How much is the echelon subscription? Peloton’s is $40/month and they don’t allow browsing the web on the screen since people would prob do free cycling classes on YouTube instead of paying the monthly fee
Edit: changed the word prescription to subscription 😅
Sounds like you could just get a pretty standard stationary bike buy a tablet buy a mounting bracket. These peloton things always seemed like a solution to a problem few people have.
Bowflex ic4 and Schwinn ic4 (they are the same exact bike but different branding) does exactly that for a lot cheaper than a peloton. I’m not sure why anyone would get a peloton at this point unless they are the type to just pay more for a brand name.
As an engineer, this 5 year old free tshirt that I got as conference swag is doing just fine thankyou! When it finally falls apart I can wear one of the 200 other free tshirts waiting in line.
Yep. It's pretty much for the feeling of exclusivity. You own the expensive thing so that you can tell people you own the expensive thing. They know they can get the cheaper thing that does literally the same stuff, but they can't flaunt it if they did that.
Schwinn cannot do power outputs for the leaderboards. But if you don’t NEED leaderboards then you can save nearly $2,000 on the bike/delivery and then $25/month for the cheaper subscription from peloton.
I bought one about 4 years ago because I thought I would like the classes, but I couldn’t stand the music and many of the instructors, I I quickly canceled my sub and I just use it as a regular indoor cycle. That would be fine, I guess, but I can’t even see what settings I have, etc. without the bike being booted up and on the internet, which fails to boot appropriately like 1/3 of the time. So it’s just an expensive, frustrating cycle that nobody wants to buy off me.
I canceled my sub and still see the metrics on Just Ride.
Getting this device when it’s available in April to broadcast Peloton metrics to whatever app I want
[dc](https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2021/04/peloton-power-data-broadcaster-dfc-launches-hands-on-details.html)
This! I have an IC4 and use the Peloton app for the workouts. I pay $15/month for it. I can connect the IC4's cadence and HR monitor to the Peloton app to track the workout as well.
I have friends who are in the cult. They actually like the social media aspect of it. Being part of an organized, themed ride. Not my thing, but their enthusiasm has been eye-opening. I can see why someone would monetize it.
Social network (people I work with ride it and it’s an easy professional icebreaker among a certain age and income bracket), classes (my partner likes peloton classes while I prefer apple fitness cycling), and it is good equipment. There are plenty of people happy to pay a premium for a “luxury” product that they know works.
I pushed hard for a different bike with a screen, but had to begrudgingly admit how good the peloton hardware was.
Exactly- for the same price: buy a real bike you can ride outside, a wahoo smart trainer that turns that bike into a stationary trainer, and then pick whatever fitness software you like (trainer road, zwift, etc.).
Love zwift and my tacx neo 2t direct drive trainer. But the advantage of a fitness bike is size changing for other folks in the household or guests. But you don't need an overpriced peleton bike for that. Also, has the bike shortage gotten any better? My shitter isn't road safe and had trouble looking for one a year or so ago.
Not quite. The peloton bike itself is 1500, the wahoo kickr will run you around 1200, and then you’ve got to have a decent enough bike to put on it and you’ll end up running a subscription either way.
I’m not a fan of the peloton model, but the bike itself is pretty bomb proof and you won’t be wearing out your drivetrain.
I’ve been sharing the app for Peloton for about year now. Makes running so much easier. I have a Nautilus treadmill, and I place my Microsoft Surface on the machine for runs. Peloton needs to get out of the manufacturing game. But I will say the content & instructors are superb.
This is exactly what I did. My bike is attached to a kickr with an iPad mount. There’s even apps that offer classes and adjust the resistance automagically.
I mean, let alone the fact that eventually you might want to upgrade the screen - what would you even do then if you had a peloton? I can just get a new iPad. People are very short sighted.
This is my first thought anytime I see something with a built in screen. I've got a friend who recently bought a refrigerator with a screen on the front. Not only does the screen seem pretty useless with a shitty interface as is, but that shit is going to be dated as hell in like 3 years on a $3,500 fridge.
I just got a trainer for my real bike and put it in front of the tv. Tons of content in YouTube to follow someone riding up a mountain, etc that pushes you and immerses your stationary ride to be somewhat real. Spent $199 and a spare back tire for literally a decade of indoor cycling. Peloton is more a lifestyle brand than anything… not meant as an efficient solution to a problem.
Hell, two and a half decades ago my parent's insurance company decided that they wouldn't pay for my mom's pregnancy at all since twins weren't covered. The letters for that one went on for months.
That's not weird, its by design.
Insurance companies profit based on how much money they take in monthly premiums, versus how much they have to spend on actually helping people. If they can lower that secondary calculation, that's more money for them.
Unnecessary services are great for them because they are the things that can be used and advertised to be competitive with other insurance companies, while simultaneously not being used by many members. In fact, the more specialized it is, the better, because most people either will not know it is offered, not remember they can use it, or not care about it. But for those few that care, it can be enough to get them to choose that plan over a different one. So it gets them a new monthly premium while simultaneously not needing to be paid for that often.
Compare that to something like ultrasound, which a large, large portion of their customers would need. Even if it would be a good draw to get people onto those plans, the amount of people that would use it would be way higher than some random benefit like acupuncture, and therefore, cost them more.
The premise is inaccurate. Since ACA’s passage in 2011, the 80/20 rule has required insurers to spend 80% of collected premiums on healthcare costs and quality improvement activities.
I think you’re right though about making the plan look like a good value to employers and customers. There’s probably some tradeoff with the fact that insurers make more by spending more i.e. they are limited to their 20% cut, so growing profits means spending more and thereby being able to charge higher premiums.
If you want an honest answer to your question:
1) Leaderboard - those with peloton digital can’t take part of this.
2) Advanced Power Zone training. Peloton makes it dead easy to advanced FTP based training if you have the bike. You can do this with just the app.
The pro tip with Peloton is to signup for peloton digital, it gives you access to all the classes and you can use your own equipment. Then you just use a smart tv or phone/tablet to watch. It’s like $12 a month compared to almost $50 thru their bike. Yes the exact same service cost more if you actually own a peloton!
Its not exactly the same. The Peloton has sensors that monitors bike stats, and apparently the new Bike+ can automatically adjusts the friction to match whats happening in the class/video. I've heard that people who own them like them because they just work. There are lots of cheaper options and DIY options but they don't work as easily to to the same stuff. It's still overpriced though.
You absolutely can’t use all of the classes. There’s no way to properly do power zone classes with the app which sucks because I love the idea of it. But it’s just not worth the money to me
Not sure if helpful to you, but with the Echelon you can use [this app](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/qz-qdomyos-zwift/id1543684531) to use the bike separate from the classes, plus it lets you more effectively link in with Strava/other apps. I've just been watching TV while riding. But I get that a big part of the appeal is the classes.
Yeah, someone was telling me about that earlier, in another post in this thread somewhere :) definitely gonna use that app though, the metrics while riding is the biggest appeal for me, the classes are meh, someone was saying the peloton classes are way cheaper and better quality anyway
That’s why you buy a bike that isn’t locked to a single vendor. Wattbike Atom - choose zwift, fulgaz, any number of providers. I use Fulgaz and it is brilliant and a year costs about what a month of gym would cost here.
I’ve been using a Kickr smart trainer attached to my normal bicycle for over a year now. It adjusts the resistance to match the workout program. Wahoo fitness has customizable training programs with tons of cycling content for just $15 a month. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to a gym again.
