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Running On Peloton’s New Tread Connected Treadmill

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This week at CES, Peloton raised the stakes and announced their long awaited treadmill – simply called Tread.  For those not familiar, Peloton is the indoor cycling studio that’s transplanted into your living room via their swanky (and expensive) indoor cycling bike.  The key driver of success on the platform is that you’re not just watching recorded sessions with an instructor from 5 years ago.  Instead, there’s live classes dozens of times per day, where you’re watching and interacting with not just a live instructor but an entire class of people in a studio in NYC.  It’s incredibly compelling (and really hard to find people who have bought it and dislike it).

Up till this week the company has solely focused on their indoor bike, but now, things have changed and their plans seem more ambitious – even more so than just the treadmill they’ve announced.  First though, let’s talk details.

The Specs:

Tread is a beast, in every possible way.  Most notably would be the price – some $4,000USD.  And that doesn’t include either shipping/setup fees (nor taxes where applicable).  On the Peloton bike that fee is a flat-rate $250, and I can’t imagine it’d be any lower here.  Nor does it include the $39/month subscription/service fee, though most users of that are content with said fee.

But that $4,250+ buys you one heck of a system. We’ll start with the base of the treadmill, and then talk about the more tech-driven pieces up top.  The main portion of the treadmill is the 59 rubber coated aluminum slats.  Unlike a traditional treadmill, there is no belt here, at least not by conventional means.  Instead, the interconnected slats form something akin to a bicycle chain, which the company says give you a bit of a softer feel during running (more on that in a moment).

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On the side of a treadmill you’ll notice a zipper, that’s actually for storage of accessories – like weights and such.  At this point they wouldn’t unzip it for me to check out what’s inside (perhaps it was their 50 Shades of Grey accessory collection, who knows), but the concept is pretty cool.

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And this gets to a really important part here – a fair chunk (perhaps the majority?) of the Tread workouts are not just run-only.  They’re designed to be full body.  As such, it’s highly encouraged to purchase the additional collection of weights and such, which form the complete system.

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Moving up the treadmill we’ve got handrails on the side as you’d expect, but unlike most other treadmills that have specific buttons for speed and incline, this has two giant rotating dials.  On the left side is incline (0-15%), and on the right side is speed (0-12.5MPH).

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In the middle of each is a button, which acts like a quick-set option to toggle instantly between defined speeds/inclines, like in an interval. Allowing you to go from say 2MPH to 10MPH with one touch.  Other treadmills have similar quick-set button concepts, though the dial concept is less common (if at all out there).

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Around that same area you’ll find the tray, which holds two water bottles and a bunch of your random junk.  Along the front bar is a removable emergency release system (that you connect to yourself in case you fall).  The company noted that the removable nature would be useful for households with kids – acting effectively as a lock.

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That little ‘M’ you see there? That’s for manual mode, whereby you have to make the treadmill go forward by pushing against the handlebars like so:

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Finally, up top we’ve got the 32” 1080P display.  This is the center of everything Peloton is about, both on the bikes as well as on the treadmills.  Below it sits a 20w sound bar, and below the sound bar is a single USB port as well as a single audio jack.

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And inside the internals somewhere is the ability for it to connect to your ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart heart rate sensors, allowing you to get your HR up on the screen.  Essentially the same functionality they had on the bike.

Doing A Long Run:

Now, anytime I talk about devices – I like to get hands on.  And in this case, that means feet-on.  Of course, getting them to agree to take one of two prototype devices for a spin around the block wasn’t so easy.  But I did get them to allow me to take it for a bit of a walk, at which point I obviously had to test reaction speed getting up to higher paces.

So, in that sense, I was able to complete a long run – assuming you’re Usain Bolt, whereby anything over 100m is considered a long run.

But let’s back up a second.

