Crank Brothers Customer Service

[springrubber]

CB customer service rules. I lost the receipt for my Joplin and it went bad so I was kind of nervous when I called them. They said no problem and had it shipped back to me within a week, working perfect! Thanks CB.

[guero]

that reminds me of the time you lost your seat at the iron maiden concert at the forum.

[El Gringo]

Crank Bros concept is cool and it's cool they're in Laguna Beach. To date, I've owned 11 pairs of their pedals and - with the exception of 3 set of mallets - every pair has failed.

I used to think the "spa" was cool, until my wife told me that she was paying for the shipping everytime we sent them off.

Thought the breakage issues were unique to me, then read several similar posts on MTBR.

"Andy" delivered less than what I would call awesome customer service, and I was ready to write-off Crank Bros. Anka did a diving catch, and sent me a pair of Mallets to try. She also told me I could trade in another pair of pedals for Mallets - unfortunately, I told her that I would wait and see how I liked them. When I called back, Andy renegged on that offer. Great customer service? Inconsistent at the very least.

Thanks to Anka, I went on to but 3 more pairs of mallets and a pair of Acids.

The Acids failed after 14 months. Play in the pedal and the spring shifting onto the platform, preventing engagement.

Here's the rub:

Called up to exercise the famous Crank Bros warranty. 2 yrs > than 14 months. The chick who answered said they wouldn't cover because they recommend a rebuild EVERY 6 MONTHS! REALLY? The warranty says nothong about this. I'll quote from the Mallet warranty (since I've misplaced by Acid documentation - but the language is nearly identical to the Candy C instructions so I'm assuming they're the same - especially since the features guide states that "Mallet pedals have the same internal parts and construction as crankbrothers [sic] ACID pedals."

"maintenance [sic]
"Very little maintenance is required with Mallet pedals. In normal conditions, the bearings are waterproof and all materials are rust resistant. There is no need to lubricate the exterior of the pedal. The pedals are generally self-cleaning and in most cases, dried mud and dirt will fall off on their own. You should occassionally inspect your pedals for damage, wear, or excessive play."

Nothing about "recommended re-building" every 6 months. Nonetheless, she offered to sell me a rebuild kit for $8 with $5 shipping.

I was disappointed, but not shocked. However, the purchase never occurred. I had a technical question about the replacement. She tried to transfer me to an expert and I was disconnected. I called back 2 more times and experienced 2 more unsuccessful transfer attempts. So I bailed. I'll get back around to it (maybe).

And for the record - those Acids developed play ~3-4 months after purchase.

But it's par for the CB course. My friend just picked up a pair of 50/50s. Very first ride: One of the plates fell off. He scolded himself for not checking them, given our experiences with the 1st generation Mallet Cs, which were notorious for losing plates out of the box.

Bottom line:
CB designs/concepts get an A.
Q/A department gets a C-.
Customer service gets a B- (thanks God and baby Jesus for Anka, or it would be a C-).

For this reason, I've held off on a Joplin in favor is getting a revised design after others deal with any bugs (like the issues that pushing the post down rather than lowering it supposedly cause - read about that in MBA).

And for sure, given my experiences with CB bearings, there is no freakin' way on earth I would ever spring $140 for one of those Cobalt headsets.

And the final irony - Aside from tubes and chains, CB pedals have been the most-failing components on my bikes. But I do like these pedals better than any of the alternatives.