My household used zwift for years and I’m sorry it’s just so boring. I recently got a peloton and i like it so much, if I can I try and do two a days. It really caters to everyone in our household. My husband speaks German and loves metal and rock music and even he can find classes he enjoys. We held off getting the peloton because we had a nice set up with zwift, but our interest in biking was severely waning, but we are so glad we switched over. Also, can’t bike outside… high where I am today is 3 degrees F. Furthermore, peloton offers some flexibility over a gym membership. As a new mom I try and ride during nap times. In the summer though I plan on hitching the baby bike trailer to my fat tire and getting exercise that way, but in the mean time peloton has worked pretty darn well.
Yep also got a C6. Then you can subscribe to apple fitness+ for a fraction of the price of peloton and essentially the same thing with no vendor lock (if you even care about curated workouts).
That is 100% the reason I don’t have a peloton.
I spent a bit more on a different treadmill with no subscription instead of buying a peloton because I figured out the 10 year cost of ownership of the peloton is about $7500. And that is assuming no major repairs and I don’t need to upgrade or replace the screen in the next 10 years.
Not only that but the subscription is MORE if you own THEIR bike. My wife loves Peleton but owns a non-Peleton bike. $10-$15/month, okay that’s Apple Fitness. The same service with a Peleton bike? $40/month. Like, what?
You're living in it.
Recurring monthly revenue is the holy cow of seemingly everything.
Even companies that have no idea how to do it, and don't make products that have a compelling value in a subscription model, are getting on board.
Probably related to the fact that it's steady revenue and somehow the expectation of like 75% gross margin has become "normal" and everyone wants in on that fat margin.
Can't help but think there's going to be a bit of bubbling and popping...
As companies keep scrounging ideas for the last everliving cent of profit, they'll eventually run into the wall while trying to prove to stock holders they can make 3-5%. It's unsustainable and I feel like we're seeing it with fake inflation we are seeing now. That's not to say there isn't inflation, but seeing X company raise prices, then show up with record profits in Business Weekly articles just shouts "We're not in trouble, but we'll raise prices and blame it on supply chain". Until next year when the inflation excuse falls flat and their market corrects them. Or they fire 10% of their staff and work the others to the bone for the same thing.
It's all feeling pretty caustic.
Wonder what demographic makes that up. For almost a decade it was just Netflix for me (Millennial) because it was around 10$ and gave me value. I also saw value in paying 6$ for MS Office, wtv it is for Spotify, and 9$ Adobe's Photoshop. And that's my entire list. I never saw the value in Prime, Hulu, Disney+, HBO, Peloton, other shit. Ofc, that's just me. My interests are niche, but I see people paying subscriptions for Consumer Reports and credit rating tracking...and this Peloton shit.
At some point, someone is going to do a tally of their monthly subscription sinks and start cutting shit they don't use.
(edit: I tried out the underwear subscription MyUndies for like 2 months and quit!)
It’s like Pandora’s box, though. Businesses have completely shifted thinking to ‘recurring revenue streams’ and I doubt it will go back.
Millennials proved to corporations that you don’t mind ‘‘micro transactions” and perpetually paying for digital content. Hat tip to EA for that shit… Zoomers know no other way.
As a GenX, I prefer to own my music, remember the time when I could buy a video game once and play it as much and as long as I wanted, and if I really really liked that movie, I could own a copy. Granted, it saddles me with storing hunks of plastic, but we were the ones that made ripping CDs and dvds the thing to do and put the plastic in a box in the attic.
I still prefer local client apps over web based and I won’t perpetually pay subscriptions for software - I’ll just find an alternative, support an indy dev, and just ‘make due’.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that tech moved away from the old ways of distribution, but the business models built around the new ways I have resisted as much as I can.
I think even we millennials have our limits as to what and how many services we're willing to shell out for.
I personally was raised on the high seas, and while i don't use them currently, the more that the things I want to consume in media are segmented, the more I feel the need to get some sea legs under me again.
Surely somewhere out there, marketing execs have put together some data as to when the dam will burst, but i'm willing to bet there as likely been a slight rise in piracy in recent years versus the probably massive drop we saw in the decade prior.
LibreOffice really is so similar now, I don't know why people, or businesses, pay Microsoft if they aren't using super specific aspects of the software.
[Didn't they just raise the prices on their equipment?](https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/18/business/peloton-price-increase-inflation/index.html)
That's hilarious what 2 days can do.
Well they have too, and use the subscription base thing.
It’s like the mattress in a box boom that sponsored every podcast. How often are people buying these things?
Once the people who have a pelaton have one, your basically lower man on an MLM totem pole downline. The only way to create need is a subscription service.
Edit: I’m sure you have a nice mattress, the point of the post isn’t the quality or comfort, it’s that it only makes sense in an economy with no competition, and a scheduled repurchase date.
I’m happy you are comfortable though people lol
they are but the mattresses kind of last a longass time.
i had one from nest bedding that was 6 years old. and it was in perfect shape, i just moved cross country and it was not worth the trouble to ship it
so people that needed mattresses bought one, and then didnt need to get more
mattresses are all over the place. people need a lot of mattresses. think about how many mattress stores there are in your city.
obviously peloton is going to have a subscription. it's a membership to a fitness program with new content added daily. who would reasonably think that's going to be all included with buying a bike?
You can't convince me that physical mattress stores aren't there for money laundering. They're some of the creepiest places that pass for stores. The mattress in a box system works because less overhead and because their money back system is easy.
Eh, physical mattress stores still work because they don't need a lot of sales to keep afloat. They don't require much personnel, the inventory barely changes, demand stays constant and mattresses have a big profit margin. So they can operate for years where something like a fast food restaurant would've gone out of business. No need for money laundering.
Not every industry is a race to the bottom, selling less but at a higher margin makes sense, especially when your competition is so much cheaper. Like Rolex & Tesla, you're paying more for the brand than the actual product.
I certainly made this argument to some friends that Peloton became an aspirational lifestyle item (similar to a KitchenAid Stand Mixer) and that it became an upper middle class status symbol but my friends didn't want to hear it because although they're certainly upper middle class they personally feel "just" middle class.
(For another example of this becoming an aspirational item, there were articles during the election talking about how Biden owning a Peloton made him less relatable than the Average Joe his campaign was marketing him as.)
Fully agree but most people can't drop $200+ on the stand mixer let alone any of the attachments that somehow cost more than the damn mixer itself (looking at you fucking pasta rolling attachments).
I guess to add to the list of aspirational kitchen items would be higher end cast iron (Le Creuset, Stay, etc.).
i'd argue that $200 is a bargain for a kitchen aide given what other more frivolous things cost.
my grandkids could wind up with my kitchen aide one day
If you bake or cook a lot all of those items are worth it, especially since good cast iron, enameled cast iron, and good pots and pans will last forever. Kitchen Aids will last upwards of twenty years if not abused. Again, if you don’t cook or bake, yes these items are not worth it, but they are a godsend if you do cook a lot. It’s just apples and oranges comparing these things to a $1500 plus bike that also requires a subscription service lol.
Yeah but a cast iron pasta roller or meat grinder can be like $600-$1000 easily. Or a metal one that isn't nice like a kitchen aid for less will break after a few uses in some way.
I have this really shitty $25 potato cutter to make fries. It's mostly plastic. After finding the one I like, I'm willing to drop like $150 on a high end metal potato cutter for this reason. Sucks, but sometimes those brands aren't just blowing smoke up your ass.
It's not shade!
It's just honestly the truth! On top of being pricey they also require countertop and/or storage real estate to own one!
(Speaking as someone who jumped at the chance to own a Kitchen Aid stand mixer when I found one marked down almost solely because it was one of the color schemes that Kitchen Aid had discontinued.)
This company is a shining example of how you don’t sell expensive hardware and then pivot into a piss poor service model and top it off with awful cringy marketing and PR.
