11 ms·

When I see Peloton now, I always think of this twitter thread that critiques their adverts https://twitter.com/clueheywood/status/1089699762331217920 https://t

When I see Peloton now, I always think of this twitter thread that critiques their adverts https://twitter.com/clueheywood/status/1089699762331217920 https://twitter.com/clueheywood/status/1089699762331217920

spyspy 7y ago
My sides. I have friends working there that have tried getting me to apply. Glassdoor reviews indicated their backend interview is unnecessarily difficult and I have little faith in their business model. How many people are willing to spend thousands on an exercise bike? Let alone one that requires a $40/month subscription? It feels the same as Blue Apron - the market is people rich and lazy enough that don't want do the first half of the work (go to the gym or the grocery store) but still want to do the hard part (actually cook and exercise).
- kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
  People pay for gym memberships that they never use. They also buy home exercise equipment that collects dust for most of its life. Then you have active cyclists that will splurge $5K+ on a real bike and want a way to ride when the weather makes it troublesome. There is a market.
  - zerkten 7y ago
    There is a definite market, but like gym memberships it is likely to contract during downturns. The folks I know with Pelotons are cycle infrequently and have a more general regime. As a cyclist I'd be interested to know how many get a Peloton versus sticking with traditional trainers? Ignoring the all-weather cyclists it'd also be interesting to know how many ride into the shoulders of the season. Most of the folks I ride with have $5000 bikes and they may ride from March to November here in Philly depending on really bad conditions.
    - alistairSH 7y ago
      DC resident and cyclist. I ride year-round, but in winter I do scheduled indoor group sessions (currently, on Wahoo Kickrs) as the ground tends to be too squishy with the freeze/thaw for the mountain bike (which I prefer to the road bike). I also own a Kickr at home. My spare mountain bike is mounted on it year-round. Through summer, I do the 30-minute workout program on TrainerRoad (rainy days or when I work late, but I try to do most riding outside). My issue with Peloton isn't the money. As noted, like many cyclists, I have several expensive bikes. It's the lack of specificity for actual cycling. And the subscription is just ridiculous, when Zwift and TrainerRoad are $15/month for similar software.
  - rchaud 7y ago
    You could not go to a gym for 3 years and your membership fees would still cost you less than the $2000 bike, let alone the monthly subscription.
    - kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
      People are paying over $100 per class for yoga and spin classes in major cities.
      - lawlington 7y ago
        Sure, but you pay for those per session it's not an automatic charge, so they aren't just wasting $100 repeatedly, they're getting (what they feel like) is their moneys worth per session. I'd be willing to bet there's a small amount of people (probably ~5% or less) that sign up for a class during the week and then eschew it in favor of laziness.
      - bogomipz 7y ago
        Genuinely curious - which places charge more than $100 per class?
      - eropple 7y ago
        I have a side business dealing directly with the yoga and spin industry and I've never heard of this. Can you point me to an example?
    - aczerepinski 7y ago
      There are numerous upscale gyms in my area that cost $200-400 per month. The demographic that is considering a Pelaton is probably buying in addition to a gym membership like that or comparing against it.
  - aw11gwd 7y ago
    I built a website to serve the market that sits between and overlaps Peloton and Zwift. It's a human-curated aggregator/review site with a filter so you can quickly find content by type, duration, featured athlete, sport, recommended use. It's free and you can use your existing equipment or even a Peloton spin bike if you grow tired of paying a subscription. https://slpstream.com/ https://slpstream.com/ The site is still at MVP stage so I welcome any feedback on viability, usability, copy, anything that can help me improve it. I want to make it easier, cheaper (free!) and more fun for people to get their workout done from pros to beginners. I also want to help promote the work of the athletes + producers and give kudos to the brands that support that content production instead of buying display ads based on behavioral tracking! One cool feature apart from the filter is that if you sign up (free, just username/password) you can bookmark favorites onto a personal playlist page to return to later. Another attempt to reduce the friction between thinking about a workout and getting it done. FYI there are quite a few free guided workout videos on YouTube (GCN is my favorite so far) that are great when you need to do interval training. They are super engaging and high quality. For aerobic base training (lower intensity but longer duration) I like inspiring documentaries or sports events and podcasts or audiobooks for runs outside. I'm adding more to Slipstream every day.
