Ekoi's radical road cycling pedal system that "has Look and Shimano scared" is now available to buy, priced at £592 with compatible shoes

Ekoi's attempt to revolutionise cycling pedals has hit the market, the PW8 system priced at a nice round £592.12 for the figure-of-eight shaped pedal and compatible carbon-soled road shoe.

It's a system that has been in development for more than four years, and the French cycling brand promises its patented PW8 concept - self-described as "the new pedal that has Look and Shimano scared" - offers some obvious benefits over current pedal and cleat designs, namely being lighter, faster and easier to walk in.

It has also reportedly attracted interest from professional cycling teams, such as UAE Team Emirates and Team Ineos Grenadiers, and has been used by UCI Continental teams Nice Métropole and Burgos. The product page on the Ekoi website boasts that ambassadors such as Michele Bartoli and Philippe Gilbert have already racked up 18,000km and 5,000km respectively in the pedals and shoes, and some test riders have put in as much as 30,000km. 

> Can Ekoi's radical PW8 system revolutionise bike pedals for the first time in 40 years?

However, they're now available to the wider public, the design utilising a significantly longer pedal than the most popular current products and the shoe featuring a compatible sole which completes the PW8 system.

At 225g total weight for both pedals and cleats, the PW8 can boast weight savings over other pedal options. Look's Keo Blade with cleats weighs a claimed 300g, while Shimano's top pedal is the Dura-Ace PD-R9100 model, with a claimed weight of 228g, about 300g in total with cleats.

 Ekoi also believes most users will enjoy a saving of up to eight watts by moving to its system.

"We have seen [in] 100%, of the tests we've made, a benefit", Ekoi told us when we visited last summer. "It's not that when you [fit] this, every single rider will save eight watts. It can depend on the rider. But yes, each time we have made some tests, statistically it is more efficient."

The PW8's stack height of 8mm is shorter than Dura-Ace pedals and Look Keo blade pedals too, those two designs having a stack height of 14.6 and 14.8mm respectively, a shorter length that Ekoi says is "good for aerodynamics", a claim backed up by what we've seen other manufacturers working towards. For example, Wahoo notes this as a positive of its Speedplay pedals, and the lower stack height is seen as an advantage of Shimano's Dura-Ace pedals compared to Ultegra.

[Ekoi PW8 pedal system vs Shimano stack height]

Perhaps the most striking aspect of the PW8 system is the size and shape of the pedal, Ekoi noting it is the largest contact surface on the market and more than twice the size of the contact surface on Look's Keo Blade model.

"This has two interests: power transfer and also the feeling of stability," Raphaël Dalle, who heads up the brand's design, suggested. 

One potential downside of the new system, especially for amateur athletes, is that the PW8 pedals won't work with current road shoes which often have a three-bolt cleat design. Although Ekoi has been the driving force behind the PW8 system, the brand says it doesn't want the system to be exclusive to Ekoi shoes, and hopes that in the future other shoe manufacturers will adopt it once they see the advantages.

For now, though, it is only available with the compatible Ekoi shoe, priced at £592.12 for the entire system, although the brand is offering risk-free returns within 60 days, such is its confidence in the design.

"For 40 years since the advent of clipless pedals, cycling hadn't seen a real innovation," Ekoi states. "The patented PW8 concept was developed over more than four years with one goal: to offer a new concept that is more efficient, lighter, more aerodynamic, easier to use, and more stylish.

These performance gains are achieved thanks to the minimized axle/sole distance at 8 mm coupled with an unmatched contact surface of 1500 mm². Ekoi is the first brand to have developed a sole specifically designed for PW8."

When we spoke last summer the brand was keen for the pedal not to be pigeonholed as only a product for the pros and they come with float options between 0° and 6°. The reduced profile of the cleat, which is recessed below the tread of the shoe, is designed to make them easier to walk in than a road shoe with a traditional cleat. 

Ekoi's website currently shows the PW8 system available in shoe sizes ranging from 39 to 48 (6.5-13 UK sizes). 

We first spotted the design around this time last year when riders from the Nice Métropole professional team used them, Ekoi having "already put €2 million into development". 

Not long after though the team was left scrambling when UCI officials at the Etoile de Bessèges stage race told them to switch to alternative pedals right before the penultimate stage – despite them having already been used in Marseille the week before.

It was reported that the ban was imposed due to an administrative oversight – suggesting that an application for the use of a prototype had been submitted, but it had not been approved before the race.

When we contacted Ekoi for a comment, the brand said it was "just an admin issue" and the "UCI doesn't have any problem with us". 

* One of our staff members was briefly shown a lower UK price when browsing the Ekoi website, so we contacted Ekoi for a clarification, the brand confirming the UK price is indeed £592.12.