SPD shoe - Northwave Striker S.B.S.

SPD-SL shoe - Northwave Aerlite

OK..!

I must admit I have little experience with Northwave shoe. But I would prefer to see the cleat recessed further inwards on Northwave shoe, like you find on Shimano or even Specialized SPD shoe. I also prefer the pontoons wider in size than what's shown here. These new Shimano SPD pedals are essentially platform pedals with SPD mechanism at center.

So to get best out of pedal/shoe design, the pedal needs to support the shoe appropriately, not mismatch pontoons with platform. Good shoes do exist, particularly MTB ones. Some Shimano Road/Tour SPD shoes require additional pontoons to make the design work whilst other models could be much improved in terms of lightness and sole stiffness.

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No one would have believed in the formative years of the twenty first century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns

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No one would have believed in the formative years of the twenty first century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind next time I'm shopping. I've never had a pair of Shimano shoes, but I had a pair of specialized shoes before the Northwaves and they were the worst shoes I have ever owned in terms of comfort. Felt good in the store but after 20 minutes of riding my feet would go numb, hot spots on the ball of my foot, and my arch would hurt after an hour of riding. I'll look into the Shimano shoes next time.

^^^
Don't hold your breathe. A well looked after pair of shoes can easily last 5 years, by which time market would again have made few turns. This isn't a market research forum per se, but feedback discussion, technical or otherwise, is usually carried out here and sometimes with same zeel you'd find on the road/trail.
Hopefully such discussions derived from here will lead to better products being made in the future.

Shoes and pedals are integral part of the human-machine interface. They are usually overlooked and/or not enough attention paid by the wearer.

At the end of day, shoe is a shoe. It has to fit properly. Thereafter there is the added complexity of fitting and fine-tuning the cleat correct, in unison with the rider's anatomy.

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No one would have believed in the formative years of the twenty first century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns