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Fitness bikes have become increasingly popular in recent times as people spend more time at home. Peloton benefitted quite a lot from this rise, as their product has become one of the most popular fitness bikes and subscription services out there.
Many companies now attempt to mimic Peloton’s success in this market. Echelon is one that has become popular as it offers some pretty competitive pricing on their product in comparison to the others on the market.
In this guide, we will explore both Peloton and Echelon, what they offer, as well as our verdict on which is the best value for money. Keep reading to find out!
What Do They Both Offer?
Both Peloton and Echelon offer you the equipment to complete spinning classes, as well as other exercise classes you can complete at home. You buy into a subscription whereby you are granted access to lots of live classes you can attend virtually with other home exercisers.
There are also lots of on-demand classes as well as other virtual and live features like leaderboards, live routes, metrics based on performance and much more. The classes are really fun and practical and a great way to get exercise into your routine if they suit you.
Often you pay for the physical bike, and an additional purchase of the subscription necessary to attend the classes.
Design
Funnily, there isn’t too much separating the bikes in terms of design and build, bar one notable exception.
However, Peloton literally sued Echelon in 2019 for how similar their product was, inspiring a whole world of copycat products, and starting a sour legal dispute between the companies.
It’s undeniable that they are pretty similar in their design, they both have steel frames and magnetic resistance dials you physically control manually. The Peloton plus bike is a lot different to the opposition but is more expensive.
One point worth noting is that Peloton uses the ‘LOOK DELTA compatible’ cleats to fit their three-hole pedal, this does improve performance when spinning but can get in the way of circuits, something Peloton have been criticized for.
Meanwhile, Echelon has your standard pedals with a toe cage on one side and clips on the other, giving you more choice over your foot wear and opening up the routine for circuits.
Display
The display is worth noting on both. One of the draws of Peloton plus is that the screen rotates to use for other workouts off your bike.
Echelon provides a rotating screen, while a normal Peloton bike does not, this makes circuits so much easier.
Classes
Like Peloton’s many other competitors, Echelon offers its own streaming service which provides live and on demand classes as well as leaderboards. Both offer more than just spinning classes and include strength and conditioning, cardio, and much more.
It’s hard to compete with the production quality Peloton offers, their hype and celebrity endorsement has led them to get the best of the best when it comes to production: live DJs, celebrity guests, a huge range of choice, different music and much more.
Echelon tries to bridge this gap by offering classes Peloton doesn’t, such as boxing and pilates.
Our Verdict
Both bikes offer similar things, Peloton carries with it a name and a hype that undeniably made their product great. Echelon is much cheaper, against Peloton’s legal wishes, Echelon have provided their new EX-15 model for about a third of the price that Peloton offers for their base model.
Nothing compares to the peloton experience, but if you want a simple and less expensive smart fitness bike Echelon isn’t the worst out there.
