Live data from Hacker News

Peloton replaces CEO and lays off 2,800 people

cbc.ca

251–260 of 353 posts

Re: Peloton replaces CEO and lays off 2,800 people

#251
post #17

Is it just me or is $40 a month too much for the content they provide? I would spend a couple thousand on fancy exercise equipment, or maybe get one as a gift for my parents but the required subscription gives me rent seeking vibes.

Peloton subscriber here. £40/month is worth it. The quality of the classes is impeccable. It's like they've been produced with TV budgets! This price does also include the digital membership which has yoga, boxing and loads of other type of workouts. The bike (Bike+) is expensive but it's a solid piece of kit and does come with a 24 inch (Android) tablet. Edit: Forgot to say, the £40/month is per bike, not per member…

But you don't need a Peloton bike to use their app...I bought a non-Peloton bike and pay $14.30/month to subscribe to the Peloton app (which I run on the big screen TV I already have in the room with the bike)

I don't need or want any interactive features that the bike provides, especially at a $25 premium to what I pay now.

does come with a 24 inch (Android) tablet.

When I bought my bike, I saw that 24 inch screen built-in to the Peloton as a drawback, my bike has a simple 4 line LCD bike computer, which I expect to run indefinitely, but it never needs software updates and if it breaks, it costs $200 to replace. And I don't have to plug it into the wall, it runs for a year on AA batteries.

I link my bike to my watch so have all of my workouts in once place -- spinning bike, running, outdoor biking, etc.

Re: Peloton replaces CEO and lays off 2,800 people

#252
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard the same thing about "Peloton Culture" elsewhere, but not a good explanation of what that culture is. Can a HN Peloton user elaborate?

I don't personally get it as I'm too cynical, but my partner says it's a very positive and encouraging culture. It's also gamed very well to encourage DAU so someone like my partner who loves getting her "dots" is incentivized to keep participating every day. I reiterate though, it's working well for her health journey, so I'm all for it.

Totally off topic, but TIL about DAU whilst forgetting what would abbreviate Daily Active Use(rs) and trying out the search things.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Acquisition_University

Re: Peloton replaces CEO and lays off 2,800 people

#253

I think we’re starting to see a bit of “post pandemic” economic factors and that explains some of the shake up on Wall Street as of late. I always felt this about Peloton more than anything though, that it was not going to be able to sustain growth numbers as the pandemic when either of these came to pass: 1) ended officially 2) waned on to the point that it became "normalized" in how to handle day to day activities…

The pandemic isn't over, FYI.

[deleted]

Re: Peloton replaces CEO and lays off 2,800 people

#254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, and a geo metro is basically a Ferrari

You're right, you can actually own a Geo Metro and drive it and fix it on your own, as opposed to the Ferrari which is nothing more than an expensive toy you cannot take out for anything useful. At least the Ferrari doesn't have a subscription (aside from the one you'll take at your gas station to make up for the 30L/100km that it gets)

exactly, basically the same thing

Re: Peloton replaces CEO and lays off 2,800 people

#255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Peloton subscriber here. £40/month is worth it. The quality of the classes is impeccable. It's like they've been produced with TV budgets! This price does also include the digital membership which has yoga, boxing and loads of other type of workouts. The bike (Bike+) is expensive but it's a solid piece of kit and does come with a 24 inch (Android) tablet. Edit: Forgot to say, the £40/month is per bike, not per member…

As someone who occasionally ride's my partner's peloton, I am BEGGING them to just let me watch Netflix or something on the screen. I have to jimmyrig an iPad over the huge screen because they won't let me just use the screen how I want.

Without installing or rooting anything, if you tap the correct part of the about screen it pulls up a browser and you can go to netflix.com (there's instructions floating around for this, I can't remember the exact incantation)

Re: Peloton replaces CEO and lays off 2,800 people

#257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who occasionally ride's my partner's peloton, I am BEGGING them to just let me watch Netflix or something on the screen. I have to jimmyrig an iPad over the huge screen because they won't let me just use the screen how I want.

It's just an Android tablet, and it appears to be rootable: https://www.reddit.com/r/pelotoncycle/wiki/index/howto/root Not sure how recent those instructions are.

this makes how locked down it is even more ridiculous.

commercially available single purpose computers are such a scam

Re: Peloton replaces CEO and lays off 2,800 people

#258

Anecdotally, it appears that Zwift usage is still growing. It's more race and social oriented than Peleton, and less of a "spin class simulator", but it's only $15/mo and doesn't require as much of an up-front equipment investment. I think Peleton believed too much of their own BS and flew too close to the sun.

Growing, yes, but from a much smaller base and probably with a lower ceiling. (I'm a regular Zwift rider in the winter.)

Fundamentally, Zwift is for road cyclists who are training or stuck inside, and Peloton is for spin class fans, and never the twain shall meet. There's a big gulf between the two groups that is larger than it might seem to someone just casually observing that they appear to be doing almost exactly the same thing.

Re: Peloton replaces CEO and lays off 2,800 people

#259
post #60
post #17

Is it just me or is $40 a month too much for the content they provide? I would spend a couple thousand on fancy exercise equipment, or maybe get one as a gift for my parents but the required subscription gives me rent seeking vibes.

Specifically for the bike, if you're a "spin class person", then you're used to spending $20-40 per class - $40 for a month of unlimited classes with the best instructors in the business seems like a steal in comparison.

Join a gym with a spin class

25-50/mo. Tops.

20-40 per class is robbery.

Re: Peloton replaces CEO and lays off 2,800 people

#260
post #54

Peloton has pretty expensive products and induces the same reaction folks had to iPhones before other companies released similarly priced flagships. Generally I think it's easy to hate on these products if you don't have one. I was pretty skeptical myself. "Was", because my partner picked up the Peloton Bike and subsequently the Peloton Tread. Like some other comments here, the almost cultish following is quite fasci…

> Peloton has pretty expensive products You can buy a set of kettlebells up to 24kg, a barbell, and enough plates to make 315 lbs for the cost of a Peloton. Completely different crowd, though.

> Completely different crowd, though.

I find these differences fascinating. I used to work out at one of the top bodybuilding gyms in Europe (I’m not a bodybuilder but my trainer was) — and none of the hardcore members would have been caught dead swinging a kettlebell.

Now I work out at a more corporate gym and am trying to learn to stop worrying and love the functional because my trainer is in fact a professional and I pay to learn from him. But I totally give the side-eye to the flimsy TechnoGym gear.

I’m pretty sure that for any given exercise trend, you will find purists and haters and they will be outspoken. Just like in tech, but don’t tell my PT!

Post reply on HN