Cruising Through Production: The Supply Chain Journey of Peloton Bikes

Peloton bikes are one of the most popular smart tech options for home gyms across the world. In fact, the Peloton platform has almost 6 million subscribers, and every quarter, Peloton members compete in 134.33 million workouts. But, how are these sleek stationary exercise bikes created from a mass of parts and intricate pieces to be ready for homes worldwide during the holiday season?

As part of the new supply chain journey series by Stimulus, we’ve chosen to break down the entire journey of a Peloton bike from factory to living room to show exactly what level of hard word and precision goes into this highly useful fitness aid. Without further ado, let’s analyze this gym tech and see what makes it so refined and desirable below.

Design and Development

The Peloton bike is one that is recognized for its sleek designs, compact styles, and advanced displays. It’s one of the reasons why the quarterly revenue for Peloton is over $937 million and over 400,000 Peloton bikes have been sold.

Creating each new version of this smart stationary bike takes time and a team of expert designers to actualize. Once the design is approved, the pieces must be developed and a manufacturer must be chosen by the Peloton team. The screens of each bike are highly important and must be tested repeatedly for quality assurance before the design can be approved.

This is due to the fact that Peloton bases its entire system on these screens and the instructors that teach consumers through them. The Peloton service has over 50 instructors, and these instructors have a following of 9.62 million combined on Instagram.

The Production Process

Peloton mainly manufactures in Taiwan, a long way away from its U.S. market. During the production process, each part is carefully put together to make the peloton bike and its display screen. The main issue Peloton currently faces is the long distance between their production and market as well as the disruptions in the supply chain that come along with it. These disruptions have led to a major drop in profits for the company in the last two years, but they are hopeful the 2022 holiday season will reverse that.

Quality and Safety Control

With all home fitness equipment — especially tech-centric types — quality and safety control are vital. In the past, Peloton has recalled bikes due to a lack of testing. Now, every bike is tested, inspected, and put through rigorous exercises to ensure its quality before shipment.

Not only is the bike’s screen tested but they also test the functionality and quality of each part as well as the safety of the wiring. After all, no one wants their Christmas tree catching fire thanks to faulty wiring or a misstep by the Peloton company.

Shipping and Storing

Once the production and quality control is complete, peloton bikes are carefully shipped in padded boxes to warehouses to be stored before being sold directly to consumers as well as to retailers.

Peloton has its own warehouses in America where these bikes are held, but retailers and other large companies also house the bikes in preparation for the holiday season as well.

From Warehouse to Retail

When sold to retailers, the bikes are shipped once again to be put on display in stores directly from the Peloton warehouses. With Amazon and Dick’s Sporting Goods now selling these bikes, you can cut your wait time of four months buying directly from Peloton down drastically.

Enjoy the Ride!

Once an athlete or bike enthusiast picks up the Peloton online or in stores, it’s time to get riding and enjoy the 11 different unique exercise paths that Peloton offers. While there is a monthly subscription fee for these classes, Peloton states it is exploring new price models that may change this expectation in favor of new Peloton owners in 2023.

For now, Peloton enthusiasts can delight in having a piece of functional and sleek gym tech that is perfect for all fitness levels and serves as the ultimate holiday gift for all that simply love to ride and push themselves.

Stay tuned for more supply chain journeys to come, and feel free to watch the ‘An Inside Look at The Peloton Bike’ below to see some more of this journey in action: