I bought these shoes to wear on gravel and road touring. The shoes are comfortable and I purchased the wide width due to my wide ball of foot and high arch. The shoe has plenty of room for my "Fred Flintstone" feet. The BOA fasteners work very well, and the shoes are easy to take on and off. Great shoe for the money.
The only change I would make is a replaceable heel striker plate, as if you walk around off the bike a lot, as I do, you could just replace the plate when the heel wears down.
Avid cyclist here. I've worn Sidi shoes for years. I put up with fussy fasteners because of their comfort, quality, and replaceable parts. Then I broke my wrist in a crash and could not get my shoes because the fasteners took two hands. BOA fasteners on the Shimano 703 solves that problem. However, the the heel pads are not replaceable so replacing the pads is replacing the shoes. My Sidi pads wear out before the shoes. I will have to see how long they last. Otherwise, they look good and fit well, narrow like Sidi. I like BOA. The heels are vented, though I've never thought of vents, even on hot summer rides. I had to drill upgraded insoles to take advantage of the heel vents.
I don't know why I switched over from the OG SPD 747 to the Eggbeaters, I guess for the weight weenie saving. After years of cyclocross racing on the eggbeaters, I noticed (even with new cleats) that my pedals were not holding tightly to my cleats anymore.
So mid way into 2025 cross season, I decided to switch to SPD's. Happy to be back! Adjustablility is on point, mud shedding flawless and clipping in and out with the new MT-001 is awesome!
Cassettes just aren't worth spending a ton of coin on, they shift the same, and weigh slightly less for an expensive one, why bother?
Shifts perfect, under load too, it's perfect. Whatever Shimano did with Hyperglide 2, it's incredible. Never misses, never really does anything wrong either. I always replace after 3 chains, so they get usually 15000 miles on them and even in the middle/common gears, they are still fine, but that's just my rule.
No issue. Like the 11/34 spread with my 54/40 up front, got gears on all sides that way and almost never need more.
