I have Shimano SPD on both my MTBs and also the tandem. I guess I initially bought the SPD pedals for my hybrid because they were on special and I had no reason to buy something else at that stage. Then my first MTB came with them too. My DH also has them on all his bikes and so it made good sense from a "standardisation" point of view to have one set of spare pedals, one set of spare cleats, and when he needed to test ride my bike after fixing it there were no problems with compatibility.

Since then I have also put them on the tandem for me, and bought shoes for the DD and put a spare set of SPD pedals on the stoker position too. And when I bought my Specialized Era I had them put SPDs on it too. So we're pretty much an SPD family except for the roadies.

I hear plenty of people having a preference for all sorts of things and I figure whatever they like is fine, but I have not really had any problems with SPDs, and it is really good to be able to throw whichever pair of shoes on and know they'll be fine.

As for shoes (I am the Imelda Marcos of bike shoes - 5 pairs at the moment) I have never bought a pair of Specialized. I have two pairs of Shimanos, one pair of Exustar, one pair of Wellgo and an ancient pair of Adidas. I like them all for different reasons. The only gripe I have is that the Shimano "skate shoe" style are nice to walk in but a bit too flexible for a long day of touring on the tandem, as I get hotspots under the balls of my feet eventually. I do lust after a nice pair of pretty girly SIDIs but I always shop with my Scottish genes in mind so will have wait until I win the lottery or see a REALLY good special!