Peloton’s $2,000 stationary bike has totally disrupted working out at home
From Vox, By Cheryl Wischhover, Published Nov 14 2018, 7:00 AM EST
The Peloton at-home bike | Peloton
I became a fan of indoor group cycling classes the first week my tiny Chicago gym started offering Johnny G’s spinning classes in the mid-’90s. Since then, I’ve spent countless hours (and dollars) at studios riding various bikes to nowhere. Having an instructor hollering at me, loud music pumping, and others around me to compete with are crucial for my motivation. I’m not the only one. For the past decade, indoor cycling studios like SoulCycle and Flywheel have been booming.
I was skeptical when my building added two Peloton bikes to our workout room in New York City. But this is not a normal stationary bike. I’ve been riding it two to three times a week for several months. My gym has sent me several pleading emails wondering when I’m coming back.
Peloton bikes come with a large screen attached to the handlebars so that users can either take live cycling classes that are streamed in from Peloton’s New York City cycling studio or choose from thousands of others available in the archive. Once you plug in headphones and clip into the pedals, the experience feels uncannily like the real thing, except without the commute.
Peloton is not like the exercise bikes and NordicTracks of yore that largely ended up as clothing racks. It’s managed to harness the energy, connection, and competitiveness of a live group fitness class. Thanks to a methodical “casting” system for instructors and a well-tended and well-studied community presence on Facebook, people are exceptionally loyal to the exercise modality. The company was founded in 2012 and delivered its first bike in 2014; it boasts of having more than 1 million users.