How I Make My $300 Spin Bike Work with the Peloton App

I’ve written a lot about how much I love the Peloton App. I’m in no way affiliated with Peloton; I’m just a regular (slightly obsessed) user. I started using it when many others started – during Covid, and I got hooked. I enjoyed the huge library of on-demand workouts ranging from strength, high intensity interval training (HIIT) to barre, yoga, and meditation. And, of course, cycling. Even after my gym re-opened, I found that with my crazy nursing schedule, I liked the convenience of getting a great workout at home and not having to drive to the gym.

When I travel, I stream the app through my laptop or phone. In the summer, I put in my earbuds, stream it through my phone, and do yoga out on our deck. Apologies to our neighbors – it’s not pretty, but I love doing yoga outside! Mostly, I stream the Peloton App through the TV in my workout space . . . which is a loft . . . that used to be an office. 😉

On several occasions, I’ve stayed at hotels with Peloton bikes in their gyms and loved the opportunity to use them. They really are great! But I’m not ready to invest up to $3000 in one. Thankfully, when Covid hit, and I needed an at-home workout, our daughter Emily told me about the concept of a “Pelotoff” – a knock-off Peloton hack. Upon learning that I could use the Peloton app without having their expensive bike, I was sold!

I ordered an affordable, well-reviewed stationary spin bike on Amazon, signed up for the Peloton App, and I was off to the races! (pardon the pun)

Peloton cycling classes use two forms of measurement to provide the variety of intensities required to create a dynamic workout:

• Resistance – or how hard or light you pedal
• Cadence – your speed, measured in rotations per minute (RPM’S)

On an actual Peloton bike, these numbers are shown on the screen, along with the workout, and if you’re taking a live class (rather than streaming), it will show other riders and where you fall on the leaderboard.

During a workout, the instructor will cue you to adjust ranges for Resistance and Cadence to replicate climbing a hill or riding at a sprint pace. The regular app also displays these ranges on the screen so that I can clearly see them on my TV as I’m taking my class.

Cadence

Because my spin bike didn’t come with a cadence meter, I added an RPM cadence sensor made by Wahoo (link). It sticks onto my pedal and syncs with my phone via the Wahoo app. Then, I can see my RPMs on my phone (which fits easily into a little holder on my handlebars) to know that my pedaling is on track with my Peloton ride.

Resistance

Because the resistance knob on my bike is not linked to the Peloton app, I had to get a bit more creative in establishing a way to measure the effort of my pedaling. In the warm-up portion of any ride on the platform, the instructor has you begin at a resistance level of “20 to 40”, which is meant to feel like you are pedaling on a flat road. I worked with the resistance knob on my bike to establish the setting that felt like my “flat road”. Once I knew where my flat road was on my resistance, I treated the knob sort of like a clock face, while pedaling to establish the location on the dial for my “40” resistance which felt like a moderate climb, then my “50” which felt like a more intense climb.

The resistance knob on my bike is pretty tight, so I’m able to feel the increase in my effort with just a subtle clockwise turn. Your bike may be a little more nuanced, so it could require a “bigger” clockwise turn to feel the increase in resistance. The good news is that once you’ve done a few rides, you’ll get used to how an easy, moderate, or hard effort feels and where that correlates to the position on your resistance knob.

Here’s a fun tidbit: when I’ve used real Peloton bikes in my travels, I’ve found that the way my regular resistance level feels, matches up well with the actual Peloton bike resistance level shown on the screen. In fact, the settings I routinely use on my “Pelotoff” bike at home are a little bit more intense than what I have experienced on actual Peloton bikes. That reassures me that I’m getting a great workout at home (as if my heart rate and all the sweat weren’t already telling me that!).

So there you go! You can turn your stationary spin bike into a “Pelotoff,” sync it up with the Peloton App, and enjoy a huge selection of world-class spin classes at home without having to make that huge investment in the “real thing”.

I hope you guys found this little tip intriguing. Mostly, I hope it helps you to identify ways of adapting some of your own exercise equipment or routines to try some new, inspiring workouts!

Do you have some secret workout tricks to share with our community? Let us know in the comments!! Thank you so much for joining me on this journey!!

Let’s keep Moving, Friends!

I’ll see you back here on Friday!