What kind of person buys a $2500 Peloton bike ?

The AirDyne is too noisy. I do enjoy the AirDyne. But I don’t need everyone in the house to know I’m using it

I just got a Peleton. Not my first choice as I am a bit more frugal. The wife wouldn’t consider any alternatives. We can easily afford it so the upfront cost and ongoing subscription fee was not a deterrent.

We have used it frequently and the yoga classes mirrored to our big screen TV

nonary ant wrote:

I'm not sure about indoor bike prices. Is $2500 too expensive for one? If we were talking treadmills, there's quite a lot that could be improved in models around $1000. Like, wider belt, more powerful motor that is stable at higher speeds, better incline control – all useful functional stuff, not bells and whistles. And the ones at 500 and below are hardly suitable for any serious 'training' at all, they're just 'fitness' equipment at best if not complete garbage. So a $2000-3000 treadmill wouldn't seem too crazy if you can afford one. I don't see why that would be much different for a bike except that base models are maybe a bit cheaper.

If they make a treadmill that's $2000-$3000 and mass marketed, it's not going to have better training function. It's going to have things like a built in TV, auto-upload to Strava/Instagram, things that both increase the price and increase it's online visibility.

not a Karen maybe a Ken wrote:

People who are not broke like the OP. If you have hundreds of thousands of dollars this purchase just feels like going to the grocery store for a couple bags of groceries.

I am not broke. I am not independently wealthy. My wife and I have a comfortable standard of living.

The idea of a class with an instructor, in-person or remote, to use a stationery bike, strikes me as strange. Perhaps I am too old (age 60) to understand the phenomenon.

Congratulations to the people who are making enormous amounts of money on a product that exploits the insecurity of the customer. The gravy train will end and a massive amount of used Peloton equipment will flood the market in a few years.

DanM wrote:

Congratulations to the people who are making enormous amounts of money on a product that exploits the insecurity of the customer. The gravy train will end and a massive amount of used Peloton equipment will flood the market in a few years.

This grumpiness over how other people spend their money is lame.

People like having a workout instructor. You like feeling smug about your exercise routines. Can't we all just be happy?

I bought one. 28 years old, ex-collegiate runner that still gets 40 miles in a week most weeks. I have a Canyon Ultimate SLX that's a $7500 set up as my primary and another $15k of mountain bikes in my garage. I ride about 200 miles a week, with maybe 50 of that on the Peloton. My wife doesn't ride outdoors, and getting the Peloton was more logical than getting a lesser bike and having to set up and take down a kickr. I just do the scenic rides and do it at my own intensity while my wife does the classes. It's been a nice little training tool while working out well for my wife. I'm also fairly serious, as my FTP is at 4.63 w/kg.

DanM wrote:

On days I do not run, my Schwinn AirDyne is the perfect bike for a great workout.

What is the fitness benefit of a rotating hi-def screen ?

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/5-of-the-coolest-features-of-pelotons-new-premium-bike-2020-9-1029571177#

I bought a used spin bike from a gym that was going out of business for $150. Put in your ear pods and get to work.

"Go Run One"

Simple the kind of person who makes good but not great money and saves none of it is the type of person that buys a peloton. A totally frivolous expenditure that demonstrates perfectly the debt crisis America is facing and why everyone has spent that last 6 months screaming for Uncle Sam to bail them out.

Up through the mid 80's Americans had consistently saved 8-9% of their income annually. That has dropped to about 2-3% last I saw, probably a year or two old, surely worse in 2020. That number is being carried by a small portion of the country that is the savers so it's probably even worse than it looks like. But America has an irresponsible debt and consumption culture with no foresight for the future. So every downturn or surprise event will become a crisis.

i just spent nearly that much ($2k) on a treadmill. I bought the entry level Commercial grade nordictrack. I researched it a bunch. Its new, but so far i'm enjoying it. Well built. I ran a fair amount and preCovid i used the treadmill in my office or at the hotel i was at or the gym near me. Post Covid those are all closed and we get a lot of snow up here. I still run outside all winter but sometimes you need to get hot, to get some speed work in, etc. or just don't feel like a run in -10F freezing sleet.

And i have the money. It did feel like a splurge a bit though.

$2.5k for a peleton doesn't seem that much different. IMHO.

