Crankbrothers Mallet Trail pedals review

The Mallet Trail is the latest pedal release from Crankbrothers. It features a small platform, with adjustable pins, sitting it between the brand's Mallet E and Candy pedals.

Crankbrothers has designed it for downcountry, trail and gravel riding, where a small platform is useful.

This is because such riders tend to use stiffer shoes, which need less support from the pedal to remain comfortable and efficient.

At 360g for the pair, the Mallet Trail pedals are fairly light.

They offer adjustable feel and comfortable float, and I’ve had no issues with my shoes interfering with the cranks on release. However, they’re expensive and require stiffer shoes to get the best out of them.

Crankbrothers Mallet Trail specifications

The Mallet Trail’s platform measures 78x74mm, making it as wide as, but a touch shorter than, a Shimano equivalent.

At the front is a pair of adjustable pins, but there are no other pins around the platform.

At either side of the sprung wings are replaceable pads. These work with the pins to tune the feel of the shoe and pedal interface.

The pedal comes with the Long steel axle. This pushes the Q-Factor out a touch, but is said to offer improved stability and less scuffing of the cranks by your shoes.

Markings by the pedal thread denote left and right pedals.

The pedals come with Crankbrothers' Standard Release cleat, which releases with a 15-degree twist of the foot, while enabling six degrees of float (free movement).

Other cleat options, with lower release angles, or less float, are available.

Enduro Max bearings are used on the outside of the axle, while Igus LL-glide bearings, which are actually bushings, are used nearer the crank.

The pedals can be serviced at home with a service kit. A 6mm hex key is needed to get inside them.

Crankbrothers Mallet Trail performance

Thanks to their mid-sized platform, I found these pedals worked best with shoes on the stiffer end of the scale. This meant cross-country shoes and stiffer trail-focused shoes (such as the Leatt 6.0 Clip).

This is because there’s enough support in the shoes' soles to prevent them folding over the edge of the smaller platform, which can be uncomfortable and tiring for your foot.

More enduro-focused shoes, with flexier soles, are better suited to the Mallet E, with its larger platform.

When engaged in the pedal, there’s good feel. The small pins help give more trail-orientated shoes a little extra lateral stability, though there’s still enough freedom of movement to enable the cleat’s six degrees of float to help with bike control and comfort.

Basically, if you like your feet to feel ‘locked-in’, you might want to look at pedals with more pins.

With XC-style shoes, I didn’t notice the platform because it was effectively not in use, though my shoes didn’t rock side to side on the pedals at all.

With the smaller platform and more pronounced mechanism, these pedals feel a touch sketchier than Shimano equivalents, or larger-platform pedals, if you need to stand on them without engaging the mechanism.

The cleats are shallow in depth. This meant I always needed to use the included cleat spacers with trail shoes to ensure the rubber of the sole wasn’t making the cleat’s engagement into the mechanism tricky to find.

When I did ride without the spacer on a set of XC shoes, I found the shoes’ lugs creaked a bit on the pedal. As such, I’d recommend the spacer in almost every situation.

Clipping in and out of the pedals is easy, though requires a slightly different foot movement compared to Shimano pedals.

Rolling your foot forward or back, rather than stamping in, seems to give the easiest entry into the rotating sprung wings.

The entry and exit ‘click’ is less pronounced than Shimano pedals.

I had no real issues with the entry and exit from the pedals, though I noticed that if my foot was twisted on release, there was a hint of binding. The Long axle is beneficial here.

I’ve found in the past that mountain bike shoes with a larger toe box can hit the crank arm when you’re trying to release from the pedal, when running the wider release-angle cleats. This makes for some uncomfortable moments.

This seems not to be the case with the Long axle, and any biomechanical costs incurred with the wider Q-Factor aren’t noticeable off-road in my experience.

Maintenance of the pedals should be relatively easy, with a 6mm hex key gaining you entry to their innards. However, these pedals have remained reliable throughout testing.

How does the Crankbrothers Mallet Trail compare to the Nukeproof Horizon CS pedal?

With a larger platform, the smaller of Nukeproof’s Horizon pedals still offers more support to flexier shoes than the Mallet Trails.

And, because the Nukeproofs have more pins, your foot is more locked into the pedals.

However, the interaction between the Mallet Trail pedals and ‘proper’ XC shoes is a touch better, with an easier entry feel.

There are more cleat options with the Crankbrothers pedals, and the standard cleats offer more float.

There’s a significant weight difference, with the smaller Mallet Trails coming in at around 90g lighter for the pair.

However, with an RRP of £109.99, that’s forgivable. The pricier titanium-axle version of the Horizon CS comes with a claimed weight of 385g and a price of £189.99.

The Nukeproof pedals use a Shimano-compatible mechanism, and so their feeling is similar to the Japanese brand's pedals when it comes to entry and exit, with a more defined click in both directions.

If you unclip, the Horizon’s lower-profile mechanism is easier to stand on and feels less sketchy.

Crankbrothers Mallet Trail bottom line

The Crankbrothers Mallet Trails are a decent set of lightweight mountain bike pedals, ideal for downcountry and lighter-weight trail applications.

I’ve also used them with great success on my gravel bike.

They’re easy to get in and out of and have a nicely controlled float, offering a smooth feel on the bike.

They work best with shoes at the stiffer end of the scale, where sole stiffness means less sagging over the edge of the platform.

Broad, flexy enduro shoes are better suited to the larger platform of the Mallet E.