Originally Posted by
PaulRivers
There's not much point in my opinion, though, in putting "mountain" cleats on a road shoe. You don't gain anything because the cleat is the same size, but you do lose the tread on the sides that makes the shoe more walkable. Actually...I think it makes the shoe less walkable because at least with a road cleat it's fairly large though slippery, whereas a mountain cleat is small and slippery.
I would agree. If you have mountain shoes, get mountain pedals. If you have road shoes, SPD cleats are nearly unwalkable. While SPD-SLs give a large platform for you to stand on, walking on SPD cleats feels like trying to balance on a marble. You have far less stability.
I've also never felt I had any traction problems with SPD-SLs with Specialized shoes. Walking is a little awkward, sure, but they're solid to stand on and plenty grippy for most situations. Far better than SPDs on the same shoes.