Peloton exercise bike

Few pics of my setup

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Bike around £200
Tablet holders were £19 each - there are other styles but these seemed most secure and I'd rather have it held from 2 sides than just 1
replaced the pedals with SPD compatible shimano ones for £34
Wahoo cadence sensor £29

Total cost £301, plus £12 a month for the Peloton subscription (which does other exercises as well as just spin class, and has various leisure rides built in too)

I'm considering putting a TV on the wall in my office and casting to that.
Hi Fair, after weeks looking based on your advice I have managed to tack down a Bodymax B15, I had to pay £275 but i was getting impatient looking and it seemed to be an ok price based upon what I had seen. I pick it up tomorrow and I have ordered the other bits. so hopefully by the weekend I will be up and running, thanks for your advice on all of this.
 
Hi Fair, after weeks looking based on your advice I have managed to tack down a Bodymax B15, I had to pay £275 but i was getting impatient looking and it seemed to be an ok price based upon what I had seen. I pick it up tomorrow and I have ordered the other bits. so hopefully by the weekend I will be up and running, thanks for your advice on all of this.

Look up on peleton.. Buffalo Boro is my user name. Could have a mini Boro peleton group
 
Hi Fair , you seem to be the go to man for this.
I have a few questions if you have the time. They are probably stupid I will warn you.
Do you need a tablet - if I was to just use my phone and cast that to a tv would that work? Is it just a comfort thing or do you need to constantly control things via the tablet??

Secondly with your set up do you get the full peloton experience? Presumably the cadence sensor and hrm are connected into the peloton app? Any more details on what is happening here would be useful?


Can’t speak for Android but with iOS I use a wahoo cadence sensor which was about £25 from memory

I use my Apple Watch hrm but it’s a mess on so al probably just going to buy a chest strap - have to use a third party app to broadcast hr from the watch to the iPad

Yeah need a tablet or a phone or anything capable of playing the app, suppose a computer to a tv would do the job

You get the full experience except leaderboards because the bikes give a power calculation based on the rpm and all that jazz so that’s the difference. They also call out % resistance etc and obviously most bikes just have a +\- knob but you can get a pretty good idea of where it’s meant to be. I mouth my iPad onto two extending phone mounts, some bikes this will be easier than others so look at handlebar layout

Other than that it’s the full experience and I can’t imagine paying the full price but that’s just me

I also use Bluetooth to my Sonos speaker and I have nano leaf and hue lighting because I loved proper spin classes but that’s down to preference
 
Great! I enjoy it and it's certainly helped me to stay active. I think you just have to make a request. You'll know it's me from my profile logo if nothing else.
Oh, I used a polar chest strap for heart rate stuff. Don't use it every time but for certain rides I think it's useful.
 
Can’t speak for Android but with iOS I use a wahoo cadence sensor which was about £25 from memory
The Android app doesn't handle either cadence sensor or heartrate monitor. I had to buy a cheap second hand ipad air.
 
But the wahoo app works okay on an iPad?
I just have them connect to the Peloton app. I bought Magene cadence and heartrate devices and they connect fine to their Android app, but I couldn't get on with using 2 devices, so got the ipad.
 
I ended up buying a Schwinn IC8 that connects to apple tv and the Zwift app, use my ipad as the dashboard and also connect a polar heart rate chest monitor.

Good set up - need to get back on it after the Christmas blow out
 
Got an old touring racer and hoyed it onto a bike stand and stuck it on front of a telly. Pennies and at the end of the day would my workout be of any less benefit than a £2k Peleton plus a monthly subscription?
The latest gadgets.......... pffft.
 
Got an old touring racer and hoyed it onto a bike stand and stuck it on front of a telly. Pennies and at the end of the day would my workout be of any less benefit than a £2k Peleton plus a monthly subscription?
The latest gadgets.......... pffft.

Depends how you look at it really. I’m a big cyclist but reality is spinning isn’t about realistic cycling, it’s just a workout system to music. What you’re paying for with the sub isn’t the bike, it’s the content. Yeah there are free classes on YT etc, but peleton do multiple instructors every day and you can either do them live or do the back catalogue of several thousand, which can be searched, filtered and favourited. As well as that it’s got all the measure built in and gamification / social apps have long proven people will stick at things they can track of measure, and for many (including myself) it’s useful to measure and compare progress.

I definitely wouldn’t buy a peloton and pay the full sub, but wouldn’t begrudge anyone that does. But at the same time putting my bike on a trainer in front of the tv wouldnt be a solution either because it’s a completely different style of exercise to spin class. But if you just want a cheap way to work out and aren’t bothered about spin class, or rather use zwift than spin, then any bike and a trainer will do the Job,
 
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I ended up buying a Schwinn IC8 that connects to apple tv and the Zwift app, use my ipad as the dashboard and also connect a polar heart rate chest monitor.

