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Decoding the Peloton

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Re: Decoding the Peloton

#81

Post by cam0 »

quercusa wrote: post #79
cam0 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Peloton instructors are also universally the best spin instructors I've ever encountered, and I've been to countless spin class in every large US city over the past decade. Some have come close, but being able to have world class spin instructors in my living room has been the huge selling/sticking point for me.

What makes a good spin instructor?

It's pretty difficult to define, and the definition will vary person to person. It's similar to asking what makes a good coach? For me it's a combination of energy, attitude, verbal clarity, and also a personality that I find attractive and pleasant, i.e. the type of personality that I'd enjoy spending an hour listening to and taking instruction from. Also of course a sound knowledge of form, technique, and healthy strategy.

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#82

Post by mcintyre1994 »

alisonkisk wrote: post #72
mcintyre1994 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW Peloton does have some of that gamification stuff, at least for the standalone offering (no bike etc). You get badges for taking different numbers of each type of class, daily/weekly streaks, total minutes, special events etc. They also send a summary email each month showing which days you worked out, badges earned, number of classes/minutes, and deltas from the previous month.

Those are all engagement metrics to make you spend money, not exercise metrics to make you achieve fitness.

I agree, I was responding to this part of the parent comment:

> And gamification through badges is pretty standard exercise fair. My parent’s senior community even has gamification via small prizes for how many days you go to the gym.

I was just pointing out that Peloton does gamification through badges and that it includes an equivalent of days going to the gym.

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#83

Post by mcintyre1994 »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #55
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.

You'd think building a competitor would be easy; build a bike with bluetooth i/o and an app for phone, tablet, laptop, smart TV etc. And open the API for developers, so they can hook their games up to it as much as they please. I'm guessing Peleton is winning at the minute because of it being an integrated unit and having the marketing.

That wouldn't be a competitor, unless one of the 'games' was a constant stream of extremely slick and professional live and on-demand classes with exceptional instructors. IMO that's their differentiator.

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#84

Post by thebean11 »

onion2k wrote: post #49
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.

Adding games would get "people who want serious exercise equipment that they can play games on" to come to the product, but it might also put off "people who want serious exercise equipment to focus on exercise". In other words, adding games could actually make their market smaller . This is similar to Nintendo's rigourous curation of their platforms - allowing the latest Call of Duty game on the Switch might add a f…

Nintendo absolutely would allow it. There are many CoD games on Nintendo consoles.

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#85

Post by umeshunni »

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.

Peloton has a web browser and there have been hacks to make games run on the browser.

e.g. https://medium.com/@cezarbabin/hacking-the-peloton-bike-to-p...

or even running Stadia on the peloton

https://www.reddit.com/r/Stadia/comments/gj4aut/wireless_sup...

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#86

Post by Red_Leaves_Flyy »

alisonkisk wrote: post #73
rkangel wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd guess that it's actually a classic razorblades model - the real product is the classes and the bike is just a way to be able to do the classes from home. It's probably not surprising that a group of tech people tends more towards introversion and exercising alone, whereas the general population likes the group aspect for motivation.

Much more importantly, the bike is a way to lock you into one single provider of classes.

That's an underrated point.

I, and most consumers that've been repeatedly burned, go out of our way to avoid products that lock us to them. I'm in the market for an exercise bike, but a lifetime of $35+/mo for classes, in addition to a $2k+ bike with questionable repairability in 1,2,5,10 years, is not something I'll ever want.

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#87

Post by Red_Leaves_Flyy »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #55
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.

You'd think building a competitor would be easy; build a bike with bluetooth i/o and an app for phone, tablet, laptop, smart TV etc. And open the API for developers, so they can hook their games up to it as much as they please. I'm guessing Peleton is winning at the minute because of it being an integrated unit and having the marketing.

Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon have all the resources needed to quickly fling out a gamified bike that appeals to more segments than peloton. Lost opportunity.

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#88

Post by eigthbits »

ubermonkey wrote: post #54

I'm a pretty serious road cyclist, so I get LOTS of questions about training, and about Peloton in particular, which is weird because serious outdoor riders are not really Peloton's market AT ALL. It's always been for spin people, and spin classes are their own thing entirely. Certainly SOME of my riding pals do spin during the week, but most of them are doing structured workouts using TrainerRoad or TrainingPeaks or…

I'm a road cyclist as well, used Zwift + Wahoo trainer for a few years. My wife really wanted a Peloton so we got one. I've ended up selling my Wahoo and do power zone training on the Peloton. The pedal stroke is smoother, far less vibration and noise. I don't have to worry about keeping sweat off a bike or having a bike on/off the trainer. It's so easy and convenient to get a 45 or 60 minute session in that my FTP is higher than it's ever been.

I came in skeptical but it's been working well for me.

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#89

Post by celtain »

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?

If you were already spending >$200/mo on spin classes, the price of a peloton is very reasonable as an alternative.

Re: Decoding the Peloton

#90

Post by matsemann »

eigthbits wrote: post #88
ubermonkey wrote: post #54

I'm a pretty serious road cyclist, so I get LOTS of questions about training, and about Peloton in particular, which is weird because serious outdoor riders are not really Peloton's market AT ALL. It's always been for spin people, and spin classes are their own thing entirely. Certainly SOME of my riding pals do spin during the week, but most of them are doing structured workouts using TrainerRoad or TrainingPeaks or…

I'm a road cyclist as well, used Zwift + Wahoo trainer for a few years. My wife really wanted a Peloton so we got one. I've ended up selling my Wahoo and do power zone training on the Peloton. The pedal stroke is smoother, far less vibration and noise. I don't have to worry about keeping sweat off a bike or having a bike on/off the trainer. It's so easy and convenient to get a 45 or 60 minute session in that my FTP i…

The direct drive trainers of later years are much much better than earlier trainers. The 2018 kickr for instance is much more smooth and silent than earlier models. So you may be comparing an obsolete $ trainer with a $$$ peloton bike.
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