How Peloton exercise bikes became a $4 billion fitness start-up with a cult following

Peloton is a bonafide fitness phenomenon — it has a million impassioned users to whom its bikes and original streaming workouts are a way of life, making it much more than a company that sells exercise equipment, though it does that too. In fact, Peloton has sold over 400,000 bikes so far and started delivering its first treadmills in late 2018, the company tells CNBC Make It. Peloton is changing the way America works out.

“People are pretty obsessed with Peloton — myself included,” Robin Arzon, Peloton’s head instructor and vice president of fitness programming, tells CNBC Make It. Arzon joined in 2014 after reading an article about Peloton that made her feel like she was seeing the future of fitness.

“From the beginning, I drank the Kool-Aid,” she says.

She’s not alone. The convenience of being able to take a top-notch studio cycling class on a high tech bike at home any time you want, combined with motivational instructors and a supportive but competitive community of users has created a devoted following willing to pay $1,995 for an exercise bike, not including the $250 delivery fee or the $39-per-month subscription to stream the company’s live and on-demand classes.