- bstar77 7y ago
  This bike is for people that don't want to go to a gym and/or don't have lots of time to leave the house on a daily basis. You can also finance the bike so the hit isn't so bad. Additionally, there's no extra charge for multiple accounts (up to 10), so if everyone in the house uses it, the cost makes more sense. I work out of home and this is the only way I get consistent exercise. My fitness has gone up tremendously as has my quality of life. It's all about what motivates you to take your health seriously... this bike does it for me and a lot of other people. It's really hard to put a price on that.
  - wlesieutre 7y ago
    Semi-related, I just got a $400 Oculus Quest and burned 1900 calories playing Beat Saber yesterday (as calculated by Apple Watch's "Other" workout type). Much cheaper purchase and fun enough that I can enjoy playing it for hours a day. I have an (admittedly shitty) exercise bike, and will probably be using that a lot less now. If anyone's looking for a home fitness gadget, give that a look. I'm told BoxVR is a better workout than Beat Saber but I haven't bought that yet.
    - mrguyorama 7y ago
      >I just got a $400 Oculus Quest and burned 1900 calories playing Beat Saber That's an absurd claim by your apple watch. An hour of expert level beat saber is closer to 360 calories.
      - wlesieutre 7y ago
        I have a hunch that it's overestimating because you wave your arms around a lot, but 360 seems like an underestimate. Average heart rate in 70% to 80% range, and I'll have higher than average calorie expenditure because I'm overweight. EDIT - did a comparison against Runner's World's calorie burn calculator, and the calories/hour burn rate lines up with a leisurely 11:30 minutes/mile pace based on my weight. It honestly seems about right.
      - corey_moncure 7y ago
- japhyr 7y ago
  I know people who love spin classes. They're not just buying an exercise bike. They're buying a really nice bike, and membership in a global community of people who also love spin. It really does seem like getting to go to a spin class any time you want, in the privacy of your own home. I have way more than $2k in outdoor gear, because my favorite exercise is trail running and climbing mountains. If riding an indoor bike was my thing, I would seriously consider a Peloton.
  - spyspy 7y ago
    I didn't say there was zero market. Obviously people are buying the things. But this is an IPO we're talking about. I'm questioning the long term growth of what I see as an expensive niche product.
    - bstar77 7y ago
      You made a pretty inflammatory comment: "the market is people rich and lazy enough that don't want do the first half of the work". He's just explaining that there is a market. It's probably an enthusiast market as well as wealthy people that can make this an impulse buy, but the opportunity for growth is to convince a much more general market to finance the bike and justify the monthly costs like they do their cable/streaming bills. I understand you didn't want to interview for the job, I get not wanting to work on a product you don't care for... I just think your other comments made little sense and seemed more inflammatory than anything.
      - spyspy 7y ago
        Sorry it wasn't meant to be inflammatory, brevity is hard. But has any fitness fad ever threatened the cable industry? I don't see anyone cancelling their netflix subscription in order to afford this thing. But based on all the responses claiming there's "tons" of market I'm still inclined to disagree. The market seems to just be people already really into cycling (either outdoors or spin classes) and are currently pouring money into those hobbies. Maybe it's a wildly bigger market than I imagine but if I was putting my money on it, and we're talking about an IPO here, I'd say that Peloton's best growth will soon be behind them and they're trying to cash out while they can.
- kevinconaway 7y ago
  > How many people are willing to spend thousands on an exercise bike? A lot, myself included. My wife and I gave it to each other for Christmas one year, right before our daughter was born. At the time when we were new parents, it was perfect. We could exercise quietly without waking either the baby or each other, all without leaving the house. Now that our daughter is older, we still use it albeit more infrequently in the summer when we both like to go out and run. However, the digital classes offered in the app are great for running & training. For me personally, it was easy to get stuck in a rut of just plodding along and not really improving my fitness. Having the coaches in your ear telling you what to do works well for me.
- entee 7y ago
