Pedal Compatibility Question
 

I'm new to road cycling, but have mountain biked before and used these shoes/cleats with Eggbeaters. I'm about to buy some new pedals for my road bike, but with all the different pedals, cleats, and shoes seem confusing. If I buy something like the Shimano PD-6700 pedals and SPD-SL cleats, can I use these mnt shoes? Or do I have to buy new shoes? If so, how do I know the shoes I buy will be compatible with my pedals?

Any suggestions would be appreciated as well. I'm very new to road cycling.

Thanks,
Rusty

Gnerally road cleats will not fit in mtb shoes. There is not enough room for the cleat and the bolt pattern is different. Many road cleats are much bigger and use 3 bolt pattern. Not all, some will fit but not SPD-SL. If you want to use your same shoes, there is no point really to getting new cleats, just keep using your egg beaters.

The Spd-sl is a three bolt pattern and it appears the shoes you have are a 2 bolt. If you want to use the same shoes find something that uses the same cleat. If you want new shoes, all the road shoes I have see are 3 bolt (does not mean I have seen them all).

SPD-SL cleats require three holes in a triangular pattern. I'm not familiar with those shoes, and I can't tell from the photograph if there are three holes in the shoes. It does look like SPD cleats will fit those shoes. You might want to look at touring or mountain pedals like the PD-A530 or PD-M324 pedals.

You'll need shoes with three bolt holes; another words road shoes for road cleats such as Shimano spd etc. Some road shoes have only 3 holes in triangular Look style pattern and some with both 3 and 2 hole but all the mtb shoes I know of only have 2 holes for 2 bolt mtb cleats such as egg beaters. Even if mtb shoes have 3 holes with higher treads of mtb shoes it probably wouldn't work. Although it is not common you can use eggbeater pedals with your road bike if you are used to using them especially if you don't wanna invest in new road shoes. I use egg beaters on one of my road bike (rain/winter bike) that I ride with my mtb shoes since my cx bike and mtbs I have egg beater/candy pedals.

Thanks everybody. That's what I was wondering. So when I decide on road pedals, I'll just have to get new shoes to go with them.

Check out eriksbikeshop.com they have some really good deals on "clearance" shoes right now.
I got a new pair of 08 specialized carbon road shoes for only $139 and I saw some pedals in the clearance section too.
The fellow that did my recent bike fit really liked the shimano pedals (look are about the same) because of the large area that your foot engages the pedal.