Peloton is the gold standard for home streaming bikes because, well, they started the whole thing to begin with. That, and they provide a great product.
There’s really no debating that the Peloton is a fantastic bike, but it’s also a very expensive one.
Folks looking for a more affordable alternative might be considering the MYX Fitness Bike- another streaming cycle that costs significantly less.
The MYX and the Peloton share several features, but when it comes down to their streaming services there are some significant differences.
In this head-to-head comparison, I’ll shed some light on these differences, as well as provide a nice overview of all the key features each bike has to offer.
After reading, you should have a better idea whether you should go all in with the Peloton or save some cash and go with the MYX.
Let’s get rollin’.
| The MYX Fitness Bike | The Peloton Bike | |
|---|---|---|
| Resistance | 41 lb flywheel Friction brake system | 35 lb flywheel 100 levels of magnetic resistance |
| Frame | 134 lb assembled weight 350 lb weight limit | 135 lb assembled weight 297 lb weight limit |
| Warranty | 5 year frame 12 month parts 12 month labor | 5 year frame 12 month parts 12 month labor |
| Features | 21.5" HD touchscreen console Heart rate guided workouts On demand library Heart rate monitor included Compatible with bluetooth headphones Fully adjustable seat/handlebars | 21.5" HD touchscreen console On demand/live classes Fully adjustable seat Heart rate monitor compatible Bluetooth headphone compatible Dumbbell holders |
| Price | $1,274 ($29/month subscription) | $1,895 ($39/month subscription) |
The MYX Fitness Bike vs The Peloton Bike
Above image courtesy of Peloton
Full disclosure: I have a Peloton in my attic as we speak.
My wife surprised me with one as a birthday present a few years ago and I’ve been a happy owner ever since.
Peloton’s success over the years has motivated many other brands to get into the streaming game and I have a feeling streaming apps are here to stay.
And I get it- they are really convenient (and cost effective if they allow you to cancel your gym membership).
Anyway, the MYX is one of these other brands that has recently popped up and as you’ll see, they do things a little differently.
Which I think is smart- with so many streaming options out there these days, brands have to make their own mark if they’re gonna survive.
I wanna start this comparison by going over the performance specs for each bike, including the resistance systems, the frames, and the warranties.
Then we’ll move on to talk about the more interesting features, as well as cost of course.
Resistance
Even though we tend to focus on the console features of these streaming cycles, I think it’s still most important to consider how a bike performs.
Because even with the most sophisticated consoles in the world, if a bike has a crappy resistance system, it isn’t going to feel comfortable to use.
I like to break a bikes resistance system down into the flywheel and the resistance mechanism, which will either be a friction brake or a magnetic system.
Most indoor cycles are designed to take advantage of a heavier flywheel (I say “most” because the Keiser cycles are not and do great with light flywheels).
The more weight a flywheel has, the more momentum it’s going to build as it spins.
This momentum usually creates a smoother feel because the flywheel is going to want to keep spinning, which actually helps you keep the pedals moving, eliminating any lag there might be between petal strokes.
I tend to think of any flywheel weighing over 20 lb to be “heavy”, but these days bikes are packing flywheels weighing up to 50 lb and more.
Now to the resistance mechanisms.
Most home cycles have transitioned to a magnetic system because they are smooth operating and low maintenance.
Since there are no actual touching parts, (the resistance is created magnetically) you don’t have to worry about replacing brake pads or anything like that.
With friction brakes, as the name implies, you have a brake that makes physical contact with the spinning flywheel.
The resistance is adjusted by pushing that brake more into the flywheel or bringing it farther away.
These systems can work effectively, but eventually you’re going to have to replace that brake pad.
With all of this in mind, let’s look at the resistance systems the Peloton and the MYX use.
The Peloton Bike uses a magnetic system with 100 micro-adjustable resistance levels. This allows you to make very small changes in your resistance, giving you the ability to fine tune your intensity as you see fit.
And being magnetic, you can easily track what resistance level you’re on at any time during your workout.
The MYX on the other hand, utilizes a friction brake system. You can make unlimited adjustments to the resistance by turning the dial, however there’s no way for the bike to track what resistance setting you’re on.
This means you have to rely on the feel of it to decide on how to adjust.
The Peloton comes with a 35 lb flywheel, which is quite heavy, but the MYX comes with an even heavier one at 41 lb.
Both bikes use belt drives, which are usually preferred to chain drives, for their quietness and reliability.
Overall, both bikes come with heavy flywheels, but there’s quite a bit of difference between the Peloton’s magnetic resistance and the MYX Bike’s friction brake system.
Frame
I think it’s important for a quality bike to have a sturdy, stable frame. I mean the last thing thing anybody wants is to hop on a flimsy bike that feels like it might fall apart during a ride.
I like to look at a bike’s assembled weight and weight capacity to get an idea as to how “heavy-duty” it should feel during workouts.
A heavier bike is likely to feel more stable and a higher weight capacity is a good indicator of overall build quality.
The MYX Bike comes with an assembled weight of 134 lb (including the 10 lb console) and the Peloton weighs in at 135 lb (again, including the console).
So, not much of a difference there- both bikes are nice and heavy.
The MYX comes with an impressive weight limit of 350 lb, which is higher than most spin bikes.
The Peloton come with a weight limit of 297 lb, which is significantly lighter and, if I may say, oddly specific (larger folks may want to keep this in mind when comparing).
According to MYX, their bike can comfortably hold users who are anywhere between 4’11” – 6’8″ and Peloton reports their bike can hold folks anywhere between 4’11” and 6’4″.
Overall, both bikes are fairly heavy-duty, but the MYX is obviously better suited for larger individuals.
