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There was that £££ kit somewhere with the spd on a plate, so you cut a hole in each trainer and dump it under the insole.
Problem with full leather construction is the insole rarely separates, and there should be a layer of cork between sock and outsole.
You could fix a spd plate inside under an extra insole, or put it under the cork during sole replacement but that's damaging to the shoe once wet gets in. Sandwiched between sole and extra leather sole with hole cut, that could work. Depends if you want touring tread like mtb shoes, or proper leather soles.
Dainite/commando soles could be much better.
pdlouche
@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.