aa4136 said:

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Another 30 min advanced beginner ride this evening.

Trying to get used to getting out of the seat and pedaling and then sitting back down without smashing the **** out of my nuts.

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Saxx underwear with the elastic pouch for you junk ; I don't even wear shorts just the under-briefs

Just completed Sam Yo's 45 min Top Gun ride... that was rough (but fun)

This probably isnt the right thread but somebody here will know. My peloton has made me curious about getting a road bike, but I really need some kind of goal to aim toward. The only race I'm familiar with is the MS150.. are there smaller/shorter/more accessible races for newer riders? Is there something like an equivalent to a 10k?

JobSecurity said:

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This probably isnt the right thread but somebody here will know. My peloton has made me curious about getting a road bike, but I really need some kind of goal to aim toward. The only race I'm familiar with is the MS150.. are there smaller/shorter/more accessible races for newer riders? Is there something like an equivalent to a 10k?

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Where are you located?

But yes. For example, here, in houston, they have probably half a dozen races in the area leading up to the ms150.

Edit: one is the tour de houston this past April, 20, 40, and 60 mile options.

Also, MS150 may sound daunting but doesn't have to be. There are aid stations like every 7 miles and lots of riders stop at every single one.

Yeah I'm in Houston. Thanks, I'll look into those. I guess I need to decide if I care enough to drop the money on a bike

Did one of Sam's PZ rides today. Wasn't a fan. Back to wilpers for me, I guess

Hurt my foot and can't ride for at least 2 weeks. This is killing me!

Wife is really pushing for a treadmill given how oppressively hot it has become. How are you liking the Sole?

I'm really pretty happy with it. Not quite as nice as the Tread+ (I miss the jump buttons sometimes) but it does everything I need. I have been doing Zwift runs on it, it broadcasts speed to my iPad which is kind of fun.

But the feel of the deck is really similar to the Tread+. It's a lot quieter than the Tread+.

New job and new insurance which means I now have a years membership provided. Looked back a few pages and learned that Peloton has crappy management and that Christine is going to be a champion.


Soooo.....I am interested but extremely new to this and just in research phase for now. Bike+ worth it at $2K for someone who actually needs to keep track of their dollars? Is peloton going to survive? Referral codes still good from like 5 years ago?

I'll start there and see how far this rabbit hole goes and whether I want to join another cult or nah.

TIA

Does your insurance benefit go towards equipment costs only or will it cover the monthly sub as well?

What's the limit?

I think the bike plus is worth it. The resistance is just more responsive, imo. But if I were counting dollars I'd probably skip it, to completely contradict myself.

Not gonna lie, I've had a couple instances where I've thought I may have spent a couple grand on a bike that'll just be a paperweight if peloton doesn't figure their **** out. Or that I basically have no recourse or options if they just decide to increase the monthly payment every month. A little frustrating having a purchase like this hinge on the parent company so much so after the fact of buying it.

But overall I'm still happy with the bike and the purchase. I used it 2-3 times a week during my triathlon training and now use it once a week to supplement my marathon training.

We got it for my wife. She wanted it so it'd be easier to work out after having our first kid. Not sure if she's gotten on it in a year…..

My referral code is ZTFS2E. Not sure if I've posted it here but did use one from this thread when I bought it

Diggity said:

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Does your insurance benefit go towards equipment costs only or will it cover the monthly sub as well?

What's the limit?

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Just the membership I think.

Quote:

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Your health plan benefits include a 1-year Peloton App Membership at no additional cost.

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Verbatim link. Click to get access code. Not sure what limit you are referring to

My code is BWKX4H. I am not sure the bike plus is worth it since I do mostly PZ rides

Got it. My benefit is a dollar figure that can go towards either.

I would lean towards the nicer bike.

Not too worried about the classes going away. Too much $ in subscription dollars to do that. Someone can figure out how to properly run that **** show.

Peloton isn't going anywhere. Too much of a following, and someone will pick them off the floor if they can't turn it around

I'm in the worth it camp on the Bike + , I love it for the auto resistance adjustment on rides alone

I'm a no on the bike plus. Id rather adjust my own resistance

tailgatetimer10 said:

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I'm a no on the bike plus. Id rather adjust my own resistance

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You can still do your own adjustments, you can turn the auto feature off. I do PZ rides 100% so don't use any autoadjustment, I still find the adjustment on the bike + better/more responsive.

