I'm new to road-cycling and wondering if there is a real, concrete reason to go for clipless pedals right now. I bought my bike used, and the person I bought it from had aerobars and clipless pedals on the bike. I took off the pedals and put on cheap flat ones, wanting to get used to the bike itself before attaching myself to it (also wanting to not spend the money that shoes cost). I also removed the aerobars, after experimenting with them because where I ride there are a lot of obstacles---cars, traffic lights, pedestrians, other riders, etc--and I felt it took too much time to keep moving my hands back and forth to the brakes.

I'm reconsidering the pedal thing. I've seen the pedals where one side is flat and the other side has the piece to clip into, and I think that would be a good step between what I have now and the totally clipless ones that were originally on my bike. I'm wondering if there is really a benefit (other than on hills) to spending what will amount to about $200 for shoes plus new pedals. Money is tight right now, but I could sacrifice some other things if this really is beneficial to riding.

At this point, I'm looking at doing long distance riding, versus triathalons, if that makes a difference. What do you all think? Did you move into clipless over time? Is it worth the financial investment if I'm not all about speed?