Exercise bike streams live gym classes into owners’ homes

Peloton exercise machine features live streaming of spinning classes through an on-board Android tablet.

While home exercise bikes can be useful when owners don’t feel like heading all the way to the gym, they don’t really offer the same kind of personal training and encouragement that gym classes do. The Velo-1 has gone some way to incentivize exercise outside of the gym by using riders’ smartphones add fitness tracking features to real bikes, but now the Peloton exercise machine offers live streaming of spinning classes through an on-board Android tablet.

The device, which recently surpassed its USD 250,000 funding target on Kickstarter, is built much like a traditional exercise bike, with a silent belt-drive system to enable noise reduction. However, it also features a 21.5-inch HD multitouch display, which connects to sensors located on the bike via wifi to show and track the details of the user’s performance, such as distance, speed, calories burnt and cadence. It also enables users to live stream Peloton’s bespoke motivational gym classes, which are broadcast from its NYC headquarters every day. Users can choose their favorite instructor, session or exercise type and join in live from their home, or else stream shows on-demand later on. The sessions feature video chat capabilities that let viewers interact with others taking part around the world and get personal motivation from the instructor. The video below explains more about the device:

The Peloton could give those who struggle to keep to a regular exercise routine the support and motivation only previously available from gym classes. At USD 1,500, the bike’s aren’t inexpensive, although could pay for themselves after a couple of years when compared to the average annual gym membership. Could this kind of platform be replicated for other types of sports exercise equipment?