Grind On

Addendum to Saturday's Coffeeneuring Stop #6 – the new pedals are now on the gravel bike.  I'd had an ancient set of Gen 1 Mallets on this bike, but they gave up the ghost last spring.  In the interim I'd been running a spare set of Eggbeaters, but they kind of crimped the bike's style.  Here the pedals need to (1) be no-compromise clip-ins, (2) ride OK with normal shoes for those casual spins to friends' houses – or a to a nearby coffee shop, and (3) take an off-kilter stomp without complaint when I fumble a clip-in and Mr. F-250 is bearing down.  The naked Eggbeaters were light and had #1 down pat, but they failed badly on Items #2 & #3.  Much better now, and on this afternoon's test ride they checked out 100%.

In other upgrades from the earlier version, the pins are much better than the old stamped-steel front and back screw-on plates, and the spindle end caps are now compatible with Crank Bros' grease injection fitting.  Small, incremental changes to be sure, but the new pedals are noticeably better.

It's a good coffeeneuring trip when you stumble upon the pedals you'd been looking at for six months.  Grind on.  More specifically, dark grind on, because I'm sipping a cup of smooth Honduran right now.