I've Had My DIY Peloton Setup For Three Months. Here's What I've Learned

It’s been just over three months since I got my stationary bike and set up my own cheaper Peloton experience at home, and it seemed like a good time for an update on how it’s been. The quick version? It’s amazing and I’m just as obsessed with having a bike in my house as I was when I first got it. Possibly even more so. I’m thinking once my spin studio opens again, I’ll use up the classes I’ve already paid for, and then just do my spin workouts at home (more on that later). There are a few lessons I’ve learned along the way - including how to better take care of my aching feet - and I thought I’d give an update, share what I’ve learned, and talk about my future plans.

I did a lot of reading and research before purchasing a bike. I knew vaguely that I’d need to do some maintenance on it, but it was hard to know how much I really needed to do and how much I probably should do, but I wouldn’t be destroying my bike if I let it slide. A Google search of how to maintain a bike led me to articles from Serious Cyclists who were like, “Once a week, take every piece of your bike apart and spend time giving each and every piece a spa day, then put it all back together.” That is not an actual quote but it is eerily close. I’m not going to do that. Also I have a stationary bike, and it’s not built the same as a road bike. Even guides for how to maintain a spin bike where more for studio owners that at-home users. It was an overwhelming amount of information and I just decided to deal with it later. Then my bike started squeaking.

“i’ll just buy some grease!” I thought, naively. Do you know how many different bike, treadmill, and various other lube products there are out there? TOO MANY. I bought this one because it had good reviews and I like that it had a little straw so I could get it into the weird nooks and crannies that are seemingly everywhere on this bike (I guess that’s why pros take theirs apart completely, huh?). Another thing that it took me embarrassingly long to figure out is that the plastic covers all around the bike could be removed. Do you know how many times I stuck that little straw into part where the pedal arms attach to the frame until I figures out you can just take the plastic cover off. SO MANY. I WAS A FOOL.

Cover on

Cover off

Now I take all the plastic covers off (by “all” I mean two) when I want to adjust something or grease it up. I also had a big issue with the knob that allows you to move the seat forward and backward. It got stuck, and I couldn’t move it a millimeter. I found out only last week that I can just pull on that plastic handle and expose the actual nut and bolt, which themselves are infinitely easier to adjust than a huge plastic knob.

My enemy.

The way I screamed, “WHAT.” when I discovered this. They must have heard it in Canada.

I bought this huge wrench (pictured below) so that I could get a grip on that plastic handle and finally be able to adjust my bike seat. The wrench is actually very helpful and I’m happy to have it, but if I knew I could just pull the plastic bit off I would have saved myself a trip to the hardware store, aching hands, AND days of frustration. WHOOPS.

Phone for scale. She big.

In other embarrassing discoveries, I found out the reason why the handlebar piece kept loosing throughout rides was that I didn’t actually have the piece attached correctly. I also discovered that the reason my bike seat was incredibly squeaky was that I had it attached too tightly, and if I just screwed in that knob loosely my squeaky seat was almost completely cured.

My bike without the iPad and phone…

… And with them

I mentioned in my original DIY Peloton post that when you’re buying a cheaper bike, you need to decide what you want included and what you want to add yourself. My bike has a tablet holder built in, but there’s no place on the bike to store weights, and there’s no water bottle holder. I keep a little weight stand next to my bike with a variety of hand weights, and I tried a water bottle holder that attached to the bike, but I like to use this gigantic Yeti for water (with added straw lid and a handle), and I just store it on the wide windowsill that’s next to my bike. I use a separate cadence sensor, which shows my cadence on my phone, so I added a phone holder to my handlebars so that I didn’t have to keep looking to my side to see my cadence.

I use a big ol’ rhinestone PopSocket on my phone, and I was worried it wouldn’t work with the phone holder, but the holder has super stretchy bands to hold the phone in place, and it works just fine with the PopSocket still attached, as seen above.

I also moved my bike from my unfinished guest room to this little alcove in my living room, that turned out to be perfectly sized for a bike. I like that I can now use my second bedroom as an actual bedroom, and that my bike looks like it has it’s own dedicated space, even in my tiny house. HOWEVER, now that my bike is essentially in the center of my home, I am feeling the call of the much sexier looking Peloton bike.

Now for my explanation of why I may, in the future, upgrade to the real deal Peloton. I bought this bike in April, when I wasn’t sure how long I’d be away from the spin studio (and I had just lost multiple income sources). I bought this bike thinking I’d use it for the time being, and once I could return to the spin studio, I’d probably sell it. Now that I’ve been working out at home for 3+ months, I don’t want to go back to the spin studio. The at-home setup is so, so nice. It’s lovely being able to workout whenever you want, for whatever amount of time you want, and then just walk 20 feet to your shower. I have done 48 Peloton cycling classes so far, and I have never repeated one. I may never need to! There are SO many options and there’s really a class for whatever mood I’m in, how my body is feeling that day, and how much time I have. And I only did my first live class yesterday (there are at least four years of on demand classes available, plus it’s easier if you’re on the west coast to do on demand, as most classes are based on Eastern time). If I’m going to continue to just spin at home, and forgo the studio all together, I think it would be worthwhile to invest in the top tier equipment. I’m not planning on doing this like, tomorrow. Maybe not even this year! But I am thinking about it, and I figured I should be upfront about that. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this setup - there are some compromises you have to make, but it’s still a great workout and it’s exponentially cheaper than the true Peloton experience. Plus, it’s even better once you learn how your bike is actually put together and how to maintain it!