Minor hijack of this thread, which I've been reading with great interest: about the issue of contact surface... would hot spots or pain in the ball of the foot go away with a more rigid shoe? In other words, does the large contact surface matter if you have a very rigid shoe sole?

I'm in the same situation as bonnypriest, considering a change in pedals. I tried Shimano 105 pedals with a pair of Sidi Genius 5 Pro shoes. The shoes are a definite upgrade over my current ones.