GrannyGear

I'm increasingly daytripping with my sport touring Romulus....especially for rides in the hills and other scenic places where I want to get off, walk around, then pedal off again. I'd like to remove the Looks and go to SPD (my first such pedals). Can somebody recommend a pair of SPD compatible shoes that are stiff soled enough to be good road shoes (not mountain bike/lugged sole) but are still somewhat walkable...I'd rather land on stiff soled than a pair of mostly walking shoes.

Is there such an animal?
Thanks.

cyclezen

Zactly! I recently got a pair of Pearl Izumis - vagabond 2, I think. They are Mtb shoes, BUT, for all I can tell, they look like a road shoe except they have a a small perimeter of thin sole lugs around the sole.
This allows the SPD cleat to be 'recessed' and walking happens easily on the lugs. If you were to take the lugs off, for all intent you'd have a road shoe. I've seen this type of shoe from just about every other shoe maker. The soles on the Pearl Isumis are really stiff and give an excellent power transmission.
These fit me the best in their price range, due to a roomier toebox, which still retaining a snug fit around the rest of the foot.
And you can walk quite normally in them, with almost no abrasion to the cleat.
But they only fit the 2 bolt SPD pattern - no three hole.
I use them with eggbeaters and am totally stoked on the performance of the combo.
A huge improvement over cloggin around on road shoes with exposed cleats.
I use them

pulley

I use Shimano M-120 for the very reasons you speak of (they have very small cleats, lousy mountain shoe) and they are reasonably priced. I also have a pair of Shimano sandals, they work great when it is warm out. See link below:
https://www.performancebike.com/shop/...egory_ID=2120#