The amount I was paying, per month, paid for the Peloton and my limited Starbucks habit, AND saved my lungs.
They brought in some kind of vertical flame thrower to add ‘zip’ to the classes, and I never went back. So, I saved twice over. (Who in their right, or wrong mind, would put a combustion device in a room with people breathing very deeply, and gasping to try not to die?)
Peloton started out as an early Kickstarter project, and some of the die hards still have their first issue stone age bikes. Peloton has been around for quite a long time. The problem, being a long time member that I see is they got the idea that they could be ‘All Of Exercise’, and
They brought out the Tread which they lost hundreds of dollars on for every unit sold. So, when they raised prices, no one wanted to buy one, and then the ‘it eats kids and small furry animals’ thing, and it was, perhaps, an unforced error compounded with bad press. Hell, every treadmill has the ‘feature’ of sucking things under the back of the tread when it’s in motion. The Tread was taller, so it was easier.
They have what seems like HUNDREDS of instructors, and are saddled with huge bills for music, and now with their next wave of bad PR, and they are hurting. BUT Covid didn’t make Peloton, it made them expand and take more risks that didn’t pay off well at all.
Will Peloton fall? I hope not. All those bikes are going to be useless if they do, and people will be seriously burned by ‘the industry’, and will likely retreat to the couch and not trust anyone ever again.
I hope they can recover. For all of the people desperately trying to retain their sanity, I hope they can recover.
I think a key point on Peloton is that they made a big bet on the COVID 19 peak demand as representing an expanding market for their products. The ramped up production like the peak would be the new normal.
I remember reading an interview with someone in senior leadership at Giant back in 2020, saying that they were hesitant to increase production on high end road bikes just because there was a big spike in demand right then. With the supply chain for complete bikes being more complicated, it is harder to create the kind of supply glut that Peloton did.
Will be interesting to see what happens to all of the nice bikes (and puppies and home gym equipment and everything else that was trending) people bought in the last 18 months but I am not convinced that we are in a boom/bust cycle. More of a “scarcity is the new normal” kind of situation for a while.
Peloton stock price (like many many many others) was fueled by speculation on user growth. It remains to be seen if they can stabilize into a profit-generating company long-term, which will determine whether they can stay afloat.
Anyone living in reality knows that the last two years have been exceptional, but no one knows whether things will return to “normal” or not.
This was a prevalent sentiment throughout the industry…moreover, by the time they invested and built the infrastructure necessary to meet demand, the feeling was the the bubble would have burst. That is how companies go under…
Although I think most recognize that the bubble lasted longer than they expected.
Wonder if there is a trend upward of more people actually exercising as covid persists, or if people who typically buy high end stuff want more and are buying up whatever is available simply because it’s harder to get?
To quote Spock: “After a time, you may find that ‘having’ is not so pleasing a thing after all as ‘wanting.’ It is not logical, but it is often true.”
Giant is likely right to not increase capacity. But sure wish we could get some 12s chains.
To quote Lemmy, “The chase is better than the catch”
I think I read somewhere that the average gym user would get more health benefits from walking to the gym and then turning round and walking home again, as opposed to driving there and actually going in for an hour.
Clarification from the target - I did not post on YouTube or post on my website on this issue for clicks. I ripped them a new arsehole on Twitter by posting their letter of demand. That wasn’t for clicks. That was done so they’d get the f’ck off my back. It worked. The other cycling media may have written about it for clicks.
Thank God I have 4 of them in rotation. Waxed and prepped