I'm a Spin Instructor, and I Still Love the Original Peloton Bike

Peloton Bike setup is easy

Let me rip off the bandage: A standard Peloton Bike costs $1,445, or $1,145 if you get a refurbished one. (For reference, an at-home SoulCycle bike is $1,500 and the BowFlex VeloCore is currently on sale for $999, down from $1,799. Both of those also feature touchscreens and guided workouts.) That's a lot, even if it's not too unusual of a price point among premium bikes. But buying at either price through the company entitles you to free delivery and setup, which I found very valuable when I got mine, especially since you don't get free setup if you buy through, say, Amazon for the same price.

For the most part, the machine comes already put-together. The technician actually wheeled it right into my apartment and only had to attach a few smaller pieces, like the seat. The whole thing took under 15 minutes. From there, I was left to create an account and set the machine up how I like it. The Bike has pretty standard adjustability: You can adjust handlebar height (which also impacts how high the touchscreen is), seat height, and the distance between the seat and the handlebars. The only adjustment this bike is missing when compared to a lot of devices I'm familiar with in gym settings is the ability to move the handlebars closer to or farther from you.

And if you ever need to move the bike around after setting it up, that's an option. Under the flywheel is a base with slightly raised, smaller wheels on it. You can pretty easily move the bike around by tilting it forward onto these small wheels and rolling it where it needs to go. Then, once you get the device where you want it, you can roll down a base with adjustable pegs from underneath the seat to stabilize it. There are also holders for two dumbbells under the seat, two drink holders under the touchscreen, and a cover over the gears for your safety.

A sturdy setup that has not failed me for four years. Credit: Lindsey Ellefson

Setting up an account is also very easy, but understand that what you pay for your membership has nothing to do with what you pay for the bike itself. I have the All-Access Membership, which is $44 per month and entitles me to unlimited classes on my Peloton Bike, as well as through the mobile app. Plus, I get performance tracking and the ability to add up to 19 other users to my account. If you have Peloton equipment, this is what you need, but if you want to follow Peloton classes on unbranded equipment, you can just use the mobile app for $12 per month.

I found setting up my account super quick and easy, and not once in four years have I ever had an issue. I've never been randomly signed out, never had a problem signing in on a new mobile device, and never run into any issues with my workouts and metrics not syncing. The software on the bike regularly updates, it is almost never laggy (and if it is, a restart fixes it), and the speed and performance of the machine have not slowed down in nearly half a decade of use. The 21.5-inch 1080p touchscreen is still hyper-responsive and the quality of the machine itself also remains perfect after years of heavy use. That's more than I can say about many of my other tech or fitness products.

Using a Peloton has evolved over the years

I used to be afraid that Peloton would basically cease to exist when the pandemic panic died down, and while the stocks have obviously gone down and it isn't quite the phenomenon it once was, that really hasn't happened. In fact, the company has continued to innovate. There are always new classes and new features being added—and everything works just fine on my standard-issue Peloton Bike. I've never encountered a new feature that lags or gives me the impression the company is trying to force me to upgrade to a Bike+. (I say this as someone still using a PlayStation 4 and finding, every day, that my reluctance to get a PS5 is eventually going to leave me with nothing to play until I suck it up and buy one.)

New classes—not only cycling classes I can take on my bike, but strength, stretching, yoga, running, and more that I can access through the app—seem to hit the app every day. I've logged in to find new features plenty of times recently, too. The addition of the "Experiences" tab last year was exciting. Within it, I can access scenic rides, self-paced rides, and a game I have become obsessed with called Lanebreak. In 2023, the company added an Entertainment section, too. You can log into your accounts on YouTubeTV, NBA League Pass, Netflix, Disney+, and more to pedal while you watch your preferred content on the touchscreen. Bear in mind you cannot access this streaming or entertainment section without a Peloton membership, but in general, I wouldn't recommend having the bike without a membership at all; at that point, it would make more sense to get a cheap stationary bike off Amazon and call it a day. The membership and all the classes and features that come with the Peloton are what make this bike valuable.

Monitoring my progress in the Peloton app, using my All Access Membership. Credit: Lindsey Ellefson

The great things is that even if the company were to stop producing new classes, game levels, and features, there's already a gigantic backlog of thousands and thousands of classes to choose from. I am very happy to have this device and don't envision myself ever running out of things to do with it.

Crucially, not only is the software still running smoothly, but the bike itself is still sturdy and has no issues whatsoever. Nothing has come loose. No connector cable, mechanical part, or integral piece of the bike has failed. I know how quickly a stationary bike can devolve after a lot of use, as I see it happen in the gyms where I work, but this thing is as perfect as the day it was set up.

The riding experience

Whether you have your own at-home bike, are used to the commercial brands at the gym, or have never set foot to stationary pedal a day in your life, I can assure you the Peloton ride is a comfortable one. Although I do wish I could move the handlebars closer to my body the way I can at the gym, I have no other complaints. It uses magnetic resistance, so pedaling and riding is very smooth. That might be meaningless information to you, since I haven't encountered a mechanical or fiction bike in a commercial gym in a long time (although cheaper home bikes do still use them), but those types of resistance are just not quite as smooth or quiet.

