Peloton Is Spinning Faster Than Ever

https://www.thecut.com/2019/10/peloton-is-spinning-faster-than-ever.html

by wallflower • 7 years ago

38 65 7 years ago

bstar773• 7 years ago

As a work from home developer, having a Peloton has been a godsend for me. I could never motivate myself to get out to the gym after work... the effect of that was a constant feeling of malaise and fatigue, presumably because I wasn't exerting myself enough. Since I've gotten the bike I use it 5-6 days a week and have made a 180* turn in my health- no more fatigue, malaise and poor lung capacity.

The Peloton is a solid bike, but it does one thing masterfully... it motivates me to use it and work hard at my personal fitness. I could care less if it's becoming the latest fitness cult. All I care about is my personal health and what gets me results.

vinvin• 7 years ago

Same. 30 year lazy couch potato here turned cardio-addict and it's completely due to Peloton. There is something special about the blend of quality hardware, energetic instructors, and sense of "togetherness" that makes the service awesome.

The sticker price is high but it's worth it.

xeromal3• 7 years ago

That "togetherness" is valuable. That's what crossfit did to me and forced me to go even when I knew it was bad for my health.

anon9001• 7 years ago

Well you've got me interested. I never looked at it before, but this seems like it's pretty much multiplayer gaming mapped to exercise?

t34543• 7 years ago

I find the discipline to go out and do what I don’t feel like doing is the key to fitness. Granted that is fickle and fragile. It’s cyclical - I go through periods where it works and periods where it doesn’t.

Alex39178• 7 years ago

Why Peloton over an actual road bike though? A good carbon endurance road bike costs about the same as the machine, and the cost of accessories and maintenance is comparable to the cost of the subscription fees.

And you can join a bike group for like $30 a year and get unlimited live coaching for free from real people.

Especially right now the bike industry is transitioning to disc brakes, so you can get ridiculously good deals on brand new but older model year rim brakes bikes. And if you’re mainly just doing cardio on sunny days (as opposed to commuting in the rain or racing) then rim brake bikes are better anyway.

stevehawk• 7 years ago

For me - I can't get hit by a car while riding my stationary.

riffraff2• 7 years ago

Real bikes have also one important advantage: you are force to leave the house and be in the sun. This has a ton of positive effects on both physical and mental health.

Still, exercise at home is still better than no exercise.

triceratops• 7 years ago

Not everywhere has road bike friendly weather year-round. Riding a bike in the snow to commute may be desirable for its own reasons: saving gas/parking money, beating traffic, being environmentally-friendly, whatever. Doing it for exercise, with all the gear involved, sounds supremely not fun.

vertoc• 7 years ago

I know this is sort of a meme reply on this forum but this does remind me of the dropbox comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224)

Peloton comes ready to go out of the box - you don't need to do any research or find and try out bike groups. It's just way, way easier

HlessClaudesman• 7 years ago

For me its safety. I have a young family, no chance of vehicular collision on a stationary bike.

derekmcloughlin• 7 years ago

Joining a cycling club also has the added bonus of social interactions, which is beneficial to your mental health.

PierceJoy2• 7 years ago

Biking outside isn't equivalent to spin classes. I say this as someone who used to do spin classes frequently, and now bikes outside multiple times per week.

The motivation and enjoyment you get from the music and the instructor is more comparable to a cardio dance class, or even dancing at a nightclub, than it is to road biking.

Biking outside also requires much more will power, especially if the weather isn't perfect, and is much less safe.

There's definitely an argument to be made that Peloton is overpriced, but the argument that you can just as easily road bike doesn't hold water for most people.

ramphastidae• 7 years ago

Are you really asking why someone would use an indoor stationary bike vs. an outdoor bike? Sorry to be rude, but how are the differences and reasons not absolutely crystal clear?

netsharc• 7 years ago

This seems like the Netflix of exercise. It's on-demand (I'm guessing?), you just get on and there are probably groups riding. You don't have to arrange a meeting where Bob's calendar's is full for the next 3 weeks and oops, it's a rainy day, let's move it to next week oh wait next week Susan has ...

PeterStuer• 7 years ago

I love both cycling outside when the weather is nice, as well as pounding on a stationary bike at the gym or at home.

Both reside under 'cycling' exercises, yet both are very different. On the 'real' bike I love exploring small country roads and nature trails, something impossible indoors.

On the stationary bike I love exploring limits and pushing for new heights on perfectly standardized interval training segments, something that would be extremely dangerous on a real bicycle outdoors.

People that love riding stationary bikes get this 'but why don't you just go cycling outside' question a lot. I guess it is the same for people running on treadmills. The answer is it is just different sports/exercises, and you can love them both or just one of them.

peter_kuhn• 7 years ago

I don't compare my road bike to my Peloton, they are two different tools. My peloton I use for very dialed in training. At home, it’s 100% focus on maintaining zone without any distractions (like getting hit by the supply of over SV unicorns postmate/seamless/ caviar delivery e-bikes,ubers, lyfts, via vans, revel scooters, etc)... it’s also a great time saver when you can hop on for 30 and be working immediately, vs wasting a 10 min prep/cool down with the road bike, or walk to the gym, and time to get going. Long Saturday/Sunday AM, long road bike ride. Monday to Friday 5:30a or 11p, Peloton. My road bike is just a different tool.

pro_zac• 7 years ago

As someone that used to ride outside 5 days a week, I've found riding indoors much easier to fit into my schedule. I can get in an hour on Zwift with only about 5 mins of getting geared up. Riding outside takes more time to prepare, and is tougher to schedule with dwindling daylight hours and less than ideal weather. I'm on a Tuesday & Thursday indoor, Saturday outdoor schedule now.

