Building a $400 at-home DIY spin bike for Peloton and Apple Fitness+

Great DIY project. It's definitely missing some of the Peloton features like Wattage metering and he didn't include the tablet in the price.

With the 6-8 weeks delivery estimates for Peloton, it's definitely worth the build.

Because the author wanted to build an indoor spin class bike, not a road bike on a trainer. Now, you're not wrong. When I was racing I'd take a bike very similar to my race bike (because when you race, you don't just have one bike), stick a trainer tire on the rear wheel, and the trainer had power and cadence readings built-in. The trainer also cost considerably more ten years ago than the author spent recently.

Maybe the author just has the one bike and doesn't want to unhook all the shite if there's a freak winter day when it is not rainy and cloudy in Seattle. Maybe the author is just a dorky geek that likes to build stuff. Maybe if I were still a hardcore cyclist, I too would try and see how much lipstick that $300 pig will hold. 'cuz I'll admit that my first thought was, "what, you didn't try to cobble a power meter onto that thing? Hold my beer..."

With the advent of pedal based power meters, there’s literally nothing you can’t get power out of.

I don't know about what the Peloton experience is like, but:

My bike is on a trainer, and I see the following down-sides:

a) My bike on a trainer is really loud. Can't do it early; can't do it when the baby is sleeping, etc.

b) It's a moderate pain in the ass to hook and unhook. Not a huge pain in the ass, but I certainly didn't do it any time of the year it was feasible for me to bike to work.

c) It's dirty. I mean, the bike. I dislike washing the tires so I can bring it indoors even a couple of times a year, never mind if it's coming in and out constantly. And never mind the fact that even washed, my wife sure as hell isn't letting me bring that into a corner of the bedroom.

d) My bike has exposed chains and gearing that, if I'm not mistaken, the Peloton and similar bikes do not. I've got a toddler.

e) Indoor exercise bikes are usually reasonably set up to let you have somewhere to put your phone, or ipad, or kindle, etc. Bikes on a trainer do not. When I'm working out indoors, that makes a big difference for me.

This hasn't been enough to convince me to buy a Peloton, but I can certainly see why someone with more disposable income (or square footage) would.

The author conveniently left out the cost of the tablet, which is included in the Peloton price. Adding the tablet pretty much doubles the cost of this "DIY build".