  I am a fairly experienced road cyclist and even though I prefer to ride outside AND have a computer-controlled bike trainer, I would consider one if I had the space. I also have several friends who prefer this to all their other options. 1.) It's way easier to get started up without the faff of setting up your trainer. If you have a dedicated bike+trainer this is less of an issue, but that is going to cost a fair amount (something like $1-1.5K) and take up about as much space, and not be anywhere near as seamless. 2.) The coaching you get is extremely rich compared to TrainerRoad and Zwift, both costing $15/person/month. So if you have 2 people on the same account you pay a bit more per person and get better coaching. They are also branching out into strength and other types of video coaching as part of the package. I initially thought it was useless if you had a trainer for the bike, but I see the appeal now. If the app worked with my wahoo trainer, then I'd very likely buy the service and have it work with my existing equipment.
  - spyspy 7y ago
    I see your point that, for you, there's an appeal. But with so many comments disagreeing with me and saying there's "tons" of market I'm inclined to maintain my point. I think the market (and evidenced by the way it's _marketed_) as it stands is not the general public. It's either people who are already paying gobs of money for cycling classes à la SoulCycle or already dishing out money for their cycling hobby. On the topic of a looming IPO, I don't see their growth continuing to accelerate for much longer.
    - gamblor956 7y ago
      Generally the people that use HN are not the target market for Peloton. In contrast to your POV, I know dozens of people who do already have Pelton subscriptions, or plan to get some. My office is planning to get 2 or 3 bikes for our exercise room. Peloton is too expensive to see startup-type growth much longer, but they've got something better: actual revenue and a path to profitability (if they're not already there).
  - eitally 7y ago
    It's not "better" coaching, just directly engaged instruction. TrainerRoad/Zwift workouts are tailored to specific goals, whereas spin classes are aimed at general fitness... and I've never seen one that lasted over 45 minutes.
- timdorr 7y ago
  > How many people are willing to spend thousands on an exercise bike? Apparently, somewhere around 400,000: https://secondmeasure.com/datapoints/peloton-subscriptions-doubled-over-past-year/ https://secondmeasure.com/datapoints/peloton-subscriptions-d...
- TomVDB 7y ago
  > How many people are willing to spend thousands on an exercise bike? Tons of them. I've had a bunch of setups where you could plug in your road bike into a stationary setup, with virtual screen and everything, but the hassle of setting it up was always just a little too much friction. It'd be the logical N+1 addition to my stable of more expensive road, cross and mountain bikes. You have no idea how much people are willing to spend on their cycling hobby. If I want a one hour work-out, going to the gym adds 2 times 10 minutes to go back and from. The bikes may already be taken. Music is blaring out of loudspeakers. There's no training included. This is not about being lazy, it's about being rich enough to trade time and convenience for money.
  - alistairSH 7y ago
    I don't understand Peloton because there are smart-trainers available (Wahoo Kickr, etc). $1000 bike. $1000 trainer. $15/month for Zwift or TrainerRoad. And you can take the bike outside when the weather is nice. Or, for a bike enthusiast (or anybody who already owns a bike), the bike is already there. So, it's just the trainer.
    - TomVDB 7y ago
      Twice, I had something like a Wahoo Kickr. Twice, after repeated use, the mounting mechanism to fasten my road bike to the trainer started to fail or became very cumbersome to use. When it did work, the tires on the road bike slipped when putting on high power. In the end, even if it wasn't a huge inconvenience, the hassle of using the system was sufficient friction to stop me from using it, just like the overhead of going to a gym. There is a large market for tailor-made solutions that are perfect for just one application. (See also: iPad, bike GPS computers, 10 different categories of mountain bikes, ...)
      - alistairSH 7y ago
        The Kickr is direct mount (remove rear wheel, mount to axle/cassette that are part of trainer). Parts could still fail, but no tire slippage.
- smacktoward 7y ago
  > How many people are willing to spend thousands on an exercise bike? In an age when wealth is highly concentrated among a few people, you can make a lot of money selling those few people absurdly overpriced luxury goods. Are there lots of them? Not really. But they have all the disposable income, so...
  - Johnny555 7y ago
    Maybe you can make a living at selling $50,000 jewelry to the very wealthy, but I'm not sure you can make much of a living selling a $3000 bike to the 1%.
    - scarface74 7y ago
      You're not just selling the bike, you're also selling subscriptions. On top of that, there is the gamification of competing with other people/yourself.
- drugme 7y ago
