Northwave Kameleon Mountain Bike Shoe - Men's - 2007 BCS

I really liked the material of this shoe. The extremely breathable yet tough and comfortable(mm... synthetic) at the same time... the 2 side straps are excellent and hold your own and yes the buckle is simply awesome. The JAWS technology is genius and the fiberglass/carbon soles are exceptionally stiff and offer fantastic energy transfer. The massive tread on these bad boys also come in handy(but not overkill and still work with most pedals)I am superbly and tremendously satisfied.

These are great XC shoes. They are very light and very well ventilated. So not suitable for cold or cool weather riding. And probably dont offer much protection - would be ideal XC race shoes. I normally wear a 44 and the 43 fit perfectly. They would probably be considered on the wide side but not overly. Only complaint would be that the two piece insole doesnt completely come out. Part of it does but there is a felt piece which is glued to the shoe and when wet takes ages to dry. Shoe is very flat and doesnt offer much arch support. Look great and are very comfortable.

I've been wearing NW shoes for several years now, I like them better then sidis (previous shoe, not very stiff), or Nike (Cairns RIP), or Specialized. I find the Kamelons to be very comfortable for my big feet. Stiff enough for riding, not to bad for the occasional hike-a-bike. And they don't look like space man shoes.

One draw back to the shoes is that there isn't a lot of protection on them (they are more XC then anything else), so had the misfortune of having a piece of bamboo slide around the instep sole, then puncture the leather (pleather?) and into my foot. I glued the hole shut and have been using them ever since. That pair is near death as they are starting to tear around where the material is joined to the sole.

I find they fit big, I wear a 45 in most other cycling shoes and a 44 is spot on. Nice and ventilated, occasionally after a dirty ride, I have very dirty toes. I dumped the included spikes and replaced them with soccer/football cleats, works a lot better. The buckle is surprisingly robust.

All in all, I really like the shoes. I'm looking for another pair.

So now that I've got a few hundred miles of technical singletrack on these I feel like I can give a fair review.

First off, these run LARGE not small. My friend's 43 Sidis are just barely too small for me and the 42s from NW fit like a glove.

Strengths:
1) It's stiff. Power transfer is good.
2) Roomy toebox. I have wide, relatively high volume feet. They fit well.
3) Good traction. I'm confident when hike-a-biking or scrambling around on a variety of terrain.
4) Buckle is easy to use and very adjustable. I love the 1-click looser feature.
5) They look decent.

Minor quibbles:
1) Buckle strap is a little high for my bone structure. On long technical downhill sections I feel it pushing into the front of my ankle. It's not a matter of tightening or loosening the strap as I've tried both, but actually where it is placed on the shoe. I was able to alleviate the problem significantly by fine tuning my cleat placement, but it is exerts pressure at times. Probably wouldn't be an issue for someone with smaller bone structure in their ankles.

2) I get hotspots under the cleats on long (2 hr +) rides. Not unbearable, or even that uncomfortable, but not ideal either.

3) Decorative white pattern isn't teribbly durable. I scraped off a sigfnificant section in a techy granite rock garden.

Unanswered questions:
1) Durability. I banged the left buckle on a rock. It still functions perfectly, but the impact did loosen it up a little. I worry that it might not survive a few more impacts like that (which happen with some regularity in the course of taking tight rock gardens at speed). On the other hand, tread wear seems good and the uppers appear relatively indestructible. If I do break the buckle I'd consider buying the 3 hook-and-loop strap version.

Bottom line: Damn good XC/trail shoe particularly for those who need a roomy toebox. An amazing value as well(I got it off this site for less), but would pay close retail if I had too.