Warranty
There’s nothing exciting or glamorous about this spec, but I still consider it one of the most important things to consider when purchasing a new bike.
A generous warranty not only provides peace of mind about buying an expensive product, but it also gives ya an idea as to the quality of it.
Generally speaking, nicer bikes will come with longer warranties (although this isn’t always the case).
The Peloton Bike comes with the following residential warranty:
- 5 year frame
- 12 month parts (including electronics)
- 12 month labor
Ok, and the MYX Bike comes with this warranty:
- 5 year frame
- 12 month parts (including electronics)
- 12 month labor
Yeah, both bikes come with the same warranty.
Honestly, it’s ok when compared to other spin bikes, but I’d expect longer from bikes in this price range (especially in Peloton’s case).
NordicTrack offers 10 years on their frames and a couple of years on parts, just sayin’.
Anyway, both bikes offer the same guarantee, so you won’t have to consider this spec when deciding between these cycle.
Features
Ok, that about does it for the performance side of things, let’s move on to the fun stuff.
Both of these bikes are obviously designed for streaming purposes, but like I said at the beginning, they go about it in different ways.
With the Peloton, you get the traditional streaming experience.
You have a huge, 21.5″ HD touchscreen display that’s compatible with bluetooth headphones and telemetry heart rate monitors.
With a membership, you get access to unlimited workouts of all varieties, not only cycling. We’re talking strength training, Pilates, yoga, cardio…pretty much anything you can think of.
Peloton offers thousands of workouts on demand, as well as plenty of live workouts to choose from daily.
During the cycling workouts, you get to view your resistance level, your cadence, your watt output, and your calories burned reading (and heart rate if you’re wearing a monitor).
You can also view the leaderboard to see how you stack up against the other folks in the class (or hide it if you prefer) as well as see which song is playing on the playlist.
All workouts are filmed with high production value and look/sound great.
In other words, Peloton is pretty awesome.
With the MYX, you get the same 21.5″ HD touchscreen display, which is also compatible with bluetooth headphones and telemetry heart rate monitors.
MYX actually includes an armband heart rate monitor with purchase, which is nice because all of their workouts are heart rate based.
This means that the intensity of your workouts is based on your heart rate alone.
You’ll take a fitness assessment the first time you use the MYX and based on this info, the bike will design personalized heart rate zones for ya.
MYX will also recommend workouts for you based on your fitness goals, using your heart rate zones.
During workouts, you won’t be able to see your cadence or resistance level or watt output.
Instead, your instructors will tell you which zone you should be in and you’ll have to adjust your cadence and resistance on your own to get your heart rate in the appropriate zone.
This is actually a very effective way to workout because heart rate is a very accurate way to measure intensity, but the folks who are used to using these other metrics might miss them.
MYX doesn’t have nearly as many workouts to choose from either, but they still offer hundreds of on demand options to select from and they’re adding more workouts every week.
The design of their workouts is a big difference between the Peloton and the MYX and definitely something you should think about before deciding.
Besides the consoles, here are some additional features each bike comes with:
| The Peloton Bike | The MYX Bike | |
|---|---|---|
| Seat | Fully adjustable | Fully adjustable |
| Handlebars | Height adjustable | Fully adjustable |
| Pedals | Delta-compatible (cleats) | Dual-compatible (SPD cleats and toe cage) |
| Bluetooth compatible (headphones) | Yes | Yes |
| Heart rate monitor compatible | Yes | Yes (one included) |
| Dumbbell holders | Yes | No |
Price
Ok, time to talk dineros.
Everybody talks about how expensive the Peloton is and there’s really no denying it- it costs a lot.
But it’s actually come down in price some since it originally came out. Thanks in part to all the competition I imagine, as well as the fact that they came out with the newer Peloton Bike+.
As I write this, I want to remind my readers that prices change frequently, so if the numbers I provide below aren’t 100% accurate, please don’t hate me.
That said, these 2 bikes cost the following at the time of writing this:
Peloton: $1,895
MYX: $1,274
When comparing these numbers, keep in mind this is the cost for the most basic package for each.
In Peloton’s case, this doesn’t include any dumbbells, cleats, or headphones.
This cost also doesn’t include the monthly subscription fee for the streaming services. These cost as follows:
Peloton: $39/month
MYX: $29/month
Overall, the Peloton Bike itself costs about $600 or so more than the MYX.
Other Considerations
I like to save this area for any extra thoughts or considerations I want to include regarding either bike.
In this case, I just want to mention that I’ve been using my Peloton for several years now and I haven’t had a single hiccup or concern in that time.
It’s worked great from day 1 and I hope I’m not jinxing myself as I write this.
With regards to the MYX, it’s a lot newer than the Peloton, so it hasn’t been quite as time-tested yet, but user reviews so far are generally positive.
Final Thoughts
Alrighty folks, that’s about all I got for the Peloton and the MYX Bike.
As I hope you see, there are some significant differences between these 2 streaming cycles.
Performance wise, the most significant being that the Peloton uses a magnetic resistance system and the MYX uses a friction brake system.
Even though the Peloton’s magnetic system is more sophisticated, the MYX is packing a heavier flywheel.
When it comes to features, the biggest difference is in the style of the workouts. With the MYX, everything is centered around your heart rate and which zone you’re in.
If you decide to go with the MYX Bike, don’t be surprised when you don’t see cadence, watts, and resistance levels being displayed on the console.
Overall, I still think the Peloton is the gold standard when it comes to streaming cycles, but if you’re looking for a more affordable alternative (and you’re cool with heart rate zones), I think the MYX Bike is a solid option.
