Compare the Best Indoor Exercise Bikes

Which Exercise Bike is Best for you? Peloton, SoulCycle, and NordicTrack offer a total of five connected fitness bikes that are all excellent options to consider for your at-home workouts. To help you determine the best option for you we have summarized and compare each model with links to full our in-depth reviews on each for more detail. Short on time checkout the Summary Chart Below. In no particular order they are the:

• Peloton Bike

• Peloton Bike+

• SoulCycle At-Home Bike

• Nordictrack S22i, and

• Nordictrack S27i Bike

Why Workout Content can Make the Difference

All the above recommended exercise bikes are impressive choices for a home gym. However, one often overlooked or an under considered factor when selecting an indoor bike is the workout training content that will work best for you.

Match Workout Experience that suits you best

Consistency is key when it comes to any training. You have to keep using your equipment regularly to see results. Whether you enjoy the trainers, the training style, and overall training content will vastly contribute to how much you enjoy using your bike and keep you wanting to return for more — or not!

Each brand has its own unique style and point of view when it comes to the workout experience. Understanding these differences will help you choose the bike that best matches your goals, energy level, style and preferences to keep you more engaged and committed to a fitness routine and harness the wellness benefits cycling can offer.

OUR TAKE

At just about $1 a day, we believe the improvement in physical and mental health is an investment in your long-term wellness and worth a place in your budget. Get ready to join the Peloton Family, SoulCycle Pack, or iFit Team, and get moving!

Below we break down the various styles, tempo, and content for each brand. Thankfully, there are financing options for all, to assist budgeting.

We hope this helps! Let us know below in the comments or if you have any questions use the chat below or shoot us an e-mail.

BEST OF THE BEST INDOOR EXERCISE BIKES

1. Be Part of the Peloton Family

   - Peloton Bike Original Model
   - Peloton Bike+

The Peloton family is popular for a reason, you work out to current music with trainers on trend and log real progress towards your health goals. 

A ‘numbers’ Person who dives into the stats, the charts, and likes the leaderboard competition will be ecstatic and thoroughly engaged with Peloton.

Riders who love trending music, trendy celebrities, and being coached with zones, by the numbers, and graphic charts will also love being part of the Peloton Family. The trainers are quasi-celebrities themselves, and the Pelo family follows their Instagrams’ for real-life stories, drama, and more.

There is a vibe of being coached to do your best and achieve “greatness” in Peloton rides. The competitive types get into the leaderboard where WATTS scores are tossed around like golf scores or one-upmanship - all in a friendly manner. It is lively and engaging, upbeat and challenging.

Peloton states 92% are still cycling 12 months later after original sign-up, so the commitment is real, and the results are all over social media with terrific before and after pics. Very addictive to get in on the real live class’s happenings – even on-demand to fit your schedule.

Peloton vs. Peloton Bike+

One of the main differences is the original Peloton Bike has manual resistance. You must turn a knob to increase or decrease resistance to the numbers the trainers constantly shout out. You can modify it to where you feel comfortable or challenged. The original bike model is sturdy, good-looking, and has a 22-inch HD touchscreen with a super-easy user interface where you choose workouts, watch the leaderboard and find friends.

In comparison, the Bike+ has automatic adjusting resistance so riders do not have to worry about it. The second difference is the Bike+ touchscreen is a little wider at 24 inches and can be rotated or swiveled for off-the-bike training segments. Very helpful for the Bootcamp-style workouts that include on-the-mat movements.

The Bike+ has a slightly updated look with shiny Peloton branding. The Bike+ is also slightly taller to the top of the screen and has a HD 24-inch anti-reflective + sweat-resistant touchscreen.

Unlike the original model, the Bike+ supports Apple GymKit™ integration that tracks cycling workouts and syncs your Peloton metrics to Apple Health. Use your Apple Watch as a heart rate monitor on-screen. The Bike+ console has a slightly faster graphics processor and more ram than the original Bike. The Bike+ also has improved sound with 4 speakers (2 front-facing and 2 rear-facing woofers) vs. 2 rear-facing speakers on the Original Peloton Bike.

