The Canfiled Brothers spent 7 years designing their original wafer-like Crampon Ultimate platform pedals. Now, after four years of shredding trail, they’ve upped the ante again. They took their super thin, durable, downhill-worthy pedals and stretched out the platform as well as the maintenance intervals… that is if there ever was any. While they didn’t want to ruin a good thing, they knew there was a demand for a wider platform.
Check out the details ahead on the new Crampon Mountain pedal, and what they did to create a zero-maintenance platform pedal…
When Canfield Brothers first revealed the Crampon Ultimate pedals, they claimed to lower a rider’s “virtual” bottom bracket height by 8mm/.25″ and increase the ground clearance by just as much over a standard platform pedal. This is important, as lowering your center of gravity by a quarter inch gives even the best riders a little edge while the quarter inch of increased ground clearance can take the edge off a close call. Canfield saw room for improvement, and on paper, it sounds pretty good… too good?
The new Crampon Mountain pedals do jump up in weight to 400 (claimed) grams with the added material over the Ultimates which come in at 342 grams. This is still considered pretty light for such a robust set of pedals.
The revised Crampon Mountains are not replacing the Crampon Ultimates as some like the narrower profile. They are taking over for the Crampon Classic to be the widest pedal in their lineup with similar features to the reveered Crampon Ultimates. They incorporated their patented convex shape, double sided pins that can be unscrewed from either side and super thin 6mm striking edges. The thin profile of the Crampon pedals is designed to not only increase ground clearance but is shaped to glance off any sort of ground contact rather than bite into it. If you look carefully to the far right, the angle of the pedal’s edge is in line with the lower front pins so they have less tendency to grab… and toss you into an Olympic level Yard Sale. The new Crampon Mountain pedals also spread out a little more with a 112 X 106mm platform over the Crampon Ultimate’s 105 X 105mm.
*Non-Pro tip: For those footlocker folks out there thinking about giving platforms a try consider this. Due to the massive width and overall size of platforms compared to most all clipless mountain bike pedals (trail pedals included), there is a significant reduction in pedalable cornering clearance. And not only is there the increased chance of snagging a pedal when pedaling through a turn, but when a “typical” platform pedal catches… it’s game over.
Compared to the Crampon Ultimate (right), the Crampon Mountain’s axle extends to the outer edges and houses a set of stacked bearings with the DU bushing still at the crank side. The new configuration is said to be virtually maintenance free whereas the Crampon Ultimate requires the bushings to be replaced and a little fresh grease shoved in it after extended abuse. They come with pins Loctited in so they don’t loosen and even put Loctite on the full set of spare pins so they’re ready to install. They come out of the box without the center pin installed, but you can choose to do so if you need a little more traction. Another thing they’re not changing is the price. The new Crampon Mountains are available on Canfield Brothers’ web store for the same $149 as their Crampon Ultimates.
I’m going to slap these on and put them through the paces for a while to see how they feel and hold up, so keep an eye out for a full review in the near future.
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