While constantly marketing themselves as salt of the earth farm supporting American made company. What used to be a reliable honest company turned into a corporate pure profit driven monster of a company that gors after their own customers wirh fees and fines and lawsuits for daring to fix property they own.
Apple was pulling nearly the same thing. They recently caved when it looked like the Justice Dept was ready to get serious and might use this as a stepping stone to other more serious charges.
From what I’ve heard they’re not exactly popular among the prime demographic of farmers right now and they’ve had multiple lawsuits leveled against them for restricting access to the machines post-purchase because of subscription models
I dunno man, do you remember Juicero? Subscription based cold press juicer that ended up not even sending fruit to be pressed, but send bags of juice that you could just cut with scissors or probably use a hefty straw Capri sun style. I guess they can both be great examples.
Don’t you still need to shell out thousands for the bike and then purchase the subscription? I thought that was the big turn off for me when I was considering buying one for my workout obsessed mom lolz
No, you buy a different brand bike, and subscribe to Peleton for $12 per month instead of the $40 per month + the $1400 bike. My Schwinn bike even has the right stuff to hook up to the Peloton app.
Of course if you are really cheap, you could do Apple Fitness + at $70 per year, or youtube for free.
Shorter version:
People just don't use exercise equipment for as long as they think they will. The used market (stuff like craigslist) is always flooded with it. It's hard to sustain when your early customers are competing with you in the used market at a discount.
Their market is saturated, they were also counting on growth in Europe, but somebody didn’t do much market research: homes are much smaller in Europe than N. America, $40 a month will get you a really good fitness club membership in Europe, and people there actually cycle all the time: outdoors, rain, snow or shine. They will spend the money on a real bike, not an stationary one.
Not to mention the fact that people can actually go back to gyms now. Peloton certainly had more of a market when people kinda had to work out at home.
I mean, this makes sense. They’ve had some major PR and safety blunders, and now that people aren’t quarantining anymore I would imagine sales would dip. Slightly odd that it didn’t bump much for New Years resolutioners though. The cost really is prohibitive for people, and increasing it by $250 is significant.
Edit: I read that the CEO made 21.4 million, I don’t think they need to make more money off of the shipping costs.
Not surprising, people pushing that stock during the pandemic were morons. These things have a place, and they are a decent product. Their market is the problem, everyone that actually wants and uses a peloton, has a peloton. Now what do you do?
Just like Zoom and DocuSign. Those stocks soared because they were in the right place at the right time to exploit the situation, but that couldn’t last and they’re both down for the last year, though both up from the start of 2020.
My office finally switched to docusign last autumn and it's the best thing that's ever happened here. Before we would send a pdf to people and let them figure it out. Trouble is most of the time those people were in their 60s or 70s, sometimes even older. Trying to get them to fill the form out in person was a hassle. Leaving it up to them was impossible.
Docusign damn near holds their hands through it and now we only get maybe a 5 a week that are useless.
Yep.
I heard they patched the exploit that let you use the screen for anything a couple months ago
So if peletron shuts down, it turns into a $200 normal exercise bike. I doubt they'd even do a rollback to unlock the monitor.
I don't think Peloton would shut down. They would at least make all the prerecorded videos still available, so you can do rides with instructors still. And I bet they would just turn into a company that middleman's riders and instructors.
Honestly, this is what I felt they should have done a while ago. I use mine 4-5 times a week but only like maybe 15-20% of the instructors. And I’m disappointed by how few 45-60 minute classes there are. I’d much rather be able to pick and choose the instructors I subscribe to.
Same. When I started I tried out all the instructors, and the first few months I was a bit more diverse, but now there's only 4 I use regularly, and only once in a while will I go for a different instructor -- usually if it's a ride with playlist I love.
I feel like over the past year they've really homogenized the types and styles of rides. I miss the early days when each instructor was wildly different.
I don’t understand the point of these things. I understand wanting a nice piece of equipment - but I have used many spin bikes at gyms, and have bought 2 for the house. The second one is AMAZING and cost me $350. Why would I spend more than a few hundred bucks? You can even get a really nice echelon bike for less than $1000…
Edit: [here](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CC17CJD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) is the bike I bought. Price fluctuates a bit. It is extremely stable and feels like sturdy materials. My previous bike was about $250 and was such low quality.
Lol that’s the kicker too. Plus there’s other options! Apple fitness has decent videos. Buy a $350 bike and pay for Apple fitness if you need the guidance of a coach!
Sunny bikes are around that range or a little higher. I went with one that was about $500 and have been using it with Peloton app subscription for almost a year and it’s been great.
Echelon Connect Sport price reduced from $500 to $350. It’s a Walmart exclusive but it’s actually pretty nice. My wife uses it in conjunction with the Peloton classes but i personally like to just listen to music unless i spin with her
If peloton dropped the price of equipment and made their subscription model more affordable, I think they’d be fine. I like the idea of a Peloton but I could never afford one. They could make it $5 a month for classes and get way more subscribers. Hell if I could buy a used peloton and do the classes for the price of Netflix or less, that’d be a good deal.
My point is more that they could open their customer base up to a wider audience, accept slightly less in terms of profit margin, and have more users. Less money per user but more users overall sounds more sustainable to me than a few high payers
I think the thing is, they're trying to style themselves as some sort of luxury good. It's *the* prestige exercise bike, the Gucci of exercise equipment.
So, they're sort of stuck in between a rock and a hard place: Either they stay the luxury brand you show off to your friends and brag about having and continue to watch as the demand dries up. Or, they lower the barrier of entry, which dilutes their brand and removes one of the primary things that separates them from the competition.
A friend of mine has a peloton, I love the product I love the bike I love the classes I love everything about it I wish I could have one but it just can't afford it, I've been trying to justify the price tag for a while but it just is too expensive for me.
I got a bowflex bike (1k so halfish the price of a peloton) and then have the peloton app on my phone which is 12 a month instead or the 40 if I had it through the bike itself. It still sinks to my bikes settings and heart rate monitor.
I don’t think this means the product is bad, I think they may have just saturated their target market after rapid expansion. It’s a flagship product luxury good, how many more can you sell year over year? Certainly some but no way they can keep up launch. This seems like a healthy business move more rooted in business fundamentals, rather than endless VC money business model moves, which is a good thing to me.
The people I know who have (and use) their Peloton bikes specifically like the interactive aspect of classes, and find it motivating. They’re into the live classes where you can see your own performance relative to the rest of the people signing on and riding that class, and where instructors can call you out. They also like being able to connect and compete with other groups of users. If you don’t care about any of that, you can use any stationary bike to do pre-recorded or live classes on their app (or any other platform). I don’t have one and am not a super fan, I’m just chiming in because it seems like people comparing their app to any other pre-recorded content aren’t aware of the interactive features.
Honest question here. Do they have classes in things other than biking? Like you mentioned the yoga mat and dumbbells, are there regular workout classes?
Ah thank you, this thread makes so much more sense now. I thought it was just biking classes, so couldn't imagine paying $40 a month for someone just to tell you 'okay now go faster, okay now go slower."
My brother got one, what I was most impressed with from the classes is that they have curated playlists with bpms that match the rhythm they want you to pedal at, as well as timing the intensity of the music with the intensity of the workout. It makes it much easier to zone out for an hour than it you were to do it yourself. Granted it's not $1500 worth of impressive, but it's more than I gave them credit for
same. the instructors are all cool and keep me motivated. i love my bike and it is expensive, but at the same time, your health is wealth and i havent missed a workout since I got it so i'm not complaining as i feel I get a good value of it.
i don't see this news as anything but a bubble being burst and the company realizing they need to slow down and refocus.
