Peloton pursues Flywheel on home fitness bike



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Fitness bike at the wheel house
Facebook / Flying


Competition is growing in the fitness world as two of the biggest names in indoor cycling face off in a new trial.

On Wednesday, Peloton, the high-tech fitness company known for its popular fitness bike, filed a lawsuit against one of its biggest rivals, Flywheel, accusing it of creating a copy version of Peloton's proprietary bike. .

Peloton says Flywheel's FLY Anywhere bike uses Peloton technology to broadcast live and on-demand courses, track driver performance and compare it to other drivers.

Flywheel, which was launched in New York in 2010, has historically offered only studio bike training. That changed with the launch of his flat bike, FLY Anywhere, in November 2017. The bike is designed to bring the studio experience to customers. A spokesman for the company told Business Insider that its bikes have always been equipped with a proprietary technology that tracks and compares user performance.

The bike starts at $ 1,699 and works the same way as Peloton because it allows users to broadcast on-demand and live courses from home. Customers have the option to broadcast these classes from their own device or pay extra to have a screen on the bike itself.

Peloton's most basic bike package starts at $ 2,245. All its bikes are equipped with a screen that broadcasts its classes on demand and live. When Peloton was launched in 2012, it upset the fitness market, offering customers who did not live near a studio or time to attend a course on the occasion of To take one.

Both machines require users to pay extra to subscribe to classes.

Comparing the two December motorcycles, a reviewer from aSweatLife wrote that the biggest difference between the two bikes is the class you can take.

The bicycles of Peloton.
Business Insider / Mary Hanbury

Peloton says in the lawsuit that several months before the launch of Flywheel's new bike, one of its investors, Michael Milken, approached Peloton's CEO, John Foley, to ask him for details on his technology and strategy commercial.

The Peloton lawsuit accuses Milken of providing this information to Flywheel, who allegedly used it "to facilitate the development, sale and marketing of the FLY Anywhere bike in violation," the lawsuit says.

Milken, who is not cited as an accused in this case, is best known for inventing modern junk. He spent 22 months in prison after pleading guilty to violations of securities laws.

"Mike is not a party to this action and any claim that he acted improperly is totally unfounded," a spokesman for Milken said in a statement sent to Business Insider.

Flywheel provided the following statement to Business Insider:

Eight years ago, Flywheel launched a unique and differentiated indoor cycling offering that uses FLY Tech tracking technology and features such as Power Score and TorqBoard, allowing runners to customize, visualize and track their individual efforts and performances. . Riders choose to share their performances in real time with other riders and, after the course, the riders' personal statistics are stored and can be retrieved from our website, as well as from iOS and Android apps.

In comparison, Peloton introduced its indoor cycling offer at home just four years ago. Flywheel strongly denies the allegations made by Peloton and strongly believes that its ANYWHERE product does not infringe any valid claim regarding Peloton's patents. The Peloton lawsuit is a classic example of a large company trying to intimidate a competitor out of the market.

Flywheel is proud of our progress and will not be intimidated. We intend to vigorously defend against Peloton's claims and against any attempt to prevent customers from having access to our ANYWHERE bicycle anywhere in the home.

A Peloton lawyer declined to comment further when he was contacted by Business Insider.

Indoor cycling has become one of the most competitive spaces in the fitness market, with many popular indoor cycling studios catching the attention of consumers.

In August 2018, Peloton was valued at approximately $ 4.15 billion after closing a $ 550 million financing round with investors such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Tiger Global Management and GGV Capital. In February, he unveiled his latest product, a treadmill that will be available in the fall.

According to his complaint, he has delivered more than 250,000 bicycles and has more than 600,000 active runners.

According to Crunchbase, Flywheel raised $ 120.9 million in venture capital financing. It has 42 studios throughout the United States.

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