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Like anyone who was about to drop over $1,000 on something, I did my research before I bought a Peloton three years ago, endeavoring 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 its 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 also other ways to save on your streaming classes, like if you subscribe to Fitbit Premium, so make sure you explore all your options.) Other costs associated with Peloton ownership are not quite as straight-forward, however, which I only learned after 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 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. Since I’m the only rider on mine, I keep my cleats locked to the pedals at all times and just slip in and out of them when I spin, but that’s a “cost” in itself, since it’s annoying and cumbersome.
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 flying out while you’re riding hard. The light weights are $25.
Other Peloton accessories to buy
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 third-party accessories available that make riding your bike more fun or efficient. They’re not necessary, but they’re tempting:
I also recently tried out a VSEAT ($119), a bike seat with no front section between the legs and a flatter design than a traditional one. It promises to reduce groin pressure and improve posture, which it did do for me, and it was easy to install, too.
Overall Peloton costs
Spending some extra money on my bike wasn’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. 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 upfront.