  Glassdoor reviews indicated their backend interview is unnecessarily difficult Difficult for you, maybe. How else do you expect them to find the top 0.01 percent of the candidate pool they're looking for?
  - brewdad 7y ago
    I think OP is saying the interview asked for a much greater skill level than is actually necessary to do the job. The equivalent of requiring a PhD for a job doing Bachelor's level grunt work.
    - drugme 7y ago
      Sorry, I was being facetious. I've seen this kind of screening "process" many times and find it totally ridiculous.
- aczerepinski 7y ago
  I could imagine getting one if I had some amount more money. I work from home and my gym is just far enough away that I can’t go there on a standard lunch break. In the summer I run or bike outside. A Pelaton for me would just be for lunchtime workouts in the winter... can’t justify that financially but I do see the appeal.
- HansLandaa 7y ago
  I don't see the value proposition in this business model. You can have a full time membership at gym with in person cycling classes not to mention yoga classes, saunas, pools, weightlifting equipment and cardio equipment for the same price as their subscription.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    I don't have a Peloton at home but I do have a treadmill, elliptical, and some weights and getting a stationary bike is on my list. It is really convenient not to have to go through the ceremony of going to the gym. I can go to the room across the hall and work out anytime in front of my TV. You really don't need a lot of different weightlifting equipment to stay in shape. Just an adjustable weight bench (which I have) and adjustable dumb bells. You can stream Yoga classes if you want. I also don't have to be around germ infested sick people in the winter and wait on equipment.
    - eitally 7y ago
      +1. Honestly, if I go to the gym it's because I want someone else to tell me what to do, and for the social aspect, not because my home setup isn't sufficient (bench, adjustable DBs, stationary bike, rowing machine, medicine balls, slides, resistance bands, TRX, bosu).
      - scarface74 7y ago
        The other part of the story is that I spent over a decade as a part time fitness instructor going around to over a dozen gyms during the course of a year and the energy of being in front of a class and the friendships I made were priceless. But as $life_happened and I stopped teaching and moved away from my friends, I really started hating everything about the gym and having to work around the gym schedule. There are times I hang out with my wife until she goes to sleep and then work out after 9PM.
- velox_io 7y ago
  There's a huge difference between an exercise bike and the real thing. Sure you can add online gameplay, but it is a poor substitute. I'm not sure how much staying power they have. More people seem to like the idea of excerise rather than the exercise itself. Maybe I'm missing something.. I'm surprised that they haven't expanded into rowing, seems like an even better fit. Personally, I think you're better off joining a gym and going to spin class if you don't have good roads near you. Oh, and seeing that they have packages with bundled cycling shoes did make me cringe. That's when you need to go to a bike shop and get some that fit (cycling shoes are designed to be stiff so they don't 'wear in' to the same degree as other footwear.
  - eropple 7y ago
    > I'm surprised that they haven't expanded into rowing, seems like an even better fit. I'm just gonna drop a shameless plug here and note that I recently joined the team at Hydrow; rowing is our business and our machine feels really good--the quality of the product was a nontrivial part of why I signed up. https://hydrow.com https://hydrow.com
dsfyu404ed 7y ago
>Sometimes I’ll move the Peloton bike into our gallery so I can spend time with my half gay husband while he reads Architectural Digest wearing combat boots I definitely lol'd. Half gayness notwithstanding, this is like an upscale caricature of a normal evening in my house and lot of households. "Spend $2k on our bike and for just $40/mo you can get in shape while you ignore each other"
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
bitwize 7y ago
Yeah, Peloton is basically SoulCycle for people who think $5000 is a reasonable price to pay for a computer monitor.
- gkoberger 7y ago
  SoulCycle is over $5k/year if you go 3 times a week. A Pelton is only $2,245 (plus a subscription; financing available), and comes with unlimited classes combined with great software/trainers/community who get people excited about riding. You could say Pelton is SoulCycle for people who want to save money and time.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
tootie 7y ago
They're not really unique in that though. If car commercials were real, everyone would be driving around either DUMBO, Brooklyn or peeling out on the Nevada Salt Flats.
reaperducer 7y ago
When I see Peloton now, I always think of this twitter thread that critiques their adverts That's some quality entertainment right there. Thanks for that.

