The most comfortable shoes I've ever used for tours and mountain biking are Evolv Cruzers, which have no support whatsoever, so maybe don't focus too much on stiffness if you have decently large flat pedals. 5 days in the Highlands the other weekend I was served very well by a pair of waterproof Pal...

Is it not annoying to lose the front loop hand position when attaching bags as suggested? I don't have Jones bars but that's how I always see it done and it seems weird to me.

Picked this up recently and unfortunately it's a bit snugger round the waist compared to Rab kit so it must move on. Not entirely sure if it's a Nitro vest or something else, there's no information on it, but either way it seems to be of good quality with nice loft and Freeflow Titanium shell fabric...