wmak said:..I went for a ride with my friend who has pedals with clips and for me to keep up i have to pedal twice when he only has to do it once.
That has much more to do with gearing than with type of pedal. Do note that there's nothing particularly good about keeping the number of pedal strokes down. Do a search about suitable cycling cadence and read a bit.
wmak said:..I want to upgrade pedals and get cycling shoes.
That is still a good idea if you feel that you have the money. You are likely to gain in both comfort, performance and safety once you've gotten used to the connect/disconnect thing.
wmak said:..My question is that what makes a good pedal
Depends on your preferences. Quality-wise they're "all" pretty good these days, even the fairly cheap ones. Some offer more "float"(i.e.allows the foot to rotate w/o disconnecting), which can be critical if your knees are picky. Some, like the eggbeaters, will perform well in mud/snow that would clog other pedals. Shimanos are good because they're everywhere.
wmak said:..I..are they all one size fit all so if i buy it off ebay I can just install it or take it to the bike shop and install it?
There ARE two dimensions available, but one is so much more common that it is almost a moot point Think PC/Mac, only more so.
wmak said:..Any recommendations also?
I started out with Shimano, and switched to Eggbeaters. Ease of engagement is great, retaining ability is consistent, and I have yet to find the snow/mud that will clog them up. They haven't got much of a platform though, so it took quite a few miles to get used to the wobbly feel sideways.
Recently I've bought a pair of Crank Brothers Candy, and I actually prefer those over the eggbeaters on my commuter bike. The presence of a platform makes it easier to power my way through an intersection if I fail to connect cleanly on takeoff.
wmak said:.. i've heard mountin bike clips on a road bike makes more sense for commuting because you can walk on it.
That's right. The MTB line of equipment will have the cleat recessed into the sole, which leaves you with a certain amount of sole tread to walk on. A MTB shoe can look quite "normal" too, if you don't want to draw attention to yourself. A road cleat is bigger, and a road shoe may well have little to no sole tread at all for weight and arerodynamic reasons.
wmak said:... But because they have smaller clips than those chunky road ones, are they less efficient?
Well, the road cleat spreads the attachment to the sole wider apart than for the MTB counterpart, and maybe there's a little more materials overlap in the actual mechanical interface. But before any of that can translate into efficiency losses the rider has to exert enough force for things to start to flex and slide and there simply aren't that many of us who spend enough time (if any!) in that range of output power to make it a real concern.
wmak said:.. I can park the bike under my work place so it won't be too much of an issue to get road ones because I can just take off the shoes and get into the lift.
Removing the shoes and walking barefoot in a public place is something I wouldn't like to do, even for a short distance. Switching to "civilian" shoes only for a lift ride also seems improbable. And once you start riding regularly you're likely to find all sorts of situations when being able to walk around a bit is quite useful.
Besides, you only need one step to slip and fall...
