Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - SPD shoes for urban riding?

I think I saw a messenger sort riding candys and SPD shoes in the city the other day. Do mountain shoes offer more traction on foot? I can stand not having a flexible sole but I worry about the footing.

Also what's a good but cheap set of mountain shoes that will ride well in urban and suburban environments and be ok for walking a bit indoors?

Diadora Gecko's are pretty flexible for a bike shoe and are generally pretty cheap. They are kind of ugly but they work.

Sidi makes a lot of different bike shoes that are a lot stiffer and really nice on the bike, but are a little harder to walk in.

In general mountain shoes work very well for urban riding since you can walk in them.

I have a pair of Specialized shoes with recessed cleats. Can't even tell they're bike shoes when I'm walking around. Works perfectly with my Candy SL's.

I recommend Lake Cycling Shoes because they are cheap and well-made. Try aebike.com for the cheapest prices on these shoes.

Check out the soles if you are considering clipless. I have a pair of Sidi bullets that have hard plastic treads rather than rubber and are really treacherous on slipper surfaces. My old Axo Vipers had hard rubber and were fine.

I have two pair of mountain bike shoes and one pair of road shoes. I have Pearl Izumi and Sidi mtb shoes, and my road shoes are old Shimanos of likely early-90s vintage (got them at the thrift store for $1!). The mtb shoes have enough flex that you can walk comfortably once you get used to them, but are still extremely stiff compared to normal shoes. The road shoes, however, are 100% stiff, and even if they didn't have huge red cleats and smooth plastic bottoms, they'd be about impossible to walk in. I get the impression that mtb shoes usually have at least a little flex to them, though not enough to be a detriment while riding.

Sidi Dominators FTW!

I've worn mine for 18+ hours and still been mad comfortable.

all the cool kids wear sidi doms

including me

i wear lakes... rubber lugs and totally recessed. comfortable enough to spend a couple hours standing at a bar or a show.

Sidi Dominators are great, but it's hard to go wrong with much of anything they make. Good stuff all around. I have the Sidi Catapults and it's like sex for the feet. Total glove-like fit and comfort.

I've got a older pair of mtb sidi's, they are really loud, everytime I walk into a lobby with stone floors it sounds like i'm wearing tap shoes. but they are the most comfortable shoes I own. some cleats are more recessed then others. egg beaters are a little more then spd's. take the time to look at pedals and consider that, not every shoe works with every pedal. egg beaters are great but you can't set the tension, spd's are great but they get hard to pop in and out of when the grease gets washed away. you put more grease on and they release too easily.

Noise is not an issue, only the steps to the basement at my workplace are uncarpeted and that would be the only place it would matter. I was thinking about getting Candy C's or SL's.