spyspy 7y ago

My sides. I have friends working there that have tried getting me to apply. Glassdoor reviews indicated their backend interview is unnecessarily difficult and I have little faith in their business model. How many people are willing to spend thousands on an exercise bike? Let alone one that requires a $40/month subscription? It feels the same as Blue Apron - the market is people rich and lazy enough that don't want do the first half of the work (go to the gym or the grocery store) but still want to do the hard part (actually cook and exercise).

kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
People pay for gym memberships that they never use. They also buy home exercise equipment that collects dust for most of its life. Then you have active cyclists that will splurge $5K+ on a real bike and want a way to ride when the weather makes it troublesome. There is a market.
- zerkten 7y ago
  There is a definite market, but like gym memberships it is likely to contract during downturns. The folks I know with Pelotons are cycle infrequently and have a more general regime. As a cyclist I'd be interested to know how many get a Peloton versus sticking with traditional trainers? Ignoring the all-weather cyclists it'd also be interesting to know how many ride into the shoulders of the season. Most of the folks I ride with have $5000 bikes and they may ride from March to November here in Philly depending on really bad conditions.
  - alistairSH 7y ago
    DC resident and cyclist. I ride year-round, but in winter I do scheduled indoor group sessions (currently, on Wahoo Kickrs) as the ground tends to be too squishy with the freeze/thaw for the mountain bike (which I prefer to the road bike). I also own a Kickr at home. My spare mountain bike is mounted on it year-round. Through summer, I do the 30-minute workout program on TrainerRoad (rainy days or when I work late, but I try to do most riding outside). My issue with Peloton isn't the money. As noted, like many cyclists, I have several expensive bikes. It's the lack of specificity for actual cycling. And the subscription is just ridiculous, when Zwift and TrainerRoad are $15/month for similar software.
- rchaud 7y ago
  You could not go to a gym for 3 years and your membership fees would still cost you less than the $2000 bike, let alone the monthly subscription.
  - kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
    People are paying over $100 per class for yoga and spin classes in major cities.
    - lawlington 7y ago
      Sure, but you pay for those per session it's not an automatic charge, so they aren't just wasting $100 repeatedly, they're getting (what they feel like) is their moneys worth per session. I'd be willing to bet there's a small amount of people (probably ~5% or less) that sign up for a class during the week and then eschew it in favor of laziness.
    - bogomipz 7y ago
      Genuinely curious - which places charge more than $100 per class?
    - eropple 7y ago
      I have a side business dealing directly with the yoga and spin industry and I've never heard of this. Can you point me to an example?
  - aczerepinski 7y ago
    There are numerous upscale gyms in my area that cost $200-400 per month. The demographic that is considering a Pelaton is probably buying in addition to a gym membership like that or comparing against it.
- aw11gwd 7y ago
  I built a website to serve the market that sits between and overlaps Peloton and Zwift. It's a human-curated aggregator/review site with a filter so you can quickly find content by type, duration, featured athlete, sport, recommended use. It's free and you can use your existing equipment or even a Peloton spin bike if you grow tired of paying a subscription. https://slpstream.com/ https://slpstream.com/ The site is still at MVP stage so I welcome any feedback on viability, usability, copy, anything that can help me improve it. I want to make it easier, cheaper (free!) and more fun for people to get their workout done from pros to beginners. I also want to help promote the work of the athletes + producers and give kudos to the brands that support that content production instead of buying display ads based on behavioral tracking! One cool feature apart from the filter is that if you sign up (free, just username/password) you can bookmark favorites onto a personal playlist page to return to later. Another attempt to reduce the friction between thinking about a workout and getting it done. FYI there are quite a few free guided workout videos on YouTube (GCN is my favorite so far) that are great when you need to do interval training. They are super engaging and high quality. For aerobic base training (lower intensity but longer duration) I like inspiring documentaries or sports events and podcasts or audiobooks for runs outside. I'm adding more to Slipstream every day.
bstar77 7y ago
