Originally Posted by
Nightshade
"Does anyone one out there know of a pedal that works well with shoes that you can walk in, works well in bad weather, but also looks like it belongs on a touring bike?"
IMO the Crank Bros 50/50 pedals are one classy pair of pedals that would look good and work well on any bike.
http://www.crankbrothers.com/pedals_5050.php
I have the 50/50s on my bike and love 'em, their traction is great. They have 9 adjustable allen screws that stick out of each side of the pedals. Both sides are identical so there's no messing around with flipping them over to the "right side", which is nice for just stepping on the pedals and riding. If you want, you take all of the screws out of one side and put them on the other and have 18 on a side for even more traction. I haven't bothered to do this, the traction is more than adequate right out of the box. Plus I don't want to mess with paying attention to which side I'm riding on. Sure when your shoes are caked with mud you'll be a little slippery, but these pedals surprise me with how much they continue to grab, even when the conditions aren't perfect. Best ~$40 I've spent on the bike yet.
You do have to keep an eye on those screws and adjust them occasionally. I've had some of them work their way down into the pedal making themselves useless, and I've found 2 of them worked the opposite way and are missing. I've put a few hundred miles on them since I've checked them out at all. I don't fault the design for this. I should have kept an eye on them. It sounds like a pain but it would have taken about 30 seconds of upkeep.. if I would have thought about it.