The core to Peloton is their structured workouts led by an instructor in a live studio in NYC surrounded by real-life people.  It’s what makes Peloton…Peloton.  The company says they’ll be starting off with 10 live treadmill classes per day. But you can always access any previously recorded ones anytime.  Some of those classes may be by celebrities (fitness celebrities likely), or involve something unique about them.  All of which are accessible from the menu system:

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Once you’re loaded up, you’ll see your main metric stats along the bottom.  On the right-hand side you’ll see the names of others in your class (live).  In some cases pre-recorded classes are re-played live at a specific time, enabling others to join in, thus increasing the group feeling.

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Along the bottom those stats include: Incline, Pace (Speed), Heart Rate, Time, Calories, Distance, Total Elevation, Kilojoules, and Watts.  Yes…running power.  Shown in Watts.

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It’s interesting to see them carry this metric over from the cycling side – and even more interesting will be to see what they’re doing with it in terms of structured workouts.  But that’ll have to wait a bit.

You can also quick-tap the speed button to change the speed to predefined favorites:

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With those quick basics out of the way, I jumped on and started at an easy walking pace, just to get the hang of things.  The two dials were super easy to use, and a million times better than traditional treadmills with lots of button pressing (I had just done a treadmill workout on a crappy hotel gym treadmill the night before).

And then it was time to ramp it up.  I oscillated a bit between 2-3MPH, before jumping to 6MPH.  The treadmill reacted quickly, which was nice.  Then I went back to about 3MPH before jumping up to 8MPH.  Again, very clean and smooth acceleration.  Certainly treadmill reaction time will vary by brand, but this just felt clean and efficient – no lag.  I topped out around 9MPH or so, merely because the goal was not to draw too much attention to oneself.  If it had been my way, I’d have seen what 12.5MPH felt like, a pace I ran the previous night doing intervals (thus I had fresh comparisons in mind).

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But here’s the thing I quickly realized: Walking on it at 2-3MPH was very different than running on it at 8MPH.  At 2-3MPH it mostly felt like a normal treadmill.  Whereas at 8MPH it felt like running on broken tiles.  It was a bizarre sensation.  With the slat-design, each of the 59 individual slats is going to move slightly differently, so it doesn’t feel like running on a cohesive road.

I wouldn’t really describe any part of the running speed portion as desirable, at least for the short few hundred meters I ran.  Perhaps like anything else, I’d get used to it over time.  That’s 110% a possibility.  But it was just a bizarre sensation, which again, the closest I can compare it to is like running across broken bathroom tiles.  It certainly didn’t feel anything like running outdoors.

Of course, treadmills already don’t feel much like running outdoors.  So in some ways, this is just a different feeling from what’s already a different feeling.  It may be inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.  And if I did a 40-minute workout, it’s entirely likely I’d stop noticing it.

Finally, after your workout, your run is uploaded to not only their platform but 3rd party ones like Strava.

Going forward:

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There’s a few ways to look at the price of the Peloton Tread, all of which require some level of financial justification.  The first way is to justify the higher price by assuming the components put it on-par with a higher end treadmill.  Some might try and compare it to commercial gym treadmills which can run upwards of $10,000 or more.  But, this isn’t designed as a commercial gym treadmill, it’s designed as a consumer treadmill.  And most consumer treadmills of reputable build quality can be had in the $1,400-$2,000 range.  Anything beyond that is mostly just fancy features and overkill (nothing wrong with overkill, but just stating a reality).

And in that line of thinking, the question gets to build quality of Tread, which isn’t something we’ll know for probably a year (since they don’t start shipping till fall).  Their Peloton bike is well known in cycling industry circles as being of poor build quality compared to most indoor cycles.  Cheap components primarily.  But that actually doesn’t matter (mostly), because the stresses put on an indoor cycle in a home setting are incredibly low.  There’s very few moving parts on such a bike, and it doesn’t need to withstand a commercial setting.  So while the cheap components might annoy designers, from a business and consumer standpoint they’re perfectly functional.

So instead, one justifies the $4,000 price by including things like Tread’s display in there, and of course an element of rather pretty design compared to existing treadmills on the market.  But one can’t include the service/platform as a justification of the treadmill price, because that’s separate – at $39/month.  And, most that have used the platform would say it’s easily worth that cost.

