I got these to use on my new gravel bike and so far, so good. The interior is nice and plush, the sole feels very stiff, which is great because I have a plate in my foot and I'm sensitive to flexy bike shoes. I thought a single boa might be a negative but it works really well and is very simple to adjust while riding. I can't figure out what's doing it but I do seem to have a pressure spot on the top instep of the foot with the plate (so likely not an issue for people with normal shaped feet) It doesn't seem like it should cause problems but it does for me (sometimes) on very long rides. Since I assume that it's specific to my foot issue and not a shoe design problem, I'm going to give it 5 stars.
I like this shoe, I upgraded from Sidi MTB shoes to these and the stiff sole gives me way more spring in my pedal stroke than the Sidi shoe did. I also love the wide toe box for my wide feet. The entire shoe is perforated, so these may be 2 season shoes unless over boots are in the mix.
The con is that the tongue is a very narrow piece of material and it can pinch at the base of the ankle, I wish that Shimano had made it a little longer with some sort of soft fabric rolled over the tongue's edge to help soften the bite in that area at the front of my ankle.
I would buy this shoe again, I've taken to wearing a little longer sock to help protect my ankles from getting pinched and am resigned to having dorky tan lines in the summer months.
I am a dedicated (app 4000 mi/yr) older cyclist. These are the most expensive road shoes I have ever purchased, and the first time I wore them on the bike I could tell they are the best - the soles are quite stiff but comfortable and through their stiffness seem to give a boost to each pedal stroke. Once they are on my feet, they are a pleasure to wear on the bike, but getting them on my feet is harder than it should be. With the BOA-secured strap across the top of the shoe, there is not much of an opening to get your foot in, and it can be quite difficult to get hold of the tongue of the shoe and keep it from getting pushed into the shoe by the foot going in. The opening needs to be made larger or the tongue longer or both. A person has to wonder how much actual testing of the shoe was done before the design was finalized.
I've been rebuilding the drivetrain on my surly ECR., which I use for daily commutes trail riding and bikepacking. The original 5-arm crank was difficult to find decent chainrings that would mount on the old surly crank. The new crank holds the chain great with no slip, even though I'm running with a 9 in back at the moment. I've bashed around with it pretty extensively for the last 3 months and it shift easily and grabs the chain quickly with no slip. Highly recommend.
