[test] CrankBrothers 5050 Pedals

1-year test on a DH bike (Iron Horse Yakuza Kumicho)

Regarding the look, the 5050 have a quite seducing design. The bicolor concept that CrankBrothers imagined is a success. The brand has even declined the "colormixer" concept in an online customization tool.

But on tracks, those pedals are less convincing. First of all, you have the unpleasant feeling that the pedals are heavy. For sure, it's possible to find models that are about 100g lighter, but pedal weight shouldn't be the most important concern for a DH pilot. The fact is that contrary to other flat pedals models that are monobloc, the CrankBrothers 5050 are made of two main parts. It turns out that this conception is responsible for a kind of inertia, at the expense of dynamism. Quite embarrassing when it comes to riding... In addition, though the 9 pins on each pedal side, the adhesion is not so good. It's a shame... but the worst is just coming.

Actually, talking about freeride or dowhnhill also means vibrations. The point is that the pedal body and each plate are assembled with 2 little screws (meaning 4 screws on each pedal and 8 for the pair). As a direct consequence, under vibrations, I rapidly began to loose some of the screws. I thaught it was my fault because of a lack of maintenance so I tightened the remaining screws. But nothing changed and once again I lost other screws during next riding session, enough to force me to abandon the plates, making the pedals flawed. Quite irritating! So I put back my previous 20€ pedals and evretything became easier, with reliability and reactivity, kind of thing you can expect from this type of product.

As a conclusion, the CranckBrothers 5050 pedals suffer from a great innovative desing that is not adequate to extreme use. Simply unacceptable from an unafforable product.

Note : 9/20

Features

Intended use: DH/Freeride
Weight 558g per pair
Body anodized 6061-t6 aluminum
Plates anodized-t8 aluminum
Spindle forged scm435 chromoly steal
Pins 10mm set screws
Includes 2nd plate set, long pin kit
Price: 80€


Official Web Site
www.crankbrothers.com
Official 5050 product page