Shimano AM-41 Shoes - Initial Review

I have been riding with Shimano shoes for years but when my DX shoes started falling apart (after 4 years of beating on them) I started looking at some of the newer, sexier shoes in the shops. There is a lot of great competition in the shoe market right now, with Five Ten leading the way in the flat shoe market and Teva making some really nice looking shoes. Then I found someone who was selling a brand new set of Shimano AM-41 shoes on the NSMB Buy and Sell for a great deal and they were in my size, so I jumped on it. More about these shoes after the jump.