Funny question, but one of those things that you seem to just accept at the time….

have had some mavic road shoes for a few years, and spesh mtb shoes. when using the usual shimano road spd cleat on the road shoes, despite it being as far back along the shoe as possible, it still feels like the pedal is under my toes rather than under the ball of my foot as it is on my MTB shoes. have ended up resorting to using mtb pedals on the road bike as it is just comfier.

so, are these Mavics an anomaly or is that the usual position for cleats on road shoes…..

Show me your wisdom!

Should be same position and range of movement on road or off road shoe

so are the holes in my Mavic shoe just in the wrong place?

Different brands of road shoe I own do have differing ranges of cleat adjustment (Mavic being the most limited in rearwards adjustment), could also be true that MTB shoes typically offer more rearwards adjustment but can’t say I’ve done any comparison myself…

No it shouldn’t.

It’s completely manufacturer and model (sole) dependant. It’s one of the reasons i stick to the same brand, they will at least have a consistent philosophy as to where cleats should be. Times I’ve used other manufacturers its been hit and miss. Sold a pair of Diadora after 10 or 12 goes as just couldn’t get the cleat in the right position and they weren’t comfy enough to muck around modifying.

Ball of the foot over the pedal spindle on all my bikes, MTB, road, and cx.