This is nitpicky and the sort of thing you'd only notice if you've ridden on a load of different bike brands and types, but I love that the Peloton's handlebars are parallel to each other, not curved together at the top. That lends itself to better form and gives you a wider array of options when it comes to hand placement. Again, as with friction resistance bikes, you may not even run into the type of handlebars I'm describing in your own gym, but if you do, you'll notice it's a worse experience than the kind of bars the Peloton has.

Speaking of form, every instructor on the platform is great about giving helpful safety and riding cues. There are dozens of teachers for the Peloton classes, but I've never encountered one whose cues weren't easy to understand. If you're new to riding, you need those cues. Not only do you ride better and more efficiently when you're positioned correctly and on the appropriate resistance setting, but you ride more safely. No bike—not the most expensive, not the most economical, not the most easily accessible, and not the ones in your local gym—is worth anything to you if you get hurt on it. That is why taking a class from an experienced instructor, especially if you're new, is crucial. The instructions, maneuvers, and safety cues from Peloton instructors rival what I've experienced in the best in-person classes I've ever taken in the decade I've been taking them.

You don't have to ride at the exact cadence or on the exact resistance the instructors tell you to, of course. Failing to do so will drop you down the virtual leaderboard, yes, but that's irrelevant. It's more important that you're riding at all than it is that you're riding at the top of an arbitrary list of other people, so feel free to ignore some commands. That said, there is a reason for some of them. In my classes, I encourage participants to adapt the resistance however they want, for instance, as long as they're not riding above about a 60% resistance setting while sitting on the bike seat. I also don't want anyone in an out-of-the-saddle position on a super-low resistance. This is for safety and efficiency. The Peloton instructors are educated and experienced, and the suggestions they provide for position, resistance, and cadence are handcrafted for maximum results and safety, so you should try to stick with what they're telling you to the best of your ability.

Let's also briefly tell you a bit about the Bike+, which costs an additional $1,050. I don't have one and don't necessarily want one because it doesn't differ from the regular Bike much, except that it has an auto-adjustor feature for resistance. That means that instead of reaching down to spin the resistance knob when an instructor tells you to, you do nothing and the bike adjusts it for you. It also has improved tech specs and a power meter that tells you your exact wattage, which is helpful if you're someone who wants to get really granular with the data about how much effort you're exerting. The regular Bike can only give you a wattage estimate. That said, its estimates for my burned calories almost always align with what my Apple Watch reports, too, so I don't feel like I'm missing much there.

It really does encourage me to stay on top of my fitness goals

Having workout equipment in your home doesn't automatically mean you're going to use it. I used to have a dinky little elliptical machine that I'm pretty sure I got for under $100. It didn't track distance or effort, the resistance was purely a mechanical guessing game, and the most fulfillment I ever got out of it came from the night I built it by hand, IKEA-style. I never really used it, the same as I never stuck to my failed commitments to do at-home yoga or stick to a daily dumbbell routine in my living room. Actually completing home workouts depends on your seriousness about staying committed and the utility of the tools you have.

Obviously, it's possible to have a Peloton Bike and never touch it, flushing over $1,000 down the toilet along with $44 per month, but having the machine at-the-ready makes it pretty hard to do that. You can access classes that are just five minutes long if you want, and the app encourages you to carve out time for that daily by rewarding you with "streaks." The classes, experiences, and games are also engaging and variable enough to keep you wanting to return to them consistently, too. I was afraid when I got my bike that I would just stop riding it when the novelty wore off, but that didn't happen. There is something for everyone, whether you enjoy a fast-paced class, a scenic ride, the ability to stream TV or movies directly on the touchscreen, games, or simple, self-paced rides. Some instructors are more intense than others. Some classes use dumbbells. Class and Lanebreak playlists come in all varieties, and you can sort by musical genre.

Unlike when you take a class at the gym, you don't just have to do whatever one random instructor feels like having you do that day. You can do whatever you want to do, whenever you want to do it. All the customizability practically compels you to hop on consistently. Having the app built into the touchscreen and the bike itself also gets me to hop on when I otherwise wouldn't. I have friends who have plain spin bikes and have tried to follow classes on other apps or YouTube, but it's not really the same. Having access to a class designed for the exact piece of equipment you're using it just a superior option. I can see my resistance, cadence, and output on the screen in front of me, the app keeps track of my progress, and the teachers are giving clear instructions related to the precise tool I'm working with. It's pricey, sure, but it makes sense to do it this way.

That said, you get out of the Peloton what you put into it. I spent some time and money getting accessories—cycling cleats, a new seat, dumbbells, etc.—to make my rides perfect for me. I'm not saying this is a cheap endeavor, but I'm saying it's a worthwhile one.

It's not too late to get a Peloton Bike