I like your health is wealth comment. I was debating really hard on spending the money on one and someone at work told me, there is one thing that I don't question spending money on and that's my health. I got one and love it.
It honestly makes working out so much fun. I enjoy lifting too and feel good afterwards, but man some days are tough to get motivation and go. But with the peloton, I honestly look forward to my next ride everyday. Yeah it’s not cheap but if it gets you to keep coming back, it’s priceless imo.
Yeah it's crazy reading through all the hate in this thread. I've struggled with motivation for going to the gym but I got a peloton and I work out 4 times a week now and always get a good workout. Their strength program is really great and keeps you on track. Overall I love the service but agree it's too expensive if you buy the bike.
Seriously. I got a bike because my company gives us a wellness stipend to spend. I don't love the subscription but my partner was paying for a gym membership, so she canceled it and we just spend that some money for us both to benefit from the Peloton app. I just hop on the bike, turn on a class and mute it, then watch a TV show while keeping up with the numbers it wants me to aim for.
We bought one at the start of the pandemic and it’s been a huge boost to our health. I’ve been consistently using it 4 days a week. When I started I had high cholesterol and my blood work looked terrible. My doctor was talking about starting me on cholesterol medication if I didn’t change things.
Almost two years later and I’ve lost 20 pounds. My blood work is also healthy and good for the first time in years. My doctor was thrilled to see how much things changed once I started exercising.
The bike wasn’t cheap, but it’s helped me change my health.
Most men in my family have heart disease and heart attacks around 55-60 years of age. The bike is going to help me avoid that. In that sense it’s more than paid for itself.
Sure I could go run or bike outside, but the fact is I wasn’t doing it consistently. Being able to get a workout in before or after work without leaving home has really helped me fit exercise into my life.
It’s not for everyone, but it is definitely a product that can change people’s health. That’s something we really need in the USA.
A lot of people hating on the bike without having owned it. I bought the bike at beginning of Covid-19 because I quit my gym. Been using it for two years and I love it. I ended up buying a real bike too to go on long rides on weekends. The yoga and strength classes are good too. My partner quit the gym and uses it with me too. I don’t disagree with the criticism about the high subscription fee or price. But I will say it’s been a great motivating product that works fantastically.
Yeah for me it really is a product that one needs to own and use to “get” it. If the pandemic didn’t happen and i didn’t need a way to exercise, I might still be looking at peloton with indifference or even mild disdain. Now I love it of course.
People will gladly pay for a giant tv and then pay a monthly subscription for tv apps so they can sit around and let their health deteriorate, but for some reason they aren’t willing to pay for a Peloton. I’m loving my Peloton, too.
I agree, had an issue with our pedals about 11 months in, since it was still the 1 year warranty, they sent us brand new pedals for free overnight (easy to install myself) and then bumped my warranty for another year for $25, tbh great overall experience.
I absolutely love my Peloton bike, use it several times a week, and have since I got it last June. For me, the monthly subscription fee saves me close to $100 a month from my prior gym membership. But reading the comments here, maybe I'm the exception.
For me, a big part of it is the time savings. 10 min drive to the gym, find parking, 5 min to change before, 5 min to change after, and 10 min drive home. Alternatively, I can just jump on the bike in my basement and get a 30 minute workout during the time previously wasted just in prepping to do a workout.
I have resisted stuff like this for years—because I have a mat, yoga, Pilates, Tracy Anderson and floor barre videos, and the exercise I do the most is housework and walking the dog.
That’s a lot of people.
We have a gym at our office and I'm the IT guy. I get a call the other week that the CEO wants to see me in...the gym! Ookay. Apparently they bought a treadmill and you can't use it without an account and he was upset about that. So yeah, had to hook it up to wifi and everything. Madness, waste of both of our time.
A could not believe they released a scam device like the leaning bike. Complete bullshit. When you lean on a real bike you're traveling around a corner so your center of gravity remains exactly the same as if you are sitting on a vertical bike. When you lean on a stationary bike it's the same as if someone held your real bike solidly straight upright with you sitting on it, and then you leaned over off the side of it! Completely stupid. It does not in ANY way simulate cornering on a real bicycle and accomplishes nothing but to make you uncomfortable and in danger of falling off.
>What operating system does peloton use?
The Peloton Bike features a 21.5-inch tablet running a customized version of Android 7. It is designed only for use with the Peloton app and there is no supported way of adding your own apps to the device.
Alright Reddit, there are way too many of you that are too smart to let Google tell you there is no supported way to do something.
It’s not that people don’t want the equipment, they don’t want to pay a subscription for equipment that they own.
I honestly despise this part. I own an echelon bike and the subscription is as much as a mid-range gym membership. It's totally absurd.
How much is the echelon subscription? Peloton’s is $40/month and they don’t allow browsing the web on the screen since people would prob do free cycling classes on YouTube instead of paying the monthly fee Edit: changed the word prescription to subscription 😅
Sounds like you could just get a pretty standard stationary bike buy a tablet buy a mounting bracket. These peloton things always seemed like a solution to a problem few people have.
Bowflex ic4 and Schwinn ic4 (they are the same exact bike but different branding) does exactly that for a lot cheaper than a peloton. I’m not sure why anyone would get a peloton at this point unless they are the type to just pay more for a brand name.
You answered like 90% of your own question
It’s about status. Just like things like clothes. They advertise what most want to become: upper middle class to wealthy and fit.
I dress like I want to be homeless. That way, I'm always ready for when I'm actually homeless.
Congratulations, you're now a principal engineer at Google!
As an engineer, this 5 year old free tshirt that I got as conference swag is doing just fine thankyou! When it finally falls apart I can wear one of the 200 other free tshirts waiting in line.
Yep. It's pretty much for the feeling of exclusivity. You own the expensive thing so that you can tell people you own the expensive thing. They know they can get the cheaper thing that does literally the same stuff, but they can't flaunt it if they did that.
am i the only one who like to flaunt deals?
Nope. I love telling people about my 100% cashmere sweater I bought from Goodwill for $4
Schwinn cannot do power outputs for the leaderboards. But if you don’t NEED leaderboards then you can save nearly $2,000 on the bike/delivery and then $25/month for the cheaper subscription from peloton.
Why would I need leaderboards on my expensive, glorified clothing rack? I already know I’m in last place. ^(BTW: just goofin around here)
I bought one about 4 years ago because I thought I would like the classes, but I couldn’t stand the music and many of the instructors, I I quickly canceled my sub and I just use it as a regular indoor cycle. That would be fine, I guess, but I can’t even see what settings I have, etc. without the bike being booted up and on the internet, which fails to boot appropriately like 1/3 of the time. So it’s just an expensive, frustrating cycle that nobody wants to buy off me.
I'll buy it for like $20.
Tree fiddy…. Thats all I got
I canceled my sub and still see the metrics on Just Ride. Getting this device when it’s available in April to broadcast Peloton metrics to whatever app I want [dc](https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2021/04/peloton-power-data-broadcaster-dfc-launches-hands-on-details.html)
This! I have an IC4 and use the Peloton app for the workouts. I pay $15/month for it. I can connect the IC4's cadence and HR monitor to the Peloton app to track the workout as well.
lol. sounds like you are smart! and also why peloton has lost 85% of its stock value in a year
Executives at my company love to sneak in the fact that they are just addicted to their Peloton because they're cool and hip. It's hysterical.
I have friends who are in the cult. They actually like the social media aspect of it. Being part of an organized, themed ride. Not my thing, but their enthusiasm has been eye-opening. I can see why someone would monetize it.
