I get very upset when people, especially those that work at an LBS, get this snobby attitude. I mean really, who cares what kind of pedal you have or what kind of seat you are using or how long you ride for...YOU are the one riding and all that matters is what you think! You don't ride for anyone else but yourself. Bikerchic, I would have told your bike builder to go shove it and then take my business elsewhere.

Emily
Na, I didn't take Jim's attitude as being snobby, one of those things which you probably had to be there to understand his attitude. I did make the choice to stick with my Shimano 747's and mtb shoes which I later found out why Jim suggested I switch to road shoes and pedals. Road shoes have a harder soul which helps you get more power per stroke, I'm glad I switched.

What I didn't understand at the time was that I could have kept my 747's and got road shoes and used my same cleats (std's) on the new shoes. I could have at least saved myself a couple of hundred dollars, sigh.
Hindsight is 20/20.....and all in all I'm happy with my Speedplay set up.