Review: Crank Brothers Mallet 3 Pedals

Check out MoreDirt’s long term review on a pair of Crank Brothers ever popular Mallet 3 pedals that Angus has been running over the summer since June.

Now I have never had a great deal of clipless experience so this one has been reviewed from the novice clip user standpoint but I’m sure what Gee Atherton is looking for from won’t be too dis-similar to an average joe trail rider so on paper the Mallet 3 pedals seem like an obvious bet.

I have however been running the Mallets for quite some time over the summer so this review is certainly of the long term variety!

First Impressions

Straight off the bat I was impressed with the Mallets in the style department. The pedals look cool and feature the fairly open crank brothers interface that we’ve become so familiar with in recent times surrounded by a large cage to provide a decent platform.

They were supplied with the cleats required for the pedals that disengaged at either 15 or 20 degree turn of the foot. The cleats held up suprisingly well even with quite a lot of hike-a-bike sessioning parts of trails!

6 beefy looking pins can be unscrewed on each side to give even more bite on the pedals which wasn’t something that initially I experimented with but in time I unscrewed the pins to really give that extra feeling of security.

Internally they tick all the boxes with both sealed cartridge and needle bearings the order of the day to keep things spinning freely much like the Crank Brothers 5050’s I have reviewed previously.

I couldn’t wait to hit the trails!

Technical notes…

The Mallets don’t look like most other clipless pedals out there on the market and make use of Crankbrothers cast steel wings and stainless steel spring retention system. The actual clip system is one of the simplest out there and in theory should require the least maintenance. At the end of the day the only thing holding your foot in place is a spring and 2 cast steel wings.

There isn’t any spring tension adjustment as such on the pedals so how they come out the box is how tight you’ll be locked in from this day forward, but as the cleats begin to wear in things become a bit more comfortable...

I found engagement easy once I had the cleats in the right place unclipping wasn’t ever a problem even as the springs bedded in and the cleats wore out. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't pull my feet straight out of the pedals… So don’t let lack of spring tension adjustment be a factor putting you off running this variety of pedals!

The bearing set up inside the Mallet 3 pedals that we had on test are the most sophisticated available throughout the range with the more expensive but smoother needle bearing being chosen over the bushing that's seen on the 2 lower models.

The Mallets use the same high quality forged scm435 chromoly steel spindles that we have seen on the 5050’s and they have unsurprisingly performed flawlessly! The only thing we have a little frustrating? The lack of being able to use a pedal spanner and instead having to use a 6mm Allen key in the end of the pedal. This is ok initially but after a few muddy rides it becomes a battle to get the Allen key all the way into the pedal and if I’m honest it’s been a bit of a pain in the backside to get the pedals off again!

The Mallet 3 models we have here are only available in red which may be off putting if that’s going to clash with the rest of your colour scheme on your bike. You could perhaps look at the Mallet 2 but don’t expect that same flawaless reliability with the cheaper internals!

And now onto the deal breaker…

Reliability

In the past Crank brothers have taken some stick for the reliability of their pedals and if we are honest that’s probably rightly so. I’ve had first hand experience of the old 5050’s deciding they no longer needed an axle and could break free onto the forest floor!

The previous generations of pedals from Crank Brothers have always been fantastic when they were working which was probably why they proved to be so popular but sadly lots of peoples final experiences with Crank brothers pedals were pushing your bike back to the car park after a mechanical.

The latest generation of pedals from the brand are however going a very long way to doing this. We’ve had a set of 5050’s in the office for months now with still zero spanner time and many many miles under them with zero problems. The mallets are heading that way to!

From our experience of Crank Brothers pedals this year? It’s a big thumbs up from the reliability side of things and that puts a smile on our faces!

The Ride.

My time spent on the Mallets has been awesome. I have found the pedals that perfect half way house between running flat pedals and locking your feet down into a proper set of cross country clipless pedals.

A pedal thats perfect both if your a world class downhill racer or making your first steps into the world of clipless. The Mallets get our seal of approval!

My riding style could be described as somewhat ragged so not being able to drop a foot had once seemed like a nightmare but I have actually started to love the feeling of a big 2 wheel drift around a loamy turn with both feet on the pedals. It has no doubt improved my general speed on the trail and my climbing skills have progressed no end.

The Mallets are easy to get in and out of in a hurry and provide a great bed for your feet to lay down the power when required. I used the Mallets in conjunction with Shimano’s incredibly popular AM45 shoes and found the pins on the pedal could generate some pretty considerable bite into the rubber portion of the sole. So much so I had to opt to have a little less pin on show and actually be able to unclip off the pedals.

You get plenty of float compared to Shimano pedals I had run previously and that’s whats pretty much kept me coming back for more. I found myself loving that feeling of your soles being able to turn actually a suprising amount without disengaging almost like being on flats.

The engagement of the cleats however has improved with mileage. Initially I have found things a little tight but after walking around in your shoes for a while and wearing off some metal from the edges they became loads easier and more comfortable to use.

Conclusion.

There’s certainly a reason why a whole bunch of the worlds fastest downhill riders opt to use Crank Brothers Mallet Pedals. A large platform, with loads of pins for added bite along with a foolproof engagement and release system.

Crank Brothers are distributed in the UK by 2Pure You can find more about the Crank Brothers pedals after the jump on the official website.