DrIsotope

Tell that to Wahoo. The KICKRbike is listed at $3,499. Most of the smart trainer market hovers around $1,200, and you still need a bike, and all of the tech to pipe in Zwift, TrainerRoad, etc.

In the cycling world where $15k bikes and $600 derailleur cages are actual things, a $2,200 exercise bike doesn't seem so crazy to me.

kaos joe

Pearl-clutching at its finest.

livedarklions

I didn't say it was crazy, I said it requires a lot of marketing. So does everything you've just listed.

You're buying a device that allows you to spin your legs against resistance in your home. People need to be sold on the need or desire for more elaborate and expensive additions to the basic product.

Indoor cycling doesn't fit my needs--I resort largely to indoor fitness activity during the winter months, and I find them boring enough that I want them to be as efficient as possible. Lots of activities are far more intense than cycling, even at its most intense levels. So basically, I don't pretend to be qualified to discuss the qualitative differences between a zwift setup with a cheap bike, a cheap old-fashioned exercycle or a highfalutin Peloton. I do know that the big selling-point on a Peloton seems to be a "trainer" you never meet screaming at you and a whole bunch of other people on video screens across the country. Apparently, people want that.

tgenec86

AlmostTrick

No silly commercial would ever get me to buy one of these high dollar contraptions!

...Then again my wife would look good on it and I do want people to know that we've "arrived" $$$$$$.

CAT7RDR

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I look at the $3,000 up front cost (year 1) and $50 per month thereafter, and think what a great steel gravel bike I could pickup for half of that. https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/pe...efore-you-buy/

I know some women (and men) are really sensitive about exercising in public.
I have a cheapy liquid trainer and the GCN videos if I have to actually ride indoors. Peloton only makes sense to me if there are more than one user of the bike and weather completely makes outdoor activities unpleasant. To each his own I guess on what makes them motivated to improve their fitness.

livedarklions

From talking to people, I gather that a lot of the appeal is doing "cycling" without having to worry about getting hit by a car.

Unca_Sam

May as well wait for the day to go dark. Go ahead and move it, because there are two primary criticisms, and one of them is commercialism. Most of the C&V enthusiasts here have a strong tendency at the three R's of conservation, and buying a $2,000+ BSO that goes nowhere that comes with a strongly recommended monthly subscription for the class content is the antithesis of getting on a $XXX bike and going somewhere, anywhere.

Add in cancel culture and body shame, class politics...

I'm interested in what the general body of members would say though, without requiring P&R access (just say pretty please to get in!).

Rollfast

I have three Schwinns, three Rollfasts, a Shelby and a J.C. Higgins though. In the 1980s we'd call this contraption a yuppie thing. It has no fenders.

woodcraft

I'd say the advertising is working-

one of my clients bought one recently, and three people have asked what I think of Peloton in the last week.

rydabent

It would seem some people cant wait to wake up in the morning so they can be offended.

Rollfast

That's when you hire somebody to drive you around. It can be done...George Jefferson was a DRY CLEANER.

Unca_Sam

...prove it? She's presumably already riding, but looking up albums for other members is a chore.

livedarklions

Don't know about this ad in particular, but no question that Peloton has been marketed with spectacular success.
Basically, they've sold an in-home spin class. Making the machine on the expensive end may provide them with some protection from the churn rate most subscription services have--psychologically hard to quit when you have a large sunken investment. I'd love to see the metrics of usage over time, I'll bet a fair number of people pay the fees and never use it, always intending to start next week. As we know, the biggest problem with home exercise equipment is its tendency to become a very expensive device for hanging clothes.

Metieval

did you run out of enough safe space? or something...

caloso

I know a couple that has a Peloton and they both use it, both love it. It's not meant to appeal to cyclists; it's meant to appeal to people who go to spin classes. Very little overlap in that venn diagram, in my experience.

Unca_Sam

I love reading the 'apolitical' threads in GCD. It's the last safe space for the boomers, free from the challenges posed in P&R. Come back to the debates! Our strawmen are almost out of straw!

Cyclist0108

I'm extremely offended by people using the word "gift" as a verb.


Also, please keep in mind that this is the Daily Mail....



.

livedarklions

Phony intergenerational conflict is phony. Also tiresome.

livedarklions

Doesn't bug me, the verb use is actually quite old and it serves a useful linguistic purpose. "Gifted" replaces "gave it as a gift", for example. Just saying "gave it" doesn't let you know whether it was for value or trade.

taco2ewsday

I honestly didn't see it that way and after reading the article I still don't. I guess if someone is particularly sensitive about their weight or relationship I could see them being bothered.

All Peleton has to do is make one with a dude getting the bike and split the air time, you know if they weren't hemorrhaging money<I'm not allowed to post links yet>

caloso

People have been using gift as a verb for 400 years.

tomato coupe

That's really cool. It's got a hydraulic cylinder just like a mechanical bull.

billridesbikes

I‘ve done some Soulcycle classes and ridden a Peloton at hotel gyms, usually the class is 80-90% women. I think a lot of women like the idea of riding a bike for exercise but are fearful of riding alone on trails or being hit by a car in the road. Also, group led exercise is more motivating and has higher appeal for some people than solo activities. Soulcycle class three times a week would run you $2~3K/year, this is Peloton’s intended target audience. I don’t think they’ve priced themselves out of their target market at all. The bike itself seems like a solid piece of gym equipment and if you went and purchased a ‘smart’ trainer bike like a Neo smart bike or Wattbike it would be a similar amount.

What I dislike is the whole recent thing of fitness shaming on social media (MAMIL anyone?). I’m sure this woman feels better and stronger after avidly riding her Peloton for a year. Good for her. I bet her FTP is way higher than anyone who is leaving a negative comment on YouTube.

JanMM

Although I spend some time on recumbent machines at our YMCA in the winter (I ride recumbent bikes) I can't get too worked up one way or the other about exercise bikes of any sort. Or about advertising for such things.