The Peloton Bike!   I saw the commercials and was hooked. Over 10,000 on demand group spinning classes right in the comfort of my own home?  You mean I never have to find someone to watch my kids, get in a car and drive to the gym?  A dream come true – sign me up!  (Plus, I am assuming that it must come with a housekeeper because everyone’s homes seem so neat and tidy.)

Then I saw the price tag…almost $3,000 right off the bat when you add delivery, special shoes, etc. plus a $468 yearly subscription ($39 per month).  Yikes!  I wish I could afford it – I really do but I already have a graveyard of exercise gadgetry and workout DVDs in my house (do P90X and Insanity ring a bell to anyone?).  I didn’t want to splurge on a Peloton bike only for it to gather dust in the corner like my old treadmill.   What if I didn’t like it?  What if I got  bored of spinning after a few months?  What if its screen stopped working – would I have to return the whole bike?  For me and my track record, it was too much of a gamble and I needed to dip my toes back into exercise with a less expensive bike.

So what did I do?

After loads of research (Amazon reviews, fitness blogs, etc.) I created my own Peloton experience by using the Peloton App with my own bike (a Sunny Spin bike) and some simple add-ons like Wahoo cadence and speed sensors. It saved me almost $2,400. So far it works great and I am really enjoying my Peloton workouts.  In fact, I just celebrated my 250th ride on my Sunny.  This is how I did it…