Review: Crank Brothers Acid Pedals

I have been using Crank Brothers eggbeater pedals for a handful of years now. Prior to that I used Eggbeater Candy pedals on all of my recumbents.

I originally ditched the Candy pedals due to an inability to get that "instant unclip" on my two-wheel recumbents. A few super steep climbs I did the very sad "stall and fall" as I was unable to unclip in time. Sigh... the issue was my show tread catching on the surround part of the pedal. Well, that and inexperience. Either way, switching to regular eggbeaters caused that problem to go away. But after several years on the minimalist eggbeaters I have noticed that on the really long and steep sections I get a bit of pain in the bottom of my foot. Since I do not ride uber-stiff CF soled road shoes, I decided to get something that would provide a bit more support.

Good lookin' pedals!

Enter the Crank Brothers Acids  2 pedals. It was a decision between the new Candy, Acids, and Mallets. Seeing them in person, the new Candy pedals are really really nice. The Mallets looked huge to me. Larger than even good size BMX platforms. The Acids fell somewhere in-between. As a bonus, they came in red that was a perfect match for the QNT. Sweet bling!

The pedals provide a great amount of support for my shoe. The first ride where I hit any incline made this quite obvious to me. I was able to put a bit more power down without "feeling" the pedal at the bottom of my foot. The clip in and release action is not as clean as the plain eggbeaters, but this is really a non issue on the trike. No stalling. No falling.

Acids: FSM approved!

How about riding without clipless shoes? I tried this, and the Acids really do not fit this use very well. Too slippery and not enough "real estate" for use with the ordinary tennis shoes. Maybe if going down the block... but on a trike it is best to have your feet clipped in anyway to avoid the dreaded "leg suck" should your foot slip off. Maybe Mallets would be better for the non-clip use.

So if you are looking for a bit more support for your feet but not a pedal that looks like a massive fly swatter attached to your cranks, the Acids are worth a try, especially if you already are a fan of the CB eggbeaters!