Canfield Brothers Crampon Mountain flat pedal review
6mm leading edges.
What is it?
The Canfield Crampon is flat pedal engineered by the brothers Canfield who’ve strung together a series of well-engineered bike frame hits. They’ve put their own slant in the flat pedal arena with a patented design that’s thinner on the edges rather than in the middle. Convex, rather than concave.
It’s a massive pedal at 106x112mm and is constructed like a fine piece of jewelry. With careful shaping and beveling and leading/trailing edges that are only 6mm thick, it seeks to steer clear of trail rocks and other pedal eating debris.
The pedals weigh is 397g.
Pros
- 6mm thin leading edges are the thinnest around
- Manufactured with excellent precision
- Grippy and adjustable pins
- Excellent durability with no maintenance
- Pedals very well through the rotation
- Seems to allow more foot positions comfortably
- Can place the feet right by the crank since there is no axle gap with the platform
- there is an optional insert for a center pin near the axle on both sides for added grip
Cons
- 10mm width at the axle is the true thickness of the pedal
- Smooth pedal surface on top of the axle should be more grippy
- Doesn’t work well with very stiff flat shoes
Race Face Chester, Canfield Brothers Crampon and Bontrager Line Pro pedals.
Mtbr’s Take
We didn’t warm up to the Crampon immediately since we weren’t used to the convex shape. The smooth surface in the middle of the pedal took some getting used to as well. Also, it didn’t work well with one of the shoes we often used.
The pedal doesn’t cup your foot like a concave pedal would but this is really only an advantage if you have bad footwear (like commuter shoes) and only position the axle by the ball of your feet, where there is a bend. We realized that a concave pedal, although helpful, limits foot positions. The Crampon, opens up foot position options.
We gave it 4 months of solid use and we were rewarded with a near perfect verdict. We got the concept eventually and became believers in their design. The pedal was incredibly grippy, pedaled extremely well and stayed out the way of the trail debris.
Robust, adjustable pins.
It turns out one of the shoes we were using had a harder rubber, stiffer sole and it didn’t mate perfectly with the Crampon. Stiff soles that hardly bend don’t work too well with the convex shape. But we tried 4 other flat pedal shoes with this and the experience was awesome. The first thing we realized was that there were so many positions allowed by the large pedal while always delivering incredible grip. Close to the crank, angle the feet, ball of the foot, further back, heel down were all handled with ease.
The next thing we realized is how well the Crampon pedaled. It seemed that the convex shape allowed us to push the pedal further at the 12 o’clock position and pull a little earlier at the bottom of the stroke. The angle of the pedal seems to help the grip with shoe at these extreme positions. These are subtle differences of course but the effect is noticeable over a long climb.
As far as getting additional grip, there is an optional insert for a center pin near the axle that the user can install. Also, the pins are are double sided so they can be threaded out either way in case they get mangled.
Finally, we appreciated the engineering and manufacturing of this pedal. It looks flawless and after 4 months of a real Norcal winter season, the pedal spins smoothly like a fine instrument. A traditional design with a good axle stacked bearings at the end allow this.
Here is the Crampon compared to the VP Components Harrier pedal.
Features
- 400 grams
- Thin 6mm front impact edges
- 112mm x 106mm wide platforms
- Anodized finish, available in 10 colors
- Sealed bearing/DU bushing system
- Chromoly axle
- Replaceable dual sided pins
- Patented convex shape
The pedal fares well against the venerable DMR Vaults that are 17mm in thickness as well. And the Line Pro is affordable but at the same level as the $55 Race Face Chester pedals. Check out how it compares to the rest of the flat pedals in our Round-Up here.
Rating: 5 out of 5 
Price: $150
More info: canfieldbrothers.com
The post Canfield Brothers Crampon Mountain flat pedal review appeared first on Mountain Bike Review.