Bicycle Mechanics - Pedals and Cleats and Shoes Oh My.

I am fairly new to cycling and am looking at replacing the standard pedal with a shoe/pedal combination. I received a pair of Northwave Elite MTB Cycling Shoes for Christmas, and need to accesorize them. Do all shoes fit all pedals, or are there specifications I need to look for when buying the pedal/cleat/shoe combination?

Thanks

Most shoes accept SPD cleats, and many of them accept SPD-R cleats, as well. Speedplay frog cleats fit on most MTB shoes as well.
Road cleats, such as LOOK, Time, and speedplay road cleats don't usually fit MTB shoes.

great shoe..
I think they take spd. look for the douple sided ones its easyer to get into.
and dont be cheap. (you would hate to be 30 miles from home and have your cleats/clips fall apart).


K

I love my Northwaves. And they do take SPD cleats. The pedals you buy will (almost always) come with a set of cleats.

Since you did not specify what kind of bike or riding you do, you might have many choices in pedals. I would also recommend double sided SPD if it is a road bike, and you will always ride cleated. If it is a more general use bike, you might want SPD on one side and platform on the other. I did that on my city bike (Shimano :( M324s - they are actually OK).

As for cheap, that is a matter of degree. For various reasons, I chose VP-104s for my road bike, and love them. They may be discontinued now, and therefore very cheap. These particular models supposedly can't be repaired (whereas the 106s can), so I picked up a few pairs as they were being dumped by stores. However, evidence from people here indicates that several years of hard riding should not be a problem. Then I can see personally if they really can't be repaired. ;)

Good luck!

Cheers...Gary

http://www.Nashbar.com has some Shimano M515 (doublesided) for about $55.

Thanks for all the great information. I have one more ignorant question. The shimano M515 pedals show they do not come with cleat nuts. So would this require the SPD cleats to complete the shoe, cleat, pedal combination?

FYI .. I use the bike mainly for triathlons. I will be starting my second year in the great sport. I average between 100 and 200 miles a week, mostly on the open road.

Thanks again.