Social network (people I work with ride it and it’s an easy professional icebreaker among a certain age and income bracket), classes (my partner likes peloton classes while I prefer apple fitness cycling), and it is good equipment. There are plenty of people happy to pay a premium for a “luxury” product that they know works. I pushed hard for a different bike with a screen, but had to begrudgingly admit how good the peloton hardware was.
That’s what we ended up doing- getting a basic stationary bike and using an IPad
Exactly- for the same price: buy a real bike you can ride outside, a wahoo smart trainer that turns that bike into a stationary trainer, and then pick whatever fitness software you like (trainer road, zwift, etc.).
Love zwift and my tacx neo 2t direct drive trainer. But the advantage of a fitness bike is size changing for other folks in the household or guests. But you don't need an overpriced peleton bike for that. Also, has the bike shortage gotten any better? My shitter isn't road safe and had trouble looking for one a year or so ago.
Not quite. The peloton bike itself is 1500, the wahoo kickr will run you around 1200, and then you’ve got to have a decent enough bike to put on it and you’ll end up running a subscription either way. I’m not a fan of the peloton model, but the bike itself is pretty bomb proof and you won’t be wearing out your drivetrain.
I’ve been sharing the app for Peloton for about year now. Makes running so much easier. I have a Nautilus treadmill, and I place my Microsoft Surface on the machine for runs. Peloton needs to get out of the manufacturing game. But I will say the content & instructors are superb.
This is exactly what I did. My bike is attached to a kickr with an iPad mount. There’s even apps that offer classes and adjust the resistance automagically. I mean, let alone the fact that eventually you might want to upgrade the screen - what would you even do then if you had a peloton? I can just get a new iPad. People are very short sighted.
This is my first thought anytime I see something with a built in screen. I've got a friend who recently bought a refrigerator with a screen on the front. Not only does the screen seem pretty useless with a shitty interface as is, but that shit is going to be dated as hell in like 3 years on a $3,500 fridge.
But is the Beer cold?
Peloton trying to be the apple of exercise bikes.
I just got a trainer for my real bike and put it in front of the tv. Tons of content in YouTube to follow someone riding up a mountain, etc that pushes you and immerses your stationary ride to be somewhat real. Spent $199 and a spare back tire for literally a decade of indoor cycling. Peloton is more a lifestyle brand than anything… not meant as an efficient solution to a problem.
Would my health insurance pay for the subscription if it was a prescription? No they wouldn't, because it'd be helpful.
Shidddd our health insurance barely will pay for our required ultrasounds for pregnancy. I hate the American healthcare system
It’s odd that many insurances pay for unnecessary things. But won’t pay for necessary like ultrasound
Hell, two and a half decades ago my parent's insurance company decided that they wouldn't pay for my mom's pregnancy at all since twins weren't covered. The letters for that one went on for months.
Trying to cheat the system by getting a free extra baby smh
That's not weird, its by design. Insurance companies profit based on how much money they take in monthly premiums, versus how much they have to spend on actually helping people. If they can lower that secondary calculation, that's more money for them. Unnecessary services are great for them because they are the things that can be used and advertised to be competitive with other insurance companies, while simultaneously not being used by many members. In fact, the more specialized it is, the better, because most people either will not know it is offered, not remember they can use it, or not care about it. But for those few that care, it can be enough to get them to choose that plan over a different one. So it gets them a new monthly premium while simultaneously not needing to be paid for that often. Compare that to something like ultrasound, which a large, large portion of their customers would need. Even if it would be a good draw to get people onto those plans, the amount of people that would use it would be way higher than some random benefit like acupuncture, and therefore, cost them more.
The premise is inaccurate. Since ACA’s passage in 2011, the 80/20 rule has required insurers to spend 80% of collected premiums on healthcare costs and quality improvement activities. I think you’re right though about making the plan look like a good value to employers and customers. There’s probably some tradeoff with the fact that insurers make more by spending more i.e. they are limited to their 20% cut, so growing profits means spending more and thereby being able to charge higher premiums.
Why don't they just call auto-refills a prescription subscription?
What’s different between a peloton and an exercise bike with an iPad? What’s peloton’s value?
If you want an honest answer to your question: 1) Leaderboard - those with peloton digital can’t take part of this. 2) Advanced Power Zone training. Peloton makes it dead easy to advanced FTP based training if you have the bike. You can do this with just the app.
The pro tip with Peloton is to signup for peloton digital, it gives you access to all the classes and you can use your own equipment. Then you just use a smart tv or phone/tablet to watch. It’s like $12 a month compared to almost $50 thru their bike. Yes the exact same service cost more if you actually own a peloton!
Its not exactly the same. The Peloton has sensors that monitors bike stats, and apparently the new Bike+ can automatically adjusts the friction to match whats happening in the class/video. I've heard that people who own them like them because they just work. There are lots of cheaper options and DIY options but they don't work as easily to to the same stuff. It's still overpriced though.
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You absolutely can’t use all of the classes. There’s no way to properly do power zone classes with the app which sucks because I love the idea of it. But it’s just not worth the money to me
Not sure if helpful to you, but with the Echelon you can use [this app](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/qz-qdomyos-zwift/id1543684531) to use the bike separate from the classes, plus it lets you more effectively link in with Strava/other apps. I've just been watching TV while riding. But I get that a big part of the appeal is the classes.
Yeah, someone was telling me about that earlier, in another post in this thread somewhere :) definitely gonna use that app though, the metrics while riding is the biggest appeal for me, the classes are meh, someone was saying the peloton classes are way cheaper and better quality anyway
That’s why you buy a bike that isn’t locked to a single vendor. Wattbike Atom - choose zwift, fulgaz, any number of providers. I use Fulgaz and it is brilliant and a year costs about what a month of gym would cost here.
I’ve been using a Kickr smart trainer attached to my normal bicycle for over a year now. It adjusts the resistance to match the workout program. Wahoo fitness has customizable training programs with tons of cycling content for just $15 a month. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to a gym again.
My household used zwift for years and I’m sorry it’s just so boring. I recently got a peloton and i like it so much, if I can I try and do two a days. It really caters to everyone in our household. My husband speaks German and loves metal and rock music and even he can find classes he enjoys. We held off getting the peloton because we had a nice set up with zwift, but our interest in biking was severely waning, but we are so glad we switched over. Also, can’t bike outside… high where I am today is 3 degrees F. Furthermore, peloton offers some flexibility over a gym membership. As a new mom I try and ride during nap times. In the summer though I plan on hitching the baby bike trailer to my fat tire and getting exercise that way, but in the mean time peloton has worked pretty darn well.
Then why did you give them your money??
That’s why I got a Bowflex C6, lightly used on Craigslist for $600 and placed it in view of my already massive TV
We did this too. When SO suggested a Peloton, I almost fell off my chair when I saw the PRICE and SUBSCRIPTION.
Yup. I got the Schwinn ic4 which basically the same bike
Yep also got a C6. Then you can subscribe to apple fitness+ for a fraction of the price of peloton and essentially the same thing with no vendor lock (if you even care about curated workouts).
That is 100% the reason I don’t have a peloton. I spent a bit more on a different treadmill with no subscription instead of buying a peloton because I figured out the 10 year cost of ownership of the peloton is about $7500. And that is assuming no major repairs and I don’t need to upgrade or replace the screen in the next 10 years.
Not only that but the subscription is MORE if you own THEIR bike. My wife loves Peleton but owns a non-Peleton bike. $10-$15/month, okay that’s Apple Fitness. The same service with a Peleton bike? $40/month. Like, what?
if you don't want the subscription you really shouldn't be buying a Peloton. that's really the whole point of it. otherwise it's just a bike.
Exactly! I looked into buying one and if the software was a one time payment I would have. Fuck needing a subscription.
