661 Filter

No water/mud got into these shoes even though I walked on mud today.
The cleat area is a mud magnet ... and the mud stays there rendering your
cleats almost useless.

I laced up my new 661 Filters this morning not realising that today

is one of those days that I should have worn proper XC shoes.

Let's have the 661 Filter review out of the way so we

could go on to today's ride.

If you want non-football boot looking shoes for biking

and still have the benefits of having cleats, you only have

3 choices (as far as I know). You either get Shimano MP66,

661 Filters or Mavic (I forgot the model).

Have you seen RoboCop wearing shorts? Not a nice picture. That's

what I see in my mind whenever MP66s are mentioned. That is why

I chose 661 Filters instead.

661 Filters don't just look cool. They also have a strap at the top

of the shoe lace area of the shoe to combat the dreaded heel lift

which seem to plague budget Shimano shoes (e.g. MT34). The area

where you screw on the cleats is also very stiff. Very good for

XC bikers disguised as AM bikers.

See the right side of the cleats? This is the bottom part of the elongated holes
where you fasten your cleats. You can't use the lowest part of the hole
unless you trim the soles of the shoe.

Those are the pros. Let's get down to the cons.

1. MP66 has a higher inner cuff. These shoes don't.

2. Never ever use these shoes when you know you will

push your bike at some muddy parts of the trail. It's

like having bars of soap on the sole of your feet and

then trying to walk on a wet toilet floor.

3. You can not use the lowest point of connection for your cleats.

If you do, the cleats won't engage the pedals. If you really must

use the lowest point, then you need to trim the sole of the shoes.

4. The cleat area is easily clogged with mud rendering the cleats useless.

So, are the shoes good or bad? I think #1 is nitpicking.

#3 is a very real issue for some people who likes their cleats

a certain way. #2 and #4 can be rejected as these shoes were

never meant to be used for walking on mud (there are better

shoes for that purpose).

Would I buy these again? No... I think I'll try Mavic shoes in

 the future instead.