What toe clips are those? And more importantly, there was no conflict between your toes and the cages, especially when pedaling full circles?
My concern is that shoes made for clipless cleats don't have any protection for the top of the foot. On long rides, this gets to be a real problem for me.
The clips are made by King Cage. They are quite rigid and come in sizes up to an xxl. The xl size fits my 11.5 feet.
I don't cinch the strap down - just leave it a little snug to conform to my foot but loose enough to get in and out of..
No issues with toe discomfort with these shoes or tennis shoes for that matter.
That is not the case with the Giro Republic shoes that have Spd's with
walkable soles or my Sidi MTB shoes.
I suspect this is because the treads on the soles are thicker and made
of hard plastic and the shoe slides around during the pedal stroke.
I think the key thing that keeps the foot in place without cinching straps down hard is having a thin textured sole made from skicky rubber.
Having ridden in Five Ten Tennies for a few years now, I only wished they had a stiff sole and a little less width. That was what the Addidas Shoe addressed