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Decoding the Peloton

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Re: Decoding the Peloton

#21

Post by gfxgirl »

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.

almost entirely unrelated but I would love some way to play Synth Riders with AR goggles instead of VR. On expert/master levels a good song is a serious aerobic workout but I can't do more than 1-2 songs at a time because sweating in VR sucks. Heck, probably just standing in front of a polarized 3D display with polarized 3D glasses and VR motion controllers would work. I find it extremely fun and would be happy to do it as a workout.

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#22

Post by koolba »

hedberg10 wrote: post #18
ramphastidae wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Peloton is a fad and will be dropped for the next exercise fad in 2-5 years, just like SoulCycle was. For now, they are feasting.

You can ridicule fads, but I think it's interesting. I know people will pay a reasonable price for a product they might not even need, but an unreasonable price? How the hell does that happen?

When they’re trapped in their homes, gyms are closed, and they have disposable income from not being allowed to travel, the range of “reasonable price” expands quite a bit.

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#23

Post by heroprotagonist »

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.

Yes, and the way they try to shame you every time you turn on the bike without a subscription is infuriating. It discourages use, which is not what you want from your exercise equipment.

I never used their classes. Nothing I used had a technical need for a subscription.

But they still want me to pay $40/month to show me a web app with stats my bike sends it to tell me which days I've used it and how I'm doing on my streaks and distance and duration. This information can all be stored locally (and is, presumably, both before and after you send it to them but only with a subscription).

I really hope that decoding the Peloton hardware leads to freeing my exercise bike from it's corporate overlords.

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#24

Post by hedberg10 »

koolba wrote: post #22
hedberg10 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can ridicule fads, but I think it's interesting. I know people will pay a reasonable price for a product they might not even need, but an unreasonable price? How the hell does that happen?

When they’re trapped in their homes, gyms are closed, and they have disposable income from not being allowed to travel, the range of “reasonable price” expands quite a bit.

Good point. But the company was doing quite well before the pandemic, no?

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#25

Post by aclelland »

This might be the best place to ask. I recently got a Recumbent exercise bike which is compatible with iFit.

Does anyone know any apps which are able to communicate with iFit compatible equipment without needing to use the iFit app? I've got a 1 year free account with them but after that it doesn't really feel like their all offers enough for the monthly cost. Really just looking to log my workouts automatically to save needing to manually add them into something like Google Fit.

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#26

Post by somedude895 »

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.

Seriously, if they created an ecosystem and allowed 3rd party apps on there, that could sprout some really cool stuff like games that might even convince me to get one of those bikes. But yeah, it'd be a challenge to make that as profitable as their current business model.

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#27

Post by hervature »

rkangel wrote: post #15
cerebellum42 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, the prices are crazy. Quick comparison: Peloton bike EUR 2145 + EUR 39/month - gets you courses and indoor riding or: Canyon Endurace AL Disc 6.0 as an example of a very solid entry level road bike - EUR 1299 Kickr Core direct drive turbo trainer (good turbo trainer, there are cheaper ones if you go without direct drive) - EUR 799 Combined EUR 2098 + EUR 15/month for a Zwift membership or something comparable…

I really struggle to justify EUR 1300 as 'entry level'. It might be entry level for being competitive, but if you just want exercise on something decent you can get road bikes for half of that. I have bought (good) cars for less than EUR 1300.

I think that it is more effective to think relative to absolute luxury. The bikes they ride in the Tour de France are $10,000 and so a $1,000 bike is an order of magnitude. Same for cars, and entry level car is like $20,000. An order of magnitude away from Ferraris and Lamborghinis. The $100 bike that most people think are entry level just simply are not worthy of being called exercise/riding material. You will spend more time doing maintenance (fixing the chain and derailleurs) than actually riding the bike. For those that aren’t in the biking world, the components (not the frame) is where most of the money goes. These cheap bikes are only worth it if you never change gears which is ok for the majority of people but then you may as well just get a fixed gear bike.

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#28

Post by stefan_ »

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.

You'll be disappointed because despite the outrageous price for that hunk of metal, they've totally skimped on the power accuracy part of it.

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#29

Post by cosmodisk »

hedberg10 wrote: post #18
ramphastidae wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Peloton is a fad and will be dropped for the next exercise fad in 2-5 years, just like SoulCycle was. For now, they are feasting.

You can ridicule fads, but I think it's interesting. I know people will pay a reasonable price for a product they might not even need, but an unreasonable price? How the hell does that happen?

The demographics for these kind of products is very different. It's either those who do have enough money not to care about the cost or the so called aspiring ones: who don't have money but want to fit in or relate to the better off groups. It reminds me when the latest Iphone came out( the most expensive version). Guess who bought it? Our CEO and a member of my team,who was probably on the lowest salary in the company. Peloten is no different to this.

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#30

Post by beaconstudios »

hedberg10 wrote: post #24
koolba wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When they’re trapped in their homes, gyms are closed, and they have disposable income from not being allowed to travel, the range of “reasonable price” expands quite a bit.

Good point. But the company was doing quite well before the pandemic, no?

it's a spin class you can do from home. Plenty of people already pay high prices for spin classes, and it adds the convenience of being able to participate from home. It makes sense that it would be popular, especially among the middle class demographic spin classes are usually aimed at.
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