Peloton’s indoor bikes can now be rented instead of just bought

Peloton’s indoor bikes can now be rented instead of just bought

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After the price jump for its connected fitness bikes, Peloton wants to attract new customers with lower-threshold access to the high-priced home training offers. Unlike before, the Bike and Bike+ bicycle ergometers can not only be purchased in installments or once, but can now also be rented at short notice. The monthly fee is at least 100 euros and includes access to the online fitness courses available live or on demand. The rental offer starts today in Germany after it was already available in North America. However, it only applies to new members. According to the manufacturer, anyone who already has a Peloton subscription cannot rent a bike for the time being. By definition, this also excludes those who have been using a digital-only subscription without Peloton hardware.

German language courses and bike shoes included

The Peloton Bike (99 euros per month) and the Bike+ (129 euros per month), which is equipped with better multimedia technology, are currently available for rental. The treadmill and the manufacturer’s rowing machine, which was previously only available in the USA, cannot be rented. The rental bikes may not be new, but refurbished devices. Apparently you can’t influence that. A pair of Peloton bike shoes and the chargeable part of the training catalog are included in the rental offer.

Peloton is from the USA but offers over 6,000 courses in German. They include 15 fitness disciplines. In addition to cycling, these include running, cardio, strength training, yoga and meditation. In addition to the display mounted on the bike, the courses are available via mobile app on smartphones and tablets or on streaming players and smart TVs.

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Renting again and again is not planned

Peloton emphasizes that the bike can be returned “at any time” without specifying the notice period. He leaves it open whether the manufacturer will ask for the bike shoes back. However, this is unlikely for hygiene reasons.

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Renting an expensive indoor bike for a short time at manageable costs, returning it if you are not interested in the meantime and booking it again after a break actually sounds like an interesting idea. But it is probably not intended by Peloton. At the beginning of the rental period, there is a one-time fee of 200 euros for delivery and assembly. The extra costs make a permanent “on-off tenancy” unattractive. If the existing customers are actually so strictly excluded from the rental offer, as formulated by the manufacturer, a second rental period would not even be possible.

On the other hand, converting the rental into a purchase is not a problem. The manufacturer names the staggered remaining prices on the product website. The new standard bike costs 1,445 euros, the Bike+ 2,495 euros. Mathematically, the purchase price of the hardware is “rented” after around 15 months for the first model and after 20 months for the latter, if you don’t take the subscription fee for video streaming into account. Access to the full range of courses requires a paid subscription of 39 euros when purchasing hardware, while it is included in the rental offer.

Peloton courses also available without hardware and paid subscription

The rental offer is another measure taken by Peloton to rekindle the once great interest in the digital training courses. During the corona pandemic, a hype arose about the manufacturer’s fitness equipment such as the Bike+. After the end of the social isolation, the boom abruptly died down and Peloton got out of step with losses in the billions.

In May 2023, in order to make access more easily accessible, the manufacturer changed the tariff structure of the course offering and decoupled it more from the high-priced hardware. Even without Peloton devices, instructions for indoor and outdoor sports can be used in the mobile app. About 50 videos are accessible for free. Access to all video recordings and live courses is staggered at 13 or 24 euros per month. In comparison, the 39-euro subscription includes specially adapted training sessions for Peloton fitness equipment.

(dahe)

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