Originally Posted by JeremyZ

Congrats on the new ride; it's very nice.
Regarding pedals, I went through the same thing when I bought my first bike that didn't come with them.
I had tapped out my funds on the bike, and didn't want to spend more on pedals and such.

So I got some cheap plastic ones. Reading here, it became apparent that pedal bearing friction is maybe the biggest single energy waste in non-committed cycling. They didn't used to be so bad; they used to have good bearings, but slowly, they got cheaper and cheaper, and the bearings are what suffered. Go to the bike shop and try the bearings in your hand of some cheap pedals vs. some nice ones. You won't believe the difference.