Difference between mb shoes/pedals and proper road shoes

phreak

At the moment I have mb shoes and pedals so I don't have to worry about walking in them. Just wondering what kind of performance gain could be expected if I were to upgrade to proper road shoes and pedals?

fnegroni

Road shoes are in general lighter, stiffer (at the same price point) and have a larger contact area if you opt for 3 bolt attachments, with less float.

Performance wise you gain more foot stability at higher cadence, but you might find it will hinder you more in town.

I opted for the dhb R1 shoes and am very happy with them.

keef66

I'm in the same position as you, and unlikely to change any time soon. I like being able to walk when I get off the bike, and the cleats last for years.
I have seen this question asked innumerable times on this forum and the view seems to be that for serious racing a road shoe / pedal gives you a wider, stiffer platform to stomp on, and you feel more attached to the bike.
Some people claim that the smaller contact area of spd's leads to hotspots on the soles of the feet, but I've never experienced this and a decently stiff soled mtb shoe should make it unlikely.

phreak

I can forsee keeping my current setup for commuting as it's that much easier, just wondering whether to upgrade for sportives or longer rides out in the countryside.

FSR_XC

There are a lot of people who use SPD on their road bikes (me included) and can happily travel large distances without any issue.

Unless you want to save (for example) 10 seconds or so every 5 miles or you can feel the pressure of the small cleat on the ball of your foot, personally I'd stick to what you know.

craker

I've just upgraded to SPD-SL on my road bike, now it could be the poor quality of my older spd shoes, ~10 yo Nikes that gave me acheing soles, or the cleat-pedal combo which gave me slight knee pain, but the new setup is way better if you exclude the need to hobble along the road at any point.

I've yet to master clipping in & out as readily (am nervous at junctions) but it's a much more solid combination than my old setup. The shoes are so stiff, that's a big plus for me but no doubt you can get two-bolt shoes that are as stiff.

DomPro

Im using Shimano M520 pedals and SPD shoes. The pedals are intended for MTB, so they are very heavy compared to road pedals which is a downer. But for my first set of pedals they will have to do. Although I regret not buying quality road shoes in the first place, like SIDI or something like that.

John.T

I use SPD M520 on my winter and fixed bikes and SPD-SL on the best ones. There is very little difference in weight and both are secure in use. The M520 are easier to get into, especialy on fixed, as you just have to hit the pedal and you are in. With stiff soled shoes both give good support. The sides of the recessed sole on the MTB shoe sit on the edges of the M520 pedal but this does not seem quite as secure as the SPD-SL set up. If I was not racing and doing long hilly rides I would not bother with the SPD-SLs. If I had only one bike or set of shoes then I would choose SPD any time.