If you're not using auto resistance, are you simply paying for the swivel screen?

I kinda wish Hydrow and Peloton would find a way to merge…

I have the regular bike, which is fine. I do find myself wishing I had the swivel screen for other workouts.

And to clarify, I don't think Peloton is going anywhere. I'm more just annoyed at spending over a couple thousand dollars and the equipment basically being useless without the platform so relying on them. It's not like a gym where you just cancel and move to the one next door. And maybe annoyed isn't the right word. Because I still think it was worth it and would buy it again. But it's a concern I've definitely thought of.

I'll admit Peloton has been really good/fair about price increases. But if they raised it $20 next month and I didn't think it was worth it, I really don't have that much recourse. You can cancel and sell the bike. Or just suck it up and pay the extra $20. Or cancel and keep the bike and basically have an extremely overpriced workout bike.

I mean they keep adding features (that I don't want nor care about) so their costs are continuing to rise. They aren't operating at a profit so something's gotta give.

Kind of similar on instructors. I've tried half a dozen and Wilpers is really the only one I enjoy, 99% of my rides are with him. If, for whatever reason, he was gone, 99% of my rides are gone, too.....

The speakers are also better (I live alone so I like not needing to put in bluetooth headphones for long rides) and the bike auto-calibrates so long-term results will be more consistent.

As to company viability, Peloton basically has three areas of focus:

• Making the equipment
• Selling the equipment/accessories
• Producing content

The last CEO was an idiot for trying to insource manufacturing. The new CEO smartly recommitted to having the bikes built in China by the current supplier, which should stabilize those costs.

From a sales perspective, they botched the rollout of the Bike+ in my opinion, they should've done more to delineate it from the regular bike. I don't think the rental subscription thing is a great idea.

Where Peloton should focus entirely is content production. Whether they like it or not they are a streaming content company that happens to also make and sell exercise equipment. Their content will continue to remain valuable for years to come. Should they eventually go under, someone else will scoop up all that content, backport their equipment to work with it, and keep things going.

The one thing I think Peloton should slow down on is the Artist Series. I know they're popular but my goodness are they probably spending TONS of money on the licensing rights.

All that said, their current CEO was the CFO at Spotify so he's familiar with actually looking at a balance sheet (previous CEO said he never looked at numbers) and running a content streaming business.

htxag09 said:

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tailgatetimer10 said:

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I'm a no on the bike plus. Id rather adjust my own resistance

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You can still do your own adjustments, you can turn the auto feature off. I do PZ rides 100% so don't use any autoadjustment, I still find the adjustment on the bike + better/more responsive.

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I agree with this. Having had both the + seems more responsive. I also could be imagining it but when I don't use my headphones the audio on the + sounds better out loud than the OG bike. The swivel screen can be implemented on the older bike, but its nice to have it built in and not go that route for stretching/boot camp style workouts.

tailgatetimer10 said:

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If you're not using auto resistance, are you simply paying for the swivel screen?

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Again, the resistance is a completely different, digital vs. mechanical. So, even if you aren't using the auto resistance, it's more responsive and quicker to dial in. It's simply better. It's also way more accurate from an output perspective if you care about that.

Is that alone worth the price increase? Depends on the person. But with that, the swivel screen, the larger screen, better speakers, some of the design/look upgrades, and the potential higher resale value for the newer model made it a no brainer for me.

To the person asking the recent question though: if your insurance says they'll pay/reimburse for a Peloton APP membership, you need to understand that's different than the membership you buy when you actually have a bike or a tread. That membership is more expensive than the app-only membership.

bthotugigem05 said:

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To the person asking the recent question though: if your insurance says they'll pay/reimburse for a Peloton APP membership, you need to understand that's different than the membership you buy when you actually have a bike or a tread. That membership is more expensive than the app-only membership.

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Ah, yes. I can see that now.

Thanks for the all responses everyone. It is all actually very helpful for me as I make up my mind.