But what’s most interesting in this entire cost discussion is a little quote from their CEO given to Entrepreneur earlier this week:

“It’s called ‘fitness as a service.’ Everyone is going to pay $100 or $200 a month to have the best fitness equipment in their home. And whatever combination of devices you have, we’ll always be upgrading them. We’ll come in and swap out the latest bike or the latest treadmill or the latest something else to make sure you always have 10-out-of-10 equipment.”

And here’s the thing: He’s 110% right.

Except on the ‘everyone’ part.  But the gist of what he’s saying is correct, even if it’ll be a wee bit less inclusive than the literal ‘everyone’.

Right now countless people pay easily that much for gym memberships each month, and that often ignores things like classes, and has you using the same old crappy equipment that I used the night before.  In CEO John Foley’s vision, they’re getting you evergreen fitness equipment in your own home, and extending instructors to your home.  They know from their 150,000 paying customers on Peloton bikes, that experience is incredibly addictive.  Far more than convincing people to go to (and pay for) the gym every month for years.  If they can indeed tweak the model to whereby you own nothing but still perceive high levels of value, it’ll no doubt be successful.  After all, it’s the direction the software industry has taken in recent years.  Be it Spotify or Microsoft, Zwift or TrainerRoad, everyone has shifted to the ‘as a service’ model.

And if Foley and his team can figure out the right pricing for that model inclusive of equipment like Tread and the bike, then I suspect we’ll see them become far more popular than they already are.

With that – thanks for reading!

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69 Comments

  1. Matt

    I think you intended this sentence to start with “Peloton Treadmill”

    There’s a few ways to look at the price of the Peloton bike, both of which require some level of financial justification.

    • My justification for the bike was the costs associated with something similar that I love – SoulCycle. We have a similar running studio in Boston called MyStryde – which I assume someone addicted to that would make sense for them on a long-term financial plan ! 🙂

  2. Jeff

    Did you get a chance to see a running class? Interested to see what that may look like.

  3. Matt

    Ray,

    Have you ever run on a Woodway? I’m guessing this isn’t nearly as nice as that then based on your bathroom tilel description.

    • Jason

      Hi Ray,

      I’d also like to know this … Thx.

    • KDub

      Third request for a Woodway comparison. Based on the description tho, sounds like they aren’t very similarly…

    • I ran on a Woodway about 6-7 years ago briefly, but I haven’t since. I don’t remember anything sticking out of my mind as being like broken tiles…but it’s been a while.

    • milesthedog

      Ray, this looks like a Woodway with a new belt design. Everything about it screams Woodway. And, an brand new Woodway can cost over $7k, so I think you need to do some hw with regard to if Woodway is involved, and then see if that $4k is actually a screaming deal. A refurbished Woodway is over $5k…. and worth it. ibed owner a Woodway – trying comparing the price of a Woodway to a $1,500 treadmill is like comparing the Garmin 935 to to a Walmart calculator watch.

    • Mr. T

      Except it’s not a Woodway branded treadmill. You can make a look a like with cheaper lower Quality components but looks aline don’t make it a Woodway.

    • I haven’t heard any rumors/hints that it’s a Woodway. Typically, companies will hint these sorts of things on the side if that’s the case.

      But in this scenario, that hasn’t happened, and honestly, there’s no incentive for Woodway to do a lower priced unit through a 3rd party seller (especially one with a more compelling platform).

    • patricia theroux

      following

  4. Darkness

    Hmmm.

    I guess I’m in the minority as I simply dont enjoy exercising indoors. But I kind of understand folks using an indoor bike trainer because there are some conditions (ice/dark/very windy) where its really not nice/semi dangerous to go out for a ride. So I’ll go on the turbo sometimes.

    However, I’ve never encountered a similar situation where I cant go out for a run – under all conditions (offroad if icy). But I live in the UK where our weather allows this; perhaps there are countries where you cant run outside all year round.

    The classes part is something I guess.

    But paying thousands of pounds to run indoors really doesnt seem to be a good idea to me. But I accept I’m likely to be an outlier.

