Crank Bros Eggbeater 3

Well I got about a hundred miles on these omelet makers so here's the in depth review.
If you, the reader, have never seen Crank Bros. Eggbeaters, here's what they look like:



Funny goofy lookin things.
The Eggbeaters come in four different models, 1, 2, 3, and Super Expensive(11).
The Super Expensive one has titanium stuff on it and it's got solid gold springs and it costs like a GAGILLION dollars.
Okay, not really.
About the solid gold spring part.
If you read all the reviews, the consensus is not to waste your hard earned cash on the cheaper ones, go for the gold, or at least the silver.
Well, since I'm not made of gold I went silver, I went with the 3s.
The difference being the 3s have needle and sealed bearings instead of bushings, which I suppose is a good thing.
These things took me a while to figure out how to clip in, now it's not so bad; there was a learning curve with the SPDs I had before too.
The four sided entry is a selling point, but I don't find them easier to clip in compared to my old pedals.
According the instructions, you can not only get clipped by pushing your foot forwards, but by rolling your foot backwards also.
I haven't tried that method yet.
Anyways, this is mostly about the cleats.
You can set the cleats to unclip two ways, fifteen degrees and twenty.
At the fifteen degree setting, I still have a difficult time releasing with my left foot.
Anyways, here's the old cleats:



The cleats are mounted on stainless steel Shoe Shields.
To protect the carbon goodness don't you know.
You get some plastic shims in case you have a hard time clipping in, the Shoe Shields will cost you extra.
The standard cleats look they are made of soft brass, I think the idea here is for the cleat to wear, and not the pedal.
These cleats though, are not adjustable side to side.
I got me some Premium cleats, which look more like Shimano cleats:



The Premium cleats appear to be made of a different material, I'm guessing bronze.
The finish of the Premium cleats are on the rough side:



They also fit into the slots on the Shoe Shields, which means if you want to change the angle of the cleat, you must move the whole shebang.
You can see in the image, the round dots on the cleat fit into the round slots on the plate:



I guess this is a good thing for it keeps the cleat centered on the Shoe Shield.
This means though that I may have to trim the Shoe Shield, depending on where my final cleat position is set.
They are not quite all the way back, which is where I had the SPD cleats set.
I haven't tried them out on the road yet, but in static living room tests, it seems like they release a little better.
One last thing about the cleats.
Let's look at this image again:



You see them mounting bolts?
All torqued out?
Now I ain't no gorilla or anything and I didn't tighten them down too hard, but the bolts are made out of soft metal and are ready to strip.
In fact, when installing the new cleats, I used the old bolts and stripped the head on one of them.
Luckily I have a bolt extractor, but the Shimano bolts are much harder.
When I change out the bolts, I'll probably Loctite them and not tighten too hard.
Pedaling the Eggbeaters feels sort of funky at first, even with my carbon soled shoes.
My feet could tell something was different, but no hot spots or anything.
Now after a few miles, I don't really think about them.
Because of my vertically compliant but laterally stiff ankle, I haven't really stood on them or sprinted hard, but if anything happens I'll be sure to let you know.
They seem to hold the shoe a bit tighter than my old SPDs, but my SPDs were just that: old.
The pedals are also rebuildable should you well, pedal them to death.
So far, I be liking them, but as anything only time will tell.
For now though, they be Flat Tire Approved.