Just wanted to put in a good word for the excellent customer service I received from Crank Brothers. 

I was riding at Sherman a week ago when my Crack Brothers Mallet broke off at the spindle. 

When a fellow rider saw me walking out of the trail with the snapped pedal in my hand he recommended I reach out to Crack Brothers to see if they would warranty it.

I didn't think they would, considering the pedals were over 2 years old... but thought it was worth a try. 

Emailed them and sent a picture... Didn't ask about the age... they just shipped a new set to me right away!

Great customer service should be rewarded! I've always been a fan of their pedals... but now Crank Brothers has a customer for life!

Yup I ran a set of Crank Brothers Candies (resin body) from 2003 to 2012. Through Copper Canyon, in MX, White Rim Trail in UT, All over AZ, NV and around here. Several thousand miles. Had to clean and lube the spindle and body a dozen times. Finally they just would not rebuild because they were worn out. Just is no quality any more.

This is Aaron. This one who spoke to you in Sherman parking lot. Congrats on the new pedals....I told you it would work.  

Regards. Aaron

abruzzopat wrote on 05/19/15 at 12:05am:


Actually that picture represents a very common failure mode for rods in torsional loading: fatigue. What happened was a small crack initiated at the surface of the spindle, and over time as the rider rode the bike, the crack propagated around the circumference. This happened very slowly over time, because as more and more of the steel spindle was exposed to air, it changed color as it rusted. The crack grew and grew until there wasn't enough material left to handle the rider, and what was left of the spindle broke all at once. This is the shiny silver portion, which hasn't had time to rust yet. 
Good on them for taking care of their customer.

flynbryan19 wrote on 05/19/15 at 1:14pm:

That may be true but when was the last time you saw an axle brake on an SPD pedal?  Yes, they have great customer service.  I've just never been a fan of their designs for everything else.  Do like the pedal design, though.  Kinda like a Time ATAC pedal.  

DursRemote wrote on 05/19/15 at 4:46pm:



Agreed. But in that case, I would expect the corrosion not to appear so uniform in the cracked area. Looking closely, it seems that most of the corroded area is very uniform (suggesting it happened all at once) except a crescent-shaped area just to the upper right of the newly exposed metal.

flynbryan19 wrote on 05/19/15 at 5:51pm:

While I'll concede the past problems of a run of XTR pedals, that probably represents 5% of the SPD's on the market.  All I know is what I see come through the shop and I've never seen or heard of a broken PD-M525, PD-M545 or XT pedals.  Luckily I haven't seen any broken CB pedals in a few years.