    Cheers

    • Mark

      Your not alone! There are even people who like to run while holding their phones!

      But here in New England, there are a couple days a year I can’t run outside (like days we get 40″ of snow), but I just adjust my training around it.

    • ChrisO

      Same here. I regard running indoors as madness. I’ll spend countless hours on the turbo because I can get a better workout for less time spent but running indoors I just can’t see you would choose to do that over going outside

    • Patrick Myers

      As a someone that used to run a lot and lives in a place where I *can* run outsdie year round, I totally get loving to run outside. But then you’re gone for an hour or two at a time. As a new father to a 3 month old and a working dad (gone from the the house for 9+hours a day, 5 days a week), it’s a little unfair for me to come home from work and then disappear for another hour or two to go for a run. Running on a treadmill in my garage, I can still get a workout, but also be available if my wife needs help or a break. It’s less ideal than a dedicated workout, but it’s not a terrible compromise.

  5. Matthew

    Was there any indication that their running platform will be integrated into their pre-existing iPhone app?? I was able to build my wife a “Peloton Bike” at a fraction of cost, and I’m wondering if this could be the same. Thanks for the review.

    • Steven

      Matthew, as per an email sent out by Peloton to their current customers on Monday they said current customers will be able to use their bikes as well as the Tread with no additional charge. So if you have an account you can use both devices. I don’t think you could ask for more then that and Where can you get a gym membership for $39 a month. I’ve had the bike for two years and could not be happier!

    • Matthew

      Thank you for the info – didn’t see that email.
      I’m hoping that it will also apply for those of us that just use the app for $13/mo, and have our own equipment…may need the start pricing treadmills.

  6. SO jealous you got to do this! #goals

  7. Jonas

    Looks like a woodway copy to me. I’m surprised that tread design isn’t patented.

  8. Ryan

    I think you mean Usain not Hussain Bolt.

  9. rickNP

    “Be it Spotify or Microsoft, Zwift or TrainerRoad, everyone has shifted to the ‘as a service’ model.”

    Except things like Zwift and TrainerRoad are entirely optional accessories for the equipment you buy. I haven’t gotten the sense that the Peloton workout program is optional. Or is it? So this seems like equipment as service, not service as supplement. If I happen to test run on this treadmill and absolutely love the feeling of running on broken tile but hate the workout service and wish to ignore it completely, is this treadmill still an option? What if I want to watch NFL games on that 32″ screen? Or Zwift? Or just ignore the Peloton system entirely and just do whatever I like?

  10. Tim Grose

    Very pleased you had a go on this as I suspect we weren’t going to find what was it really about for some time.

    I think it is a very interesting development but as much frustrating as anything. You often talk about open standards but here we are seemingly with a rather expensive item that can seemingly only be used with Peleton? Does that screen even work as a TV I wonder? Not too dissimilar to the closed nature of iFit. And yet unlike say Zwift (at least as yet) you can buy something “ready to go” with the app of your choosing (well if oyu don’t change your mind) although the Tacx Magnum might come into that category.

    I’ve had a brief look on the Peleton website and as a bloke I am kind of struck with a feeling that is this perhaps a platform primarily targetted at women as I did not see one man in their “Tread” video and very few relatively otherwise? Unfortunately I don’t know anybody that uses Peleton but plenty that use Zwift. OK the latter is mainly men but there are women too. Is the dynamic reversed here perhaps?

    There is also a feeling that “oh it only goes to 12.5 mph” and it costs how much? OK I am few years past being able to race at those speeds for anything over a mile but I can still waddle round a 400m track faster so I could not do 400m intervals on this say unless wanted to make them hill reps. That would certainly put me off something a fraction of this price.

    I am getting quite into Zwift Running now. Going forwards will I either stick to watching avatars in virtual worlds or looking at very fit real instructors or maybe I should just go outside or stare at the wall like I used to.

