Choosing Between the Peloton Bike Versus Peloton Bike Plus

Peloton has only been around as a company since 2014, but it has quickly become a well-known brand with a cultural cachet few can rival. Peloton also offers an excellent workout experience, providing a combination of high-end hardware and high-end content and services that keep customers coming back.

If you’re ready to join the ranks of Peloton riders, you have a decision to make: which bike will you buy?

Currently, Peloton offers just two models, the Peloton Bike and the Peloton Bike+. The higher-end Bike+ includes quite a few genuinely impressive upgrades. But are those upgrades worth the significant cost difference?

The first thing to understand is that Peloton doesn’t just sell exercise equipment. Instead, they sell access to an entire ecosystem that contains group classes delivered over the internet, self-paced workouts, and routines in nearly every discipline you could imagine.

This ecosystem isn’t free: a Peloton membership costs $39 per month (billed annually). And while you can technically use the Peloton bikes without a membership, it’s simply an expensive bike. The real value in getting a Peloton is the ecosystem.

As long as you know this and can stomach the monthly cost, the Peloton bike can be a truly fantastic investment in your home workouts and your overall fitness.

The Peloton Bike is a nice exercise bike with several premium features. The 21.5-inch HD touchscreen takes center stage, of course, as it’s your portal to all that great Peloton content. The touchscreen adjusts to different heights, as does the bike itself.

Peloton’s resistance knob is right in front of you as you ride, allowing you to adjust on the fly using smooth magnetic resistance.

The Bike’s frame is made from ED and powder coated welded steel, and components all around are generally quite high in quality, including industrial grade bearings with an ISIS splined spindle and a Poly V power transmission belt drive.

The pedals on the bike are Delta-compatible, meaning you’ll need a pair of bike shoes that can clip into the pedals.

Peloton Bike+ does everything that the lower-priced Peloton Bike can do, plus it has several exciting new features.

One of the most prominent features Bike+ adds is a screen that can rotate to several different positions. Why does this matter? Because Peloton offers an incredibly rich library of workouts and classes, and not all of them are bike-based. With Bike+, you can pivot your screen toward a workout mat or weight area and comfortably view other workout types and classes.

Now, you could always access this content from a second device (like an iPad), so the rotating screen isn’t exactly a necessity. But it’s nice to have.

Auto Follow is another big enhancement. With this feature, you can allow your instructor to control resistance in real-time during a workout. You can use this to simulate a particular course or route or simply so your instructor can push you further in your classes.

The Peloton Bike allows you to control resistance yourself, of course, but this addition of Auto Follow for Bike+ takes your workouts to a deeper level of immersion.

Bike+ features a larger screen that includes reduced reflection and an anti-smudge coating. It also boasts a better processor and more RAM, which should guarantee that the computer powering the experience keeps running well for years to come.

You’ll also find a USB-C port for charging devices while you ride, plus a better webcam and microphone array, should you want to participate in a video chat while working out.

There are other minor differences, of course, and three more worth mentioning here:

Currently, Peloton has dropped the price of their Bike from its regular $1,895 down to $1,495. This price has held for quite some time and seems like it could be the permanent new price.

Bike+ sells for $2,495, on the other hand — a full $1,000 more than Bike.

So, which bike should you get? It’s a tough question, to be honest. The Bike+ adds in some genuinely impressive and useful new features. But $1,000 is just a lot of cash to spend on those new features.

CNET put out its comparison review before Peloton dropped the price of the Bike. Their opinion was that $600 wasn’t that much of a difference and that most users should opt for the Bike+.

But now that it’s a $1,000 difference? That’s a harder sell.

Ultimately it comes down to whether you think you’ll use the big differentiators. For example, will you regularly join the kinds of classes where your instructor would implement auto-follow? Do you want to have the ability to do yoga and core training in a space next to your bike?

If so, then Bike+ is the right answer. If not? Save $1,000 and get the regular Bike.

Your new Peloton is an impressive piece of machinery paired with an integrated mini-computer. It’s a powerful combination, but there are lots of ways that things can go wrong. Peloton’s limited warranty covers bike defects; however, customers will need to pay out of pocket if something else fails.

An Upsie extended bike warranty is the perfect way to stay protected and keep your mind at ease. Upsie covers mechanical failures, pedal malfunctions, ball bearing replacements, touch screen failure, Bluetooth failure, and more.

In addition, you can purchase an Upsie warranty for any Peloton Bike or Bike+ bought in the last 11 months. Upsie also offers warranties for treadmills, rowing machines, and other electronics.

Ready to get protected? Get your Upsie plan now!