[whybother]

if you are having this many problems stop buying the "cheaper" crank bros. pedals and shell out for the Ti or 2Ti.

the Ti pedals come with much sturdier forged "wings". i have a couple pairs of them that had lasted almost 2 years. i let them get too beat up and my feet started pulling out of them even with new cleats. we sent them in to CB to get fixed and in the mean time i figured i would give a set of XTR pedals a try.

needless to say that even with as hard as i am on my gear i have NEVER had a CB pedal completely fail, but during 12hrs of Temecula my XTR pedal grenaded forcing me to steal one from a friend.

i now have my trusty CB pedals back, good as new and a one pair of XTR pedals worth of parts in a baggie.

i have seen people have eggbeaters come apart but i have not had it happen to me. (yet) i think this usually happens to people that don't do correct maintenance on their stuff.

i am not a huge fan of their headsets or seatpost. (owned them both)

the wheels seem pretty nice though! (have not purchased them YET)

[El Gringo]

"The Ti pedals come with much sturdier forged "wings". i have a couple pairs of them that had lasted almost 2 years."

During one conversation with CB, I actually asked this question. I was told for wing failures that Ti would not make a difference. In fact, he said the Chromo was stronger. That was nearly 2 yrs ago. Don't know if anything has changed, but I swear that was straight from CB customer service.


"I think this usually happens to people that don't do correct maintenance on their stuff."

1. What maintenance do you perform that prevent wing failure (metal fatigue). The FAA would like to hear from you.

2. What is "correct maintenance?" Can you find any supporting documentation in the CB user's guide other than the "very little maintenance" required post above?

3. Just FYI - I don't skimp on maintenance. I build all my own bikes, as well as my wheels, and trust me - each bike gets about 30 min. of TLC after each ride - and I ride every day.

[GeorgiaOfTheJungle]

Maybe you do too much maintenance; I haven't done anything to mine and they're working great after 2yrs

[ODB]

Bumping this back up. Made the drive down to Laguna today to drop off a Mallet that i damaged with a hard pedal strike. Totally my fault. Once repaired, the pedal will be shipped to my home at no cost. If that's not great CS, i don't know what is.

[aztec1993]

I have 2 great experiences with CB:

1. I broke one of my Ti Eggbeater's wings and took them down to their offices and they repaired within 15 minutes and good as new.

2. I was trying to remove my Cobalt headset without proper tools and totally blew the thing up (bearings exploded all over the garage). Since I already ruined the lower cup, I tried getting the top cup off and the same thing happened (memo to self - don't try to remove CB headsets with a screwdriver and hammer). Obviously this was totally my fault, but I took them in to see if they could re-seat with new bearings. They ended up just giving me a brand new headset.

That's what I call solid customer service. If only every company treated their customers like this...

[Pedalboy]

I have nothing but good things to say about Crank Brothers. I have Eggbeaters on all of my bikes, road and mountain. Any issues have been handled quickly. They even rebuilt a pedal that had only a spring issue, complete with stickers for my car too! I will continue to support such a great local company. Can't wait for some 29er wheels from them, hint hint.

[2wheel_lee]

Wow...I've been using Shimano SPD pedals for about 15 years. I've never had one fail. I've bashed them on rocks and generally beat the crap out of them. Other than occasionally lubing the cleat area, I've never seen a Shimano pedal bearing (i.e., no maintenance required, unlike the CBs that apparently need to be rebuilt from time to time).

I still say that if CB designed their pedals better and made them more durable, we wouldn't see so many people having problems with them. I feel bad for all the people I see with broken CB pedals on the trail - no level or service does them any good at that time.

[whybother]

Originally Posted by El Gringo

During one conversation with CB, I actually asked this question. I was told for wing failures that Ti would not make a difference. In fact, he said the Chromo was stronger. That was nearly 2 yrs ago. Don't know if anything has changed, but I swear that was straight from CB customer service.

1. What maintenance do you perform that prevent wing failure (metal fatigue). The FAA would like to hear from you.

2. What is "correct maintenance?" Can you find any supporting documentation in the CB user's guide other than the "very little maintenance" required post above?