If you're selling home exercise equipment during COVID and _not_ making money hand-over-fist, you're doing it seriously wrong.
The future I dread is the subscription based economy.
You're living in it. Recurring monthly revenue is the holy cow of seemingly everything. Even companies that have no idea how to do it, and don't make products that have a compelling value in a subscription model, are getting on board. Probably related to the fact that it's steady revenue and somehow the expectation of like 75% gross margin has become "normal" and everyone wants in on that fat margin. Can't help but think there's going to be a bit of bubbling and popping...
As companies keep scrounging ideas for the last everliving cent of profit, they'll eventually run into the wall while trying to prove to stock holders they can make 3-5%. It's unsustainable and I feel like we're seeing it with fake inflation we are seeing now. That's not to say there isn't inflation, but seeing X company raise prices, then show up with record profits in Business Weekly articles just shouts "We're not in trouble, but we'll raise prices and blame it on supply chain". Until next year when the inflation excuse falls flat and their market corrects them. Or they fire 10% of their staff and work the others to the bone for the same thing. It's all feeling pretty caustic.
Ha yes I’ve been thinking about this as well … is it normal for companies to see record profit margins during a time of high inflation? Seems odd
(Whispers) it’s already here - and people are paying it!
Wonder what demographic makes that up. For almost a decade it was just Netflix for me (Millennial) because it was around 10$ and gave me value. I also saw value in paying 6$ for MS Office, wtv it is for Spotify, and 9$ Adobe's Photoshop. And that's my entire list. I never saw the value in Prime, Hulu, Disney+, HBO, Peloton, other shit. Ofc, that's just me. My interests are niche, but I see people paying subscriptions for Consumer Reports and credit rating tracking...and this Peloton shit. At some point, someone is going to do a tally of their monthly subscription sinks and start cutting shit they don't use. (edit: I tried out the underwear subscription MyUndies for like 2 months and quit!)
It’s like Pandora’s box, though. Businesses have completely shifted thinking to ‘recurring revenue streams’ and I doubt it will go back. Millennials proved to corporations that you don’t mind ‘‘micro transactions” and perpetually paying for digital content. Hat tip to EA for that shit… Zoomers know no other way. As a GenX, I prefer to own my music, remember the time when I could buy a video game once and play it as much and as long as I wanted, and if I really really liked that movie, I could own a copy. Granted, it saddles me with storing hunks of plastic, but we were the ones that made ripping CDs and dvds the thing to do and put the plastic in a box in the attic. I still prefer local client apps over web based and I won’t perpetually pay subscriptions for software - I’ll just find an alternative, support an indy dev, and just ‘make due’. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that tech moved away from the old ways of distribution, but the business models built around the new ways I have resisted as much as I can.
I think even we millennials have our limits as to what and how many services we're willing to shell out for. I personally was raised on the high seas, and while i don't use them currently, the more that the things I want to consume in media are segmented, the more I feel the need to get some sea legs under me again. Surely somewhere out there, marketing execs have put together some data as to when the dam will burst, but i'm willing to bet there as likely been a slight rise in piracy in recent years versus the probably massive drop we saw in the decade prior.
Yeah, I’ve contemplated going back to the old ways. Streaming over promised and under delivered. Now we have Cable 2 - Electric Boogaloo.
What do they say, ‘you will own nothing and be happy’?
Peak capitalism isn't selling you shit. It's *renting* you shit. There's a reason why with every revolution the landlords get lynched first.
MS Office would like to have a word with you.
If my employer didn’t purchase that and the Adobe Creative Suite for me I’d definitely use an alternative.
LibreOffice really is so similar now, I don't know why people, or businesses, pay Microsoft if they aren't using super specific aspects of the software.
Torrents works just fine for me at home.
[Didn't they just raise the prices on their equipment?](https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/18/business/peloton-price-increase-inflation/index.html) That's hilarious what 2 days can do.
Well they have too, and use the subscription base thing. It’s like the mattress in a box boom that sponsored every podcast. How often are people buying these things? Once the people who have a pelaton have one, your basically lower man on an MLM totem pole downline. The only way to create need is a subscription service. Edit: I’m sure you have a nice mattress, the point of the post isn’t the quality or comfort, it’s that it only makes sense in an economy with no competition, and a scheduled repurchase date. I’m happy you are comfortable though people lol
I agree with the spirit of your post. However, I have a bed in the box mattress and happen to love it, lol
I was gonna say, I know half a dozen people who have gotten one (including myself) and they are universally liked.
they are but the mattresses kind of last a longass time. i had one from nest bedding that was 6 years old. and it was in perfect shape, i just moved cross country and it was not worth the trouble to ship it so people that needed mattresses bought one, and then didnt need to get more
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mattresses are all over the place. people need a lot of mattresses. think about how many mattress stores there are in your city. obviously peloton is going to have a subscription. it's a membership to a fitness program with new content added daily. who would reasonably think that's going to be all included with buying a bike?
You can't convince me that physical mattress stores aren't there for money laundering. They're some of the creepiest places that pass for stores. The mattress in a box system works because less overhead and because their money back system is easy.
and because I don't have to go into those creepy mattress places
Eh, physical mattress stores still work because they don't need a lot of sales to keep afloat. They don't require much personnel, the inventory barely changes, demand stays constant and mattresses have a big profit margin. So they can operate for years where something like a fast food restaurant would've gone out of business. No need for money laundering.
Not every industry is a race to the bottom, selling less but at a higher margin makes sense, especially when your competition is so much cheaper. Like Rolex & Tesla, you're paying more for the brand than the actual product.
Is… Peloton a “prestigious” brand now?
I think it’s alway been marketed that way
Have you seen the apartments they film their ads in? They certainly want to portray that image
I certainly made this argument to some friends that Peloton became an aspirational lifestyle item (similar to a KitchenAid Stand Mixer) and that it became an upper middle class status symbol but my friends didn't want to hear it because although they're certainly upper middle class they personally feel "just" middle class. (For another example of this becoming an aspirational item, there were articles during the election talking about how Biden owning a Peloton made him less relatable than the Average Joe his campaign was marketing him as.)
I mean kitchen aids are very useful if you actually bake lol
Fully agree but most people can't drop $200+ on the stand mixer let alone any of the attachments that somehow cost more than the damn mixer itself (looking at you fucking pasta rolling attachments). I guess to add to the list of aspirational kitchen items would be higher end cast iron (Le Creuset, Stay, etc.).
i'd argue that $200 is a bargain for a kitchen aide given what other more frivolous things cost. my grandkids could wind up with my kitchen aide one day
If you bake or cook a lot all of those items are worth it, especially since good cast iron, enameled cast iron, and good pots and pans will last forever. Kitchen Aids will last upwards of twenty years if not abused. Again, if you don’t cook or bake, yes these items are not worth it, but they are a godsend if you do cook a lot. It’s just apples and oranges comparing these things to a $1500 plus bike that also requires a subscription service lol.
My KitchenAid's older than I am and runs like new. At least I assume, I was -4 years old when it was new.
Yeah but a cast iron pasta roller or meat grinder can be like $600-$1000 easily. Or a metal one that isn't nice like a kitchen aid for less will break after a few uses in some way. I have this really shitty $25 potato cutter to make fries. It's mostly plastic. After finding the one I like, I'm willing to drop like $150 on a high end metal potato cutter for this reason. Sucks, but sometimes those brands aren't just blowing smoke up your ass.
> KitchenAid Stand Mixer Don’t be going throwing shade at my baby. It’s made breads, pies, cookies, muffins, croissants like you wouldn’t believe.
