I use, and have always used, Shimano SPD's on my MTBs. I'm guessing this is a sign of age, but I've recently been getting really painful feet riding gnarlier singletrack stuff, where I'm out of, and hanging behind, the saddle a lot more than when I'm doing XC or road riding. I use reasonably stiff XC shoes.
I haven't used flat pedals for years, and I guess the answer to this is going to be to just try it, but might bunging some DMR V8's on and trying them with an old pair of skater Vans I've got knocking around be a bit less punishing on the old feet?
cheers
If anything V8's and old shoes will hurt more as V8's are tiny and old shoes are soft!
How old are your SPD shoes? Over time the soles lose stiffness which will eventually put pressure over the pedal. Also the insoles will lose their support. I swapped my insoles from my new shoes to my old ones and found the old ones were suddenly 100x more comfortable!
M530 pedals have a bit more of a platform around em than the tiny M520s
New shoes might help too...just got some AM45s and they are so rigid that the first ride had my foot cramping like mad. All fine now tho (but they weigh a ton)
Hmm. I'm using M540's & both Shimano M087 or FLR Taipan shoes - both of whch seem pretty stiff. I'll consider any suggestions as this is currently stopping from hammering the trails as hard as I can and would like to.
I'd presume that on gnarlier singletrack stuff you're moving around more
Flats and sticky rubber may help but I always found V8s to be too small (though I do have wide feet)
I've recently started to get this along with numb toes. I bought some Specialized body control (?) insoles and they worked a treat.
[i]I use reasonably stiff XC shoes.[/i]
Use less-stiff ones?
I've just realised I have some superfeet style insoles for my hiking boots which should cut down to fit my SLR shoes a treat - I'll give them a go.