Following on from my light purchase, I have recently bough a pair of Specialized BG Taho mountain bike shoes.  The “BG” stands for Body Geometry which basically means the shoes are better designed for humans.

The Taho shoes is a mountain bike shoe inspired by hiking boots and as such it has a slightly flexier sole than a hardcore shoe.  The area in front of the cleats is also flexy which makes walking in them extremely easy.

I had a bit of trouble finding some in my clydesdale-size 47, but one shop had them so I went to try them on.  They are extremely comfortable to talk around in and I knew they were the ones as soon as I put them on.

Once I was home, I excitedly put them on, got into my riding gear and headed off.  20Km later I was home again feeling very good.

One thing I will say though is use these shoes with either toe clips or clipless pedals.  They are useless for platforms because the sole, while being flexier, still slips and slides all over platforms.  My first ride in them was wet and I didn’t have much grip on the pedals.  By the way, look for an upcoming review of Shimano M520 clipless pedals.

Bottom line: an awesomely comfortable shoe for all mountain bike riding which you can wear to the café afterwards and not look like a try-hard.