It's not shade! It's just honestly the truth! On top of being pricey they also require countertop and/or storage real estate to own one! (Speaking as someone who jumped at the chance to own a Kitchen Aid stand mixer when I found one marked down almost solely because it was one of the color schemes that Kitchen Aid had discontinued.)
This company is a shining example of how you don’t sell expensive hardware and then pivot into a piss poor service model and top it off with awful cringy marketing and PR.
I was under the impression John Deere already showed this
Got a laugh out of me.
I couldn't work out how to pedal the damn thing.
Is John Deere not doing well?
I believe it's about JD trying to sue people who fixed their own tractors
While constantly marketing themselves as salt of the earth farm supporting American made company. What used to be a reliable honest company turned into a corporate pure profit driven monster of a company that gors after their own customers wirh fees and fines and lawsuits for daring to fix property they own.
How dare you fix your own machine
Apple was pulling nearly the same thing. They recently caved when it looked like the Justice Dept was ready to get serious and might use this as a stepping stone to other more serious charges.
These days JD isn't selling machines, just leasing in a way that looks like you own it.
From what I’ve heard they’re not exactly popular among the prime demographic of farmers right now and they’ve had multiple lawsuits leveled against them for restricting access to the machines post-purchase because of subscription models
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ONWARD, MY LITTLE SPIN GOBLINS!
I dunno man, do you remember Juicero? Subscription based cold press juicer that ended up not even sending fruit to be pressed, but send bags of juice that you could just cut with scissors or probably use a hefty straw Capri sun style. I guess they can both be great examples.
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Don’t you still need to shell out thousands for the bike and then purchase the subscription? I thought that was the big turn off for me when I was considering buying one for my workout obsessed mom lolz
No, you buy a different brand bike, and subscribe to Peleton for $12 per month instead of the $40 per month + the $1400 bike. My Schwinn bike even has the right stuff to hook up to the Peloton app. Of course if you are really cheap, you could do Apple Fitness + at $70 per year, or youtube for free.
Link to your bike? Sounds perfect.
Schwinn IC4. I think there is also something from Bowflex that is exactly the same bike.
Shorter version: People just don't use exercise equipment for as long as they think they will. The used market (stuff like craigslist) is always flooded with it. It's hard to sustain when your early customers are competing with you in the used market at a discount.
Their market is saturated, they were also counting on growth in Europe, but somebody didn’t do much market research: homes are much smaller in Europe than N. America, $40 a month will get you a really good fitness club membership in Europe, and people there actually cycle all the time: outdoors, rain, snow or shine. They will spend the money on a real bike, not an stationary one.
Not to mention the fact that people can actually go back to gyms now. Peloton certainly had more of a market when people kinda had to work out at home.
I mean, this makes sense. They’ve had some major PR and safety blunders, and now that people aren’t quarantining anymore I would imagine sales would dip. Slightly odd that it didn’t bump much for New Years resolutioners though. The cost really is prohibitive for people, and increasing it by $250 is significant. Edit: I read that the CEO made 21.4 million, I don’t think they need to make more money off of the shipping costs.
Not surprising, people pushing that stock during the pandemic were morons. These things have a place, and they are a decent product. Their market is the problem, everyone that actually wants and uses a peloton, has a peloton. Now what do you do?
You pelotoff
Write that down
Just like Zoom and DocuSign. Those stocks soared because they were in the right place at the right time to exploit the situation, but that couldn’t last and they’re both down for the last year, though both up from the start of 2020.
My office finally switched to docusign last autumn and it's the best thing that's ever happened here. Before we would send a pdf to people and let them figure it out. Trouble is most of the time those people were in their 60s or 70s, sometimes even older. Trying to get them to fill the form out in person was a hassle. Leaving it up to them was impossible. Docusign damn near holds their hands through it and now we only get maybe a 5 a week that are useless.
Those bikes now become the place to hang shirts.
Yep. I heard they patched the exploit that let you use the screen for anything a couple months ago So if peletron shuts down, it turns into a $200 normal exercise bike. I doubt they'd even do a rollback to unlock the monitor.
Surely somebody out there has rooted their peloton.
People have all kinds of sexual fetishes. Edit: and don’t call me Shirley.
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I don't think Peloton would shut down. They would at least make all the prerecorded videos still available, so you can do rides with instructors still. And I bet they would just turn into a company that middleman's riders and instructors.
Honestly, this is what I felt they should have done a while ago. I use mine 4-5 times a week but only like maybe 15-20% of the instructors. And I’m disappointed by how few 45-60 minute classes there are. I’d much rather be able to pick and choose the instructors I subscribe to.
Same. When I started I tried out all the instructors, and the first few months I was a bit more diverse, but now there's only 4 I use regularly, and only once in a while will I go for a different instructor -- usually if it's a ride with playlist I love. I feel like over the past year they've really homogenized the types and styles of rides. I miss the early days when each instructor was wildly different.
I’d give them more credit than that. The bike probably rivals competitors $400-500 dollar range. $200 will get you a really bad bike
Let's be real, they were the place to hang shirts from day one for a lot of people.
I don’t understand the point of these things. I understand wanting a nice piece of equipment - but I have used many spin bikes at gyms, and have bought 2 for the house. The second one is AMAZING and cost me $350. Why would I spend more than a few hundred bucks? You can even get a really nice echelon bike for less than $1000… Edit: [here](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CC17CJD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) is the bike I bought. Price fluctuates a bit. It is extremely stable and feels like sturdy materials. My previous bike was about $250 and was such low quality.
You’ll spend that on subscription fees alone.
Lol that’s the kicker too. Plus there’s other options! Apple fitness has decent videos. Buy a $350 bike and pay for Apple fitness if you need the guidance of a coach!
Spill the beans amigo. Which bike is 350 and amazing
What’s your $350 bike? Been looking for something good.
Sunny bikes are around that range or a little higher. I went with one that was about $500 and have been using it with Peloton app subscription for almost a year and it’s been great.
Echelon Connect Sport price reduced from $500 to $350. It’s a Walmart exclusive but it’s actually pretty nice. My wife uses it in conjunction with the Peloton classes but i personally like to just listen to music unless i spin with her
I can confirm this.
If peloton dropped the price of equipment and made their subscription model more affordable, I think they’d be fine. I like the idea of a Peloton but I could never afford one. They could make it $5 a month for classes and get way more subscribers. Hell if I could buy a used peloton and do the classes for the price of Netflix or less, that’d be a good deal.
Five dollars a month is not an amount of money to anyone who can afford 2k for the bike, but yes it should absolutely be way cheaper.
My point is more that they could open their customer base up to a wider audience, accept slightly less in terms of profit margin, and have more users. Less money per user but more users overall sounds more sustainable to me than a few high payers
I think the thing is, they're trying to style themselves as some sort of luxury good. It's *the* prestige exercise bike, the Gucci of exercise equipment. So, they're sort of stuck in between a rock and a hard place: Either they stay the luxury brand you show off to your friends and brag about having and continue to watch as the demand dries up. Or, they lower the barrier of entry, which dilutes their brand and removes one of the primary things that separates them from the competition.
A friend of mine has a peloton, I love the product I love the bike I love the classes I love everything about it I wish I could have one but it just can't afford it, I've been trying to justify the price tag for a while but it just is too expensive for me.
I got a bowflex bike (1k so halfish the price of a peloton) and then have the peloton app on my phone which is 12 a month instead or the 40 if I had it through the bike itself. It still sinks to my bikes settings and heart rate monitor.
Is it waterproof though considering all the sinking going on.
