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Did you decide what you're going to do? These shoes have been on my wish list for some time. The only worry was the sole not being replaceable.
bluebikerider-
@bluebikerider alas haven't managed to get to my local Cobblers yet to ask their advice. Ideally, I'd like to go down the route of grinding off the tread and completely replacing the sole. Below is a photo, its not the prettiest solution, but it is functional.
The shoes are nice, but not amazing for their price. Imagine basic Sidi's with very nice leather uppers. They aren't anywhere near as stiff as my carbon sole'd shoes. But on the plus side, I can walk into a meeting and nobody has even noticed yet that they're cycling shoes. Oh, and they're quite padded. In fact very comfy.
Like you've said the soles was an issue for me too. I got mine used, for not too much, so, it wouldn't be the end of the world if the solution isn't amazing. Its a real shame Maressi don't use a sole system like the Sidi SRS shoes for the price. I've even contacted Dromarti about this, (the UK importer and licencee for Maressi shoes) and they just said the soles are unrepairable.
@pdlouche I'll have a look inside the shoes and see if the sole section separates internally. There's an insole but behind that is the standard fibre board (as it is on Sidi shoes) to cover the inner working and the cleat mechanism. If it separates easily, that also might be worth a try, although there might not be enough material to bolt too. It might be a glue job.
And its definitely possible to convert a pair of proper leather shoes for cleats. The main issue as far as I can see is that the sole would need a layer of strengthening as it wouldn't have been designed to taking the forces needed.
Muppetteer
Since they're leather, I thought this might go here. I've a pair of Maressi shoes and need to sort out the sole. Anybody got any ideas of how to build it up as there isn't much cleat clearance anymore?
I've seen the glue gun approach with masking off the tread areas and building it up, and I've seen grinding everything off and replacing it all with a Vibram sole. Anything else I could try?