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Re:Peloton Confidentially Files Statement for Proposed IPO by alistairSH on Wednesday June 05, 2019 @04:05PM (#20108552)
I don't understand Peloton because there are smart-trainers available (Wahoo Kickr, etc).

$1000 bike. $1000 trainer. $15/month for Zwift or TrainerRoad.

And you can take the bike outside when the weather is nice.

Or, for a bike enthusiast (or anybody who already owns a bike), the bike is already there. So, it's just the trainer.

Re:Peloton Confidentially Files Statement for Proposed IPO by TomVDB on Wednesday June 05, 2019 @04:21PM (#20108726)
Twice, I had something like a Wahoo Kickr. Twice, after repeated use, the mounting mechanism to fasten my road bike to the trainer started to fail or became very cumbersome to use.

When it did work, the tires on the road bike slipped when putting on high power.

In the end, even if it wasn't a huge inconvenience, the hassle of using the system was sufficient friction to stop me from using it, just like the overhead of going to a gym.

There is a large market for tailor-made solutions that are perfect for just one application. (See also: iPad, bike GPS computers, 10 different categories of mountain bikes, ...)

Re:Peloton Confidentially Files Statement for Proposed IPO by alistairSH on Wednesday June 05, 2019 @08:17PM (#20110377)
The Kickr is direct mount (remove rear wheel, mount to axle/cassette that are part of trainer). Parts could still fail, but no tire slippage.
Re:Peloton Confidentially Files Statement for Proposed IPO by TomVDB on Thursday June 06, 2019 @01:35PM (#20116896)
Having to remove the rear wheel is definitely better from a slippage point of view, but now you still have the friction of removing your wheel and putting it back and getting your hands dirty in the process.

Maybe I'm just lazy after all...

But it still illustrates how something like Peleton can be appealing for many.