Peloton Cross Training Bike+ review: A better connected bike that still demands a premium price

Mat Smith for Engadget

RATING : 8.1 / 10

After a lot of tough choices and contraction, Peloton launched its most advanced fitness equipment yet, bringing together the AI-infused movement detection of its Guide cameras and its high-end exercise bikes and treadmills. The new Cross Training Bike+ costs $2,695, plus the mandatory $50 monthly All-Access Membership fee. I spent roughly four months training on and living with Peloton's most premium bike to see if the company added enough to warrant the price.

The Cross Training Bike+'s advances can be split into two categories. There are the software upgrades centered on AI-infused training programs and movement tracking. And there are the hardware upgrades, including an adjustable fan, a smartphone tray (!) and a tracking camera built into the console.

Mat Smith for Engadget

Peloton's updated Bike+ has a 23.8-inch screen that rotates away from the bike. This is so you can use the screen for floor workouts, strength exercises and stretch classes, expanding what you can do with the very much not portable exercise bike.

This was the big draw for me: I've been anti-cardio ever since I was aged 7 and terrible at soccer, so any exercise bike would have to go beyond to warrant taking up space in my one-bedroom apartment. I already work from home, so there is no room for gym equipment.

The new Cross Training models don't shake up the core structure of the exercise bike. There are multiple improvements, though, several of which might seem like easy wins if you've never stepped foot into the world of Peloton. Particularly, the smartphone tray. It's an innocuous tray with a rubberized surface and several cut-out notches to prop your phone into. Sure, you're probably paying most attention to that huge built-in screen (you can stream Disney+ and Netflix directly through the bike), but if you're waiting on a call or a message, you'd like to keep your phone somewhere. Until now, that had to be your pocket or a surface nearby — and if you're already wearing cycling shoes, it's a pain.

The 23.8-inch console display has its own upgrades too, featuring Sonos-tuned speakers, that include, for the first time, a built-in woofer. When I've briefly tested previous Peloton bikes, I was often underwhelmed by the sound, especially when I needed music or podcasts to keep my mind occupied during exercise. The new Cross Training Bike+ sounds richer and more premium.

Mat Smith for Engadget

Another addition is a USB-C plug-in fan unit that sits (and locks into) the top of the display. It has three different speeds and a directional slider to aim it directly at your face, perfect when you're getting in and out of the saddle on a hill climb workout. It makes more intensive rides substantially more comfortable, as does the redesigned saddle, which is wider and more cushioned.

Beneath the fan, the Bike+'s camera is lodged in a little capsule that can be rotated inside the console for privacy. Perhaps this is me being an idiot, but I assumed many Peloton members were streaming their camera feed during rides (yuck). That is not the case; it's only used for coaching instruction, form correction and rep counting.

The camera turns the new Bike+ into more than just another connected exercise bike. Like its Coach camera, the Bike+ will coach and guide you, even while you're following a prerecorded class with an instructor, who is also coaching and guiding you. The built-in AI voice is robotic enough not to be mistaken for a human.

It's hard to get too mad with the robo-coach. Peloton IQ will make a little sound for each rep and count down for static holds like planks. It is just enough to help me push a little further. Compared to the older Coach camera, the upgraded algorithms and tech rarely make mistakes in their guidance. If it said my hips needed to be higher, yes, my hips needed to be higher. If I wasn't shoulder pressing with the full range of motion, it'd call me out. Dang it.

The built-in ultrawide camera can be zoomed in to frame your movements better, but I was surprised by how well it kept me in frame despite my tiny apartment's square footage.

It's a shame, however, that movement tracking coaching and rep counts don't exist beyond strength and core training classes. If you were hoping for helpful form tips during your downward dog, or Warrior Poses I and II, you're gonna have to find an actual yoga teacher.

It seems like a missed opportunity when users pay a premium for both classes and equipment.

You can also use voice commands during strength training workouts. This means you can get your reps or crack down on your form at your own pace. While Peloton's array of bodyweight and dumbbell exercises are broadly simple movements, some (like a Turkish get-up) will demand a few reps and some scrutiny before you're easily folding them into your workouts.

The Cross Training Bike+ also extends to programmatic training. Peloton's new equipment can track each workout and generate your week of activity. These are tuned to the goals you program into the bike when you first start using it and to your workout history, giving targeted metrics and goals that are personal to you. This didn't hugely affect how I used the Bike+, as I was tentatively taking my first steps into the ecosystem.

One feature that was useful, however, was PelotonIQ's labeling of classes based on what I'd done so far. Tougher, longer sessions were often tagged as "harder than usual", which I found motivating, especially if I decided to do said class and made it through.

However, PelotonIQ will continue to push classes and training sessions you just don't want to do, and I felt bad I wasn't following the program. There's not much latitude to customize the AI suggestions. Alongside the live classes and catch-up streams, there is a dense catalog of on-demand workouts to dip into, including themed sessions like a Beyoncé hill ride or a Pride full-body workout.

Mainly, it's great to see so many classes to pick from, even if you drill down with multiple filters: class type, class length, difficulty, choice of language, choice of trainer, music genre and (thankfully) whether you've taken the class already or not. One Bike+ exclusive feature that I hadn't experienced until this review was Auto-Follow, where the bike automatically adjusts resistance levels according to the (pre-recorded) class guidance. I always thought adjusting resistance seemed a bit archaic on an otherwise extremely high-tech exercise bike.

Some of the trainers will grate on your nerves. In fact, many of them grated on mine. But I also found the ones I was willing to listen to and ride with. The new Cross Training smarts add more long-term fitness planning, which is good — and necessary for training consistency. It feels less like you're dipping in and out of a remote workout class; something (even if it's Peloton's algo) is paying attention to your workouts and has suggestions — plenty of 'em.

Mat Smith for Engadget

With Peloton bikes, you're paying a high price, but it's the cost of the best exercise bike ecosystem out there. The addition of more full-body workouts, motion tracking, Yoga and Pilates helps the Bike+ earn its place in homes big and small. While you need All-Access to use the bike as it's intended, the costs can scale further from there, too. That can include compatible cycling shoes with cleats, workout mats and dumbbells. While none of the above have to be Peloton-branded, its heavier dumbbells, with squared weights, are surprisingly chic.

That's true of every part of the Peloton hardware and experience. The Bike+ was delivered, brought into my apartment and constructed without me having to do much more than hold a door open. It felt classy. That's not the experience I've had with any other piece of fitness equipment, or multi-thousand-dollar tech purchase, for that matter.

If you have Peloton money, you probably have a spare room (or even a fitness room) for the Bike+ to live in. I only wish it fit in more aesthetically with the rest of my apartment.