This bike is for people that don't want to go to a gym and/or don't have lots of time to leave the house on a daily basis. You can also finance the bike so the hit isn't so bad. Additionally, there's no extra charge for multiple accounts (up to 10), so if everyone in the house uses it, the cost makes more sense. I work out of home and this is the only way I get consistent exercise. My fitness has gone up tremendously as has my quality of life. It's all about what motivates you to take your health seriously... this bike does it for me and a lot of other people. It's really hard to put a price on that.
- wlesieutre 7y ago
  Semi-related, I just got a $400 Oculus Quest and burned 1900 calories playing Beat Saber yesterday (as calculated by Apple Watch's "Other" workout type). Much cheaper purchase and fun enough that I can enjoy playing it for hours a day. I have an (admittedly shitty) exercise bike, and will probably be using that a lot less now. If anyone's looking for a home fitness gadget, give that a look. I'm told BoxVR is a better workout than Beat Saber but I haven't bought that yet.
  - mrguyorama 7y ago
    >I just got a $400 Oculus Quest and burned 1900 calories playing Beat Saber That's an absurd claim by your apple watch. An hour of expert level beat saber is closer to 360 calories.
    - wlesieutre 7y ago
      I have a hunch that it's overestimating because you wave your arms around a lot, but 360 seems like an underestimate. Average heart rate in 70% to 80% range, and I'll have higher than average calorie expenditure because I'm overweight. EDIT - did a comparison against Runner's World's calorie burn calculator, and the calories/hour burn rate lines up with a leisurely 11:30 minutes/mile pace based on my weight. It honestly seems about right.
    - corey_moncure 7y ago
japhyr 7y ago
I know people who love spin classes. They're not just buying an exercise bike. They're buying a really nice bike, and membership in a global community of people who also love spin. It really does seem like getting to go to a spin class any time you want, in the privacy of your own home. I have way more than $2k in outdoor gear, because my favorite exercise is trail running and climbing mountains. If riding an indoor bike was my thing, I would seriously consider a Peloton.
- spyspy 7y ago
  I didn't say there was zero market. Obviously people are buying the things. But this is an IPO we're talking about. I'm questioning the long term growth of what I see as an expensive niche product.
  - bstar77 7y ago
    You made a pretty inflammatory comment: "the market is people rich and lazy enough that don't want do the first half of the work". He's just explaining that there is a market. It's probably an enthusiast market as well as wealthy people that can make this an impulse buy, but the opportunity for growth is to convince a much more general market to finance the bike and justify the monthly costs like they do their cable/streaming bills. I understand you didn't want to interview for the job, I get not wanting to work on a product you don't care for... I just think your other comments made little sense and seemed more inflammatory than anything.
    - spyspy 7y ago
      Sorry it wasn't meant to be inflammatory, brevity is hard. But has any fitness fad ever threatened the cable industry? I don't see anyone cancelling their netflix subscription in order to afford this thing. But based on all the responses claiming there's "tons" of market I'm still inclined to disagree. The market seems to just be people already really into cycling (either outdoors or spin classes) and are currently pouring money into those hobbies. Maybe it's a wildly bigger market than I imagine but if I was putting my money on it, and we're talking about an IPO here, I'd say that Peloton's best growth will soon be behind them and they're trying to cash out while they can.
kevinconaway 7y ago
> How many people are willing to spend thousands on an exercise bike? A lot, myself included. My wife and I gave it to each other for Christmas one year, right before our daughter was born. At the time when we were new parents, it was perfect. We could exercise quietly without waking either the baby or each other, all without leaving the house. Now that our daughter is older, we still use it albeit more infrequently in the summer when we both like to go out and run. However, the digital classes offered in the app are great for running & training. For me personally, it was easy to get stuck in a rut of just plodding along and not really improving my fitness. Having the coaches in your ear telling you what to do works well for me.
entee 7y ago
