WHAT’S BETTER THAN PELOTON?
Year after year, add another year on top of that for good measure, you’ve decided that this is going to be the year that you lose the extra pounds. You have even gone as far as to research and buy some light gym equipment to keep around the house in order to get your workouts in when you have some time. The problem is, some time never comes and that gym equipment and workout gear that you spent $200 – $400 on is now sitting in the corner. The dumbbell rack, curl bars and yoga equipment are all just expensive ornaments at this point. Well, they double as a clothing rack, because you hang the workout gear you never use on top of it.
You tell yourself, something has got to change and you’re now in the market to buy a stationary bike that can help you reach your weight loss goals. The only problem is, there are so many options to chose from. On top of that, stationary bikes aren’t cheap, they range anywhere from $599 – $2695 and that’s before paying for warranty, installation and monthly class membership. So you need to be 100% certain that you pick the right stationary bike for you.
Is Peloton still the best stationary bike, dive into this Peloton Bike: Full Length Review & Hidden Usability Advantages blog post to see if that’s still the case. From the perspective of market share statistics that sentiment would be considered true, but what do Peloton Bike Competitors like Echelon, Bowflex, NordicTrack and Proform have to say about that. While the answer to that question is very personal and no blog, podcast or YouTube video can tell you what the best stationary bike is, I’m going to give you a 4 step framework, plus a bonus tip that can help you decide what stationary bike is best for you.
- How Much Weight Can The Bike Sustain?
- Am I Comfortable On The Bike? Saddle, Handlebars And Pedals!
- Does The Stationary Bike Have A Unique Physical Feature That Can Help Me Reach My Fitness Goals That No Other Stationary Bike Has?
- Which Spin Bike Has The Best Classes?
- BONUS TIP
STEP 1: HOW MUCH WEIGHT CAN THE PELOTON BIKE SUSTAIN?
During the course of my research for this article, I analyzed different features for the Peloton, NordicTrack, Echelon, Bowflex and Proform bikes. What I found during this research is that these stationary bikes can sustain a user weight between 250lbs to 350lbs. What this means is that, if after you’ve done your research, you determine that the Peloton Cross Training Series Bike+ is the bike for you, but you are tipping the scales at more than 300lbs or more, you are going to need to bring your weight down to 297lbs before you can even think about riding a Peloton Bike. You need to do this for two reasons, one, you don’t want to void the warranty if something goes wrong with the bike, because Peloton Specifically states that the bike can only sustain a weight of 297lbs. If something happens as a result of improper use, Peloton more than likely won’t cover the repairs, even if the product is in warranty. More importantly than reason number one is you want to avoid injury, riding the bike at a weight it can not sustain could possibly break the seat, leading to you possibly falling off the bike and sustaining an injury. To play it safe, you probably want to get below the bike user weight recommendation by at least 10lbs before you start any extensive riding.
STEP 2: AM I COMFORTABLE ON THE BIKE? SADDLE HANDLE BARS AND PEDALS!
Once you’ve found a bike that can sustain your weight, you need to determine if you are going to be comfortable riding that bike for an extended period of time. The main factors influencing your comfort level during a stationary bike ride are saddle, handle bars and pedals.
Having a comfortable seat is paramount to having any type of success on the bike. If you’re not comfortable during the ride, you’re not going to build any consistency and even if you do you’re not going to enjoy being sore afterwards. The bike saddle on the Peloton and most other bikes go up and down, as well as forward and backwards. However, some bikes provide more cushion than others and that can minimize your level of soreness.
Proper positioning of the handle bar is critical as well, just like the seats, most of the bikes have adjustable handle bars as well. Position the handle bar in different positions to see what works best for you. If the seat and handle bar position don’t work well for you, then there is no way that you can consider a particular bike better than Peloton or the best stationary bike on the market. On the other hand, if you have found the perfect seat and handle position, then you are on to your next challenge.
