Welcome to You’ll Love This, our bi-weekly column in which Forbes Vetted staffers spotlight their favorite products while they’re on sale.
A few months ago, I found myself in a serious workout rut. With the Delta variant still going strong I didn’t feel comfortable going to in-person exercise classes, but I was really bored of streaming YouTube workouts alone in my apartment. Plus, I noticed that I wasn’t pushing myself as hard as I would if I were exercising with other people—I rarely felt that sore, sweaty, accomplished feeling that I used to get after my pre-pandemic workouts. I felt super unmotivated. But that all changed when I tried SoulCycle’s At-Home Bike, a Peloton dupe that’s currently $600 off as part of an early Black Friday sale.
Similar to other at-home spin bikes, the SoulCycle bike allows you to ride along to virtual classes, simulating the experience of an in-studio workout right in your living room or basement. After trying it out, though, I’ve realized there are a few key features that set it apart from its competitors.
First, there’s the quality of the SoulCycle bike itself. The frame is sturdy and solid, just like the ones you’d find in a studio. And while that may seem like a given, it’s not; I’ve tried other at-home spin bikes that shift around while I’m pedaling, so I don’t always feel perfectly steady. Plus, it’s really easy to adjust the height of the handlebars and the position of the seat, which isn’t always the case with at-home bikes.
Then there’s the virtual spin classes. I’ve tried virtual cycling classes from two other platforms in the past, but neither of theirs came close to the immersive, inspiring and challenging ones offered on the SoulCycle bike. That’s partly due to the bike’s large 21.5-inch-wide touchscreen, which makes it feel like you’re sitting right there in the studio. It also has to do with the way the classes are filmed—SoulCycle’s on-demand and live classes are recorded with other riders in the room to give you that sense of community you’d get in an in-person class.
My favorite aspect of the SoulCycle bike’s virtual classes is the instructors, though. You can choose from a wide assortment of 20-, 30-, 45- and 60-minute classes led by 32 different instructors, each with their own unique way of leading the class. Each one really lets their unique personality shine through, offering encouraging words and inspiring anecdotes from their own lives—and having some fun along the way, of course. Over the past three months, I’ve developed a favorite instructor, Valentine, and I’ve come to genuinely look forward to her new on-demand classes because I always feel calmer and more accomplished when I hop off the bike. That’s a pretty big 180 from the workout rut I was in over the summer.
That said, there are a couple of drawbacks to the SoulCycle bike. For one, it costs an extra $40 per month to get access to the Equinox+ app, which is what allows you to stream classes. That adds up to $480 a year, which is quite a bit to tack on to the bike’s $2,500 price tag. That’s my other qualm with the SoulCycle bike: at full price it’s even more expensive than Peloton’s Bike+. Thanks to SoulCycle’s Black Friday sale however, you can order one for $1,900, which feels a bit more reasonable. Plus, the brand is offering free shipping and installation, meaning you’ll save another $250 on the setup process.
Even with this $600 discount, the SoulCycle bike is definitely an investment, but if you’re anything like me, it could be just what you need to get inspired to workout again. And thanks to the 30-day free trial, you can always return it if you realize at-home cycling isn’t your thing.
