Mountain Biking - Shoes??

Hello everyone!

The wife and I just bought our first mountain bikes and plan on using the fall/winter time to get familiar with them and our local trails.

Anyways...we are not really wanting clipless pedals at this time. So we are starting to look for some mountain biking specific shoes that are NOT for clipless pedal systems but for regular pedals.

What do you all recommend?

There isn't anything truthfully... any cycling shoe out there is intended for clipless pedals. Actually there are a few intended for downhill/urban/freeride but they are basically just a skate shoe, like a Vans or Airwalk. No benefit to them really, especially for mountain biking. For now just ride on the flat pedals in tennis shoes and next spring pick up some pedals and shoes. I think I rode about two years on flat pedals before I went clipless, but once I did I couldn't figure out why I didn't sooner.

After having ridden clipless for about 2 years the last time I rode (2 years ago), I got a new bike the other day and it had flat pedals. It took me all of two days to buy a set of clipless pedals. After riding clipless pedals, I just can't deal with flat pedals. I like the security of having my foot attatched to the pedal and the ability to both push and pull on the cranks to get more torque. If adjusted properly, they're a cinch to get out of.. just kick your heel outward and you come right out of them. And as far as non-clipless pedal shoes go, you're best off just going out and buying a pair of Timberlands, Airwalk, Vans, Skechers, etc. at your local discount store as opposed to paying a somewhat inflated bike shop price simply because they're urban/freeride shoes.

Thanks for the insight...we will just save some money then until we get clipless pedals.