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The proprietary nature of Peloton is a big reason why I didn't get one -- if you want any fitness tracking at all, you have to pay their $39/month fee. Plus I d

The proprietary nature of Peloton is a big reason why I didn't get one -- if you want any fitness tracking at all, you have to pay their $39/month fee. Plus I didn't want a bike with a big expensive display that's going to need to be replaced some day. I went with Keiser, which I pair with my Garmin watch for tracking. But Peloton still gets some money from me since I use their $14.99/mo (edit: the app is $12.99/mo, with tax I pay $14.30) standalone app for workouts.

bighitbiker3 6y ago
Yep in the exact same boat as you. Went with the M3i and pair it with the Peloton standalone app for classes. Have been meaning to try out Zwift but I've started running more due to the nicer weather. Eventually! Many of my friends went with the Peloton and swear by it. If you're fine being platform-locked for $39/mo it's a great option. The bike is quality, the classes are amazing, and the peer competition is motivating. All that wasn't for me though.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- Johnny555 6y ago
  The problem for me wasn't just the $39/mo, that's still mildly affordable, but figured if Peloton raises the fee, there's not much I can do about it since I'm locked in. Since I use the standalone Peloton app with my Keiser, if Peloton raises their fee I can easily switch to another one.
dkrich 6y ago
I got a Keiser, too, mostly because the Peloton wasn’t available for like 10 months when I wanted one, but also for the money the Keiser is a much higher quality bike plus you have the flexibility of using Zwift or other apps. I currently use the Peloton app for 100% of my rides, but I hate the idea of spending $2500+ for a piece of equipment that I’ll probably never replace and being locked into their ecosystem and not having any choice (it’s not an iPhone that I’m going to replace every two years because it has better and better features- it’s a stationary bike). I suspect they recognize that the TAM for bikes is pretty well saturated and need to look elsewhere for opportunities. I have a Fitbit because all I wanted was a fitness tracker, not a fully functional smart watch, but the ability to use it for my workouts is important. But it does a decent enough job of tracking effort just based on heart rate without knowing every detail of resistance, cadence, etc.
- valuearb 6y ago
  Keisers don't have screens do they?
  - Johnny555 6y ago
    No graphical screen, just an LCD bike computer with basic information. I used to use an old iPad to watch Peloton classes, but now I have a Roku for the TV, so I run the Peloton app on the Roku so I can watch the class on the big screen.
_jal 6y ago
Yep. No @#$@ing way am I going to pay a rental fee on a device I just bought, whether or not it has a TV built in.
- timdorr 6y ago
  It's not a rental fee for the device, it's a subscription fee for the content that can be used on it. You can still use the bike as a plain exercise bike without a subscription. It's the same thing as buying a Roku and paying for Netflix.
  - Johnny555 6y ago
    It's the same thing as buying a Roku and paying for Netflix. Seems more like buying an expensive Netflix player, which will only show photo albums from an SD card unless you subscribe to Netflix. Or, buying a Peloton bike is more like buying a Roku to watch movies and then having to pay for a Roku subscription or it's useless because it doesn't work with Netflix.
  - _jal 6y ago
    I understand it is possible to use it like an overpriced exerbike with a useless monitor glued on. Thank you for the overly-literal semantic quibbling, it wouldn't be HN without it.
  - fshbbdssbbgdd 6y ago
    Although Peloton charge $40/mo if you bought their bike, or $15/mo if you use your own bike. $15/mo is in line with competitor prices for similar services. So it really seems like the extra $25/mo is “vendor lock-in” premium. There are features gated to the Peloton bike which gives a downside to the bring-your-own-bike route and muddies the waters somewhat. If the Peloton app supported ERG mode with full interactivity, I’d probably be willing to pay $25/mo, because it is a really high quality service.
  - tomc1985 6y ago
    That is: death by a thousand cu... er, subscriptions
RankingMember 6y ago
I do the same, but with an Echelon. There's really no comparison to the Peloton class experience imo- The Echelon class production quality is not good and the music leaves a lot to be desired.
fuzzylightbulb 6y ago
I would venture to guess that most people buying a Peloton are not doing it for the data tracking. They are buying one because it is a really nice spin bike paired with daily live classes across multiple sports that then go into a massive content library that you can stream on demand. You certainly pay a premium for the whole thing to be tightly integrated ("it just works") but that is clearly worth it to a huge number of people. Anyone that already likes spin classes wants one of these bikes. And compared to what you would pay to go to a live class at a spin studio the $40 a month is a drop in the bucket. The fact that both you and your spouse or roommate can use the same subscription with separate accounts further stacks the financials in Peloton's direction. The fact that you can hop on the thing whenever you want from the comfort of your home is another huge plus. The bike won't last forever, but its not like the screen is going to "age out" at any point. And if the whole thing somehow completely dies in 3 years it will still have been a fine investment relative to the alternatives. Certainly you can ride for cheaper but nothing else comes close to the experience for the money.

