Originally Posted by
Brett A
You can get soft SPD shoes with recessed cleats so you can feel like you're wearing normal(-ish) shoes; ones that don't sound like tap shoes. And pedals can be adjusted so the release takes very little force. I'm not trying to convince you of anything here, just saying the issues you're pointing out are workable and not necessary to suffer. This is what I do. However, I did still carry a second pair of normal shoes on my last month-long and did enjoy wearing them off the bike.
Well explained. I regularly wear my bike shoes for non-cycling (some other than Shimano) because of their comfort and neat appearance. The soles do tend to wear a little (as with all shoes) but since switching from Atac bronze cleats to steel, the wear rate slows anyway.