Crankbrothers Candy 2 Clipless Pedals

First off let me say that I am a long time clipless pedal user. I cut my teeth using possibly the worst pedal ever made the Onza HX back in 94. I have used nearly every pedal design made from Shimano, Ritchey, welgo, and TIME.  I have always liked the TIME pedal system as it is virtually unaffected by whatever weather or conditions are present. 

I had a pair of egg beaters that had been sitting on my road bike for a number of years and when my favorite pair of 15 year old TIME's met their death by being smashed on one rock too many, I decided to try them out on my MTB.  I was surprised at how much I like the egg beaters, so much so that when I decided to order up my new pedals I decided to go with the Candy's, thinking that they would use the same mechanism with the addition of a small platform that would help in tough starting positions.  Boy was I wrong! 

Quality
I ordered the silver pedals and was impressed with the finish of the product.  They spun nice and smooth and I realized that the  inner bushing would probably wear in a few seasons.  I installed the cleats onto my well used Pearl Izumi shoes, and installed the pedals.  Threads were high quality and tightened down with an allen wrench from the backside.

Operation
On my first ride I noticed there was going to be problem, as the eggbeater rotates inside the platform the leading edge gets pushed down and you are forced to use a heel down motion to get the cleat to engage.  In addition to the difficulty in getting into the pedal occasional you get a false in feeling.  I have experienced moments where I thought that I finally got my pedal to engage and then as I go off a drop my foot is off the pedal.

Bottom Line
I ordered a new set of TIME's.  I tried to get these pedals to work.  I changed the cleat placement and the float options.  I tried them without the spacer and with, nothing have fixed the difficult entry, or the vague engagement.  I loved the engagement and operation of the eggbeater pedals but didn't like it rolling around under my foot in those situations where you have to take a stroke before engaging the cleat.  If you feel like me then don't go after the Candy thinking it is going to be the solution.  Get yourself a pair of Time's and ride them for the next 15 years. 

Awesome all round pedal. Works for anything,XC, Trail, All mountain, etc. It will do it all. Highly recommended.