Decoding the Peloton

Wonderful! I've got one of these things and love it, but hate the classes and never do anything but Just Ride while I watch the news. Seems silly to be paying $40 a month, so at some point I want to find a way to get my stats without a connection to a Peloton server.

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#6

Post by hombre_fatal » Thu, Jan 07, 2021, 8:43 AM UTC

I was floored when I realized the Peloton has no games and it's closed to third-party developers. It seems to just have group classes which couldn't be less interesting to me.

I'd ask "what were they thinking?" but it apparently sells like hotcakes, so it's me who's out of touch.

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#7

Post by karosass1 » Thu, Jan 07, 2021, 8:45 AM UTC

pkulak wrote: post #5

Wonderful! I've got one of these things and love it, but hate the classes and never do anything but Just Ride while I watch the news. Seems silly to be paying $40 a month, so at some point I want to find a way to get my stats without a connection to a Peloton server.

This is probably too late if you have already invested into getting peloton bike, but at that price and considering you don't use classes, I'd rather get decent entry-level road bike and a turbo trainer. So I could train on Zwift, which is 20$ and imo is more fun freeriding experience. And then for data, connect Zwift with Strava so all of it would get uploaded there for tracking the progress.

Sorry, this kind of turned into rant/preaching, I'm just biased against Peloton

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#8

Post by sneak » Thu, Jan 07, 2021, 8:46 AM UTC

hombre_fatal wrote: post #6

I was floored when I realized the Peloton has no games and it's closed to third-party developers. It seems to just have group classes which couldn't be less interesting to me. I'd ask "what were they thinking?" but it apparently sells like hotcakes, so it's me who's out of touch.

I had one (on a bad recommendation from an SV friend) and sold it, because in addition to being totally closed, the music in the classes is also utterly abysmal.

I dumped it on craigslist and replaced it with a $250 "dumb" spin bike, a $10 tablet mount, and an Apple watch I already had. I don't get cadence data, but I could with a pedal magnet thing if I actually cared.

Their reddit is also heavily astroturfed, which makes me never want to do business with them again.

Kudos to them for figuring out how to make 100%+ margins, I guess. It's just very much not for me.

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#9

Post by dvdbloc » Thu, Jan 07, 2021, 8:53 AM UTC

sneak wrote: post #8

hombre_fatal wrote: post #6

I was floored when I realized the Peloton has no games and it's closed to third-party developers. It seems to just have group classes which couldn't be less interesting to me. I'd ask "what were they thinking?" but it apparently sells like hotcakes, so it's me who's out of touch.

I had one (on a bad recommendation from an SV friend) and sold it, because in addition to being totally closed, the music in the classes is also utterly abysmal. I dumped it on craigslist and replaced it with a $250 "dumb" spin bike, a $10 tablet mount, and an Apple watch I already had. I don't get cadence data, but I could with a pedal magnet thing if I actually cared. Their reddit is also heavily astroturfed, which…

And for even more fun, you can use all the money you saved not buying a Peloton on an enormous television and spin in front of that.

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#10

Post by hombre_fatal » Thu, Jan 07, 2021, 8:56 AM UTC

sneak wrote: post #8

hombre_fatal wrote: post #6

I was floored when I realized the Peloton has no games and it's closed to third-party developers. It seems to just have group classes which couldn't be less interesting to me. I'd ask "what were they thinking?" but it apparently sells like hotcakes, so it's me who's out of touch.

I had one (on a bad recommendation from an SV friend) and sold it, because in addition to being totally closed, the music in the classes is also utterly abysmal. I dumped it on craigslist and replaced it with a $250 "dumb" spin bike, a $10 tablet mount, and an Apple watch I already had. I don't get cadence data, but I could with a pedal magnet thing if I actually cared. Their reddit is also heavily astroturfed, which…

It's easy for me to shake my fist at them, but if I think about it, maybe their subscription business model might be one of the only things that work.

For example, if they opened up their platform, then people could just choose other content sources that are free or pay money into someone else's pocket, like other group classes.

Otherwise Peloton could try the eShop approach where their group classes compete on an eShop where they take 30% of the cut, but that market is tiny and still has to compete with just using your iPad while you pedal.

On the other hand, I'd consider buying one if there was more to do than group classes and maybe I'm not alone. I'm not cocky enough to think I know what the masses want, but it does seem like their lack of ambition about what can be done with the bike could be leaving a lot of money on the table.