msu2001la

Trigger warning: Peloton also requires a $39/mo membership fee.

msu2001la

Also, a regular Peloton bike is $1495, not $2000. They have an upgraded version with a larger screen and some other features for $2500. $1495 does not seem all that unreasonable for home exercise equipment. Nordic Track has 5 indoor bikes on their website ranging from $1000-$2000. Bikes like the Wahoo's Kickr are $3500.

In terms of Peloton's business model and future, I am not surprised to see their equipment sales slowing way down. Anyone who's wanted to buy a Peloton in the last 2 years has done so, and there is zero incentive to buy a new one. They still have a huge subscriber base that pays a fairly substantial monthly fee to gain access to their classes.

Polaris OBark

Yeah, that is exactly how The Financial Times of London operates. Probably in collusion with the Sex in the City franchise.

livedarklions

I'd say the reporting is on the up-and-up because they're being really clear that no one is telling them this is anything but cosmetic, but I do question the motivation of their sources because this sounds very much like the only reason for leaking this is to embarrass a company that a lot of people are mad at right now. If the performance and the appearance of the machines are both ok after the "treatment", how exactly is the consumer being harmed here?

The company really did get whipsawed by the Chris Noth thing, what looked like a nice piece of damage control after his death scene just backfired on them when the allegations against him came out at almost the same exact time as the commercial. At some point, you have to think there's a black cloud hanging over this company.

Polaris OBark

Only surpassed by their self-flagilation from the initial advertisement.

The main issue is that they were primarily concerned with covering up the problem, so that they would not face a second costly recall, after the recall of their treadmill that killed a child.

billridesbikes

That's not my interpenetration of the story. The issue is that Peloton had one certain standard of quality to ship a bike to a customer, then when the product didn't meet internal standards of quality the metric appears to have been lowered to make sales numbers.For me when companies start doing this at any level it should be a red flag. If they do this for a cosmetic issue, instead of coming clean with customers, what happens for a more serious one? If management is comfortable lowering quality standards for a minor issue, in my experience, they're also comfortable lowering it for more serious issues simply to maintain sales. If customers start feeling duped this will be far worse than any short-term lost sales.

Rolla

Doesn't trigger me in the least. Fools and their money, etc.


Yep, plus $250 delivery and setup. You have to buy the "starter" version before you hit 2 grand. One version even includes dumbbells, but they may just be trolling their customer base.

livedarklions

This is a half-empty, half-full argument. Yes, on the one hand, they could be seen to have let standards they had in place slip, but they were cosmetic standards, and the route they went actually corrected the esthetic issues, so is that a cover up, or is it a creative solution?. If they had scrapped the bikes at the time, there would have been no stock to replace them. Yes, they probably should have been frank with their customers, I guess, but those customers would likely never have known about these supposed defects nor been put to risk by any of those "defects" had the warehouse people not leaked their story.

Sorry, I just think that Peloton's recent other problems have turned this non-story into something more ominous than it has any right to be.

wolfchild

I LOL at anybody who would waste $ 39 dollars per month to ride indoors.

livedarklions

I can't even imagine why you'd have an opinion of whether it's worth it to them; let alone make fun of them for it.

wolfchild

Cardio should be free....If somebody wants to ride indoors then they should just purchase a stationary bike or an indoor trainer as a one time purchase...No need to pay monthly fee just for doing some cardio.

Polaris OBark

I don't have one or any interest in getting one, but I think the attraction for many people right now is that it has many of the benefits of a gym membership without the risk of going to the gym in a pandemic. The monthly fee probably compares favorably to a gym membership fee.

livedarklions

Who the hell are you to tell people what they should or shouldn't find motivational?

I LOL at your pomposity.

indyfabz

Just more trolling.

prj71

Same here!!!

prj71

What risk of going to the gym? I've been going to the gym during the pandemic and there has been no downside to it all. Went November 2020 to April 2021, then re-joined again in November 2021 and am still going now.

Monthly fee is $35 and gives me access to weight lifting, cardio machines, swimming pool, hot tub, suana, basketball court and racquetball court.

prj71

Totally agree. I have Minoura trainer that I picked up for $45 on craigslist. For the few times that I use it when it's too cold to ride my fat bike outside.

MagRide-60D | MINOURA JAPAN

Polaris OBark

We are approaching 1 million deaths in this country. I'm not sue where you were. Tonga? (Congratulations on getting internet back.)

prj71

You can live in fear or just live. Not Tonga... Wisconsin.

Polaris OBark

Glad it worked out for you, which is all that matters.

downhillmaster

I LOL at anyone of means that is so uninformed or cheap as to care about $39 per month for anything

burnthesheep

Unlimited rides a month at local spin studios here are about $150/mo. Just 4 rides a month at one is $70.

So some of your all's "value propositions" are wildly off in comparing it to just DIY on a bike at a Planet Fitness. So, you're excluding instructors and classes.

To save you the trouble, here's the breakdown:
Unlimited at a local Cyclebar branded "box": $160/mo, so that's nearly $2k a year.....Peloton pays off in less than 2 years.

Planet Fitness doesn't do classes, so your value proposition on that trying to get out cheap fails. I won't accept that as the comparison. No instructor led classes.

Month to month at a Golds is $50. They offer classes, that's your best true value proposition on led classes on bike. Then, you have to be free to take the class when offered since this isn't a spin gym dedicated with plenty of schedule options.

Signature memberships with unlimited classes for Lifetime are $150/mo. Again, at mercy of when they offer a spin specific class versus weights, yoga, running, or what have you. So again, we're around 2 years payout. Not even considering drive time and gas.

So often on BF it is a "race to the bottom" on how judgmental we can be about people's purchases by basically stopping just short of telling people to "just go dumpster dive then go ride what you find".

Rolla

Remember, you only asked what a "gym membership" costs.

I've never been to one, but this is from their website:




Carry on.

prj71

Wait....What??

We need instructors and classes to ride a spin bike??? Who knew?!!!

I have a $2k bike (that also gets used outside in the summer) that I put on a trainer that I bought for $45. Do the math.

livedarklions

Don't think he was responding to you specifically, but since I had a heavily-used membership at PF, I feel qualified to say that that description of their "training" is more than a bit misleading. I think the words that are missing are "sparse", "perfunctory" and "sporadically scheduled". I know a lot of people who use PF religiously, and none of them go to those "classes".

From what I recall, their "bikes" were not the same quality as one might expect for a spin class, but since I don't do those, I'd defer to anyone who said they were "good enough"..

And I say this as someone who got into pretty damn good shape working out at PF, I have little to say about them that isn't praise, it's very good at what it does. But seriously, how many trainers can you hire at $10/mo membership fees? They have good machines generally, and everything is kept clean and in good repair.