Point1 Podium Pedal

There are many trends that have hit the market in the last few years.  It seems mountain biking is progressing pretty fast in terms of talent and technology.  Bars are getting wider and lower and pedals are getting flatter and lighter.  There are many flat pedals that are coming out but the Point1 Podiums are among the thinnest.  The measure 13mm tall for the body and 20mm including the studs.  This extra clearance is beneficial in a few ways.  The most obvious is it gives you a little more clearance for pedal strikes.  There is nothing worse then clipping your pedal on a rock and going over the bars.  It also helps by lowering your center of gravity.  This will help with pedalling efficiency, stability, and cornering.  All of this in a very lightweight package (about 340 grams with aluminum studs) 

The Platform

The platform is one of the thinnest on the market and it also has good size platform.  I have size 11 5.10 Impacts and they felt plenty wide to accommodate my feet.  The stud arrangement seemed very comfortable and the slight concave produces a secure platform to stand on

Durability

To start this off I will mention that i opted for the lightweight aluminum pedal studs to drop some weight and was warned by Point1 that they would need replaced more often and they bend easier.  I am a sucker for lightweight stuff so I went for them anyway.  I will say that they have held up better than expected.  The first few rides were down in Moab, Utah where most of the trails involve large sandstone ledges.  I probably scraped or slammed my pedals into the rock 20 or so times during the weekend.  In the end there were only a few scrapes in the anodizing and one stud that was a little crooked.  The next time I rode them was in St. George, Utah which has just about as many rocks to hit so again I bashed them a lot.  A few more studs were bent a little but not enough to even consider replacing them.  Since then I have got a few jump sessions in and a couple of trail rides and I have been very impressed with how they are holding up.  I will say though that I am not looking forward to replacing the bent studs.  I have heard from a few sources that it can be time consuming to get the bent studs out.

Overview

So far I have been very pleased with these pedals and look forward to getting more time on them when the bike season makes its way back to Utah.  I have tried many of the different flat pedals on the market and these are among my favorites.  With only 10 or so rides on them I feel that I have a fairly good idea how they ride so the rest of this next season will be testing the long term durability.

Pros

Low profile

Lightweight

Large platform

Cons

Aluminum studs bend easy and can be a pain to remove (can be solved by using stock steel studs)

Little bit of drag initially until broken in

Cost

The Point1 Podiums retail for $179 USD and the optional aluminum studs are $19 USD extra

For more info check out Point1's website at www.pointoneracing.com

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