    Interesting times…

    • RE: Standards

      Yeah, didn’t ask about regular TV – I’m sure a regular Peloton bike person might comment here

      RE: Using women in ads

      The non-marketing expert in me says that’s pretty simple: A) Women seeing women in ads make it more approachable to women. B) Men seeing attractive women in ads buy gizmos. Exactly why almost all of GoPro’s ‘announcement’ trailers have attractive women as the thumbnail pic.

      The above statement isn’t meant to applied to 100% of people, but there is a marketing reality to that.

      RE: Not seeing Peloton users

      Likely as you’re in the UK, and Peloton is only US available for the immediately future (they say in 2018 they’re looking to expand across the pond).

    • Steven

      DC Rainmaker, You asked about regular TV. You cannot watch TV on the Peloton bike. You can only stream Live classes and On Demand classes on the bike. I’ve owned the bike two years and it’s been nothing short of great, the instructors are top notch as is the bike itself.
      I could not ask for a better riding experience indoors and always look forward to getting outside when the weather permits.

    • Tim Grose

      Thanks Steven
      Be also interested to know what a typical class consists of? Also if you or anybody has also used an app like Zwift or Trainer Road how this compares?
      My impression (which may be wrong) is that Peleton is more like a spin class whereas kind of feel most Zwift users are either competitive cyclists and/or go in for sportives and the like.
      As a fairly advanced runner (albeit an aging one) am struggling to imagine what a running class would be like. Suspect not like an “traditional” interval session net alone just some steady miles.

    • Steven

      Hey Tim,
      The bike classes run the gamit. From beginner fun spin classes to high intensity pro rider led classes , i.e. , George Heincappi and Christian VandeVeld. There are also my personal favorites, the endurance classes based on HR and watts , led by certified coaches in triathlon and marathoning . But the main reason there is such a following is the crazy amount of fun the instructors bring to a workout . The tread seems to be geared to a more total body workout at first glance , but I’m sure the different instructors will focus on their strengths, intervals endurance etc. try the free trial Peloton app to check it out !! Best of luck !!! Happy trails !

    • Chelsea Cycling

      Tim, I’m not familiar with Zwift or Trainer Road. Best comparison is to SoulCycle and Flywheel. Peloton occupies a space between the two, not the predominantly female dance party that is SC, and not fully competitive like Flywheel.

      After a couple of years of on/off studio attendance, i find getting into the spirit of the classes difficult. Most instructors are not actual cyclists, so the instruction and imagined terrain don’t make sense. Instructors that are cyclists are worthwhile, but the music is crap and we’re still primarily cycling to a musical rhythm.

      Best classes I took were with the former pro-cyclists, but their attendance is seldom and eventually the class turns into more of a SC-type class.

      The studio bikes also lack many metrics, including heart rate. Home bikes at least cover more metrics for you training goals.

  11. AAG

    Ray,

    Probably not a post you are too keen to pursue, but one that would be of great interest to myself and I am sure some other readers of your blog that was sparked by a comment in this review. Would you ever consider doing a couple reviews of treadmills. Not asking for a comprehensive review of the treadmill market, but if there were one or two treadmills that you recommend at various price levels it would be really interesting. Basically, I find most of the reviews to not inspire much trust in the impartiality of the reviewer.

    Also, I suspect given all the traction with smart trainers for bikes, and how attractive the multisport demographic is to manufacturers, we are bound to see an increase in both software, and hardware trying to replicate the Zwift, TrainerRoad, Peloton, experience with smart treadmills. Especially since I would believe it must be far easier to measure running power on a treadmill than in an outdoor setting.

    • Tim Grose

      I suspect as “smart treadmills” like the Tacx Magnum and interesting ones like this hopefully start to emerge Ray will at least mention them as he did with the Tacx and also the Wahoo GymConnect device a couple of years ago. Otherwise most treadmills these days are very uninteresting from a sporting tech point of view with the ability to connect a HR strap about the sum of it if you are lucky! Also hard to review them to his usual standards without actually having one and you need lots of space to line up a row of treadmills!

