Reddit reviews SHIMANO PD-R550 SPD-SL Road Pedals; Black
We found 5 Reddit comments about SHIMANO PD-R550 SPD-SL Road Pedals; Black. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Wide; lightweight resin body provides large shoe contact area to maximize power transfer and supportLarger entry target for easy cleat engagementWide spring tension adjustment rangeDurable stainless steel body plate reduces flex and pedal body wearWide bearing placement for stable; uniform load distribution
I like prefer the SPD-SL pedals compared to the old SPD style.
Make sure that you get the appropriate cleats for your pedals.
SPD-SL cleats : SPD cleats
To add on to someone else's comments, I'd make out your bike and components with that tax deduction. The clothes can come later, and you won't need the cold weather stuff until middle-late fall.
Having long ridden my road bike with shimanos, I did the same as /u/AnieParis. Deltas may be fine, but I've got 10 years of muscle memory...
The road bike has the fancy super light (read: expensive) DuraAce ones... but for the peloton, I just got the low-end SPD-SL's. No issues putting them on the bike, and I much prefer their lower stack-height and general feel.
Mostly weight but the new entry level R550 features a resin composite body as well and are quite affordable. They also feature the wider platform of the higher end models though that doesn't matter too much with stiff cycling shoes.
I purchased the Ultegra pedals from Nashbar when they had a sell on Shimano components in addition to a 20% off any item sale. It came out to $96 compared to $147 for the cheapest Amazon price. ($199 msrp) so I thought it was a stellar deal. Otherwise, I'd go with the 105 pedals (were out of stock at Nashbar at the time of the sale).
The only pedals that I have ever used are Road bike clip-less (specifically, the Shimano SPD-SL type pedals and cleats) so take this with a grain of salt, but from what I've gathered from reading this subreddit road pedals give you slightly more power transfer (when your clipped in its a bit more rigid), but do not plan on walking any kind of major distance in them (anything greater than about 25ft).
With MTB clipless you can find some shoes with recessed cleats, so walking in them is no problem. They also have some MTB "dual-platform" pedals that you can flip over and have a flat surface like a regular pedal like this.
Bottom line is if you plan on riding your bike to do errands, go to school, etc and you don't want to carry a second pair of shoes then MTB clipless is the way to go; if you plan on going on long distance rides for recreation/sport and don't plan on stopping much go for road clipless.
Different shoes have a pretty big effect on your position without adding in the clip less aspect. Though it's not certain you'd even need to, you could set it for the weekend rides and probably get by for your commute. But there's the possibility things won't be optimal without some adjustment.
I just think that if you're doing rides that long it's worth spending money for proper road pedals. To me these two seem like a better deal than this.