Good set up - need to get back on it after the Christmas blow out

Did they fix the issues with Schwinn bikes? I nearly went down that route but saw a few forum posts from people saying the power meter wasn’t accurate which meant they were stomping on people easily in zwift

Think it was this one : https://forums.zwift.com/t/schwinn-ic8-spin-bike/171514
 
Depends how you look at it really. I’m a big cyclist but reality is spinning isn’t about realistic cycling, it’s just a workout system to music. What you’re paying for with the sub isn’t the bike, it’s the content. Yeah there are free classes on YT etc, but peleton do multiple instructors every day and you can either do them live or do the back catalogue of several thousand, which can be searched, filtered and favourited. As well as that it’s got all the measure built in and gamification / social apps have long proven people will stick at things they can track of measure, and for many (including myself) it’s useful to measure and compare progress.

I definitely wouldn’t buy a peloton and pay the full sub, but wouldn’t begrudge anyone that does. But at the same time putting my bike on a trainer in front of the tv wild team be a solution either because it’s a completely different style of exercise to spin class. But if you just want a cheap way to work out and aren’t bothered about spin class, or rather use zwift than spin, then any bike and a trainer will do the Job,
It's what works for you. I think we had a chat about this before. Sure, you could do it on the cheap and walk barefoot on the beach and get a great session.
I've a spin bike that cost similar to peleton (keiser m3i) and I'm happy with the quality .
Some people are happy with a £10 Casio some like a £10k Rolex. It's about what one gains from the experience.
That said, neither are any good if not used.
 
My Wattbike Atom Next Generation arrived a couple of weeks ago.
It is just a brilliant bit of kit.

Shoddy customer service along the way and a long 20 week wait - but glad I stuck with it,
I managed to source one this weekend and love it so far.
However, I am concerned with certain noises it produces beyond the expected trainer hum.
It could be a case of it is what is is and me over-analysing every sound like on my real bike.. but do you mind me asking what yours on the noise front?
 
Why do you have 3 bikes then? They are not needed. I strongly suspect the same goes for the Peloton. There's far too many people buying things that they don't really need. Of course, many of these people will puff their chest out and say that they can afford it, etc and enjoy so and so. Often, neither is true. People continuously get into debt over things that they don't use or need.
I've just given away all my worldly possessions after reading that and seeing the light. I now live in a hole in the ground with some sticks and a bucket. Wake up sheeples! :rolleyes:
 
I've just given away all my worldly possessions after reading that and seeing the light. I now live in a hole in the ground with some sticks and a bucket. Wake up sheeples! :rolleyes:

As long as you haven't given up your Margaret Howell knitwear or organic hot chocolate which a certain poster would never boast about.
 
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Did they fix the issues with Schwinn bikes? I nearly went down that route but saw a few forum posts from people saying the power meter wasn’t accurate which meant they were stomping on people easily in zwift

Think it was this one : https://forums.zwift.com/t/schwinn-ic8-spin-bike/171514
Yes - I wasnt aware of it until after I bought mine but apparently on older bikes they were issuing replacement digital units with a some sort of upgrade and then by the time I bought mine the new units were standard.

I certainly dont seem to have any advantage on Zwift, although the tension adjust is manual and no gearing etc so its not as good as a turbo trainer - had I known how easy it was to set one up Id have just got a turbo and stuck my old bike on it
 
It's what works for you. I think we had a chat about this before. Sure, you could do it on the cheap and walk barefoot on the beach and get a great session.
I've a spin bike that cost similar to peleton (keiser m3i) and I'm happy with the quality .
Some people are happy with a £10 Casio some like a £10k Rolex. It's about what one gains from the experience.
That said, neither are any good if not used.

For me it’s the argument that Peloton is a 2k spin bike. It’s a nice spin bike, but it’s not a £2k spin bike. You’re paying a massive brand premium because of the Peloton experience. But you then pay that premium by paying nearly 2.5x the subscription rate of non-peloton owners, which to me is a bit backwards. I would expect a £2k spin bike to be industrial reliability and massive warranty but there is lots that can go wrong with them and QA issues regularly reported.

But like you say it is what works for you, the bike looks nice and works with their software. If you don’t mind the cost and the subscription fee and only getting a 12 month base warranty then I’ve no problem with it, but if you just had 2k to spend and wanted the best spin bike you’d be hard pressed to recommend them.
 
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