The Real Cost of a Peloton

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Like anyone who was about to drop over $1,000 on something, I did my research before I got my Peloton to find out precisely what the bike and a membership to stream classes for it would cost me. The home-based fitness giant is straightforward about that on the Peloton website: A basic bike is $1,445 and the Bike+ is $2,495. The All-Access membership is $44 per month and my shipping and setup were free. There are other costs associated with the bike, though, that I didn’t consider before I got mine.

Additional Peloton needs and costs

Even though I’m a spin teacher, I’ve always hated cycling shoes. I do not like to clip in and out of the pedals and I don’t like the way it feels to be anchored to them in just one spot. I much prefer having a strap to cover my regular sneakers and all the bikes at every gym I’ve ever taught or taken a class at have had pedals that feature clips on one side and straps on the other. This is not true for the Peloton, which has small pedals that can only work with clip-in shoes. I discovered this the first night I had the bike and was disappointed, but after dropping all that money earlier in the day, I didn’t want to buy the shoes the company sells separately for $125. Luckily, any Delta-compatible cleats will work with the bike, so I ordered a pair of $40 cleats from Amazon; in general, you’ll likely spend between $39 and $55 on shoes if you don’t already own a pair of Delta cycling cleats. 

That price isn’t too prohibitive, but if you also hate cycling shoes, this could be a bigger issue you need to keep in mind—especially if your bike will have multiple users, all of whom need shoes in their own size. 

I also noticed my bike wobbling a bit on my uneven floor, which was more noisy than destabilizing. I got a cheap cushion from the dollar store to stuff under the front of my bike which solved the problem temporarily, but over the long term, you should place a mat under the bike to protect your floor. Peloton sells one for $75;Amazon sells similar ones for around $30.

Finally, Peloton offers a selection of classes that incorporate hand weights and the bikes include little holsters for them—but they cost extra, too. In this case, it’s probably your best bet to buy the branded ones to make sure they fit right in the holsters. The last thing you (and your floor and surrounding valuables) need is your weights unsecure while you’re riding hard. The light weights are $25.

Other Peloton accessories

When you make a big purchase, you want to get the most out of it and really juice it up. With a Peloton, you’ll find a variety of accessories available that make riding your bike more fun or efficient. They’re not necessary, but they’re tempting:

A bike desk so you can watch shows or work on your computer while you ride, like this one for $59.99

A small fan that attaches securely to your handlebars to cool you down, like this one for $28.49

A phone holder (because there really is nowhere to put your phone on the Peloton), like this one for $12.99

A screen swivel mount to make your view more adjustable, like this one for $32.99

A comfier seat in case the standard one isn’t doing it for you, like this one for $33.99

Overall Peloton costs

I ended up spending about $50 on extras for my bike, which isn’t that big of a deal in the long run, although I could (and should) have spent more (and still might). Depending on how often you plan to use yours and what you want to do with it, you may spend a lot more than you initially expected. When you get yours, spend some time tracking how often you use it and what issues you’re running into before buying the whole slew of accessories and goodies for it up front.