I did it! 500 rides with my trusty Sunny Bike and the Peloton App (with the help of a global pandemic…). There were no shoutouts from the Peloton instructors, no balloons or fanfare but just a GIANT sense of accomplishment! I am SO happy to have hit this milestone. I am in the best shape of my life and have found a new community of friends along the way.
Now that I have hit the 500 ride milestone I have decided to upgrade my bike. My Sunny still works great but I have decided to buy something a bit fancier now that I have proven to myself that I am in this for the long haul. Believe me, the Sunny was well worth my initial investment – per my math, it came out to about $0.75 per ride! Not too shabby. Using your own bike with the Peloton App has a lot of advantages, price being one of them.
After a lot of debate between a Peloton and a Keiser M3i, please read on to see why I decided to buy the Keiser….
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I found this incredibly helpful spreadsheet created by Peloton App User Liz Ducey (leader board name #irish_siren) that is an in-depth comparison of the differences between the Keiser M3i and a Peloton. She gave me permission to share her pros/cons list. Here it is:
PROS & CONS: Peloton Bike vs Keiser M3i Bike (w/Peloton App)
(Excel Spreadsheet)
This really gave me a lot to think about and helped tremendously with my decision. For example:
- What happens in a few years when the Peloton tech starts to age (like the screen) or your kids accidentally break it?
- I can use the Keiser with other apps if I want to try different spin classes.
- This may sound silly but you need to plug in the Peloton (despite the absence of cords on the commercials…) and having to plug it in just doesn’t work well with my setup.
And finally, the price. I just could not give up paying my $13 per month for the Peloton App while using my own bike compared to the $40 monthly subscription for the Peloton bike. As for my trusty Sunny , I’ll likely keep the Wahoo cadence sensor attached (you don’t need it with the Keiser) and let my kids use it when they are old enough to reach the pedals.
I’ve placed the order and with COVID delivery delays, I should be getting it in a few weeks. I am super excited. Stay tuned!
Happy spinning!
Beth
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Beth, Congratulations on your 500th ride and new Keiser. I have just read all of your peloton hack posts. I am way too poor to consider a peloton and have been looking at all the online posts and yours are so helpful. I cycle outside a lot and am looking to be more active, especially with the long covid winter coming up. I’ve been using – I kid you not – a 25+year old “exercise bike” and it still works fine, with GCN videos. I hate gyms and I’ve never taken a spin class. Want to see if I can… Read more »
Thanks for the note, Coach Laura! I had a similar journey and thought process. I wanted to make sure that I enjoyed spinning before spending the money on a Peloton. That is the beauty of the hack and using your own bike with the Peloton App.
In the end after the 500 rides (and loving it), I took the plunge with the Keiser.
Best of luck!!
Happy spinning!!
Beth
I just purchased the M3i, based in part on your blog (thank you!). Did you purchase the converter as well? I would love to hear your thoughts about whether its necessary/worth it!
Hi Kris,
Thanks for writing!!
I actually got the Keiser converter for free directly from Keiser. They were simply going it away with my bike purchase. I really only just started using it with mPaceLine App as I didn’t think the Keiser App was that great. I JUST created a mPaceLine App Community group on Facebook. Come check it out!
Happy spinning!
Beth
I am also considering a Keiser M3i. A month or so ago I saw you had considered another bike along with the Keiser, but this one had the 0-100 range like the Peleton bike. Which bike was that? Any more insight there? Have you had any connectivity issues with the Keiser connect? Jane you tried it with apps like Sufferfest that use wattage?
Hi Sharon,
Apologies for the delay! I’ll have to read through some of my old posts to see which you are referring to but I can tell you that I now have the Keiser M3i now and have been using it for both Peloton and Apple Fitness+ classes. It’s a great bike but in some ways I do miss my a Sunny!
I pair the Keiser converter with mPaceLine for all the great metrics. Here is my post about mPaceline:
Peloton and mPaceLine.
Happy spinning!
Beth