The Peloton Bike+ will cost you cost $1,000 more but worth it to have:

 - auto-adjusting resistance
 - larger screen (by 2-inches)
- Console Rotates & Pivots
 - faster processor
 - better sound and 
 - Apple Watch integration.

In our opinion, yes, the Bike+ offers a LOT of bells and whistles you will use every day, but if you want to save $1,000, then go with the Peloton original model. Either way, both Peloton bikes are great options for the music-loving, trendsetter, competitive individual.

2.   Bring the SoulCycle Studio Vibe HOME

The SoulCycle experience is so unique the idea you can recreate it in your home is hard to fathom. But with the SoulCycle At-Home bike, you can absolutely be part of the pack and feel like you are in a SoulCycle Studio at home.

Light a candle, turn off the lights, and transport yourself to the SoulCycle studio. The instructors are the same you know so well from studio classes, just as encouraging and inspiring, with the same spirit-lifting workout. The music is awesome, the playlists transcending, the vibe is so positive. You complete a ride with a sense of change, feeling stronger and empowered to begin, finish, or continue your day. A big difference from the Peloton experience is its less focused on the numbers and more on the ride and feeling good. Don’t get us wrong you still get in an extraordinary workout.

SoulCycle At-Home Bike

With a custom-designed Stages bike, the SoulCycle At-Home Bike perfectly moves into your home with its 22-inch HD touchscreen. This at-home bike is incredibly stable, durable, and designed for all the classic SoulCycle moves, rhythm presses, tap backs, and class pace. SoulCycle instructors keep you working and thoroughly engaged and at the completion of each session you get your beat score.

If you are on a different work schedule like nursing, medical, teaching, or finance you can do an on-demand session at any time, midnight, 3 am, or 8 am. If you ride in the studio, you will want an at-home bike for those days you cannot get there and with the monthly subscription of $40 per month, you get UNLIMITED rides so you can get that SoulCycle vibe whenever.

Unlike the other bikes, a SoulCycle at-Home Bike lets you ride to your own beat, and binge shows and movies from Netflix or Disney+ in streaming mode on the bike’s touchscreen or freestyle your ride with your own music.

FunFact: The ability to stream movies from Netflix is one of the top Peloton rider-requested features to be added. In 2023 Peloton announced it would start limited tests to offer this option, but as of November this is no release date.

Compared to Peloton, SoulCycle is more focused on movement over metrics so no leaderboard; competitive types should look elsewhere. We love the overall feeling and positiveness of the At-Home Bike – a highly recommended choice. The (MYN) maybeyesno review team can’t get enough.

3.  NordicTrack Bikes powered by iFit

NordicTrack S22i Bike (NTEX02422)
Nordictrack S27i Bike (NTEX02722)
Compare All Nordictrack Bikes

One of the best interactive cycling experiences the NordicTrack S27i is made for riders who prefer the feel of a road or riding mountain bike trails.

The Nordictrack S22i or S27i indoor bike will appeal to those who would like to replicate an outdoor riding experience, compared with other brand workouts like Peloton and the SoulCycle At-Home Bike. Powered by the iFit connected-fitness platform, trainers can control your cadence, resistance, and even incline or decline to match the studio class or the terrain you are riding through on trainer-led destination rides. These are by-far one of the best-designed, real-world connected fitness training workouts bar-none we have consistently tested, and it burns the calories.

iFit Interactive Training

A unique difference is these bikes feature a +20% incline and a downward negative -10% decline. The ride feels like you are actually climbing up or descending down slopes in the real world. This elevation feature is not a fancy gimmick, it gets your heart pumping, builds strength, plus stamina, and yes, your quads will burn at first, but then you are rewarded with the downhill, which is so cool, as the speed increases and the resistance decreases. There are rides perfect for recovery days where you can coast around Chicago, Hawaii, or Bermuda and enjoy the sights after a run on your treadmill.

