Road Cycling - Mountain shoes/pedals on a road bike?

I was curious, I've heard about this before and was wondering if anyone does or can fill me in here. I just obtained a road bike after a long time of riding mountains and I wanted to know if there was a difference, or more apporpriately, if you could, use mountain pedals and mountain shoes on a road bike?

Thanks.

Yes. You can use mtb pedals on a road bike. Most of the riders I know do it because it allows them to walk around in the same shoes. Mtb pedals are usually a bit heavier and keep your feet farther off the pedal then a road pedal. I also believe, but I am not sure, that road pedals have stiffer springs so they are harder to release but hold your shoe tigher so you can tork the cranks harder.

Slainte:beer:

Thanks a lot. I mean common sense tells me that there's no difference, but since road bikes are all new to me, I just wanted to make sure. I was thinking the same thing as well, that getting some mtb shoes would be good for walking around on.

Also, forgot to ask this earlier, but can you mix and match? IE road pedals with mtb shoes?

Thanks again.

No. The cleats are different sizes. Some road shoes will accept a mtb cleat but I have not seen any mtb shoes that will accept road cleats, mainly because the sole of the mtb shoe will be in the way. There might be some road cleats that would work but I do not know of any.
The thing you will have to get used to the most if you do use mtb pedals are all the "rodies" giving funny looks.

Slainte:beer:

i use mountain shoes and pedals on my Road bike, and I like it. for one thing, the shoes are way more comfortable, and don't look nearly as goofy. As for the stiffer springs, I've never had any problem with my m515s unclipping accidentally while riding, I dunno, maybe i'm not pedalling hard enough...but its nice to be able to get aout at stoplights and what-not

I run Speedplay Frogs on my road/commuter bike with MTB shoes. It is real nice to walk around like a human when off the bike.

Depending on the pedals, there is not a major difference in weight between pedals on road and mtb bikes.

Yeah, what everyone else said. Also, eggbeaters baby, eggbeaters!

I have the same Shimano MTB pedals on both my road bike and my MTB, that way I don't have to pay $X hundred for another pair of shoes. Also because I like to ride to the local shopping mall I can walk around in the MTB shoes whereas with the road ones you can't (or not very comfortably anyway).

I run Eggbeaters on both my road and XC bike with Shimano M220 MTB shoes. I don't win any roadie snob contests, though.

When you try a good, stiff pair of road shoes clicked into a set of good road pedals, you'll quickly forget about your old MTB set-up on your road bike. You'll love the feeling of your whole sole being a platform for pedalling and each stroke will be smooth and totally efficient. Don't make the mistake I did of using road shoes with MTB pedals and cleats. The small cleats put stress on the soles of road shoes and can damage them. Road cleats are large for a purpose: stability and stroke efficiency. For an extra $10 or $15 buy a set of cleat covers you will be able to walk easier in road shoes and do less damage to the cleats and soles.

Rich

I agree Rich, I ride eggbeaters on the mountain bike, Shimano 636, SPD on the commuter because I use my bike to get around at work during the day while wearing work shoes. But on the road and touring bike I ride Campy record pro-fit pedals, I wear a nike touring shoe for long days in the saddle and Shimano 214 road shoes for club rides and centuries. I find that nothing locks you in like the campy cleat system, it grabs your foot with authority and allows you to put the power to the road like no SPD system could ever do. They're light clean looking and relatively expensive but there's nothing out there like them.