The final piece of the comfortability equation when comparing different bikes against each other like Echelon vs Peloton or Peloton vs NordicTrack is to see how comfortable you are with the pedals and your ability to take a clean pedal stroke. Most Peloton bike competitors have SPD compatible clips, Adjustable toe cages or both. When assessing this feature, the type of pedal that gives you the cleanest stroke is what ultimately will contribute to helping you pick one of Peloton’s competitors as the best stationary bike or choosing the Peloton Bike or Bike+.
STEP 3 DOES THE BIKE HAVE A UNIQUE PHYSICAL FEATURE THAT CAN HELP ME REACH MY WEIGHT LOSS GOALS THAT NO OTHER STATIONARY BIKE HAS?
Once you have found a bike that can sustain your weight and you’re comfortable riding, now you need to assess your fitness goals and see if there is a feature of a specific bike that isn’t offered in any other bike on the market. Most people are trying to do one of the following things:
- Lose A Significant Amount Of Weight
- Train For A Professional Bicycle Race
LOSE A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF WEIGHT
Let’s say you’re trying to lose weight, just about every single bike on the market is going to give you essentially the same thing, the ability to burn around 250 to 550 calories during the course of a 30 to 60 minute ride. Combining that loss of calories with a proper diet to create a consistent daily caloric loss is what’s going to lead to your weight loss. If you’re doing that and still not seeing success, you may need to burn a few extra calories. Is there a bike on the market that can help you burn more calories in the same amount of time as the Peloton and all other stationary bike competitors, I’m glad you asked.
The NordicTrack X24 bike helps you burn 2X more calories, because of it’s ability to provide riders with a 20% incline. For people like yourself looking to lose weight, the answer to the question of what’s better than Peloton is the NordicTrack X24. You can burn more calories in a 30 to 60 minute bike ride than any other bike on the market, because of the incline feature on the bike.
TRAIN FOR A PROFESSIONAL BICYCLE RACE
You may be more than a weekend warrior and you actually ride your bike for a living. You’re participating in the Haute Route Alps or even the Tour De France, so you need your bike to simulate what you would experience on race day. If you fall in that category, the NordicTrack Tour De France Indoor Bike would be the better option than Peloton for you. Why? The Tour De France Indoor Bike has a variety of features specifically geared(see what I did there) towards professional riders.
- Drop Handlebars And Integrated Shifters That Mimic The Position Of Your Road Bike
- Ability To Adjust The Gears To Match Your Road Bike(front chasings and rear cassette)
- Simulates Grade Changes In Real Time, From 20% Incline To 10% Decline
- The Flywheel Keeps Spinning When You Stop Pedaling
For individuals looking for a real world bike feel on their trainer, then the only option that could even be in the conversation of what’s better than Peloton, is the NordicTrack Tour De France Indoor Bike. Does that mean you can throw out a blanket statement and say that this bike is better than Peloton, no, but it does mean that for professional riders looking to continue their bike training indoors, this bike is the best option for them.
STEP: 4 WHICH SPIN BIKE HAS THE BEST CLASSES?
The final step in determining what bike is best for you to attain your fitness goals is assessing which Spin Bike Has The Best Classes. As is the case with every step in this process thus far, there is no hard and fast rule, it really boils down to what your preferences are. NordicTrack and ProForm use iFit, a third-party class provider that is integrated with the bike, while much like Peloton, Echelon and Bowflex focus on building their own brand by having their own set of proprietary classes taught by teachers on their staff. Determining who has the best classes is not an easy feat, but we will try.
BONUS TIP! WHAT’S BETTER, iFIT OR PELOTON?
A lot of People say iFIT is better than Peloton, but based on how iFit and Peloton market themselves, it’s not really an ideal comparison to make your purchase selection off of. iFit is a third-party content provider that provides workout content for NordicTrack, ProForm & Freemotion. iFit content focuses on creating workout content on site in exotic locations that span 7 continents. Mount Everest, Yellowstone and Yoho National Park are just a few of the places they film their content. Peloton on the other hand, does provide scenic runs/workouts on site in various locations, but they mostly provide live in studio content that relies heavily on the instructor being engaging over the course of the workout and motivating you to push through. For this reason, you have to ask yourself one question if you are going to commit to Peloton, Is the Peloton Bike Worth It After the Initial Excitement Fades?