  12. Eli

    That treadmill lacks good tie on locations for 50 shades accessories. :-p

  13. Joseph

    I’m also an outdoor runner but some days like our current days, the weather tends to hang around 0 degrees and that also encompasses some snow and ice. I have a gym in my downstairs and literally have everything from a power rack to weights to a treadmill. Out of about 1000 miles I run every year, about 200-250 of them are run on my treadmill. I think I could justify the purchase of one of these to replace my commercial grade NordicTrack. Quality quality quality!

    I’ve had a long day and hope I didn’t miss the answer to this question – does the screen allow you to access other worlds of the internet like say, YouTube where you can watch your custom playlist of music videos and/or movies?

    Thanks DC, you’re one of my favorite reads throughout the year –

    • Tim Grose

      See Steven’s reply to my post above – seemingly not if the bike one is anything to go by. This seems about as much of a closed system as you could possibly imagine.

  14. Dan

    I don’t see any way they will EVER allow access to their system / tv screen because the moment they do, they become just another equipment manufacturer. The content is their model. If you want to watch tv and you tube and other people’s training classes you can buy a treadmill cheaper get a mount for a tv type screen powered by one of those tiny computers right now and have the virtual world with you all the time.

    Just my opinion anyway

  15. Scott E

    “Some of those classes may be by celebrities (fitness celebrities likely),…”

    That would be you Ray, when are you going to do a couple sessions? 🙂

  16. Beeks

    As soon as Wahoo releases Kickr Climb this should be there next endeavor. I would buy a treadmill that Wahoo build in a second as I feel that the get it and there treadmill would have built in smart technology that would would work with Zwift and other software platforms/websites. I love my Wahoo trainer, and would equally love a Wahoo Treadmill 🙂

  17. Nick

    wow… my precor commercial grade treadmill was 2800 and came with a 10 year warranty, weighs about 300 pounds and as high grade aluminum on a thick steel frame. This thing isn’t even close to that build quality from the looks of it. no way will they be able to sell this for 4K to people, compelling platform or not.

    • A

      I would agree to disagree Nick, your treadmill is dumb, no matter how good it was built 🙂 , we are talking about different time now. The future is connected fitness device for the mass.

      For many of us who really train , we just go outside and train or train on your Precor treadmill , but for many other people, this type of connected training fitness platform will be the future.

    • Parker

      And it’s inportant to note that they are not going after the traditional treadmill market. If you want a simple high quality treadmill that lets you run and do pre-set programs, your precor is what you want. This is designed to compete with the likes of orange theory fitness or Barry’s boot camp – more circuit training with non-running segments (hence the weights and other accessories they want you to buy). Much like how their bike isn’t designed to be a dumb indoor bike, it’s designed to bring soulcycle or flywheel style engagement into your home. the Premium price tag is to have the 32” tablet attached with the ability to access top notch content. If you don’t want their content (which is fantastic), then their bike and this treadmill aren’t for you.

    • Tim Grose

      Agree this is the future (Zwift being another example of connected fitness) but at that these prices some way off “for the masses”. Will be interesting to see what the “Tread” content actually consists of and whether will be of interest to “traditional” runners like me who basically just run or bike although indoors as well as out. However, as mentioned, I very much doubt I am their target market.

  18. So the 4000 USD fantasy price tag is effectively meant to make subscribers of the equipment service feel that they are getting a good deal? Because… reference point.

    Also, 100 USD and upwards for a monthly gym membership sounds rather NY-biased to me, and that brings in another point: Studios can set local prices. Peloton would need to find a justification for that. It works for Amazon with Prime, for instance, because different countries get different services, and because they operate country-specific websites. But that’s countries, not states.

    • It goes both ways. 100USD isn’t out of the norm for a good gym. But it’s totally dependent on your area. In DC (well, Fairfax county technically), our local Rec Center worked out to about 60/month, *IF* you bought it a year at a time, and *IF* you bought it during their annual 15% off sale. Else, it was more. And that’s just a non-fancy rec center. City gyms tend to be pricier.

      But remember, you’re paying (in theory) for the privilege of having said facility within your own home, and not down the street.

