My wife and I ride Eggbeaters. They have four-sided entry so you don't even have to look down to clip in. MTB shoes are great because you walk around freely in them just like regular shoes instead of waddling like a duck. That means you can walk on your hardwood floors, into coffee shoppes etc. The power transfer loss thing makes no sense because you are directly, mechanically coupled to the bike just like any other clipless pedals. Some people say that the platform on the non-mtb pedals gives you better support but others say that if you buy shoes with stiff soles this it's a push, which makes sense to me. How much power can a recreational rider lose?

^^^^^^This

If you want to use them with road shoes you can get these 3 hole cleats: LINK

Eggbeaters have a reputation for breaking within a few years, whereas all the other pedal systems last much, much longer. To be fair they did come out with new versions last year, don't know if they actually improved reliability.

Shimano spd's are good cleats, they don't have a lot of "float" but they're reliable, good, cheap, etc.

Time ATAC's are my favorite "mountain" cleat/pedal. They have more float than spd's (though a few people prefer the more restricted float of spd's), better at shedding ice/snow/mud (I bike in the winter), and like spd's they have a reputation for lasting a long time.

However, those are all mountain cleats.

As other people have said, with a shoe with a stiff sole their isn't any difference in power transfer between mountain and road shoes.

I ride with Speedplay Light Action's on my longer distance road bike. I like them because they're dual-sided so I don't have to look down to clip one foot back in, and they have a ton of float. If I had to buy new stuff though, I'm not sure whether I would stick with Time ATAC's on all my bikes, or still go with Speedplays on my long distance road bike. I dunno...there's not a "huge" difference.

prefer the spd-sl the pedals are just large enough esp for the 105s and up that you "could' use sneakers for super short trips to a friend's house ( I sound like I am 13 or something... ah ha. ). The smaller eggbeaters and speedplays are much less comfortable with normal shoes no matter how short the ride.

I love my 105's for this reason. I commute to work most days (only 1 mile) and go on short bar hopping rides with friends on the weekends, I can do these rides in any type of shoe

Some road shoes like Specialized have a heel made out of rougher material so when you are standing you are on the cleat and the heel and there's no worry about slipping. They still aren't that natural to walk in but definitely better.

I second this. Keo's were my first set, I was able to clip in and out easy.

Egg beaters are probably the easiest pedal type to get out of, you just kinda twist your foot past the float range and you're out, no extra force needed. . Pretty easy to get in, you don't have to worry about which side of the pedal is up. Sometimes can be a big tricky to get in by feel alone if the foot angle/position isn't quite right and there's not a ton of tactile feedback that you're aligned right.

Look Keo type pedals are the easiest to get into IMO, as long as you find the right side of the pedal. They're weighted to hang a certain way all the time, so it's not too big of a deal. Finding the right foot alignment to clip in by feel is the easiest due to the large cleat toe acting as a guide (I haven't tried Speedplays, so they might be better)

I would not recommend SPDs. They are the hardest to clip in by feel in my experience and offer no real advantages.

Ummm, not so sure about that - especially when used as road pedals.. We're getting 25,000 miles out of SL's before a rebuild. ...And they are very rebuildable.

You know you're right, I don't know as much about their durability when used as road pedals. I know when used as mountain bike pedals they developed a crappy reputation for breaking within a year or two a lot of times.

Oh yeah - the one other thing I dislike about the eggbeaters I owned was that you couldn't tell by feel when you clicked in. You sort of tried to clip in and had to wiggle your foot to check if it worked (if you wanted to check). One thing I like about the Time ATAC is that you can feel it clip in so you know when you're clipped in. I don't quite remember how it was for spd's...

Many road shoes have holes for SPD and Eggbeater type cleats. There are also stiff soled "touring" shoes that take SPDs. I currently use and prefer SPDs on my road bikes and mtb.

There's not much point in my opinion, though, in putting "mountain" cleats on a road shoe. You don't gain anything because the cleat is the same size, but you do lose the tread on the sides that makes the shoe more walkable. Actually...I think it makes the shoe less walkable because at least with a road cleat it's fairly large though slippery, whereas a mountain cleat is small and slippery.

I'm thinking he saw this on Fox News. I think this statement is utter horse apples and the most preposterous thing I've read on BF in some time.

Let's see some links to this "science"...

I agree. Cleat adjustment is easy and doesn't have to be perfect. Speedplays are easy to adjust, too, but seem to be more picky on the shape of the sole.

Go eggbeaters, very easy to use. I have them on my Trek 7.5 FX and my Madone and use it with Pearl Izumis https://www.rei.com/product/810725/pe...ike-shoes-mens , I needed a pair of shoes that I can workout in the gym and these fit the bill.

screw spd...if you're concerned with riding road and you feel you outgrew your hybrid you'll regret getting spd's...you won't regret paying more for nicer shoes and a decent set of pedals...look keo classics or easy

spd-sl

This is correct in my experience. I went from SPDs to SPD-SLs with the same brand / quality of shoe for each system, and could feel ZERO increase in efficiency. It's all about how stiff the shoe is. If you have a stiff shoe SPDs are fine. SPDs are so much easier to clip into as well.

I've been riding with SPD-SLs for a few weeks now and I've *mostly* gotten the hang of it, but plenty of times I still have trouble getting clipped in because the pedal is upside down and I have to make a second attempt while soft pedaling, which costs me time and speed. Because of this I'm pretty sure my average speed is a slight bit lower with the SPD-SLs.

Shimano 105s

As you can see there is plenty of options out there. You mention "beginner" and if you are like me you will start out with an less expensive set and then go to something better. I did just that. I now think it was a mistake. Do some research and go with a high quality set first. I now use Speedplay Zero's and like them very much. They are a great "Stomp and Go" petal and there customer service is great too. They have the best adjustments in the field that I know of and with there rubber covers quite walkable. When starting out on a steep hill, you need to get clipped in fast and sure, and these make it easy once you get used to them. Now you have one more opinion. Good luck and safe ridding.

I wasn't sure I was going to like riding clipless when I first started using them so I got a pair of Shimano SPD-M520 pedals for my road bike and a pair of Specialized Sport MTB Pro shoes. I mainly did it for the cost factor; around $150.00 for pedals and shoes. If I didn't like or couldn't get used to riding clipless, I wasn't out a lot of money. I now ride clipless all the time and have really become used to those shoes and pedals. I can clip in on either side of the pedal (like Speedplays) and they are very easy and fast to clip in and out of. I was thinking about changing to road shoes and pedals until my wife got her recumbent racing trike that came with SPD pedals on them. I'm staying with what I have for a while longer.

Just went clipless myself and love my Shimano 105's. Worked pretty good for me being a total beginner.

I like my Shimano 105s SPD-SL a lot better than my friends eggbeaters.

I use these:

https://www.amazon.com/Shimano-SH-M07...116118&sr=8-35

With these:

https://www.amazon.com/Shimano-PD-A53...3116237&sr=8-3

On both of my bikes. I don't off-road at all, all paths and roads. I also like walking in my shoes when needed - I couldn't get comfortable with the Road shoes. Since I have two bikes, I like the flexibility of using the cleats with either bike, or just regular shoes. Good luck!