This spin bike is cheaper than the Peloton—but is it as good?

If you’re interested in a Peloton Bike but not the price, you may want to consider an Echelon Connect Bike. These home spin bikes are very similar to Peloton, down to their color schemes. The major difference: Echelon offers several models to suit different budgets, from the $900 “recreational” Echelon GT+ to the Peloton Bike+ rival, the $2,300 Echelon EX-8s Connect Bike.

I used the $1,500 Echelon Connect EX-5s-22 bike for about a month and found it seriously upgraded my home fitness routine. Here’s what it’s like to use and how it compares to the competition that’s become a household name.

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What is the Echelon Connect Bike?

At first glance, the EX-5s-22 appears nearly identical to the Peloton, but with less clout. It’s an exercise bike with a screen that allows you to take live and on-demand virtual spin classes with Echelon instructors from their studios in Chattanooga and Miami. Echelon also offers workout classes such as barre, pilates, strength training, and HIIT through its app membership.

How much is the Echelon bike?

Echelon has five bikes to choose from at various prices. All come with pedal cages to ride wearing regular sneakers or can be used with SPD cycling shoes (which the company also sells, of course). You may also opt to buy a heart rate monitor (sold separately) should you want to track your workout intensity or calories burned that way.

The Echelon bikes are:

• Echelon GT+, which is the most basic bike. With a simple console and tablet holder, you’ll have to stream classes on your own device. It retails for $900.
• Echelon Connect EX-5, which has an upgraded handlebar system, a device holder that flips 180 degrees for easier off-bike viewing, two handlebar-mounted bottle holders, and a weight rack behind the seat. It retails for $1,000.
• The Echelon Connect EX-5s are the first two models that come with displays, with the EX-5s-10 having a 10-inch touchscreen and the Ex-5s-22 having a 22-incher. Both flip over for off-bike viewing. The EX-5s-10 retails for $1,200 and the Ex-5s-22 retails for $1,500.
• Echelon EX-8s Connect Bike, which has a curved 22-inch touchscreen for a more immersive experience. It retails for $2,300.

To take Echelon’s spin classes (and other exercise sessions), you’ll need to pay $35 a month, less expensive than Peloton’s $44 monthly fee. You can also purchase an annual membership for $400 a year, or a two-year subscription for $700.

Echelon also offers its non-equipment classes in a standalone Echelon Fit app, which costs $20 a month. This isn’t as good a deal as $13 a month for Peloton’s standalone app.

Shipping costs $99 and you can opt for premium delivery and assembly for an additional $198. I chose to set up the bike myself—well, with the help of my mom—and once we got the bike up to my second floor apartment, assembly was a breeze. Echelon provides all the tools you need to put the bike together and we easily screwed in the seat, handlebar, and pedals.

The only part that gave me pause was attaching the screen, which involved unscrewing a panel to attach a cable, then reattaching the panel. However, the pictures shown didn’t match up with the written directions, so I messed up this step twice before successfully completing it.

Which Echelon bike should you get?

I tested the Echelon EX-5s-22 bike, which is similar to the Peloton Bike+ with a 22-inch touchscreen.

All of the bike models work more or less the same with 32 levels of magnetic resistance on their flywheels. But the GT+ and EX-5 don’t have included displays, so you’ll need to install the Echelon app, then connect the bike to your phone or tablet using Bluetooth so your stats are displayed.

The actual exercise experience doesn't differ much between the models, so unless you want the bells and whistles of a bigger screen and other comfort-related upgrades, you can let your budget be your guide.

What’s it like to work out with the Echelon Bike?

It was easy to get into the swing of making the Echelon a part of my daily workout routine. Each day I would hop on the bike at 7 a.m., and with no commute to a spinning studio, I was able to get some extra sleep. Akin to booking fitness classes, I could set reminders on the Echelon app for specific live classes as well. Also, having the bike in my bedroom was a great motivator to actually use it.

The classes are fun and engaging, and the time flew by. I already have my favorite classes (Fusion 45, Power 30) and favorite instructors (Jama, Nicole, Dallas, and Rilde) after using it for a month.

What I like most about the Echelon is all the data you receive. On the screen, it shows your cadence (how fast you’re going), resistance level (how hard you’ve set the friction on the flywheel), and output (combined cadence and resistance).

Throughout classes, instructors suggest the cadence and resistance levels you should aim for, but more often than not, they suggest to be at a “moderate,” “challenging,” “hard,” or “all-out” level. Initially, it bothered me that they didn’t say explicitly what number level you should be hitting, but over time I learned to like it as it allowed all skill levels to compete without feeling judged.

