They're also not made of animal parts!

Shimano MT40, great shoe. Runs small, I wear a 47 in them and 45 in pearls. $60 at performance, got mine for $40 on ebay.


http://www.performancebike.com/produ...-GRY-ANGLE.jpg

Specialized MTB Shoes work great. Plus they dry out really quick (overnight), even if totally sodden.

I wear them every day and often forget they're there. 100% recommend.

IMHO Northwave is pretty good.
Italian but not as well known and quite affordable.

Pearl Izumis with a ratchet strap.
I picked up a pair used in good shape for $35. Sidi's are to narrow. The PIs fit great around my ankle and over my foot with a little bit of wiggle room in the toe box. Perfect for me. I'll rock them this summer and pick up a new pair for next year.

just picked up a pair of these 2 days ago after the rigid sole in my 4 year old Lakes cracked in half.
http://images.mec.ca/media/Images/Pr...9830552843.jpg
$90 c, built kind of similar to the Sidi, ratcheting top clasp with to velcro lower straps. I Held both brands in my hand for a long time before deciding not to cave. MEC is a little strange with some of their in-store product that is almost 3 or 4 years out of date. Stitching isn't double in some areas like the Sidi shoe is, and surely if(when) the buckle finally fails I'll not likely find a replacement part. But for a sub $100 shoe it seemed like a better deal if I can get 2-3 years out of them.

Sidi's are great shoes. Lorica dries and breathes better than leather or any other fake synethics that you will find on other shoes. I had a pair of diadoras that I got on sale for $50 and I rode (and walked) the hell out of them. They were really comfortable and broke in quicker than the Sidi Dominators that I now wear (but avoid walking in much more). I picked them up on ebay for abotu $80 below list price after I tried them on in a store. They are pricey but they are great. I recommed a shoe without a lot of mesh areas as they will just let water in.

I will admit that I was fairly set on Sidis before I bought them as several friends swore by them. But make sure you find something comfortable. I like a narrow shoe with a wider toe area. Sidi's are narrow but not amazingly narrow and I have had the problem of tightening the toe strap too much.

Those Specialized shoes are nice, but only for mountain biking. I have a pair and wouldn't want to wear them all day. The Shimano MT20s have become my all-day shoe. They're easier to walk in than the Specializeds because they are treaded like a real shoe, not a soccer cleat. I wear them everywhere, the cleats never make a sound on hard floors and nobody would ever notice you're wearing bike shoes. Totally stealth. Oh, and they're <$50 anywhere on the Net.

http://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/...mt20-shoes.jpg

I wear Shimano MT-20Ds (link), which are basically their bottom-of-the-line MTB shoe, and can be found very cheap.

Pros:
-look like normal shoes, I wear them at work often
-almost no clicking. They click on uneven surfaces but not on normal floors
-walkable despite being very stiff
-cheap. buy them on sale.

Cons:
-The tie up laces don't get tight enough on my skinny, flat feet, so when skipping hard or climbing there is noticeable stretch as the foot leaves the floor of the shoe. This might bother you.

I also have a pair of Specialized body geometry road shoes that fit like a glove, and are very comfortable on my flat feet, but they are road shoes and useless for city riding.

If blending in is important to you they are nice shoes and have held up well, but if you want mostly a riding shoe I'd go for a velcro or ratchet.

there's a bunch of cheap shoes on pricepoint, and they have a great range of sizes.

I bought some Shimano MTB shoes at a gear swap that looked almost new. I also have two pairs of shoes that I found at thrift stores for about $5 a pop that I haven't gotten around to getting cleats for. The Shimanos are very nice for walking and if I didn't have these huge ass welgo cleats I don't think they would even clack. (clacking is pretty minimal even with these cleats) I think I paid a total of $25 for the three pairs of shoes I have.

I've ridden with the Shimano MT-38's for two years, and they have started to rot apart from wearing every day in all kinds of weather.

Shimano has replaced these with the MT-40, which fits perfectly and works exactly the same as the MT-38's.

Of note, the MT-40 has a velcro strap that covers the laces and keeps them out of the chain.
Additionally, I think laces offer a better fit, but they wear out about every six months.
I carry an extra set of five hole laces just in case.

I think Performance has these shoes for $50 or $60 right now.

I find them very comfortable for walking, and my cleats never hit the floor.

I have been very happy with my Specialized MTB shoes.

I use the Adidas Durango's. Not bad shoes, and for the price I was stoked. Works great with the candy sl's on my current commuter.

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/...tegory_ID=2120

http://www.performancebike.com/produ...-BRN-ANGLE.jpg

Bought a pair of Pearl Izumi Fluids and they're pretty much finished after five months of riding. The sole on the right foot has split and the threads on the front of the shoes came undone after about two weeks of riding. Still wearing them, but when it rains, I'm risking trenchfoot. And they smell...but that's probably my fault.

thanks everybody for the input, especially those that offered the info i was looking for. much appreciated!

Diadora Gekkos are bad ass. I've had mine for over 6 years. Wore them on my MTB and on my Fixie. They smell horrible, but have held up fine.

I should mention that most pricepoint shoes are relabeled pearl izumi and such

Retem (and others that may have sidis and atacs), which screws did you use to mount the cleat, the one that came with the shoes or the one that came with the cleat? The instructions that came with the Sidis are clear for other cleats, but there is no mention of which set of screws to use with the ATACs.

I just used the ones that came with the cleats
remember to grease the threads