bighitbiker3 6y ago

Yep in the exact same boat as you. Went with the M3i and pair it with the Peloton standalone app for classes. Have been meaning to try out Zwift but I've started running more due to the nicer weather. Eventually! Many of my friends went with the Peloton and swear by it. If you're fine being platform-locked for $39/mo it's a great option. The bike is quality, the classes are amazing, and the peer competition is motivating. All that wasn't for me though.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
Johnny555 6y ago
The problem for me wasn't just the $39/mo, that's still mildly affordable, but figured if Peloton raises the fee, there's not much I can do about it since I'm locked in. Since I use the standalone Peloton app with my Keiser, if Peloton raises their fee I can easily switch to another one.

dkrich 6y ago

I got a Keiser, too, mostly because the Peloton wasn’t available for like 10 months when I wanted one, but also for the money the Keiser is a much higher quality bike plus you have the flexibility of using Zwift or other apps. I currently use the Peloton app for 100% of my rides, but I hate the idea of spending $2500+ for a piece of equipment that I’ll probably never replace and being locked into their ecosystem and not having any choice (it’s not an iPhone that I’m going to replace every two years because it has better and better features- it’s a stationary bike). I suspect they recognize that the TAM for bikes is pretty well saturated and need to look elsewhere for opportunities. I have a Fitbit because all I wanted was a fitness tracker, not a fully functional smart watch, but the ability to use it for my workouts is important. But it does a decent enough job of tracking effort just based on heart rate without knowing every detail of resistance, cadence, etc.

valuearb 6y ago
Keisers don't have screens do they?
- Johnny555 6y ago
  No graphical screen, just an LCD bike computer with basic information. I used to use an old iPad to watch Peloton classes, but now I have a Roku for the TV, so I run the Peloton app on the Roku so I can watch the class on the big screen.

_jal 6y ago

Yep. No @#$@ing way am I going to pay a rental fee on a device I just bought, whether or not it has a TV built in.

timdorr 6y ago
It's not a rental fee for the device, it's a subscription fee for the content that can be used on it. You can still use the bike as a plain exercise bike without a subscription. It's the same thing as buying a Roku and paying for Netflix.
- Johnny555 6y ago
  It's the same thing as buying a Roku and paying for Netflix. Seems more like buying an expensive Netflix player, which will only show photo albums from an SD card unless you subscribe to Netflix. Or, buying a Peloton bike is more like buying a Roku to watch movies and then having to pay for a Roku subscription or it's useless because it doesn't work with Netflix.
- _jal 6y ago
  I understand it is possible to use it like an overpriced exerbike with a useless monitor glued on. Thank you for the overly-literal semantic quibbling, it wouldn't be HN without it.
- fshbbdssbbgdd 6y ago
  Although Peloton charge $40/mo if you bought their bike, or $15/mo if you use your own bike. $15/mo is in line with competitor prices for similar services. So it really seems like the extra $25/mo is “vendor lock-in” premium. There are features gated to the Peloton bike which gives a downside to the bring-your-own-bike route and muddies the waters somewhat. If the Peloton app supported ERG mode with full interactivity, I’d probably be willing to pay $25/mo, because it is a really high quality service.
- tomc1985 6y ago
  That is: death by a thousand cu... er, subscriptions

RankingMember 6y ago

I do the same, but with an Echelon. There's really no comparison to the Peloton class experience imo- The Echelon class production quality is not good and the music leaves a lot to be desired.

fuzzylightbulb 6y ago

I would venture to guess that most people buying a Peloton are not doing it for the data tracking. They are buying one because it is a really nice spin bike paired with daily live classes across multiple sports that then go into a massive content library that you can stream on demand. You certainly pay a premium for the whole thing to be tightly integrated ("it just works") but that is clearly worth it to a huge number of people. Anyone that already likes spin classes wants one of these bikes. And compared to what you would pay to go to a live class at a spin studio the $40 a month is a drop in the bucket. The fact that both you and your spouse or roommate can use the same subscription with separate accounts further stacks the financials in Peloton's direction. The fact that you can hop on the thing whenever you want from the comfort of your home is another huge plus. The bike won't last forever, but its not like the screen is going to "age out" at any point. And if the whole thing somehow completely dies in 3 years it will still have been a fine investment relative to the alternatives. Certainly you can ride for cheaper but nothing else comes close to the experience for the money.