Peloton’s Best Feature Is Also Its Cheapest

As you may recall, it was announced a few months back that ‘it’ fitness tech brand Peloton was finally expanding into Australia – bringing with it the exercise bike that took over home fitness in the States in recent years.

I’ve long been cynical about the hype surrounding this stationary exercise bike. One, because I’m not a spin class fan and deeply dislike the idea of making your workout feel like a nightclub experience and two, because it’s incredibly expensive.

Then I was invited to try the Peloton Bike+ and had my words served to me on a platter. The bike was beautiful. It was quiet. And its movements were smooth (save for the few times my knee knocked the resistance knob mid-class). There is a reason so many people have been charmed by this baby.

I also now understand the value of having such a wide pool of instructors. It meant those who like the faux-club vibe can opt for that, while I was able to enjoy the gentle encouragement of my lovely instructor Hannah as we rode to RnB tunes.

Music is a big part of Peloton’s ethos and when you see it in action you can see why. Workouts are choreographed to a curated playlist of music and you can choose every genre from Country to Pop. There’s a literal music team dedicated to getting this right, and well – it shows.

But would I buy one? No. The Peloton Bike is priced at $2,895 in Australia, and the Peloton Bike+ (which comes with a larger screen that rotates 360 degrees) will set you back $3,695. Then there is an additional monthly fee of $59 for access to all Peloton content.

If that’s in your price range, absolutely go for gold. You’ll probably get a lot out of it. But for me and my lukewarm relationship with cycling, it’s just not worth the cost.

What I would drop some money on, however, is the app.

What’s the deal with Peloton’s app?

Peloton offers a standalone Digital Membership priced at $16.99 which gives you access to thousands of live and on-demand classes via the Peloton App without any need to purchase Peloton hardware.

This ranges from HIIT classes to yoga and yes, it includes cycling workouts too.

As a part of my Peloton trial, I took a 10-minute yoga class after my 20-minute ride and it was (perhaps unsurprisingly) my favourite part of the workout. It was a genuinely challenging practice and I got more out of it than I expected to.

If you consider there are thousands of available classes across 12 disciplines of exercise, all with in-app workout metrics to help you measure your progress, $16.99 per month feels fairly reasonable – in my opinion at least.

In addition to that, you can sign up for a 90 day free trial of the app if you’d like to give it a shot before committing. Three months of free exercise is pretty damn decent, no?

Peloton hardware will be available in Australia as of July 14, and you can read more about the app here. The Peloton app will be available via iOS, Android and web, as well as Amazon Fire tablet and TV, Apple Watch, Chromecast, Android TV and Apple TV.

Lifehacker Australia has been made aware that McAfee has highlighted potential vulnerabilities in the Peloton+ tech, seemingly indicating cyber attackers may be able to gain physical access to the Bike+ or remote access to the bike’s tablet. We have reached out to both McAfee and Peloton for further comment.

UPDATE: Peloton has shared a statement on the recent news regarding security vulnerabilities stating “The update that fixes the issue has already been distributed via a mandatory software update”. Full details available to read here.

McAfee confirmed that “direct, physical access to a Peloton Bike+” would be required for this vulnerability to apply. It advised that updating your software is one of the key ways to protect yourself if you were to purchase the bike, however.

This article has been updated since its original publish date.