Road pedals or SPDs. Is there an advantage to the road versions?

SPD for me
SPD for me

If you want wide in the toe
If you want wide in the toe (footbed) then Northwave or Lake tend to be good, recommended to a lady in our group recently and she’s much happier.

I think SLs generally make you ride a bit more with the front of your foot than usual spd, a friend of mine with arthritis can’t use SLs due to this.

You may also find club riders are in the process of changing to winter bikes or shoes at the moment with slightly different pedals or shoes. My cleat on my left winter shoe needs adjusting but I would have looked awful on this week’s ride (like Matt on GCN). As mentioned above though, when you get it right, quickly, there’s a hell of a click…

I use the privateer r with

I use the privateer r with speedplay frogs (sort of spikey spd cleats, that fit into the recess) on my CX bike, which I also use as my commuter and winter roadie. So they mainly see road commuting and (very) occasional CX and winter 50-milers. Happy with them – decent balance between road stiffness and comfort. and they’re pretty tough too. There should be some decent deals on them now.

For me personally I use both.

For me personally I use both. SPD’s on the MTB and CX bike, and SPD-SL ‘road’ cleats on the road bike, and I don’t find road cleats any harder to clip in. Road pedals (Shimano SPD-SL/Time/Look etc.) tend to have a bigger platform and in my experience spread the load across the foot more so you’re less likely to get the hot spots you can sometimes get with SPD type pedals, and usually feel more connected and stable on the pedal too. That may however have as much to do with the shoes. MTB shoes usually have softer more flexible soles to make them more sutable for walking, and this can allow the smaller presure point of SPD pedals to cause the discomfort on long road rides. Road shoes usually have much stiffer soles so don’t suffer the same issue. My point is you could probably use stiffer soled road shoes with two-bolt cleat drillings (like many ‘touring shoes’ eg – http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-rt82-spd-touring-cycle-shoes/ ) and SPD pedals on a road ride and not get the pressure point problem. It can certainly be useful having shoes you can walk in more easily, especially for commuting or touring/sightseeing rides where you’re likely to be stopping/walking a bit more.

As beigemaster says, roadies

As beigemaster says, roadies are very conservative, they will use what their father used unless they can use what their grandfather used!

As a roadie myself, i have used both SPD and road pedals and i do find the road version a little bit more stable and they have a more secure feeling.  I think your experience may reflect on the club riders rather than the pedal/shoe choice, i can almost always clip in immediately (within 1/2 a crank revolution) with my road pedals, like most things, it comes with practice.