Specialty Wooden Pedals by Wotz

These beautiful wooden bike-pedals caught my eye a while back. They are handmade in Arezzo, Italy, a teeny-tiny town in Tuscany. I passed through there on my way to the Perugia Chocolate festival a few years ago and found it to be typically charming and very sleepy on a Sunday afternoon.

The pedals are made of beech wood by local artisans under the label Wotz. A second style has the minimal look of a child's building blocks. Both types of pedals are shipped in a specially made wooden box that doubles as a top tube case. I love the look of the polished wood against the rusted-out metal.

While wood seems like an unconventional material for pedals, it's not without precedent; wooden bobbin pedals were made in the 1870's and a rubber shortage during WWII lead to some bikes being outfitted with wooden pedal blocks.

Available on Etsy.