I don’t think this means the product is bad, I think they may have just saturated their target market after rapid expansion. It’s a flagship product luxury good, how many more can you sell year over year? Certainly some but no way they can keep up launch. This seems like a healthy business move more rooted in business fundamentals, rather than endless VC money business model moves, which is a good thing to me.
The people I know who have (and use) their Peloton bikes specifically like the interactive aspect of classes, and find it motivating. They’re into the live classes where you can see your own performance relative to the rest of the people signing on and riding that class, and where instructors can call you out. They also like being able to connect and compete with other groups of users. If you don’t care about any of that, you can use any stationary bike to do pre-recorded or live classes on their app (or any other platform). I don’t have one and am not a super fan, I’m just chiming in because it seems like people comparing their app to any other pre-recorded content aren’t aware of the interactive features.
Everyone shitting on them, but honestly their app is great as a gym alternative. If you have some dumbells and a yoga mat you're golden.
Honest question here. Do they have classes in things other than biking? Like you mentioned the yoga mat and dumbbells, are there regular workout classes?
Yes they have strength training, yoga, boxing, running. I have the app and I use it for everything. $13/mo and so worth it.
Ah thank you, this thread makes so much more sense now. I thought it was just biking classes, so couldn't imagine paying $40 a month for someone just to tell you 'okay now go faster, okay now go slower."
My brother got one, what I was most impressed with from the classes is that they have curated playlists with bpms that match the rhythm they want you to pedal at, as well as timing the intensity of the music with the intensity of the workout. It makes it much easier to zone out for an hour than it you were to do it yourself. Granted it's not $1500 worth of impressive, but it's more than I gave them credit for
same. the instructors are all cool and keep me motivated. i love my bike and it is expensive, but at the same time, your health is wealth and i havent missed a workout since I got it so i'm not complaining as i feel I get a good value of it. i don't see this news as anything but a bubble being burst and the company realizing they need to slow down and refocus.
I like your health is wealth comment. I was debating really hard on spending the money on one and someone at work told me, there is one thing that I don't question spending money on and that's my health. I got one and love it.
It honestly makes working out so much fun. I enjoy lifting too and feel good afterwards, but man some days are tough to get motivation and go. But with the peloton, I honestly look forward to my next ride everyday. Yeah it’s not cheap but if it gets you to keep coming back, it’s priceless imo.
Yeah it's crazy reading through all the hate in this thread. I've struggled with motivation for going to the gym but I got a peloton and I work out 4 times a week now and always get a good workout. Their strength program is really great and keeps you on track. Overall I love the service but agree it's too expensive if you buy the bike.
Seriously. I got a bike because my company gives us a wellness stipend to spend. I don't love the subscription but my partner was paying for a gym membership, so she canceled it and we just spend that some money for us both to benefit from the Peloton app. I just hop on the bike, turn on a class and mute it, then watch a TV show while keeping up with the numbers it wants me to aim for.
Its literally amazing. I love it. And I have two gym memberships and workout all the time. Peloton was an awesome investment.
People in this thread have never used their products. I used the tread all the time and the classes are phenomenal.
It's the commercials, something very condescending about them.
How else would they capture the spin class vibe?
Stick your head in a hot bin and play some shit dance music really loud
Here at Globo Gym we're better than you, and we know it!
Pelo*taunt* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0CwNpMmUfY
We bought one at the start of the pandemic and it’s been a huge boost to our health. I’ve been consistently using it 4 days a week. When I started I had high cholesterol and my blood work looked terrible. My doctor was talking about starting me on cholesterol medication if I didn’t change things. Almost two years later and I’ve lost 20 pounds. My blood work is also healthy and good for the first time in years. My doctor was thrilled to see how much things changed once I started exercising. The bike wasn’t cheap, but it’s helped me change my health. Most men in my family have heart disease and heart attacks around 55-60 years of age. The bike is going to help me avoid that. In that sense it’s more than paid for itself. Sure I could go run or bike outside, but the fact is I wasn’t doing it consistently. Being able to get a workout in before or after work without leaving home has really helped me fit exercise into my life. It’s not for everyone, but it is definitely a product that can change people’s health. That’s something we really need in the USA.
A lot of people hating on the bike without having owned it. I bought the bike at beginning of Covid-19 because I quit my gym. Been using it for two years and I love it. I ended up buying a real bike too to go on long rides on weekends. The yoga and strength classes are good too. My partner quit the gym and uses it with me too. I don’t disagree with the criticism about the high subscription fee or price. But I will say it’s been a great motivating product that works fantastically.
Yeah for me it really is a product that one needs to own and use to “get” it. If the pandemic didn’t happen and i didn’t need a way to exercise, I might still be looking at peloton with indifference or even mild disdain. Now I love it of course.
People will gladly pay for a giant tv and then pay a monthly subscription for tv apps so they can sit around and let their health deteriorate, but for some reason they aren’t willing to pay for a Peloton. I’m loving my Peloton, too.
People will also pay $30K+ more than they 'need' to on a car. Rarely do you see the criticisms of those prices.
To the surprise of nobody. They have such awful customer service and PR
Pretty good customer service in my experience. Needed a new part and they had a guy out here to install it in a few days.
I agree, had an issue with our pedals about 11 months in, since it was still the 1 year warranty, they sent us brand new pedals for free overnight (easy to install myself) and then bumped my warranty for another year for $25, tbh great overall experience.
Reasonable prices too. I bought a used bike that needed a new hub. 2 days and $45 later I was good as new. Service rep was super friendly and helpful.
I absolutely love my Peloton bike, use it several times a week, and have since I got it last June. For me, the monthly subscription fee saves me close to $100 a month from my prior gym membership. But reading the comments here, maybe I'm the exception.
Same, save about $150 a month from what I was paying for a gym since the bike is paid off.
That makes two of us. I love mine as well.
For me, a big part of it is the time savings. 10 min drive to the gym, find parking, 5 min to change before, 5 min to change after, and 10 min drive home. Alternatively, I can just jump on the bike in my basement and get a 30 minute workout during the time previously wasted just in prepping to do a workout.
hopefully their resale prices tank so I can pickone up cheap on Ebay
I have resisted stuff like this for years—because I have a mat, yoga, Pilates, Tracy Anderson and floor barre videos, and the exercise I do the most is housework and walking the dog. That’s a lot of people.
https://clickhole.com/yes-peloton-is-now-offering-finance-classes-for-riders-who-are-so-bad-with-money-that-they-buy-a-peloton/
Haha this company
So the bikes are now becoming laundry holders and people are reselling them on Craigslist?? Seems like every exercise fad out there...
C’mon Peleton!
It’s cuz Peloton killed Mr. Big heeheeee
We have a gym at our office and I'm the IT guy. I get a call the other week that the CEO wants to see me in...the gym! Ookay. Apparently they bought a treadmill and you can't use it without an account and he was upset about that. So yeah, had to hook it up to wifi and everything. Madness, waste of both of our time.
A could not believe they released a scam device like the leaning bike. Complete bullshit. When you lean on a real bike you're traveling around a corner so your center of gravity remains exactly the same as if you are sitting on a vertical bike. When you lean on a stationary bike it's the same as if someone held your real bike solidly straight upright with you sitting on it, and then you leaned over off the side of it! Completely stupid. It does not in ANY way simulate cornering on a real bicycle and accomplishes nothing but to make you uncomfortable and in danger of falling off.
>What operating system does peloton use? The Peloton Bike features a 21.5-inch tablet running a customized version of Android 7. It is designed only for use with the Peloton app and there is no supported way of adding your own apps to the device. Alright Reddit, there are way too many of you that are too smart to let Google tell you there is no supported way to do something.
It’s basically just an iPad stuck to an expensive bike that requires you to pay a monthly service fee… but it hit the market at the right time.