I guess it depends on what kind of shoe you want to wear. I`m kinda new to road cycling and I was riding with a friend who used SPD pedals on his road bike and really liked them. So I went to the LBS to get some and the guy there told me I should go with speedplay pedals which I did. I really like `em. I believe they are designed more for speed over the SPD`s which are used more on mountian bikes, at least thats what I was told.I guess if you like to walk around alot it would be better to go with SPD pedals though.