      I have no question it’ll work doing a higher end monthly all-inclusive, since they’ve already convinced 150,000 people to A) Buy a unit ($2,250), and then B) Pay $40/month to use said unit.

    • You could argue likewise that you pay for the gym down the street so you don’t have to cram your apartment, or rent a bigger place. The selling point you suggest will certainly be used, and it will work for some, but it’s only one story. Still, at a gym I have access to more than just a treadmill and a bike, and I don’t have to pay for each device separately. Or is their plan a bike/treadmill subscription? Finally, I thought that “as a service” meant no initial setup fee, but if they make their users pay for the hardware anyways, is it then really “as a service” – or did I get something wrong and the more expensive subscription will drop the hardware cost?

    • Tim Grose

      As a UK reference point I pay £72 per month for my gym which is basically on the outskirts of London. It is a privately owned one rather than a “chain”. I use the treadmills and Wattbikes regularly, occasionally the 25m pool but I typically pass on the squash courts and studio classes like spin although would not be any more. I thought that was perhaps a bit steep so checked local alternatives and the “chain” ones appeared to be north of £100/month so did not feel so bad. I have a “smart” bike trainer at home for Zwift etc but as Thomas implies I really don’t have “room” for a treadmill. Would need a higher roof for my garage and one “inside” would not pass muster! There is also the feeling that I actually like “going somewhere” to train whereas I find it “harder” sometimes to get out to the garage. If money and space was no object, I probably would want to get a Tacx Magnum as getting am into Zwift Running. I suspect other “smart” treadmills will smart to emerge soon and then the pricing will need to be competitive.

  19. Patrick R

    > “The key driver of success on the platform is that you’re not just watching recorded sessions with an instructor from 5 years ago. Instead, there’s live classes dozens of times per day, where you’re watching and interacting with not just a live instructor but an entire class of people in a studio in NYC.”

    I don’t think this is their special sauce. I know several people with the bike who’ve said they’ve never taken a live class – only done the recorded ones. I think the beauty of it is you can take a studio class whenever you want, in the convenience of you home, with great instructors/music/workouts.

    • Parker

      Patrick, you are partially correct in this… it’s kind of Both of what Ray said and what you say. The reason we keep going back is because they record new content every day. The content isn’t a static library of 5 year old classes, so it doesn’t get old the way recorded dvds or other workout content can, but actually riding live when they are recording the classes isn’t necessary to the experience – although it does add to the experience… both the opportunity for the instructor to recognize you and give you a “shout out” during the class and knowing that everyone else on the leaderboard is right there sweating it out with you in the class at the same time give that extra motivation. I ride both live and on demand mostly because my favorite coaches often don’t teach live classes that are convenient to my schedule. Without the content (and with it always being fresh) Peloton wouldn’t be worth the price.

    • Patrick R

      Ya good pt – the fact that there’s always new content is key. But I still think ‘live’ itself is not that important. I mean you can join a live class and there might be several hundred people in it, but when you go back to take it a few months later thousands will have taken the class. So on demand usage I think is generally way more popular than live. Have you ever used the camera feature? I don’t know anyone who has.

    • Parker

      Yeah, OD definitely gets more usage than live. But new content is key to their model, so new or on demand there is always something new to ride. I have done the video chat once because someone “called” me, but it’s really kinda useless. No one wants to see you sweating and huffing and puffing on your bike! I’d guess they just threw it in because it was cheap (or free) and they may have thought they’d come up with a better use for it down the road. Most people I know have disabled it.

  20. Shannon

    Thanks for such an informative article. I am all in though. Can you tell me if you had a peek at how the Tread connects to the electric source. Is it a standard plug like the bike or a special voltage connection?

  21. L_R_T

    At that price, I want the supported incline to go from -10% to 25%. And a motor with at least 3.0 horsepower.

  22. The Real Bob

    Thanks Ray. I got a treadmill from a friend for free, didn’t realize how much I would use it. I use it every day for walking at least.

    That said. It troubles me in society that the new model for everything “is the monthly fee”. Every company is doing this. From the AC repair man to phone apps. They all want that monthly fee. I can envision a future where just to live you are shelling out a grand a month.