Like Peloton classes, there’s also a leaderboard that ups the ante, but if competition isn’t your style, you can mute the leaderboard. I liked the sense of community I got with the leaderboard despite technically riding alone, and it was fun to hear everyone’s names called out during live classes, too.

You can also take scenic rides, which I’ve only done once or twice. They’re not as intense or as fun as the classes, but it was a nice escape to imagine I was biking through Maui instead of being stuck in my apartment.

It should be noted that I used the Shimano SPD spin shoes I already owned for all these rides, which I felt made for a more quality ride compared to using sneakers that are looser in the pedals.

What’s the difference between live and on-demand Echelon classes?

Typically, I chose on-demand classes because they were easier to fit into my schedule. Most rides have music themes like emo, alternative, indie, hip-hop, and I even attended one class with a live DJ, which gave it a dance-club vibe that I liked. While the leaderboard isn’t in real-time, you still get the ability to compare your performance against everyone who has ever taken the class before, live or on-demand.

That said, live Echelon classes have a different energy. There’s nothing quite like hearing, “We have Coco in the house!” (my Echelon screen name) or having an instructor call you out to lead the pack for a sprint.

Depending on what time you take them, classes can range from 20 people to over a 100, though I found most were around 50 participants—a much smaller number than Peloton’s usual hundreds if not thousands of attendees, but also way better odds for getting some personalized instructor love.

What are the downsides of the Echelon Connect Bike?

As much as I’ve loved my experience with my Echelon, I noticed a few issues with it. The water bottle holder on the EX-5s sits directly under the large display, so my tall 25-ounce S’well bottle hit the screen every time I reached for it, or I had to shift it around diagonally to get it out. Either way, the placement made it a less-than-fluid motion to hydrate myself.

Additionally, the resistance knob can be a bit wonky. Sometimes I needed to over-crank it to raise the resistance a point and other times I found twisting it just a little overshot the resistance I was aiming for. I wish it was a little smoother, but this was a minor inconvenience that didn’t ruin my experience of the ride.

How does Echelon’s Fit App work?

I supplemented all the cardio from the cycling classes with other classes using Echelon’s Fit app. It was nice to pop into a 30-minute HIIT class or a 20-minute yoga class in the morning, and I found that the classes were challenging, restorative, or just good cross-training to add to the mix.

My only qualm: When selecting a class, you don’t know what to expect. The descriptions are vague, sometimes only listing the music that’s played. In one case, I hopped into a pilates class expecting some core work, only to have it focused on “spinal strength.” So it can be a bummer to waste time and leave a class when it’s not what you wanted.

You can access the classes via an app on your phone, but I found the workouts difficult to follow because the instructor appears very small on my iPhone screen. But the Echelon bike’s screen has a 180-rotation, meaning it flips around—something the original Peloton bike display doesn’t do, though its upgraded Bike+ does—so you can take classes on the other side of the bike.

This is one of my favorite features and made it so much more enjoyable to take the off-bike classes. I will say, the screen sometimes gets a little wonky when flipped and will appear upside down on select pages. To mitigate this issue, I just selected the class from the bike side and then flipped the screen when the class was playing, which worked fine.

Is the Echelon bike as good as Peloton?

While I haven’t used a Peloton bike myself, I have seen one in action. The builds are very similar, but I will say the display and video editing of the Peloton classes seem to be higher quality and higher-definition.

Peloton gives you suggested ranges for cadence and resistance, which is one qualm I initially had about the Echelon classes. Plus, Peloton offers free assembly, which might be worth at least some of the price increase to some.

We already know the Peloton is more expensive than the Echelon, but you’re also paying for a massive community. With approximately 1.4 million users, there are hundreds of people taking live classes on Peloton and more than a dozen live classes to take each day. There are also 25 instructors listed on the Peloton site compared to the 20 on Echelon’s, offering a slightly wider variety.

When it comes to warranty, Echelon offers a two-year warranty, which covers most of its longest financing period (36 months), but you can also purchase an extended one-year warranty or for three more years (five total).

Peloton only offers a 12-month warranty on everything but the bike frame, so if some component breaks before you’ve made all your financing payments, you’re plum out of luck. You can call customer support within your first year to pay for extended warranty for an additional 12 months or $230 for 27 months to cover the entire financing period.

Is the Echelon Bike worth it?

Though I received a loaner and a free trial subscription for the Echelon bike, I’m considering buying one for myself. It doesn’t have the same fanbase as Peloton, but I appreciate that it’s much more affordable.

If you don’t love the Echelon, you can return it within 30 days of the delivery date, though you’ll have to pay a restocking fee. But if you like cycling as much as I do, I don’t believe a return will be necessary.

All in all, if you’re looking for that cycling-class feel without the pricey cost of the Peloton, I highly recommend taking the Echelon for a spin.

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