OK so instead of doing hours of research on the best XC shoes I just walked into MCC and tried on a pair of Louis Garneau MONTANA XT’s and I liked them. Grant said the shoes are mine for free if I could figure out how to undo the strap retention system in 30 seconds and no matter how hard I tried to break the things open I couldn’t. LOL, turns out it was a simple case of pushing them down to undo them (I swear I thought I tried that!).
They’re 905g a pair with cleats (heavy!) but damn stiff and I can walk in them fine but they do look gay (IMHO) but not as gay as some of the shoes I’ve owned and worn in my past (try purple rollers, michael jackson style pixie suede boots with buckles all over them or black leather boots with 15cm heels lol?).