Visual immersion doesn’t work for me on an indoor trainer. Audio, yes.
I think that’s why Zwift is able to get away with shit graphics. Riders are immersed in the competition, not the visuals.
2 Likes
What does it mean? The founder engineer of peloton is selling carpets now. Barry is now ex CEO. Maybe starts selling paint online?
It’s not a product issue. It’s an integrity issue. It already looks like a gimmick. Why did the founder lie and claim he is a researcher and engineer? There was no need to. Are you affiliated with the project? It seems like it.
Me? Ha. No. Because Foley is selling carpets? I wouldn’t buy a peloton or a halo bike. i am not sure being an engineer or God for that matter would entice me to pay 3k to go nowhere. I’d buy another road bike and keep using my smart trainer. That said, I’m not sure how being a businessman CEO or a lying founder will predict the outcome of a company?
Welcome to the forums, but I’m always a little cynical when I see someone join a forum to post on investment related stuff, but chose not to post about cycling until now.
Can you share a little more on why you’ve joined the forum now?
FWIW I am not interested in the companies involved, I’m just a concerned TR citizen/denizen. Feels like you have skin in the game here.
4 Likes
There is no need to disparage the intents of long time forum members when you seemingly only joined this forum to dump on this product.
5 Likes
You’re right. Apologies to @NWcyclingman I was just curious.
To @JoeX: I was going to invest the $2.7K tier backing but no cyclists were discussing this product or how they view it. I was curious if anyone saw it differently than Peleton Interactive offerings. Your opinions are important to me. I am a cyclist but admittedly not like the users here but it’s my preferred method of fitness. The campaign specifically targets professional cyclists and this showed up on a Google search. Apologies if I’ve caused any issue here.
3 Likes
IMO you didn’t cause any issue. People are just suspicious if someone creates an account just to comment on a specific product, e.g. could be someone from a competitor or a vengeful former business relation.
Personally I think this will end up being vaporware or having major compromises in the shipped product but that doesn’t mean it’s a scam. In the vast majority of cases it’s that the team underestimates the effort required to go to prototype to a shipping product by orders of magnitude and things fall apart.
All you have to do is look at the competition. Smart bikes from companies with a long history of making ERG trainers (Wahoo, Tacx, Stages, etc) cost 3-4K and appear to be barely or profitable at that. The MOUV was teased 3 years ago with working prototypes, still hasn’t launched yet and will be more than double the claimed cost of the Holobike.
Bikes like the Peloton or Peloton+ being ~2500 or less are because it’s mostly a conventional spinning bike chassis with a cheap android tablet on the front and all the HW costs are highly subsidized by the app subscription. The idea that Holobike is going to ship a high quality bike platform AND a much more expensive display that needs a relatively high performance GPU to drive it for the same or less money than other companies can even stay in business selling simpler products at is absurd.
Not to say they won’t ship anything, but there’s zero chance that the bike part of it will have power measurement, erg control, and other related fitness features anywhere close to the level that TR or other serious cyclists would be looking for. At best it will be a relatively basic spin bike with speed/cadence that drives procedurally generated visuals that might be impressive at first but more or less repeat forever without real variety or engagement.
I have no skin in this game outside of being an engineer and finding it annoying when designers and marketers dramatically underestimate engineering challenges.
2 Likes
Forget the problems with a holographic display ( I was trying to go Holo Display problems Batman)
Am I the only one with a problem with the spinning metal disc at the back? Looks nice from a design poin5 of view maybe, but it’s going to pick up dust and go internal, and that’s if no one ever puts their fingers or calves near it!
Honestly, that was one of the only things that intrigued me as it immediately reminded me of a Velotron, still pretty much the epitome of an accurate cycling trainer.
1 Like
Yea seems like you stumbled into the wrong forum.
Do you know what TrainerRoad is?
Yes I do know what TrainerRoad is. The article linked is comparing this product to Peleton. And I simply brought up if there was a market need for a Nintendo 3DS-like display (which don’t produce actual ‘holograms’), Peleton likely would have explored that.
Because is it a general consumer product or a product for cyclists? I don’t know at this point. But I won’t post anymore. I get it.
1 Like
You’re more than welcome to post.
It’s just that Peloton and the like are not seriously discussed on this forum. We don’t hold anything against Pelotons, for the most part. Early versions had wildly inaccurate power readings. Newer versions are much better. Doesn’t matter anyway because these bikes will be bricked when Peloton goes under, which seems imminent.
So when a discussion about a “Peloton Killer” is brought up on this forum, it’s mostly for entertainment. Realistically, none of us would spend a dime on that thing. It has nothing to do with snobbery. It’s just not the best training tool for people who actually ride and race bikes.
“We” - poor form and comes across as snobbery to see you speak on behalf of the forum 
Love the crystal ball predictions too.
1 Like
I got started on the Peloton, and it worked so well for me that I bought a real bike (and another, and started racing, and got a coach, and etc)
It certainly didn’t offer structured interval training like TR. I just did the “ftp” test, put the classes on mute, and did 4x10min @92-100% 3-4 days a week for 2 years. I’m sure I wasted a lot of training time but I didn’t know any better, and kept sane during covid lockdowns because of it.
So yes, it may not be for people who actually ride or race bikes, but it may very well be what gets them into the sport or at the very least keeps them active through life’s great journeys.
3 Likes
One of the fastest climbers I know has a Peloton Bike+
1 Like
Same here. I would not be doing any of this if it weren’t for Matt Wilpers. I didn’t even have a Peloton bike, just the app and a stationary bike, and dude single-handedly got me hooked into training and racing with power.
1 Like
Well good luck to him/her if Peloton goes kaput. It’s a closed system and doesn’t allow external control. Doesn’t even output data AFAIK.
There’s nothing to predict. Peloton has been in serious financial trouble from quite some time and they have a closed ecosystem.
I’m happy for you guys, but it’s still a bad product.
If you disagree, ask Stages SB20 users how they feel at the moment.
“We” don’t try and bring everyone else in under your gatekeeping.