own them and must say, I´m absolutely amazed abou them, they are super grippy and comfortable. Maybe the point is, that they are gravity discipline pedals.... 12000 km is almost unreachable in gravity and they are primary designed to be grippy and tight... it´s like, you don´t buy offroad car to perform on a highway... But I will see after few seasons. I was just really surprised about the huge difference between our opinions.
You make a very valid point about possibly buying the wrong pedals for the job.
The reason there so expensive is because there super grippy and in the mountain bike world are considered to be one of the best pedals
That makes sense as I found them too grippy for my purposes. Their durability is still awful though. Appreciate the information and feedback. Have a great day. Jay
The only thing I agree is that these pedals are a complete wast of money if you use them for turing.
For MTBing they are not, if you value reliability and don't want to end up with a shattered pedal while in the middle of nowhere.
So far I used mine for the past ~6000km, striked them on rocks, at speed, more time than I can count and they still work flawless.
Those stud screws (dunno what the exact name is in english) are a trade off. They are extremely grippy ( both on shoe, calves and shins) and they do wear down to the point where they become a pain to remove, but they are also replacable, easy to find in any hardware store and inexpensive, so you can change them more often BEFORE they become a pain.
As for mantainance, I serviced 2 pair of stam7 without any issue on the disassembly. Everything came out easily.
The grease port you mentioned is not to introduce grease but to to expel the excess when you insert the axle and its boot.
MKS Lambda has been our go to pedal for a long time now. Roughly $60 and have lasted a long long time for us. Slap some Power Grips ($25ish) on and you're golden. We are on our second pair but only because I was starting to worry they may fail on us. However, our first pair had probably every bit of 20,000 miles on them before swapping them out for the second set. Cheers from Florida! ~Ron
I've never tried MKS pedals but I am willing to give them a try. I have a pair of Shimano GR 500s on one of my Surlys and a pair of Hope pedals on the other. When I have to change I'll definitely check out MKS first. Thanks for the tip. Take care. Jay
@@Biking360 cool deal. Yeah we've been really happy with ours and knock on wood you will too.
MKS fan here.
Good looking and infinitely rebuildable.
Cup and cone bearings - clean, adjust and regrease every 5 k kms.
My Surly currently has the Bear Traps on, purchased here in TH for 1900 Baht.
The Gordito is another recently added wide, attractive pedal.
That's really interesting and the second vote for MKS. All the better for me if I can get them here and not have to pay tax or postage. Where did you get them from?
Last time I was in the States four years ago I bought a pair of Meet Locks pedals off Amazon for $30. Zero maintenance for those four years until they started clicking and I opened them up yesterday and cleaned them out and put some new grease on them. They’ve been good for 40,000 km so far and hopefully they’ll be good for another few years. They look pretty much like yours and probably come from the same factory. I enjoyed the review and learning the fact that more expensive isn’t always better.
I very much appreciate the information because I am always on the lookout for decent pedals. I incidentally switched to Shimano XT flats they are bloody superb but not cheap! Take care and ride safe.
Good review
Thanks :)
Interesting review. I have used Crankbrothers Candy S1 clipless pedals for years now without any issu🚲es. Maybe the key word should be, yet! I have over 4000 miles (about 6500 K) on the touring set so not the distance you're talking about here. Not sure if there is any difference between the Candy clipless pedals and the flat pedals you are discussing here. I haven't had to service them yet, but not sure I would want to after seeing the problems you have had. Anyway, will definately steer away from the Stamp 7 as I am seriously thinking about going back to flat pedals.🚲
I have also just uploaded a review of Stamp 2 pedals which were actually worse. I would not take the chance and if you are going back to flats I don't think you can go far wrong with Shimano.Good luck!
@Biking360 Thanks, Jay. I believe that you have a video review on them. I'll go back and check it out as I continue this process. Cycling is basically over as weather conditions head to winter, so l'm not in a big hurry to figure this out.🤔
wow, that's disappointing. Huge platform though. I'm a big fan of SPD/combo pedals but I've been touring in SPD shoes more than not lately
I have a set of the SPD/combo pedals and like them too. Best of all they are Shimano so are pretty much bulletproof. I don't know why I don't use them more so maybe I will put them on for my next tour and give my shoes a dust off.
One to avoid then :-D 12,000km is a good distance though, that said if you had service them 6 times then I can understand why they are a hard no :)
Definitely one to leave alone. I now have a set of Shimano PD-GR 500s and they have never been touched in 6,000 km and are running sweet. I also have a pair of Shimano Ultegra SPD road pedals that have well over 30,000 km on them still haven't had to service them at all. I'm sticking with Shimao and Hope though I might also give a set of MKS pedals a try courtesy of the suggestion below by @PedalPowerTouring.
Sounds like you bought the wrong pedal mate. use them for what they are designed for and they are fantastic pedals. Super grippy and light.
This is the problem with social media..
why didn’t you by a down hill rigg to do your 12,000k on? Because it’s not designed for that?
I've had a couple of similar comments and I hold my hands up to them being the wrong pedals for my specific needs. An error on my part. That fact notwithstanding I still would expect them to not need servicing quite so often. I appreciate the input. JP
Excellent review, best avoided I think, thanks for the quality info.
You're welcome and thanks for commenting.
Dont like them then Jonny ? Dont sit on the fence or sugar coat it 😊
Lol.... not a fan!!
Wow what a disappointing product from a renowned company, have you contacted them about it? In comparison, i still have spd pedals on my gravel bike,time atac xc which i 've used also for12k without even considering the need for maintenance....
I contacted them immediately when I got the issue with changing the grub screws. They offered to replace them but I had to decline because I was within a couple of weeks of going on a long tour and they could not get replacements to me before I left and unfortunately at that time I had no backup pedals. With subsequent problems. I now honestly can't be bothered with the hassle of having to send them back to the US as I will still get a rubbish set of pedals as replacements. I have therefore decided just to never buy anything else from Crankbrothers and chalk it up to experience.