    I personally made a decision to avoid every monthly fee I can. I can’t help but think there are others like me.

    Also, I am sure there are many people out there that aren’t “class” people. My wife loves classes, zumba, etc. But I can’t stand them. I even prefer to bike by myself. Guess I am just odd.

    It would be interesting to see you do a treadmill recommendation some day, like the power meter guide.

  23. Steve

    Enjoyed the review, although not interested in a treadmill. But as an owner of their bike for 2 years, this comment did interest me:

    The “Peloton bike is well known in cycling industry circles as being of poor build quality compared to most indoor cycles.”

    That surprised me a bit – I thought the build quality of the bike was pretty good. Does anyone have additional info/references on why the build quality is considered poor?

    • Tim Rod

      I have the bike also (two of them, actually). I do really like the experience, and I think the secret sauce is made up of a few ingredients, one of them being content (live and on demand) but the community of riders is a huge part too. The facebook group has 61,000 members and growing, with a virtual cocktail party every Friday night. Those kind of things will get people together, and motivated.

      To respond to the question regarding build quality, I’ve had a few issues, and just ended up having one of them completely replaced by Peloton. The bike is predominantly good quality, with a few questionable components. For the treadmill (and for the bike), I’d recommend getting the extended warranty they offer. I’m usually completely against this, but in this case, I think it makes sense.

  24. John

    Is this just for women? I can’t see any men on the display doing sessions.

    • Tim Grose

      I wondered that too and Ray commented above that it supposedly helps to sell these things to more people. Funny though in the Garmin video for the new 645M there is only a bloke in it so…

  25. Xena

    What’s the weight limit? Wondering if the slats are more worrying once you get into the clydesdale territory.

  26. Louis Matherne

    I second (third?) the interest in a good treadmill review. I’m in the market and completely overwhelmed by the choices and what appear to be biased reviews both online and in the local gym stores.

    Louis

  27. Jacob

    I just want to second your comment. I much prefer running outside. But the demands of weather (extreme heat) and the constraints of young children at home are what brought me to this page looking for a treadmill so I can find some compromise.

  28. Angel Velazquez

    Do this tred has the capacity to connect vía Bluetooth to zwift ? Like true treadmills do ?

  29. Greg

    I’d like to see more reviews of popular gym treadmills such as the NordicTrack line or similar..

  30. Michael

    I currently own a peloton bike. We love it and use the many classes offered quite regularly. At $39.00 per month this is a great value, even more so with two people or more using it. We just tried the peloton app for the tread class on a Precor 718 model. It was a great experience as my wife and i did the hiking classes. So, the question is, do we purchase a peloton tread, the new one in 2021 is $2495.00 i believe. The previous one at 4k has slats instead of a belt. Would purchasing a non peloton treadmill make more sense, or would the peloton experience be lost a bit? If we purchase a tread in addition to the peloton bike we own already we will still only pay $39.00 per month, making it even more of a deal. Currently we “hike” and walk using peloton app, hoping to eventually be able to run if I can build up to that as have had knee issues throughout the years. Does anyone have an opinion on purchasing a tread, tread+ or a non peloton treadmill to just use with the app, which did seem easy to use with a Precor treadmill. Thank you for your thoughts.

    • I haven’t tried the new one yet. Unfortunately, it’s not available yet in Peloton Germany’s store (which is where I buy things from). Wish I had better thoughts, sory!

    • Michael

      Hi Ray
      Here is some info for peloton availability in Germany etc…

      The new Peloton Tread will be $2,495 USD ($3,295 CAD /£2,295 GBP) and is coming in early 2021 to the US and Canada, to the UK starting on December 26, 2020, and to Germany later in 2021. Financing will be available starting at $64 USD/mo over 39-months at 0% APR** (plus the cost of an All-Access Membership), as will our standard 30-Day Home Trial period. The original Peloton Tread, now called Peloton Tread+ will remain at $4,295 USD with a 30-Day Home Trial for first purchasers, and available in the US.

      Ty Michael