WAWANDRD★★★★★
Stay off the mailing list
Whatever you do, don't get on their mailing list. You will be inundated with emails with no way to unsubscribe. The unscubscribe link does not work. I have contacted the company counteless times to remove from their list which dumps annoying mail into my account every other day, and even when promised by their staff my address will be removed, I still continue to receive mail.
The offered discount for getting on their mailing list is not worth the hassle of dealing with the spam that gets sent.
2026-08-01
PEPeloton (North America)★★★★★
The Joy of leaving Peloton
After 4 years and 1100 rides, I finally canceled Peloton and moved to Apple Fitness+
Though this is a critical review of Peloton, I'll begin with a few positive points regarding my experience with them these past few years.
To begin with, my bike has held up exceptionally after four years with no breakage or wear of any kind. This is a quality bike, but then again, I paid almost $2k for it which is twice the price of some of the best spin bikes out there.
The classes are exceptional for the most part. The production, music, and overall experience of taking a Peloton class is first-rate. This is something the company has mastered very well.
The main issue that led to me leaving Peloton began with the price. When I joined four years ago, the subscription was $39 a month. Within two years it jumped to $44. This is a dangerous precedence because, when you buy an expensive product like this, you are locked into their ecosystem and forced to roll with the inevitable price increases. As someone who is retired, it wasn't long before this monthly subscription became a burden. And while it may be cheaper than taking spin classes at a gym, when there are better and less expensive options out there, you gravitate towards them. More on that in a moment.
The other issue is the instructors. There are really good cycling instructors like Jess King, Cody Rigsby, Ally Love, Denis Morton, Hannah Corbin, and Jenn Sherman (to name a few). Then you have some real DUDS like Bradley Rose and Robin Arzon who create these phony personalities and make the ride about themselves rather than for their riders. The problem is, for someone like me who takes medium-level rides, these two instructors dominate those selections and I am forced, at times, to take their rides.
Finally, there are the intrusive "high fives" that Peloton mandates on its riders instead of making it optional. Imagine taking a ride and getting interrupted by "high five" alerts from other riders. When this happens, you have to scramble to dismiss the alert. And, some riders will keep bothering you with "high five" requests if you ignore them. It completely ruins the privacy of the ride and Peloton won't let you disable the feature.
The Peloton Facebook page which the company runs should be a place for motivational encouragement. Instead, it's overrun with personal attacks that the moderators seem to have very little control over curbing.
As an Apple Watch owner, for a long time now, I have been looking to move away from Peloton and join Apple Fitness+ as it seemed to be a much cheaper alternative.
Today I took my first ride with an Apple Fitness+ instructor using the JUST RIDE mode on my Peloton bike. What a huge difference in the ride.
First, the instructors don't pander to their riders like Peloton does. They don't read off of motivational cue cards nor act like support counselors giving emotional support advice (which no instructor is qualified to do). The Apple Fitness+ instructors don't put on a show, invoking phony personalities they created nor try to make jokes to make the ride about themselves. It's an entirely more "mature" experience where the rider is treated and respected like an adult.
If I could go back four years and know what I know now, I would have bought a cheaper spin bike for half the price and gone with Apple Fitness+ instead of Peloton. For the cost of $44 a month that Peloton was charging me for a subscription, I now have Apple One Premier (Apple Music, Apple TV+, Fitness, News, Arcade, iCloud Storage) for myself and 5 other people in my family for almost $10 less a month. My Apple Fitness app keeps track of all the workout stats.
I understand Peloton is perfect for a lot of people. If you have no problem spending $2k on a bike and $44 a month for a subscription then I can't fault anyone for getting it.
However, after four years, a single ride today with an Apple Fitness+ instructor made me realize that I have been doing it all wrong up to this moment.
GENERIC "WE DON'T CARE" TEMPLATE RESPONSE FROM PELOTON TO FOLLOW....
2023-12-01