For those of you looking for the swivel I bought this and it's worked really well

TFD The Pivot for Peloton Bikes (Original Models), Made in USA | 360 Movement Monitor Adjuster - Easily Adjust & Rotate Your Peloton Screen | Peloton Accessories https://a.co/d/cvIOgXY

I may be a buyer. We are having to move the peloton due to a new family member, so my wife may want this feature depending on how we fit the new space.

htxag09 said:

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And to clarify, I don't think Peloton is going anywhere. I'm more just annoyed at spending over a couple thousand dollars and the equipment basically being useless without the platform so relying on them. It's not like a gym where you just cancel and move to the one next door. And maybe annoyed isn't the right word. Because I still think it was worth it and would buy it again. But it's a concern I've definitely thought of.

I'll admit Peloton has been really good/fair about price increases. But if they raised it $20 next month and I didn't think it was worth it, I really don't have that much recourse. You can cancel and sell the bike. Or just suck it up and pay the extra $20. Or cancel and keep the bike and basically have an extremely overpriced workout bike.

I mean they keep adding features (that I don't want nor care about) so their costs are continuing to rise. They aren't operating at a profit so something's gotta give.

Kind of similar on instructors. I've tried half a dozen and Wilpers is really the only one I enjoy, 99% of my rides are with him. If, for whatever reason, he was gone, 99% of my rides are gone, too.....

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Yeah, their closed source path is frustrating. I wish they would open it up a bit so that you could do: netflix/espn and ride, 3rd party classes, etc. I am kind of surprised they haven't turned to the path of allowing user lead classes, kind of like Twitch/youtube for Peloton.

Pretty sure the Peloton staff would riot if there were user lead classes. I remember reading this about Jess King:

Quote:

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During Jess King's first meeting with Peloton founder and CEO John Foley, he made her an offer that sealed the deal right there on the spot. "He looked right at me and said, 'We're going to make you a celebrity,'" King revealed in an interview with The New York Times. "And I said, 'Yeah, sign me up.' That was the sole motivating reason to do it."

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They're Peloton trainers because of the fame and money moreso than being a trainer and I'd definitely see them fighting back at possibly giving some of that up.

speaking of trainers....I had mostly avoided Christina's classes (as I find her unpleasant to look at) but took one earlier in the week because I wanted a 15 min warmup and liked the playlist.

First song on the ride is Jeremy, by Pearl Jam. She does into song long stupid story about listening to U2 in the 90's while being a bike messenger in NYC. WTF does that have to do with Pearl Jam Christi?

and the photoshopper went a little nuts on this one!

OK if competition scares them, even though they will have state of the art facilities and production, then so be it. Not to mention the pre-existing built in fan base.

tailgatetimer10 said:

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htxag09 said:

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And to clarify, I don't think Peloton is going anywhere. I'm more just annoyed at spending over a couple thousand dollars and the equipment basically being useless without the platform so relying on them. It's not like a gym where you just cancel and move to the one next door. And maybe annoyed isn't the right word. Because I still think it was worth it and would buy it again. But it's a concern I've definitely thought of.

I'll admit Peloton has been really good/fair about price increases. But if they raised it $20 next month and I didn't think it was worth it, I really don't have that much recourse. You can cancel and sell the bike. Or just suck it up and pay the extra $20. Or cancel and keep the bike and basically have an extremely overpriced workout bike.

I mean they keep adding features (that I don't want nor care about) so their costs are continuing to rise. They aren't operating at a profit so something's gotta give.

Kind of similar on instructors. I've tried half a dozen and Wilpers is really the only one I enjoy, 99% of my rides are with him. If, for whatever reason, he was gone, 99% of my rides are gone, too.....

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Yeah, their closed source path is frustrating. I wish they would open it up a bit so that you could do: netflix/espn and ride, 3rd party classes, etc. I am kind of surprised they haven't turned to the path of allowing user lead classes, kind of like Twitch/youtube for Peloton.

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The one that makes no sense to me, and I probably sound like a broken record saying it, is not opening their platform to work with Zwift. I can't count how many times i have heard people say "I would prefer to buy a smart trainer and ride on Zwift, but my wife really wants a Peloton for the live classes." Guess what, if Peloton would open their bike up to be used on Zwift, they would sell a ton of bikes to people on that fence, and Zwift would gain a bunch of new subscribers. It would be a win for both of them. They could probably talk Zwift into giving them a small cut of any subscription bought through a Peloton bike and still both come out WAY ahead.