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

montemagno.com

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

#31

Post by beloch »

It's interesting how exercise machines are starting to become game input devices and online class portals. Peloton obviously deserves a lot of credit for popularizing the idea, but the hardware required to do similar things outdates Peloton.

e.g. Pretty much any Concept2 rower you see in a gym or home that has been made in the last couple decades has a monitor that can provide realtime data to a computer via USB. I have one of these in my home that is older than Peloton but still connects to a computer just fine. If you actually have a Concept2 rower so old that it doesn't have USB, you can always upgrade the monitor (Concept2 sells upgrades).

The hardware has been under our noses for a long time, but it seems like we're only just now starting to make decent software to make use of it, although I'd say rowers are still a bit behind at present. It does seem like an under-served market.

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

#32

Post by localhost »

robot12345 wrote: post #3

I wonder why author didn't just bought dumb trainer and put the daily bike on it getting same opportunities but riding the bike he has used to? Cyclists typically do that.

In the winter, I permanently attach one of my bikes to my wahoo kickr which you can get for ~$500 used from ebay. They're built like tanks. [1] If I need to ride outdoors, I'll grab another bike and ride that (the correct number of bikes that any cyclist has is N+1).

I use my iPhone to connect to Trainer Road, which is a fantastic structured training app. [2] Power measurements come directly from the wahoo kickr and cadence measurements comes from the power meter that I already have on the bike. I highly recommend folks watch their YouTube channel if you want to get a feel for what they can do for you. [3]

This year I splurged for a table [4] after using a box bungy-corded to my bars before that. It's great to prop up a laptop or an iPad to pass the time/distract from the pain during a ride.

[1] https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m... [2] https://www.trainerroad.com/ [3] https://www.youtube.com/user/TrainerRoad [4] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BQZY9RL/

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

#33

Post by somethoughts »

Here are some fun Exercise + Game Console DIY projects for the holidays:

* Turning a Treadmill Into a PS4 Controller So I Exercise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmABK2Chwe0&t=4m40s

* I played Breath of the Wild with a Ring Fit Adventure Mod - Controller Bending

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4wGalssNls

https://www.controllerbend.com

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

#34

Post by dukeofdoom »

About 20 years ago. My university gym had a bike with a screen. You would paddle in a virtual 3D world terrain. It wasn't that immersive, kind of blocky. But I used to have a 100 inch projector in my home theater, and a recumbent exercise bike. Totally immersive, and awesome playing games and working out in such a setup.

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

#35

Post by gregshap »

johnold wrote: post #7
robot12345 wrote: post #3

I wonder why author didn't just bought dumb trainer and put the daily bike on it getting same opportunities but riding the bike he has used to? Cyclists typically do that.

That’s what I don’t get about this whole peloton thing. Why aren’t people just getting bikes and then putting them on trainers? You can get the whole trainer workouts and still have a bike that you can ride outside.

Because the customer for Peloton has very little overlap with the customer for indoor cycling trainer.

There are tens of millions of people in USA alone with zero desire to bike outside, who nonetheless desire some exercise experience that requires minimal knowledge or planning outside of class time.

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

#38

Post by JoeAltmaier »

gregshap wrote: post #35
johnold wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s what I don’t get about this whole peloton thing. Why aren’t people just getting bikes and then putting them on trainers? You can get the whole trainer workouts and still have a bike that you can ride outside.

Because the customer for Peloton has very little overlap with the customer for indoor cycling trainer. There are tens of millions of people in USA alone with zero desire to bike outside, who nonetheless desire some exercise experience that requires minimal knowledge or planning outside of class time.

Exaggeration? There are 2 million Peloton users.

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

#39

Post by JamesMontemagno »

snowzach wrote: post #36

I actually did something similar with a really cheap micro-controller+Arduino with an OLED screen and an Echelon Fit stationary bike. It connects via Bluetooth and displays Peleton compatible stats. https://github.com/snowzach/echbt

Whoa! This is awesome!!! I know what I am doing for my holiday hack :) Added it into my post!

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

#40

Post by JoeAltmaier »

koolba wrote: post #11
johnold wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s what I don’t get about this whole peloton thing. Why aren’t people just getting bikes and then putting them on trainers? You can get the whole trainer workouts and still have a bike that you can ride outside.

> That’s what I don’t get about this whole peloton thing. The short answer is that people are idiots. The same people that spend thousands on a Peloton are the ones that previously were spending comparative amounts at “spin classes”, which are nothing more than riding a bike while someone yells at you. At best, it forces them to do the workout so they don’t feel like their money is being wasted. I’ve long proposed a…

Exercise is one of those discipline things, that are more emotional than physical or logical (along with food and sex). Sure its 'easy' to just to the right thing. But there are emotional hurdles, and a mentor/trainer/group is the way social animals like man-apes deal with that.
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