Monday, October 13, 2008

Podio Pedals

Hey! Long time no see! Thanks for stopping by - I've been pretty busy with life, and haven't had much time to dedicate to writing. Looks like things will be a little easier from here on out though. This is just the first post of a few I have planned - more DA 7400 stuff, some Mavic things, and as you might guess, some more Merckx stuff.



In the mid-1990's, Merckx started marketing its own clipless pedal system, called the Podio. I have no idea how they were marketed in Europe, but here in the US, I never heard about them.

 


The cleats are fairly low profile, with what looks to be a non-standard bolt pattern. I don't know if third-party Podio shoes ever existed - the only ones I've seen are Podio branded. I think I heard somewhere they were made by Adidas, but I don't have a pair or have any way to prove/disprove that.

Sidi makes a Podio adapter plate. Not sure how easy it is to find, but I suspect it could be special ordered.

 


The cleats slide in from the back, and you twist to remove. Pretty normal. Tension is adjusted via a screw on the back. I assume they have no float.

Merckx still sells these. They're not distributed by Gita Bike in the US, as far as I can tell. I've never heard of any Merckx sponsored team riding them either. Matter of fact, the only person I've heard of riding these is the man himself.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can you settle a bet please. What is Eddy'c favorite snack he brings with him in his Jersey when he was racing? I say peanut butter sandwich and bananas. My friend says its not.

Thanks,

Anonymous said...

DMT used to make shoes that took a recessed adapter plate. They made a plate that would take the low-rise cleat pictured. Since they've moved to CF soles, they don't make those shoes any more.

The bolt pattern is proprietary. However, Merckx does a high cleat that will fit a standard Look 3 bolt pattern.

Best thing about these is that you can apply full downward pressure without clipping back in (clipping in takes a forward movement). Quite useful if you're in stop/start traffic.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and Axel used to ride these. I have some of his spares.

Anonymous said...

I am using these Podio pedals too. Like them a lot because the surface of these pedals is the largest I have seen so far.
Problem for me is that I need a large shoe, small pedals (carbon shoe or not) always give me a lot of pain in my feet.
So the bigger the pedal the better the forces of pedaling are being transformed in forward movement instead of my feet is bending the sole of my cycle shoes.

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