Peloton is far from the only option. I use Zwift for software and the BKool Smart Air with a Wahoo desk for equipment. Several companies are releasing full indoor bikes as well. Wahoo's Kickr Bike looks to be the front runner.

https://zwift.com/

https://store.bkool.com/en/174-bkool-smart-air-simulator.htm...

https://uk.wahoofitness.com/devices/accessories/wahoo-fitnes...

https://uk.wahoofitness.com/devices/smart-bike/kickr-bike

bstar773• 7 years ago

Everyone else has pretty much explained all the reasons why a stationary bike can work better than an actual bike for fitness... Funny thing is I'm really likely to get a good street bike now since I'm in such good shape to use one.

tallanvor• 7 years ago

What do you think was behind the lack of motivation to get to the gym? The time commitment to get there and back, perhaps, or the hours the gym is open?

I ask because for the monthly cost of the Peloton subscription, I have an actual gym membership (and this is in Norway, where things tend to be quite expensive). It's less than a 10 minute walk from home, and it obviously gives me a lot more choices in terms of equipment. It does not, however, offer classes - which for me is actually a selling point, since no classes means fewer crowded times.

At the end of the day, whatever works to get you to work out is what works for you, but it seems like a very high costs for something that offers you very limited workout options.

bstar773• 7 years ago

Exercise is all about routine. I have a very hard time getting into one when I work from home... I don't have a commute that brings me past a gym so I have to force myself out of the house to go to one 15-20 minutes away. I also like to work out after 11pm at night which is problematic in most gyms.

The Peloton is expensive, but the bike is very high quality and the whole family can use it with their own account... so I have 3 people using that subscription.

habosa• 7 years ago

I still don't "get" Peloton but my 90-year old grandpa has been active his whole life and is currently in love with Peloton. He's not one to get interested in any gadgets or fads but since his gym got a few Peloton bikes he can't stop talking about it. So there must be something to it.

danielecook• 7 years ago

So maybe this is a crazy thought but I think it would be cool if peloton introduced bikes with steering and buttons and developed games for their platform. I Wonder if people would be receptive - it’s certainly something I would like to try.

djhn4• 7 years ago

Check out Zwift - the virtual cycling platform that cycling purists don't scoff at because Zwift is much more rooted in the tradition and culture of the sport. They are a Silicon Valley cycling e-sports startup, 120 million in funding. Dcrainmaker.com and GPllama on YouTube will be your best 3rd party guides to the ins and outs.

omosubi• 7 years ago

Do you work for them? You copied and pasted the same ad material twice lol. If you do you should say so

frenchman_in_ny• 7 years ago

In addition to Zwift in a sibling post, there's TheRivet[0] that interfaces with a smart trainer and a phone mounted on the stem to do steering onscreen. TheRivet actually developed the steering concept a few months ahead of Zwift [1][2]

[0] https://getontherivet.com/ [1] https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/07/rivet-zwift-potential-co... [2] https://zwiftinsider.com/setting-up-your-bike-and-phone-for-...

mysterypie• 7 years ago

Peloton wound up opening at $27 a share and closed at $25.76 — not a bonanza day

From the company's perspective it's good that it didn't shoot up to $50 a share, isn't it? It means it was valued optimally; they squeezed the maximum value from the investors and didn't leave any money on the table.

Lio• 7 years ago

Regardless of whether the product is better or worse than a real bike on a smart trainer like a Neo or Kickr, (and I don't think it is but that's subjective), I hate the name of this company.

I hate that people who know nothing of road cycling are now exclusively associating the word peloton with these indoor spinning bikes.

I really hate that this company is frivolously threatening to sue people for using the word peloton in the context of any kind of indoor virtual cycling.

This is a widely used phrase and they should leave it alone.

Calling a company echelon is just as bad for the same reason.

rurounijones• 7 years ago

I am not a bike enthusiast by any means but I went into this article thinking it was going to be about the increase in speed of the peleton in professional biking races like the Tour de France due to improvements in technology etc.

So I am very with you on the name hate.

djhn4• 7 years ago

Just to add for anyone new to this topic, check out Zwift - the virtual cycling platform that cycling purists don't scoff at* because Zwift is much more rooted in the tradition and culture of the sport. They are a Silicon Valley cycling e-sports startup, 120 million in funding. Dcrainmaker.com and GPllama on YouTube will be your best 3rd party guides to the ins and outs.

*for some definitions of "purist"

FpUser2• 7 years ago

I do not like Pelotom at all. Do not like Zwift either as their graphics sucks and view of bazillion animated cyclists around me does not add value either. I guess this is because I love cycling but do not really care about racing. For racing crowd I guess Zwift can make more sense.

I very much prefer software with so called Real Life Video (Tacx TDA, Veloreality, etc) for my indoor training in winter. The scenery is way more inspiring on big screen TV.

Comes summer, forget indoors. I love cycling and swimming in open water. No software would ever come even remotely close.

DCRainmaker was valuable source in the beginning (still somewhat is) but not so much now. His reviews and opinions at least in regards to cycling software lately are far from unbiased

jbob2000• 7 years ago

Home gyms go through fad cycles just like fashion does. Peloton is on the upswing of the “streaming fitness” fad, but give it one or two more years and it will start to die down.

I’ll only admit Peloton is here to stay if we see a correlation between Peloton’s profit and a loss for other fitness/entertainment. Basically, if people are just buying the bikes and paying for the subscription, but ultimately don’t change their fitness behavior (by cancelling a gym membership, for example) then we know it’s just a fad. Once they get tired of seeing the monthly charge, they’ll cancel and put the bike up on Craigslist.

But if people decide to drop something else in favour of Peloton, then I know it’s here to stay. If peloton is so great that you’ll cancel your gym membership, then it must not be a fad! People only have so much time and energy in a day.

Peloton Is Spinning Faster Than Ever

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