Road shoes and road cleats, which stick out and make you walk like a duck, are made for road riding, not stopping by bar-b-ques. SPDs cleats, which are recessed into the sole and are usually found on mountain shoes, are made for the proud and undisciplined road weekend warrior who walks around in bike shoes before, during, and after ride times.
Well, rejoice all ye weekend warriors, because Shimano's new sealed bearing two-sided SPD pedal, the PD-A530, has the SPD cleat holder on top, just like the PD-A520, but it has a flat platform on the other side, so you can ride in your sneakers whenever you feel like it. This also means you no longer need to hop on one foot next to the bike rack like a nutty vagabond each morning before going into work while you change out of your bike shoes and into your work shoes.
Shimano's one-sided SPD pedals, the PD-A520s are 315 grams a pair. And using them with street shoes, meant that you had a choice of either annoying pain from the cleat holder or pain from the round metal pedal axel case sticking into the soft underbelly of your Vans.
The PD-A530s are the new choice on the block. They weigh in at 386 grams a pair, according to a googled German bike part site. Up to now, Shimano's only other choice for a quality sealed bearing two-sided SPD /platform pedal is the MTB SPD M324, but these bad boys weigh in at 530 grams per pair.
Shimano has an update about the pedal on their site. But the Shimano site search for the pedal and its specifications doesn't return results. google for more info. I'm going to get a bunch of pairs from the Shimano dealer. This year Shimano changed their highest level road pedals so they would have a larger platform around the cleat holder, much like the PD-520s and PD-530s. Hold your head up high, weekend warrior.
http://cycle.shimano-eu.com/publish/content/cycle/seh/nl/en/news___info/news/new_shimano_pedals.html