These are tons of great studio classes, including Bootcamp style options, with on and off-the-bike segments. But it is the iFit trainer-led destination rides that take you to so many diverse locations across all seven continents it’s hard to become bored – it is a fitness game-changer that provides a terrific workout. These Nordictrack connected-fitness bikes make for good conversation, especially when you casually mention you were biking in Thailand this morning and are hitting the bike trails in New Zealand next.

Other notable differences between Nordictrack Commercial Studio Bikes over Peloton and SoulCycle bikes are that the 3 lb. weights are included, there are dual fans designed into the console to cool you down and you get the first 30 days of training content included to familiarize yourself with trainers and workouts.

Nordictrack S22i vs. S27i Bike

The main difference between these two outstanding exercise bikes is that the Newer NordicTrack S27i Studio Bike has a larger impressive 27-inch HD screen. In fact, it's the largest exercise bike display on the market and gives a super immersive experience as you ride diverse trails, roads, and mountain slopes. Another difference is the position of the weights which are behind the seat on the S27i bike, while for the S22i model they are in front of the rider. We prefer the having the weights behind the saddle, but this is a minor preference overall.

See a quick visual S27i bike Updated Features Story to view highlights and also how it compares to Peloton.

Both bikes are extremely quiet, have 24 levels of resistance, weights are included, and unique to NordicTrack bikes, they support inclines of up to 20% with a negative -10% downward decline driven by an independent motor. You really can feel the uphill climbs and downhill slopes – it is very cool! Both bikes' resistance automatically adjusts to match the iFit trainer as they encourage, motivate, and guide you so you can focus on your ride and get the most out of your workout. 

For an extra $500 can get the 27-Inch vs. the 22-inch HD touchscreen, we did enjoy using the larger screen option however, you don’t lose much with the S22i bike 22-inch display, it is more a matter of preference and budget. 

Both bike consoles adjust to rider height and can be tilted and rotated 360 degrees for better viewing with off-the-bike workout segments. The MYN review team love iFit, as you ride with actual champion cyclists who curate, coach, and guide you through mountain paths, trails, and exciting road races – your choice. iFit destination rides are stunning, with interesting commentary, coaching, and progressive workouts that keep you moving toward your goals. The challenge of climbing uphill and descending downhill is REAL. These exercise bikes are cool to use.

BIKE REVIEW LINKS to LEARN MORE:

Peloton Bike
Peloton Bike+
SoulCycle At-Home Bike
Nordictrack S22i, and
Nordictrack S27i Bike

In the END – Final Thoughts

The Peloton Bike and Bike+, SoulCycle At-Home Bike, and the Nordictrack S22i and S27i are all exceptional connected-fitness bikes, the best of the best options for a home gym — we believe you cannot go wrong with any of them. Monthly membership subscriptions range from $39-44 per month and include the ability to set up individual accounts for multiple riders. One notable value feature of iFit is that once you are an iFit member you are covered for any additional iFit-enabled equipment, for a treadmill, rowing machine, or elliptical, without any add-on membership fees.

Each brand has produced outstanding high-quality connected fitness training content with diverse selections of workouts from yoga, boxing, strength, meditation, walking, and cycling. You will never run out of session options to try.

The training between these three brands is so different. It comes down to what you wish to experience for your cycling workouts.

Peloton workouts are numbers-driven, on-trend and offer music-integrated sessions with the option to compete on the leaderboard. SoulCycle has its own super-inspiring and soul-lifting vibe with unique moves. More feeling than exercise types will love this option. And Nordictrack bikes with iFit offer an exciting real-world experience of challenging fitness workouts with advanced iFit technology that realistically match the terrain feel as you climb or descend. iFit offers studio class session as well with excellent strength training incorporated segments, music is not their high point, but if you want to burn the calories or improve fitness you cannot go wrong.

REVIEW LINKS

Peloton Bike Review
Peloton Bike+
SoulCycle At-Home Bike
Nordictrack S22i, and
Nordictrack S27i Bike