Striking a balance between the Eggbeater and Mallet pedals is the Candy, which offers a small cage for added support, but saves a sweet 120g over the Mallet. The mechanism is shared with the mallet – offering a choice of a 15° or a 20° release angle. We stuck with 15° which gives ample to give room to manoeuvre. Even in this setting, the fairly narrow 52mm q-factor makes careful cleat position essential to prevent the toe fouling on the crank arm when unclipping.
The cage is a
compromise between size and weight. It offers a surprising amount of support
either side of the cleat, making them feel similar to Shimano’s Trail pedals.
The Crank Brothers feel is present and correct; a large amount of float
preceded a slightly vague and light release: a love or hate affair. It does
facilitate entry on technical terrain but the short cage of the Candy
undermines this a little as the pedal is inclined to roll underfoot and seems
to reduce the margin for error when trying to locate the mechanism on entry.
The ability to slide the cleat into the pedal backwards is useful though. The
mechanism copes extremely well with mud too, and the combination of a cartridge
bearing and an inner bushing has stood up to our test period with no play or
grittiness.
The unmistakeable feel of a Crank Brothers pedal
with a little support and minimal weight
Weight 318g
Price 112$