I am a fairly experienced road cyclist and even though I prefer to ride outside AND have a computer-controlled bike trainer, I would consider one if I had the space. I also have several friends who prefer this to all their other options. 1.) It's way easier to get started up without the faff of setting up your trainer. If you have a dedicated bike+trainer this is less of an issue, but that is going to cost a fair amount (something like $1-1.5K) and take up about as much space, and not be anywhere near as seamless. 2.) The coaching you get is extremely rich compared to TrainerRoad and Zwift, both costing $15/person/month. So if you have 2 people on the same account you pay a bit more per person and get better coaching. They are also branching out into strength and other types of video coaching as part of the package. I initially thought it was useless if you had a trainer for the bike, but I see the appeal now. If the app worked with my wahoo trainer, then I'd very likely buy the service and have it work with my existing equipment.
- spyspy 7y ago
  I see your point that, for you, there's an appeal. But with so many comments disagreeing with me and saying there's "tons" of market I'm inclined to maintain my point. I think the market (and evidenced by the way it's _marketed_) as it stands is not the general public. It's either people who are already paying gobs of money for cycling classes à la SoulCycle or already dishing out money for their cycling hobby. On the topic of a looming IPO, I don't see their growth continuing to accelerate for much longer.
  - gamblor956 7y ago
    Generally the people that use HN are not the target market for Peloton. In contrast to your POV, I know dozens of people who do already have Pelton subscriptions, or plan to get some. My office is planning to get 2 or 3 bikes for our exercise room. Peloton is too expensive to see startup-type growth much longer, but they've got something better: actual revenue and a path to profitability (if they're not already there).
- eitally 7y ago
  It's not "better" coaching, just directly engaged instruction. TrainerRoad/Zwift workouts are tailored to specific goals, whereas spin classes are aimed at general fitness... and I've never seen one that lasted over 45 minutes.
timdorr 7y ago
> How many people are willing to spend thousands on an exercise bike? Apparently, somewhere around 400,000: https://secondmeasure.com/datapoints/peloton-subscriptions-doubled-over-past-year/ https://secondmeasure.com/datapoints/peloton-subscriptions-d...
TomVDB 7y ago
> How many people are willing to spend thousands on an exercise bike? Tons of them. I've had a bunch of setups where you could plug in your road bike into a stationary setup, with virtual screen and everything, but the hassle of setting it up was always just a little too much friction. It'd be the logical N+1 addition to my stable of more expensive road, cross and mountain bikes. You have no idea how much people are willing to spend on their cycling hobby. If I want a one hour work-out, going to the gym adds 2 times 10 minutes to go back and from. The bikes may already be taken. Music is blaring out of loudspeakers. There's no training included. This is not about being lazy, it's about being rich enough to trade time and convenience for money.
- alistairSH 7y ago
  I don't understand Peloton because there are smart-trainers available (Wahoo Kickr, etc). $1000 bike. $1000 trainer. $15/month for Zwift or TrainerRoad. And you can take the bike outside when the weather is nice. Or, for a bike enthusiast (or anybody who already owns a bike), the bike is already there. So, it's just the trainer.
  - TomVDB 7y ago
    Twice, I had something like a Wahoo Kickr. Twice, after repeated use, the mounting mechanism to fasten my road bike to the trainer started to fail or became very cumbersome to use. When it did work, the tires on the road bike slipped when putting on high power. In the end, even if it wasn't a huge inconvenience, the hassle of using the system was sufficient friction to stop me from using it, just like the overhead of going to a gym. There is a large market for tailor-made solutions that are perfect for just one application. (See also: iPad, bike GPS computers, 10 different categories of mountain bikes, ...)
    - alistairSH 7y ago
      The Kickr is direct mount (remove rear wheel, mount to axle/cassette that are part of trainer). Parts could still fail, but no tire slippage.
smacktoward 7y ago
> How many people are willing to spend thousands on an exercise bike? In an age when wealth is highly concentrated among a few people, you can make a lot of money selling those few people absurdly overpriced luxury goods. Are there lots of them? Not really. But they have all the disposable income, so...
- Johnny555 7y ago
  Maybe you can make a living at selling $50,000 jewelry to the very wealthy, but I'm not sure you can make much of a living selling a $3000 bike to the 1%.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    You're not just selling the bike, you're also selling subscriptions. On top of that, there is the gamification of competing with other people/yourself.
drugme 7y ago
Glassdoor reviews indicated their backend interview is unnecessarily difficult Difficult for you, maybe. How else do you expect them to find the top 0.01 percent of the candidate pool they're looking for?
