Buy Once. Buy Well. Live Beautifully.
Peloton relaunched its entire hardware lineup in late 2025 as the “Cross Training” series — rotating screens, an AI coaching layer called Peloton IQ, and, notably, a price increase across every model. The Bike now costs $1,695 before you’ve paid a cent toward the membership required to actually use it. That combination — a real hardware cost plus a mandatory monthly fee — is exactly the kind of math worth doing before you buy, not after the bike is already in your living room.
Quick Verdict
The Peloton Bike is worth it if you’ll actually show up for the classes — the instructor-led programming and leaderboard are still the best-in-class reason to own one, and that’s true whether you get the standard Bike or the Bike+. It’s a harder buy if you’re mainly looking for a good exercise bike and don’t care about the class ecosystem, since the $49.99/month All-Access membership is not optional — it’s baked into owning the hardware at all. Budget for roughly $2,290 in year one on the base Bike once the membership is included, not just the $1,695 sticker price.
What You’re Actually Paying For
The Hardware: Bike vs. Bike+
Cross Training Bike: $1,695. A 21.5″ swivel touchscreen, manual resistance controls, and front-facing stereo speakers. This is the version to get if you’re primarily doing cycling classes and don’t need the bike to double as an off-bike workout screen.
Cross Training Bike+: $2,695. A $1,000 step up that gets you a 23.8″ screen that fully rotates 360° (so it can face a yoga mat or floor-workout space), automatic resistance that syncs to instructor cues, Sonos-tuned speakers, and — new to this generation — a movement-tracking camera powered by Peloton IQ for real-time form correction and rep counting during strength work. If you only ever plan to ride, that camera and rotating screen are paying for a use case you may never touch.
The Membership Isn’t Optional
All-Access Membership is $49.99/month as of the October 2025 price increase (up from $44) and is required to unlock classes, metrics, and the leaderboard — the hardware is functionally inert without it. Run the real first-year cost before comparing this to a plain exercise bike: $1,695 hardware + $599.88 in membership ≈ $2,295 for the standard Bike’s first year, or roughly $600/year every year after that for as long as you own it.
The Recall You Should Know About
In November 2025, Peloton recalled roughly 833,000 original Bike+ units (model PL02, serial numbers starting with “T,” sold between December 2019 and July 2022) after the seat post was found to break during use, causing falls and injuries. This does not affect the current Cross Training Bike or Bike+, and Peloton is providing a free, self-installable replacement seat post to affected owners. It matters here for one specific reason: if you’re shopping secondhand — Facebook Marketplace, a friend’s old bike — and land on an original Bike+ from that window, confirm the seat post has already been replaced before you ride it.
How It Compares
| Peloton Bike | Peloton Bike+ | NordicTrack Commercial S22i | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $1,695 | $2,695 | ~$1,600–1,900 |
| Screen | 21.5″, tilts | 23.8″, rotates 360° | 22″, rotates |
| Resistance | Manual | Automatic | Automatic (incline + decline) |
| Required subscription | $49.99/mo | $49.99/mo | iFit, ~$39/mo |
| Known for | Instructor talent, community | Same + off-bike features | Automatic incline/decline terrain simulation |
NordicTrack’s S22i undercuts Peloton on both hardware and subscription price, and its automatic incline/decline is a genuinely different feature Peloton doesn’t match. What it doesn’t have is Peloton’s instructor bench or class culture, which is the actual reason most people stick with a workout program long-term. If the content is what keeps you coming back, that gap matters more than the $600–800 difference in sticker price.
Who Should Buy It
Get It If…
You know from experience — a gym cycling class, a Peloton app trial, a friend’s bike — that instructor-led classes are what actually gets you to work out consistently. That’s the entire value proposition, and it’s worth $50/month to the person it works for.
Skip It If…
You want a good exercise bike and don’t care about class programming, or you’re not confident you’ll use it three-plus times a week once the novelty wears off. At that point a $500–800 bike with a free app, or a NordicTrack with a cheaper subscription, gets you the cardio without the recurring fee stacking up on equipment that’s gathering dust.
Where to Buy
- Peloton Bike — direct from Peloton, includes delivery and setup
- Peloton Bike+ — direct from Peloton, includes delivery and setup
- Refurbished Original Bike ($1,145) and Bike+ ($1,395) available direct from Peloton with warranty — the budget path into the ecosystem if the Cross Training price increase is the sticking point
Quick heads-up: Bougie Dad is a for-profit lifestyle brand. From time to time we may receive modest compensation for products recommended on this site. In all cases, these are products we would happily use in our own homes — often with our own families.
We also use AI tools to help with research and drafting. Every article is reviewed and edited by our team before it’s published.
