I'm sticking with my MTB SPD's for the winter. Double-sided for easy entry in the snow, & I heard that Speedplays are hard to get into when they are covered in mud or snow.

The pinnacle of pedals was back when Shimano had their original road SPD's. Despite what they said, you could use the same cleats for both road and mtb pedals, although the cleats looked slightly different. And I mean completely compatible - road cleats with road and mtb pedals, mtb cleats with road and mtb pedals!

But as usual, Shimano discontinued the original SPD road and evolved to SPD-R, which was compatible with nothing, then SPD-L, which was a return to the Look cleat, but was not compatible with Look pedals. Yeah, typical. I still keep a stock of SPD "wings" (they are prone to breaking) and buy NOS SPD road pedals whenever I can find them!

- L.