Originally Posted by
sstorkel
I also went from road to mountain pedals and shoes. I do enough off-road riding that I got tired of switching back and forth between two different sets of pedals and shoes. The fact that MTB pedals are easier to clip into, easier to release, and allow me to walk around without fear of twisting my ankle was just icing on the cake. I've yet to encounter any downside to using SPD MTB pedals everywhere...
I have been experimenting with making the transition back myself. I used MTB pedals for years, and eventually used road pedals on my road bike. I still used MTB on the mountain bikes. When I bought my gravel bike I was torn on which to put on on it. I did some research and found what seems to be the best of both worlds. I found some Giro MTB shoes with carbon soles that actually weigh less then my road shoes, and are just as stiff. Then I mated them to Shimano A-600 pedals, which have about the same surface area of my Ultegra's. There have been no hot spot problems even when I did a century ride in this combination a couple of weeks ago.