The fact is, Peloton’s content and other proprietary workout content simply isn’t as sexy as iFit, so comparing a software company/content provider that provides workout content to numerous stationary bike companies to a stationary bike company that has to focus on selling the actual product and managing the actual content production simply isn’t an apples to apples comparison.
If you want a definitive, although opinionated answer, I would say iFit is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cooler than Peloton, they even have a reality show on Amazon Prime to select the next iFit trainer. When taking a look at the content app for these various bikes, some of which are powered by iFit, you’re really just looking for something that tracks your key metrics. You want to make sure the bike is tracking things that will help you hit your weight loss goals, Is the bike tracking my output, resistance, cadence, heart rate and leadership board position for a little extra motivation? If you want to chose a bike because it’s powered by iFit, that’s totally cool, just understand that it’s really not a fair comparison.
BIKE ANALYSIS! PELOTON CROSS TRAINING BIKE+ VS. BOWFLEX VELOCORE 22
You’ve gone through the entire 4 step process of determining which stationary bike is better than Peloton, let’s actually work through an example to see if Peloton is better than Bowflex vice versa? Before changing anything external about your physical appearance, you must take a look inside and decide what you want from your work out experience. For the purposes of this exercise, we’re going to assume that you’re tipping the scales at 330lbs and your goal is to lose weight. Price point aside, you’ve decided that you want to purchase either the Bowflex VeloCore 22 Bike or the Peloton Cross Training Bike+
WEIGHT:
Bowflex VeloCore 22 can sustain 350lbs of weight, while the Peloton Cross Traing Bike+ Can only sustain 297lbs of weight
COMFORT:
How you feel in the saddle when grabbing the handle bars and actually riding is going to take you actually sitting on the bike. To test the VeloCore 22 you’re going to have to visit the Bowflex retail partner Johnson Fitness & Wellness. For Peloton you can visit one of their retail stores to test out the bike. With the Peloton Cross Training Bike+ being newer to the market, they are probably going to have the edge here, because they had the opportunity to upgrade the seat based on user feedback. The Peloton website states the following about the seat for the Peloton Cross Training Bike+. The Upgraded sports series saddle features an improved ergonomic channel for enhanced comfort while riding. Bowflex on the other hand offers a bike seat cover to improve the comfort level on their bikes.
IS THERE A UNIQUE FEATURE:
The feature that separates the Peloton Cross Training Bike+ from the VeloCore 22 is the ability to turn the volume up or down, pause a class, or input your weight change with your voice. While this might not sound like a bike deal, having to do all of this stuff manually on your bike drops your output while riding, which ultimately can prevent you from achieving you personal record or pr. This feature gives you the edge of simply hopping on the bike and focusing 100% on the ride, keep your output as high as it can possibly be for the duration of the ride.
CLASSES:
The software/classes was the last step in the framework and it is actually optional as it relates to making your decision on which bike to purchase, because some bikes are powered by iFit, which to me is the best content provider as it relates to workouts on the bike or any workout type for that matter. Other bikes like Peloton and Bowflex provide users with their own proprietary content, either way, getting a feel for the classes before buying the bike is going to be hard, you can try the iFit 7 day trial, but other than that, you would have to purchase a one month subscription of the particular bikes app that you are deciding between in order to get a feel of which classes you like best. At the end of the day, all of the software that accompany these bikes track the metrics that you need to monitor in order to improve performance, so it’s really not a big deal, they will all help you track progress toward your goal
IS BOWFLEX OR PELOTON BETTER FOR A 330LB PERSON TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT?
The answer to this question is yes, for a 330lb person trying to lose weight on a stationary bike, the Bowlex VeloCore 22 is the best option, because it can sustain your weight. Even if you technically like the hands free feature of the Peloton Cross Training Bike+ and you’re slightly more comfortable on that bike, you simply can’t trust that bike to sustain your weight over an extended period of time. As you can see, the answer to the question of “What’s Better Than Peloton” is not a one size fits all scenario. You have to find a process that helps you make a fair comparison between bikes and I hope this blog post helps you do just that.
