Flounce

I use a midfoot cleat position to prevent Achilles tendonitis for double centuries and longer rides. Looking for a higher quality shoe and will need to drill my own SPD cleat holes. Installation does require space under the sole for the metal plate or nuts such that they don’t protrude beyond existing padding, if that makes sense.

I previously asked this question on the forums and a popular answer was Sidi Dominator. Any other thoughts ? Thanks.

unterhausen

Giro has a mid-foot mounting position now. At least on the shoes I use. I have converted to mountain shoes on the road, because randoing involves a lot of walking in this area. Don't miss the road shoes at all, they usually just make a road shoe walkable and call it an mtb shoe

shelbyfv

Not sure about the "higher quality" but the Shimano RT shoes work well if you want SPD for the road. Not as much extra stuff on the bottom as MTB shoes, should be easy to position the cleats wherever you want. They had a model with a ratchet closure but I don't see that on their site anymore. RT5 - EXPLORER - CYCLING FOOTWEAR AND PEDALS - LIFESTYLE GEAR - SHIMANO

Flounce

Thank you both!

Unterhausen, that's super helpful. Which Giro model do you have, and are you happy with it? Would be great if I didn't have to drill holes and fiddle with the inside padding.

Tourist in MSN

SPD shoes with cleats have part of the sole in contact with the pedal. If the SPD cleat sticks out from the sole, it might not work so well. If you take a cleated shoe and clip it into a pedal when you are not wearing it, then turn it upside down so that you can see how the shoe is clipped into the pedal you will see on the sides of the cleat that the sole is supported on the pedal so that your weight is on that part of the sole, not on the cleat itself.

The bottom line is that if you drill out a shoe and try to put a cleat on it, it might not work out so well if the shoe sole is not supported on the pedal as designed. You might first try it on a pair of shoes that you have already worn out and planned to discard as an experiment.

And even if it works for you, with the cleat moved that far back you might have difficulty getting it to uncleat from the pedal.

Flounce

Thanks for the thoughts. I’ve had a midfoot cleat position on some cheap Shimano road touring shoes that I’ve ridden for around 5000 miles That I’ve been happy with. It is true that the pedals are special ClickR petals then having SPD device in bedded in a platform pedal that provide support. My only reason wanting to get a new set of shoes is that these shoes are kind of cheap and the soles flex, I’m thinking of getting something that is carbon soles and will be more efficient in terms of power transfer.