+1

I, too, used MTB clipless pedals (Shimano SPD) on my road bikes for a couple of years and I found that I got a lot of bad, hot spots on longer rides. So, I switched back to LOOK-style and the problems dissolved. If moving the pressure point back more towards the ball of the foot does not work then perhaps a different pedal system is in order.

Similarly, I had a number of annoying problems that only happened with clipless - pain in my right knee, hotspot on both feet on longer rides. I actually managed to fix the right knee pain by accident (turns out squats with good form straightened out my knee issues, though after that I hurt my right leg and hip doing squats so not sure if I would recommend them).

I switched back to flats and all these issues went away. I had tried almost everything I could think of - multiple pairs of shoes, 2 pro bike fittings from different people, different inserts, etc.

It might be possible to fix my issues (I later found I needed wider shoes with regular shoes), but I wasted so much money on it trying to fix it when I could have just switched to flats...I've used Five Ten shoes, they are incredibly grippy. If I could go back in time and give myself advice on bike shoes, I would tell myself to stop wasting time trying to make clipless work and just get Five Ten's and some pedals with pins, and enjoy biking rather than dumping so much time, effort, and cash into trying to get clipless to work.

You guys have convinced me to stay with the flats ( I was actually going to rest my feet with flats and later having the clipless again by moving the cleats towards the rear a little). Why....making myself miserable again; I knew that it wouldn't change the condition much better, perhaps a little???? OK, I am convinced too with the Five Ten shoes and DMR pedals. Question: what's the difference between DMR12 and DMR8??

DMR V12s are more expensive and a newer design than the V8s; they also provide more surface area than the V8s, so pressure on one's foot should be less.

There are a whole lot of others that may be easier to find or cost less - Wellgo or Shimano, maybe, but Giant & Specialized market some pinned flats, too. I got mine via the net, and I have essentially no warranty.

Five Tens are great, but if you can try on Chromes or DZRs in your locale, and a pair fits well, they may be a better choice.

Of course getting a shoe that fits is very important, but the rubber on Five Ten's is *much* grippier on the pedal than on Chrome shoes. Chrome is regular standard rubber - I had it slip a little bit annoyingly, then I did some physical therapy (for a non-bike injury) that happened to change how I position myself on the bike, and now the Chrome shoes are fine.

But with Five Tens if you have any weight on your foot, they grab the pedal nearly like you're physically attached regardless of your posture, weight distribution, etc. The only way to have them stop grabbing is to remove all the weight on the foot.

Source: Have used both.