3. Just FYI - I don't skimp on maintenance. I build all my own bikes, as well as my wheels, and trust me - each bike gets about 30 min. of TLC after each ride - and I ride every day.

i don't have any shortage of time on my bikes, i have somewhere around 1000 miles already this year. also, i wasn't saying that you don't maintain your bikes, just saying that some failures i have seen were due to people not paying attention when their pedals picked up slop.

i am notorious for breaking stuff (frames, wheels, xtr pedals, chains, chainrings...)

i have not seen a CB pedal fail from fatigue, the ones that i have seen were from rock strikes. allison and i have both smashed the cheaper stamped steel pedals. please note that a smashed pedal was a functional failure, meaning that although they were smashed they still worked (XTR failure during 12hrs was not a functional failure). i have had incredibly hard pedal strikes with my ti pedals and have not seen one of them bend. in fact i had a strike on one bike that bent an XT crank arm but didn't damage my CB pedal! (the crash was interesting...)

as far as the stamped steel wings being stronger than the forged ones whoever told you that was dead wrong.

doesn't matter to me, i don't have stock in CB or anything. ride what works for you and have fun!!!

[sandblast]

Just to throw this out there- I have been running the performance color "chrome" eggbeaters on my trailbike for about 2 years, have hit rocks and have never rebuilt or even greased them. No issues at all.

Being on a budget this year I bought my girlfriend some smartys, again, the lower end of the line pedal. She loves them, but the other day she was making a fast transition from dirt to pavement on our "training loop" and went down hard. Thankfully the pedal took most of the impact, and the only damage to it was the little cover that keeps dirt out of the pedal. (besides cosmetic damage to the plastic).

I e-mailed customer service and asked if I could buy another cap, and saying very clearly I did not expect a warranty, as the damage was caused by abuse... Anka emailed back, saying could we please just have the pedals back and she will replace them. Even though it was not Crankbrothers fault, not a design failure, not in any way their issue.
Our budget has loosened, and I am getting some Ti's for my birthday!

[SSinGA]

Originally Posted by 2wheel_lee

Wow...I've been using Shimano SPD pedals for about 15 years. I've never had one fail. I've bashed them on rocks and generally beat the crap out of them. Other than occasionally lubing the cleat area, I've never seen a Shimano pedal bearing (i.e., no maintenance required, unlike the CBs that apparently need to be rebuilt from time to time).

I still say that if CB designed their pedals better and made them more durable, we wouldn't see so many people having problems with them. I feel bad for all the people I see with broken CB pedals on the trail - no level or service does them any good at that time.

Only shimano for me too. I've tried to switch to other brands but always came back to Shimano. A set of big S pedals that had a hard life on my DH/huck bike are still going strong on a friends daily rider after he broke his Mallets (for the second time - axle failure). The ones I'm riding now were new in 04 when I bought my Joker and are still in use 4 bikes later.

I have no idea how good Shimano customer service is and I'm glad!

[RacinJason]

Well I must say that Jason from Crank Bros rocks at keeping things together.

I love my peddles that I got from him at the 07 interbike.

The new mallets hold up well on my bikes.

I liked my Shimano SPD peddles for a long time.

I have been converted to CB .

Originally Posted by 2wheel_lee

Wow...I've been using Shimano SPD pedals for about 15 years. I've never had one fail. I've bashed them on rocks and generally beat the crap out of them. Other than occasionally lubing the cleat area, I've never seen a Shimano pedal bearing (i.e., no maintenance required, unlike the CBs that apparently need to be rebuilt from time to time).

I still say that if CB designed their pedals better and made them more durable, we wouldn't see so many people having problems with them. I feel bad for all the people I see with broken CB pedals on the trail - no level or service does them any good at that time.

[thephat]

The customer service at Crank Bros is indeed stellar.

Lee, you make them sound like Manitou used to be. The warranty was great, and Bobby Acuna would hook everyone up, but like more than 1/2 of forks would go back for warranty.

Cranks Bros pedals are generally pretty reliable for most riders. Shimano pedals may be a little tuffer, but Konas are a little tuffer than Intenses, and you see what Lee rides.

[Piranha]

How are their wheelsets? Iodine, Sage, etc.?