I'm in Milan on business, had a couple hours free so I rented one of the city's bikeshare bikes and navigated over to the Detto Pietro store.

Detto Pietro Store - La bicicletta nel tempo

First pair of cycling shoes I ever owned, back in the day.

They are now making Detto shoes again, just the "Coppi" old school model in black, brown and a really nice tan/beige. He's looking for US outlets. Asked me if people are into the L'Eroica type stuff. I told him, a few.

How are they priced? I'd sure be interested.

The Detto Pietro's I remember seeing in the early 80's were nowhere close to how good those new ones look.
They were so bad and kinda plasticky, IIRC, that my LBS couldn't shift them despite piling them in a big bin and pricing them for clearance, but the pile never really shrank for many years even till the last time I visited the store..... Heck, it seemed like they sold more Bata Bikers than the DTs all those years.
I also remember that there was a bin full of bare plastic Unicanitors next to the DTs also mostly ignored by customers.....

Those black 43s are just what I need. Milan, you say?

The new Detto Pietros look great! I'd be interested in what they cost also. My guess, not cheap.

Here is a pair of Detto Pietro touring shoes I picked up off ebay a while back. 1982 vintage to match my '82 touring bike.



"la scarpa del campioni di ieri...

...di oggi...

...di sempre..."

Must have been location/market. Because DP cleated road shoes had no trouble selling in NYC market. DP was my first shoe too. It fit better and lasted a long time. They are more comfortable than the Duegi shoes that replaced them.
These look very well made and a whole different era. I'd buy a pair.

Those are fantastic! I'd love to find a similar pair in size 44.5 or 45. The new DP shoes look great, too! The website could use some improvement though.

Me too, Detto Art. 74's w/ the long Anquetil TA cleats.
We had a cobbler around the corner from our shop who was "the guy" to tack on cleats accurately.

-Bandera

Market was pretty good, being in the bike cultured Milwaukee area. I'm thinking now that the LBS might have just stocked the lowest model/cheapest DTs back then......

Funny, I just this week finally found a NOS pair on eBay in my size (48).

My first two pairs were Dettos. No heel, metal shank that made it very difficult to nail in those long TA "Jacques Anquetil" model cleats. A shop not too far away had a very elegant solution to that problem - wear the shoes without cleats for a ride or two to make a mark where the pedal hit the soles, and they'd rivet the cleats on just the tiniest hair in front of that mark. Worked like a charm.

The leather in the ones pictured look a bit thicker than the racing Dettos I had. My old Dettos also had holes all over the uppers and even a few drilled into the soles. The ones pictured all look like what used to be called the "touring" style - no self-respecting racer back in the day would have been caught dead with heels on their shoes.

Also, the old ones had that funky style of lacing (one eyelet laced through one toe eyelet and then straight to and through the last eyelet by the tongue and on the opposite side, with the other eyelet laced through all the other eyelets). I never did understand why they were done up that way, but they did.

Wow, thanks for the info!

There are very few availaible alternatives to classic bike shoes on the market torday. Until these my favs have been Vittoria 1976, but those ones I've seen have had the outer made of some leather imitation or it just looks like it. But the Detto Pietro look near perfect! Probably pricey to

It was, allegedly, to avoid any single pressure point while securely holding the foot in place under the stress of competition.

-Bandera

Too bad they couldn't come up with something to avoid the single pressure point created by the strap buckle when cinched down race-tight.

Oh, that's right. They did. It's called "clipless pedals and shoes."

I always enjoyed that moment in a race when guys reached down to tighten their toe straps knowing the Crunch was Coming.
Ready or not, here we Go!

I still ride w/ clips & straps and friction shifting on one of my bikes, same drill for >40 years.

-Bandera

I always loved that time, and it happened every six months or so, when I had been riding out in the countryside and came to the first stop sign or stop light back in town and forgot that I had tightened my straps. Only actually fell over once or twice, but it was always good for an adrenaline rush and a feeling of total stupidity.

I used to ride with a guy who liked to impress the newbies by pretending to forget, start to fall over, catch himself with one hand and push himself back up. Obviously he was way stronger than the typical skinny biker. Had forgotten about that for years until just now!

My brand new 30 year old Dettos. Took them for a spin this morning, and did not fall over once.

How much for a size 48 in black?

And I ask: Where was youtube when we needed it?

I think we all had a pair back in the day. it was the only affordable road shoe. There's always the Beta Biker with the nail on cleat. Man, I wanted a pair of Duegi so badly. these Duegi Athletic Shoes Sz US 7 EUR 37 Awesome Style Excellent | eBay

I was at DP about 10 years ago bumming around Milano with my girlfriend, now wife. That place was a mess with stuff all over the place. But then again, that the way is goes.

Move that buckle up. it will still hold you in.

I always remember the little red plastic tab to help with a better grip when pulling on them. Remember twisting them through the pedals to make them stay in place each and every time?

Alfredo Bindas trimmed & twisted w/ a Cinelli logo pull-tab!

-Bandera

I see that perhaps I need to dive into my junk box, again... I forget exactly what, but I know there's a bunch of Detto shoes in there. That's going to take me a bit.

Tell you the truth, I hated my Dettos but it was all I can afford at 16 or 17. It was put into service for years until I started working part time in the summer. Diadora, here I come. They were all black with the lime green strips just like Grewal's but really wanted Sidis with thge Ti shank.