I have SPD pedals on several bikes, and they are light-years ahead of clips and straps. Once you try them you'll wonder why you didn't do this sooner. However, I am finding the limitations of them. If I'm riding hard I can feel the cleats popping and clicking a little. I'm almost to the point of dropping the money on some SPD-SL road pedals. If you don't own any mountain bikes, and don't care about having a compatible system across the board, I'd vote for road pedals.