Primo Numero Uno wrote:

Up through the mid 80's Americans had consistently saved 8-9% of their income annually. That has dropped to about 2-3% last I saw, probably a year or two old, surely worse in 2020. That number is being carried by a small portion of the country that is the savers so it's probably even worse than it looks like. But America has an irresponsible debt and consumption culture with no foresight for the future. So every downturn or surprise event will become a crisis.

Bruh, every part of this is is just wrong.

Saving rate has been ~7% for the last several years -- until mid 2020 when... I'll let you look at the graph.

Bored yuppies

DanM wrote:

On days I do not run, my Schwinn AirDyne is the perfect bike for a great workout.

What is the fitness benefit of a rotating hi-def screen ?

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/5-of-the-coolest-features-of-pelotons-new-premium-bike-2020-9-1029571177#

I own a peloton. It was a zero percent interest loan through affirm for a period of 3 years. Basically I was given free money and I make a payment equal to that of a gym membership of which at the end of 3 years I own the bike and have a small monthly subscription.

I live a high work - high activity lifestyle. Often times I have 30 min to get in a run or ride. The peloton allows me to do that while burning high calories and increasing fitness. Oh, and I build credit making the monthly payments on it.

The benefit of the rotating screen is for those that use it for multi-purpose HIIT classes where you're on and off the bike or doing yoga.

I'm glad the Schwinn bike works for you; for others that aren't cheapskates and don't mind free money with no interest for a great workout product, the peloton works for us.

Cheers Scrooge.

Nigel_Bikes wrote:

A: The same kind of person that buys a $12,000 road bike.

How about $10,000 gold-plated vacuum sealed USB cables assembled by a team of certified Swedish virgins?

There are other high quality but low frills magnetic drive indoor bikes out there that cost 1K to 1.5K. So the rest of the cost plus the membership is for the online connectivity, built in community, trendy brand name, instructors etc. It definitely doubles as a status symbol or a tribal membership thing. Most people I know with one of these are fit parents in their 30s and 40s, have deep pockets and buying this is no big deal. And they use them a lot. Also the zero percent financing allows for favorable comparison of monthly costs to spin studio memberships at like 100-150 per month, which helps people justify it. For the people who get really into this, it seems worth the cost since it gets them to work out more.

My husband and I set up a home gym at a new house (luckily about a month before the pandemic hit). We also cancelled a rather spendy fitness club (200/month). He is not a runner and just likes to get in some cardio but needed some motivation. So he bought a Peloton. As a lifelong runner who hates anything stationary I had no plans to use it. Then got injury a couple months ago. And frankly I'm happy we have it. Stationary cardio is mind numbing to me so having an instructor tell me what to do like an in person spin class has kept me moderately motivated to get in exercise since I can't run and finding a pool right now is impossible.

But hey.... we are both working trial lawyers with no kids. So I guess we are the type that buy such things.

Guys like me with a daughter in grad school who was having difficulty dropping weight and wanted one. She got one and lost 27 lbs in a short amount of time. Now, she has added long runs to her routine again. It sounds crazy I know, but it worked and she can get that cardio indoors regardless of the weather. It was worth my money...

The exact same person who would not buy a Pelton when they came at $1500

The same question can be asked about any expensive car or home. Why buy a $200k car when a $15k car does the same thing? Why buy a $2m home when a $300k home does the same thing. If you have the money, there's no point to not spend it on luxury items. Poor people don't understand how it feels to have unlimited money to spend.

Great post. I am considering a Peloton bike for the winter when I can't run, but may look at cheap alternatives.

Has anyone done the actual Peletonia fundraiser?

Hobbyjogging Henry wrote:

Bored yuppies

I don't make much but they have payment plans. I may look at getting one once my income goes up. I'm able to save about 15% of my income even post-tax, on 38k gross (29k net) and somehow it works into my budget, but the main downside is limited traveling to cities in the US like I did before when I was at the software firm.

The "pay yourself first" ideal is a great way to learn budgeting fast.

A lot of the yuppies that make 60k or more (at least in Ohio), are usually 25-40 and have 0-1 kids. They usually live in New Albany, UA, Grandview, Pickerington, etc.

In fairness, they have stressful jobs so the biking makes sense if they can squeeze in exercise during 90 hour weeks. I only work 40 hours a week so I have more time to run, so work-life balance is a good trade-off (for now) for a low salary. The bike looks like a good option for the tough winters we get in Ohio.