So I'm looking to get clip on pedals and shoes. I do mostly commuting, but I'll be doing a 100 km ride in a month so I want something that will be comfortable over 5+ hour rides.
Should I be going SPD or racing pedals? SPD has a major advantage for me: I can walk in my biking shoes. That means I wouldn't need to carry an extra pair of shoes with me wherever I go. That being said, I wonder if it's worth the trade off in performance or comfort. Any thoughts?
I'm leaning towards SPD right now. The two shoes that interest me currently are Bontrager RL and Pearl Izumi X Project 3.0. The Bontragers have a wide fit, which suits my foot a bit better, but the Pearls have more comfortable material and seem far more breathable. I'm not sure which to go with.
Any advice is appreciated.
I just went through this as I put SPD on my new bike after using Look for the last 3 years. Here's my experiences and feedback:
It depends on the shoe you buy and how much you may want to walk in it. There are some SPD shoes that are very casual, but their soles are going to be less tiff which isn't ideal for longer rides. So in some cases you may still want to bring shoes with you. I have a pair of Giro Privateer and Giro Republics. Both are comfortable to walk in, but I don't know if I'd spend an entire work day in them.
If you want SPD, but are worried about long rides then look into the Shimano A530 and A600. They're touring pedals and offer a wider frame area to cover more of your foot. In theory this helps provide a better contact area which should lead to less hot spots and numbness on longer rides. I just did a 3ish hour ride on these pedals and they were pretty comfortable. I had some numbness and hot spotting but that may have been do more to the shoes than anything. FWIW I had a period of of this on my Looks too.
As for the shoes, they're pretty much the same shoe. Most of the SPD shoes will be of similar style and material especially if you're only looking at the MTB category. Shimano makes the SH-RT82 which is their touring shoe and it has stellar reviews from all over. I would give that one a look.
A word of caution with SPD: they're finicky as hell and will require a few rides to get the pedal situation figured out. They have float, but not nearly as much as Look or Speedplays. What this means is you're going to need to be a bit more precise in lining up the cleat. I'd look up some videos on how to set up your cleats. It's straight forward (it's two bolts), but adjustment and tuning will require some more thought. Get familiar with the pain locations so as to better understand where to adjust the cleat.
