Available in two sizes

Product Overview

Overall rating:

Score 7

Crank Brothers Stamp 3 pedal

Product:

Crank Brothers Stamp 3 pedal review

Manufacturer:

Price as reviewed:

£89.99

Feet come in different sizes, so why not pedals? That’s the question Crank Brothers asked itself before designing its range of Stamp flat pedals.

>>> Best mountain bike flat pedals

Available in two sizes, it aims to provide tailored grip depending on the dimensions of your clogs. This particular model is the recently launched Stamp 3, which sits in the middle of the range and gets a forged and anodised alloy body. It’s flanked by the less expensive Stamp 2 – with a less expensive, stamped and painted body – and the slimmer, high end Stamp 7.

To say that the two options are small and large would be misleading. In fact they’re more like regular and extra-large. The smaller of the two measures 95mm by 100mm, which is not exactly small, while the oversize option is a whopping 110mm by 110mm. Crank Brothers says the tipping point at which the larger pedal starts to make sense is 43 EU, but we’d suggest anyone under size 45 would be better off on the regular model. Indeed, we tried the large pedal with our size 43 Specialized 2FO shoes and ended up with 10mm of redundant platform sticking out the side waiting to catch on rocks and ruts.

The Stamp’s cro-mo axle runs on the same outboard bearing and inboard IGUS bushing as the Mallet DH. This is both good and bad. Good in that it can be easily serviced, and replacement parts are readily available, but bad in that this pushes the pedal platform farther away from the crank. As such, it sticks out a bit more, but there’s less inboard real estate beneath your shoe as a consequence. It’s also a pretty thick axle, so the body is a chunky 17mm. And the only concavity is created by the 10 grub screws per side extending out of the platform at different heights.

That said, grip is decent, even without the magical powers of Five Ten’s sticky rubber. Mostly this is down to the pins themselves, which extend up to 3.5mm from the body, rather than the shape of the platform.

Verdict

Crank Brothers gives you a choice of two sizes, which is a great idea, but we reckon the regular size will suit most people anyway. Mostly this is because the larger model grows in both length and width, which just reduces clearance and increases the chance of catching a pedal. If the width remained constant and the length grew we reckon it would make more sense. It’s also on the thick side and ultimately doesn’t boast as much grip as other pedals.

Details

Weight:414g (small), 470g (large)
Colours:Blue, black
Contact:extrauk.co.uk