- brewdad 7y ago
  I think OP is saying the interview asked for a much greater skill level than is actually necessary to do the job. The equivalent of requiring a PhD for a job doing Bachelor's level grunt work.
  - drugme 7y ago
    Sorry, I was being facetious. I've seen this kind of screening "process" many times and find it totally ridiculous.
aczerepinski 7y ago
I could imagine getting one if I had some amount more money. I work from home and my gym is just far enough away that I can’t go there on a standard lunch break. In the summer I run or bike outside. A Pelaton for me would just be for lunchtime workouts in the winter... can’t justify that financially but I do see the appeal.
HansLandaa 7y ago
I don't see the value proposition in this business model. You can have a full time membership at gym with in person cycling classes not to mention yoga classes, saunas, pools, weightlifting equipment and cardio equipment for the same price as their subscription.
- scarface74 7y ago
  I don't have a Peloton at home but I do have a treadmill, elliptical, and some weights and getting a stationary bike is on my list. It is really convenient not to have to go through the ceremony of going to the gym. I can go to the room across the hall and work out anytime in front of my TV. You really don't need a lot of different weightlifting equipment to stay in shape. Just an adjustable weight bench (which I have) and adjustable dumb bells. You can stream Yoga classes if you want. I also don't have to be around germ infested sick people in the winter and wait on equipment.
  - eitally 7y ago
    +1. Honestly, if I go to the gym it's because I want someone else to tell me what to do, and for the social aspect, not because my home setup isn't sufficient (bench, adjustable DBs, stationary bike, rowing machine, medicine balls, slides, resistance bands, TRX, bosu).
    - scarface74 7y ago
      The other part of the story is that I spent over a decade as a part time fitness instructor going around to over a dozen gyms during the course of a year and the energy of being in front of a class and the friendships I made were priceless. But as $life_happened and I stopped teaching and moved away from my friends, I really started hating everything about the gym and having to work around the gym schedule. There are times I hang out with my wife until she goes to sleep and then work out after 9PM.
velox_io 7y ago
There's a huge difference between an exercise bike and the real thing. Sure you can add online gameplay, but it is a poor substitute. I'm not sure how much staying power they have. More people seem to like the idea of excerise rather than the exercise itself. Maybe I'm missing something.. I'm surprised that they haven't expanded into rowing, seems like an even better fit. Personally, I think you're better off joining a gym and going to spin class if you don't have good roads near you. Oh, and seeing that they have packages with bundled cycling shoes did make me cringe. That's when you need to go to a bike shop and get some that fit (cycling shoes are designed to be stiff so they don't 'wear in' to the same degree as other footwear.
- eropple 7y ago
  > I'm surprised that they haven't expanded into rowing, seems like an even better fit. I'm just gonna drop a shameless plug here and note that I recently joined the team at Hydrow; rowing is our business and our machine feels really good--the quality of the product was a nontrivial part of why I signed up. https://hydrow.com https://hydrow.com

dsfyu404ed 7y ago

>Sometimes I’ll move the Peloton bike into our gallery so I can spend time with my half gay husband while he reads Architectural Digest wearing combat boots I definitely lol'd. Half gayness notwithstanding, this is like an upscale caricature of a normal evening in my house and lot of households. "Spend $2k on our bike and for just $40/mo you can get in shape while you ignore each other"

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

bitwize 7y ago

Yeah, Peloton is basically SoulCycle for people who think $5000 is a reasonable price to pay for a computer monitor.

gkoberger 7y ago
SoulCycle is over $5k/year if you go 3 times a week. A Pelton is only $2,245 (plus a subscription; financing available), and comes with unlimited classes combined with great software/trainers/community who get people excited about riding. You could say Pelton is SoulCycle for people who want to save money and time.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

tootie 7y ago

They're not really unique in that though. If car commercials were real, everyone would be driving around either DUMBO, Brooklyn or peeling out on the Nevada Salt Flats.

reaperducer 7y ago

When I see Peloton now, I always think of this twitter thread that critiques their adverts That's some quality entertainment right there. Thanks for that.