Quote from season on Feb 18th, 2009, 1:56pm:I'm new to bents and clipless pedals. I just bought a Bacchetta strada and I love it. I'm going to get clipless pedals. I'm leaning towards the Bebop; but, I'm concerned with the compatibility with shoes. What is the best cycle shop to get help selecting a first pair of shoes and pedals?
I'm not sure that any shop around here knows enough about recumbents to recommend shoes for one. There are really just two main styles of cycling shoes: road shoes and mtb shoes. Road shoes have mainly hard, smooth soles, and are tough to walk in with cleats installed on them. Mtb shoes have the hard sole covered with a softer one, with a recess where the cleats go, so they're easier to walk in. For spreading out pedaling stresses on your foot, the road shoe systems are better.
That said, recumbent riders, especially high racer riders, tend to favor the mtb shoes, because you don't get your feet down as solidly as you do with a lower bike, making it too easy to have zero speed fall overs. Even with a lower recumbent, because you're sitting, there's not as much weight on your feet when sitting still, so it's still easy to lose traction and fall. That's not to say that all recumbent riders use mtb shoes; some do manage road shoes ok and like them better, but if you're just starting out on a recumbent, I recommend starting with mtb shoes.
If you buy mtb shoes, you will need to get compatible pedals and cleats. Bebops work. So do Eggbeater, spd's, and others. Bebop cleats do require some trimming of the sole on many mtb shoes, for clearance.