DIY Peloton Hack

We decided to DIY our own Peloton Hack for our basement home gym. Not only are the results excellent, but the quality of everything we purchased has exceeded our expectations. That is why I decided to share why and how we setup our DIY Peloton Hack.

Why Peloton Hack?

When it comes to setting up your home gym there are many options to choose from. Deciding what type of workout you want to do from home and then what to purchase can be overwhelming.

Peloton and Peloton bikes have become incredibly popular and also swoon-worthy. But because of this, there are long wait periods and expensive price tags. Because of the $2,500(+) price point and 7 to 10 week waiting period, the DIY peloton hack was the perfect choice for our home gym.

How to choose a bike

First off, Amazon is the most popular place to source home gym spin bikes because of their wide variety, availability, quick delivery times and, extensive reviews. Upon diving into the world of spin bikes on Amazon you will quickly find that there is a wide range of bikes from $250-$1,500. Because of this, it can be difficult to differentiate what features are important in a home spin bike and what is most important to you.

The two most important factors to consider in choosing a bike are the weight of the flywheel and the type of resistance the bike has. The flywheel is the front wheel of a spin bike. It is generally accepted that the heavier the flywheel the more stable the bike is. Although it is not published the weight of the peloton flywheel, many assume it is somewhere between 35 and 45 pounds.

The resistance of a spin bike is how the bike creates resistance when you turn up the knob to a higher level of difficulty. Spin bikes either have physical resistance or magnetic resistance. Physical resistance is either a felt or leather pad getting closer to and further away from the flywheel creating a tougher terrain. Magnetic resistance is a magnet creating a force around the flywheel but never touching it creating a tougher terrain. Because physical resistance can wear down over time (felt obviously less durable than leather), magnetic resistance is considered higher quality and will not wear over time with more usage. Therefore magnetic resistance is considered to be higher quality than physical resistance on a spin bike.

Magnetic resistance is silent where as physical resistance does have sound. Many people love that the magnetic resistance spin bikes are virtually silent.

In spin, cadence is the speed you are moving the petals during a spin class cadence tracking is important when creating a DIY Peloton Bike because Peloton classes use cadence as a point of reference throughout all of their classes. Some bikes come equipped with a cadence tracker while others do not. Later on, I will show you how I hacked cadence tracking on my bike.

Other factors to look at when selecting a bike:

Water bottle holders
Weight racks
Size
Petal type (clip-in vs. no clip-in)
Need for an electrical outlet
Tablet/phone holder (to watch the classes)

Which bike we chose

We decided to purchase the Sunny SF-B1805. Here is why:

Heavy flywheel (44 lbs.)
Magnetic resistance
Reasonable price ($599) – we paid a little more for a higher quality

Everything you need for the Peloton Hack

Here is what you need to setup you own Peloton Hack at home:

Bike
Mat
Cadence tracker

Nice to have:

Weights
Squeeze water bottles
Clip-in petals
Shoes

Everything you need is self-explanatory except the cadence tracker. Purchasing a separate cadence tracker uses the Bluetooth from whatever device you stream your Peloton classes on (iPad, iPhone, etc.) and tracks how quickly your petals are moving. This allows you to keep up with the class’s instruction of how quickly you should be moving. It is imperative to track your cadence if you want to take Peloton classes, so make sure either your bike has a cadence tracker built-in or you purchase a separate tracker as I did.

My second choice bike is the Sunny SF-B1002/C because it has a heavy flywheel (49 lbs.) and leather resistance. And it is only $385 (approximately)