SaiKaiTai

Shimano M324s it is. I figure since I have Shimano shoes cranks, it should be a slam-dunk
Oh, and I ordered a Park Tools pedal wrench, too.
They should arrive in about a week. We will see what we see.
Ooooo... The exciting world of cleats! A big adventure.

Thanks for all your input and advice, folks! You're a great bunch'o old farts, you are!

RockyMtnMerlin

Don't forget: righty tighty lefty loosey won't work on both pedals.

Hiland_hall

I just entered the cleat world about 9 months ago... I went with Look at first, and for the way I ride it was a big mistake. It's really hard to walk in Look cleats. I switched to SPD by the end of the summer.

crtreedude 

Welcome to the clipside... You will never be the same. Now you just have to learn to pedal all over again.

Hermes

+1 Take it easy for a few rides and do not push big gears and climb steep hills. You can now apply power throughout the entire pedal stroke and it will take your knees some period of time to adopt as well as ligaments and tendons to the new motion and forces. Congrats.

Blackberry

I'll bet you find it pretty intuitive pretty quickly. I rode for nearly 30 years in toe clips and was feeling almost perfectly at ease going clipless within a few weeks--and I'm not that bright.

SaiKaiTai

Thanks all. I will, of course, keep y'all updated and I will, of course, report my falls (may they be few)
I'm really excited about this big step forward.

The Weak Link

I used M324 for a long time and really liked them. I now put them on the stoker's pedals of my tandem so that my wife can click in.

I have switched to the M520 and like them even more. They're easier to click into than the M324's, and a bit lighter.

I've "gone down with the ship" many a time, but it's always been in the context of MTBing. On the road I've never had a problem bailing out, and I ain't no beast.

stapfam

Now when you go to fixing the cleats to the bottom of the shoes- have a couple of things to hand. You probably will have to cut a Flap off the bottom of the shoe and I find a Stanley Knife and a pair of pliers do the job.(The pliers are to lift the flap while cutting it- so keeping your hands a way from the Blunt rusty blade that always seems to be in the knife). When you fix the Cleats in place- remember that most of us ride with our toes pointing in at the toes- so try to set both cleats up to give the same angle and in the same position on the shoe. When Fixing the screws - Put some grease on the threads. It won't help in 5 years time when you want to remove them- but does help in the first couple of weeks if you have to change the cleat position.

And finally- Make certain you really tighten those cleat bolts. They can come loose very easily if not really tight.

Edit----- On the subject of "Falling Off"-- A couple of years ago I was on an organised ride. Soon after the start there was a set of traffic lights, and across the road at the front were the top roadies. Nicely balanced- all had the right foot clipped in and just touching the road with the left toe. All looked very professional and ready to go till the rider on the Left lost his balance and fell right. They all went down like a pack of cards. It was not one of those situations when nobody noticed. Must have been 200 hundred riders on their MTB's and wallmart specials That could not ride for about 5 minutes until they stopped laughing.

So if you are going to fall- Make certain you fall into other riders and blame it on them.

SaiKaiTai

Cut a flap? Yikes! Really? Where would I want to do that in the pic below?
I thought I just needed to remove the "plate" on the sole and screw in the cleats
(thanks, too, for the tips on cleat positioning. I wouldn't have thought of that)

stapfam

That "Plate" on the bottom will need cutting out so be ready for it.Attachment hopefully shows section with red square to cut out, and underneath this you will hopefully find the Fixed Nuts to bolt into

SaiKaiTai

Even better... that plate is screwed on. Unscrew plate, screw on cleats. Good ol' Shimano
I figured going with Shimano shoes and Shimano pedals, I couldn't go too wrong.
In fact, had my wife bought any shoe other than Shimano, I would not be so sanguine about this move. Good wife!

staehpj1

Not so bad to walk in if you use cleat covers. At least that was my experience (Sidi Theta shoes).

BluesDawg

But they sure do give you a solid connection to the pedals when riding, and that's what really counts on a road bike.