pedals/clips/clipless 101?

[pinkbikes]

Wahoo! Very exciting. Bet you can't wait to get out on that puppy!

If they are SPD pedals you can just get pretty much any shoe as long as they are drilled for a two bolt cleat. It may be best to take the SPD cleat with you when you go to buy them so you can check for sure that the holes line up, because sometimes you get a knucklehead of a shop assistant who just assumes they'll be ok and gives you that "yeah it'll be fine" thing with the airy wave. And then you get home it it isn't really fine!

An MTB shoe will probably be better just from the point of view that the SPD cleat recesses into the sole and does not usually protrude beyond the tread of the shoe. This makes it a bit more stable for walking in and it doesn't scratch your floor! Also if you end up getting SPD pedals for your tandem you will be able to wear them for touring on it too and still be able to walk around like a normal human at the end of the day (not like a duck)! I only take one pair of shoes when we tour - the MTB ones.

The only down side of an MTB shoe is that if you decided later that you wanted to go all hardcore roadie and buy a more roadie-style pedal and cleat system it is quite likely that the roadie cleat will be too large to fit on the MTB shoe. It' a one way thing.... plenty of roadie shoes will take SPD cleats but most SPD style shoes won't take roadie cleats (well the three bolt ones anyway)!