Thoughts about Peloton?

There's been some chatter about Peloton among the crew recently, specifically Jan and Rorie. Jan seems to love it; I think Rorie just got one, so he hasn't talked about it much yet.

My question is, does anyone else here have/use a Peloton bike? What are your opinions about it? I regularly use an exercise bike at home, but it's a pretty inexpensive one I got off of Amazon (about $150 or so). Still, I don't really have any complaints about it.

I'm mostly wondering how a Peloton bike justifies its $2200 price tag. They have always seemed wildly overpriced to me, but this recent interest among the Bomb crew has caused me to revisit the idea of getting one. Any thoughts? What are your experiences?

I think it is aimed more of the people who (or at least used to) pay for regular spin classes at the gym. Cost vs that expenditure is likely more reasonable.

If you are happy with your current exercise bike, then that's great! All that is important is that it works for you. You don't have to have flashy gear to get a good workout.

If you are looking to upgrade, if you have a decent bike, I'd just get a smart turbo trainer (a lot of turbo trainers past the cheapo ones come with built-in cadence, speed, or power meters. My Kurt Kinetic turbo trainer came with a pretty decent one). It offers a similar experience to a Peloton and is much cheaper. There's a ton of apps you can use with smart trainers to mimic spin class-type workouts.

The other thing to keep in mind with Peloton bikes is that a lot of their metrics and instructed courses are locked behind a subscription that is in addition to the cost of bike. Without the $40 subscription, you only have rudimentary features available.

Yes, as was said above, Peloton bikes are basically spin class but at home. That's who they're targeting. If you don't want to do their instructor-led stuff, then the bikes are not really worthwhile, especially when there are cheaper and better alternatives available.

My opinion is that Peloton stuff is massively overpriced. For the price of a Peloton you can buy a pretty decent beginner/intermediate road bike and an upper tier smart turbo trainer that will give you an as good or better experience (plus you can bike outside too!). And that's not even factoring in the $40 per month for their subscription service to use the Peloton bike to the full potential.

I can’t speak to it’s quality versus other (cheaper) bikes. I simply like it because the video classes keep me engaged and make time move faster than peddling away to music or something...though admittedly not enough to make me use it for more than a very expense clothing tree recently.

Consider buying an Airdyne Pro/AD7, Dick's Sporting Goods always has them for ~$700 pre-tax on Black Friday. Budget a new seat since it's apparently terrible. Oh and if you're short (closer to 5"), the Airdyne is one of the few that'll probably fit you.

Also possibly consider a rower if you want to upper body, Concept2 is the only brand you should be looking at. Craiglist is you friend.

If you use this site, you're internet-savvy enough to find your own spin class guide/videos.

I was going to say the same thing that dsjwetrwete said. If you like to bike get a decent high quality exercise bike or keep what you have.

If you want another piece of equipment, and you are self motivated a Concept2 rowing ergometer exercises your legs, back and arms all at once - if done correctly. Rowing is about form, and if you get correct form ingrained there is no better workout.

I do not have the money or space for an expensive piece of gym equipment like that. They look really cool but it is just way too much money for me. My gym is open so I just go there. If it wasn't open or closes again then I would just take my bike out or go for a run (I often still do this on nice days since it is nice to get out). Once winter hits I would just stick to the gym. If my gym closes this winter then I could come up with some kind of cardio workout that doesn't require a peloton or any other kind of bike. But if I could afford one, I would definitely consider getting one.

Last winter I bought an indoor trainer (Wahoo Kickr Snap) so I could ride my bike inside with Zwift to get around the snow problem. This was around a $1000 investment (bike +trainer), with the added benefit of being able to take my bike outdoors (since it’s, well, a real bike). I just can’t imagine spending twice that for an indoor only thing, plus the subscription for the classes.

Wherever possible, I always recommend people buy an actual bike. Nothing fancy, just one to get you outside. You can grab a trainer for those indoor workouts and save so much money.

Some caveats: relatively inexpensive bikes like the Trek FX1 (that’s what I currently ride) are difficult to come by at the moment. I’ve also never used a Peloton, so I can’t speak to its actual quality. I just compare price tags, so take that for whatever it’s worth!

I have one and we really enjoy it. Don’t get me wrong, you can basically duplicate the experience for a fraction of the price, but it’s a well made bike and the system works great. If you have a busy schedule, and the means to get one, it is nice to be able to fit a 20-min spin class in without leaving the house.

I’m also just using my oldest road bike (from around 2002) and a trainer. I got the Saris M2 back in March when this started. Upgrading to a wheel on smart trainer from a simple fluid trainer was a nice upgrade. I bought a year of the sufferfest on a sale and I can do my own mental dark souls anytime now.

I have tried a pelton at my in-laws but I was never as into spin classes so didn’t feel it was for me. Plus that monthly seemed steep.

Here to confirm the "buy a road bike and a trainer" recommendations. I have a kickr and use it with trainerroad (my favorite "keep the numbers green" app). My fellow duder who has a similar setup just watches the peloton classes.

Peloton isn’t cheap, but people on This Site also spend about that much for a gaming PC and at least $40 a month on games so....yeah.

My wife appreciates it because she’s the opposite of a SoulCycle type - she doesn’t want to grunt and flop around with a bunch of strangers, but she likes having guidance on form, some light encouragement, and a pretty seamless experience. I was lured into trying it and got hooked myself (I don’t like flopping around either). The bike itself is a tank, easy to calibrate, UX is snappy and maintenance is included. The subscription also covers the app which has off-bike workouts, yoga, meditation. All of it on-demand.

That said, trainers are an excellent value (just be sure to brush your treads before you use it) especially if you have a bike-friendly spot and ride out regularly. As it happens, I’m in a traffic heavy spot and cutting video all day. I’ve had bad luck with bike theft.

It’s been our big joint fitness investment in place of a gym, and if you can afford it or make the trade offs to afford it, and anxiety or motivation (COVID aside) are obstacles, Peloton certainly puts in the work to instill high value. Like anything fitness related, how much you really get out of it is up to you.

BONUS: theres one guy on there Andy Speer who is basically a grown up Jimmy Pesto Jr from Bob’s Burgers. Same voice, loves to dance. He’s hilarious.

Overhyped and over priced

Er - glad the duders/site are doing well enough to blow that much money! Hope they got one at an estate sale or something, those prices are wild, but covid is doing wonders for their stock.

if you wanna go the bike and a trainer route i recommend watching some videos by gplama or dc rainmaker. i feel peloton is the faux luxury version of other shit you could do. they also tried to youtube strike gplama for using the word "peloton" in bicycling news videos so fuck them.

I bought a Peloton a few weeks ago after having a different bike and using it for the classes. I love the classes and leaderboard and it keeps me motivated. Definitely a luxury purchase, but my insurance reimburses me for the monthly fee so that's a plus.

There's something to be said about how easy the product works. However, you can get a very solid road bike and indoor converter for less or just a cheaper indoor bike and save significant money. I personally don't have the budget for it, but if you do and it helps you feel more active then go for it.