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Peloton is headed the way of GoPro. They were a pandemic fad for folks stuck in their homes and now you can't get rid of them on FB Marketplace etc.

Johnny555 4y ago
I'm not sure they care too much how much their bikes earn on resale as long as they get new owners, even if people give them away for free they earn money when those new Peloton owners subscribe at $40/month.
- vkou 4y ago
  Wait, why would anyone pay $40/month to use an exercise bike they already bought? Am I stupid? Or is the world stupid?
  - riffraff 4y ago
    They have training programs or some such, you pay them like you'd pay a gym subscription. It seems strange to me, but people do this with random online fitness classes, so it's not unheard of.
  - Johnny555 4y ago
    You can pedal the bike without a subscription, but you don't get any metrics tracking (you can't even pair it with your watch or iPad), and you don't get any of the interactive classes that most people buy the bike for. I pair my spin bike with my watch so I can track my workouts and performance, so would be pretty unhappy with a bike where I couldn't do that or at least see biking stats online like you can with the Peloton app. But if you have the Peloton Tread treadmill, it's even worse, you literally can't use it without a subscription due to a new "safety feature".
- hardwaresofton 4y ago
  So I'm actually in on PTON right now and feeling some pain, but what made it click for me was that the bike was completely unusable without a subscription. At this point, returns and people just burning/destroying their Pelotons are the only risk. In addition two things made me think about it: - The kind of people who buy pelotons are usually not the people who worry about that amount of monthly charge and may keep it aspirationally - The new game they put out (kind of guitar hero-y) actually doesn't look half bad, and the product itself is quite polished. - In addition to buying the bike, people often buy one or two pairs of clip in cycling shoes -- Peloton could actually start becoming a go to for riding gear and have quite the audience to sell to from day one. Anxious to read their recent earnings report tomorrow.
  - Johnny555 4y ago
    what made it click for me was that the bike was completely unusable without a subscription That's why I went with a Keiser bike instead of Peloton, it was the same price for the bike, but no subscription needed, and I can easily use it with any spinning app. Plus I didn't like having a big expensive display on the bike, the Keiser has a simple 4 line LCD display. I like the Peloton instructors, so I subscribe to the Peloton service, but I only pay $13/month for it (which makes the $40/mo they charge to Peloton bike owners seem like even more of a ripoff). I track my workouts with my watch, so if they raise the price too much, I'm not tied at all to Peloton and I'll just switch to another service.
    - hardwaresofton 4y ago
      Thanks for sharing, this makes a lot of sense, it looks like peloton has another win in the interior department but clearly less of a moat in the hardware department. I think you’re more of a power user (and willing to tolerate set up pain) than most of the customer base would be, but how easily you’ve found a solution and competitor that works well with your method has been eye opening
  - mikeg8 4y ago
    > - The kind of people who buy pelotons are usually not the people who worry about that amount of monthly charge and may keep it aspirationally I think this is a very limited market that may be getting close to saturation. Most people don’t want to spend $40 a month to own a bike
    - hardwaresofton 4y ago
      Yeah I don't disagree with you there (I don't own one) A bit more of my very basic reasoning was that at current prices the company was being as if it hadn't shown progress at all in the last ~2 years. They have at least sold units, added subscribers, and that's gotta be worth something even if a bunch of it is pulled forward. Actually for a SaaS service (we'll leave aside whether it's worth it or not :), this is one of the best things that could happen right? If possible you want that LTV to be pulled forward so you can try to reinvest it in the business or make moves earlier rather than later?

Johnny555 4y ago

I'm not sure they care too much how much their bikes earn on resale as long as they get new owners, even if people give them away for free they earn money when those new Peloton owners subscribe at $40/month.

vkou 4y ago
Wait, why would anyone pay $40/month to use an exercise bike they already bought? Am I stupid? Or is the world stupid?
- riffraff 4y ago
  They have training programs or some such, you pay them like you'd pay a gym subscription. It seems strange to me, but people do this with random online fitness classes, so it's not unheard of.
- Johnny555 4y ago
  You can pedal the bike without a subscription, but you don't get any metrics tracking (you can't even pair it with your watch or iPad), and you don't get any of the interactive classes that most people buy the bike for. I pair my spin bike with my watch so I can track my workouts and performance, so would be pretty unhappy with a bike where I couldn't do that or at least see biking stats online like you can with the Peloton app. But if you have the Peloton Tread treadmill, it's even worse, you literally can't use it without a subscription due to a new "safety feature".
hardwaresofton 4y ago
So I'm actually in on PTON right now and feeling some pain, but what made it click for me was that the bike was completely unusable without a subscription. At this point, returns and people just burning/destroying their Pelotons are the only risk. In addition two things made me think about it: - The kind of people who buy pelotons are usually not the people who worry about that amount of monthly charge and may keep it aspirationally - The new game they put out (kind of guitar hero-y) actually doesn't look half bad, and the product itself is quite polished. - In addition to buying the bike, people often buy one or two pairs of clip in cycling shoes -- Peloton could actually start becoming a go to for riding gear and have quite the audience to sell to from day one. Anxious to read their recent earnings report tomorrow.
- Johnny555 4y ago
  what made it click for me was that the bike was completely unusable without a subscription That's why I went with a Keiser bike instead of Peloton, it was the same price for the bike, but no subscription needed, and I can easily use it with any spinning app. Plus I didn't like having a big expensive display on the bike, the Keiser has a simple 4 line LCD display. I like the Peloton instructors, so I subscribe to the Peloton service, but I only pay $13/month for it (which makes the $40/mo they charge to Peloton bike owners seem like even more of a ripoff). I track my workouts with my watch, so if they raise the price too much, I'm not tied at all to Peloton and I'll just switch to another service.
  - hardwaresofton 4y ago
    Thanks for sharing, this makes a lot of sense, it looks like peloton has another win in the interior department but clearly less of a moat in the hardware department. I think you’re more of a power user (and willing to tolerate set up pain) than most of the customer base would be, but how easily you’ve found a solution and competitor that works well with your method has been eye opening
- mikeg8 4y ago
  > - The kind of people who buy pelotons are usually not the people who worry about that amount of monthly charge and may keep it aspirationally I think this is a very limited market that may be getting close to saturation. Most people don’t want to spend $40 a month to own a bike
  - hardwaresofton 4y ago
    Yeah I don't disagree with you there (I don't own one) A bit more of my very basic reasoning was that at current prices the company was being as if it hadn't shown progress at all in the last ~2 years. They have at least sold units, added subscribers, and that's gotta be worth something even if a bunch of it is pulled forward. Actually for a SaaS service (we'll leave aside whether it's worth it or not :), this is one of the best things that could happen right? If possible you want that LTV to be pulled forward so you can try to reinvest it in the business or make moves earlier rather than later?