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Bike Battle Royal: Echelon Smart Connect vs. Peloton vs. NordicTrack S10i

In the rough and tumble world of indoor cycling, sometimes you’ve got to fashion yourself a barn burner, a slobber-knocker, a slugfest, to figure out exactly which of the best fitness bikes on the market is truly the best-of-the-best.

For this indoor bike battle royal, we’re pitting the Echelon Smart Connect Bike against the Peloton Bike against the NordicTrack S10i. Each is an indoor cycle to be admired but there can only be one champion.

The Build

Of course you’re going to wonder first, which bike is best for your workout?

All of the bikes are made of heavy-duty steel. All of the bikes can hold riders up to three hundred pounds. All of the bikes use a type of magnetic resistance. So where’s the big difference?  

For us, it comes in the form of resistance. The Nordictrack has 22 levels of resistance, which seems great especially when comparing it to some of the other bikes on the market. Consider then that both the Echelon and the Peloton have 30+ levels of resistance so you can dial in exactly how much you need to get your cardio to its max potential.

Peloton just barely gets the edge here with slightly more resistance levels than the Echelon. So while it might be close, Peloton narrowly edges out Echelon.

Winner: Peloton

Comfort

The Peloton sport saddle isn’t exactly known for comfort. In fact, we recommend purchasing a gel-cover to make up for the stiffness of the seat.

The Echelon, on the other hand, offers an oversized and padded seat that is super-adjustable both forward and backward and up and down!

The seat that comes standard with the NordicTrack isn’t known to be especially comfortable. The one thing they have over the Echelon (and many other bikes in this price range) is that you can swap out the seat for any seat you like. So if you’re a regular outdoor bike rider and you dropped serious dough on a nice bicycle seat, you can transfer it right over to your NordicTrack.

Even though it’s a close one, NordicTrack just barely gets the edge here.  

Winner: NordicTrack

Display

This is where things get interesting. Both the NordicTrack and the Peloton have built-in screens. The Peloton’s is just over 20 inches while the NordicTrack clocks in at 10 (although there are bikes with larger displays). Of course, having a touch screen built in is a nice luxury—you don’t have to worry about locating your device, and affixing it to the bike— but you’re going to see the difference in the shopping cart.

On the other, not having a fixed-display means you’re free to choose what kind of display you wat to utilize. With the Echelon, you can use any device with WiFi (which is pretty much all of them). This way, you can still receive texts and calls while you’re on the bike, or you can even connect to a smart TV if you want a giant display while you workout. Importantly, decent tablets can be had for dirt-cheap so, especially if you’re worried about price you can buy a tablet just for the bike and save some money! Echelon also offers Apple and Android tablets on their website at great prices, allowing you to buy everything you need all in one place. 

We like the opportunity to choose the way we ride and have a clear winner here!

Winner: ECHELON

Apps and Classes

Just as important as your display is what goes on it so lets get into apps and classes. The Peloton and the NordicTrack app will cost you about $39 a month and both will expect you to sign a mandatory 12-month contract with no choices between levels. NordicTrack has got plenty of prerecorded classes in their databases but there’s one thing they don’t have—live classes! For $39 a month, we expect there to be some live choices but, alas, it was not to be. Peloton easily edges NordicTrack out of competition here with their live class selection.

But wait because Echelon’s app starts as low as $19.99 a month and nets you live and on demand classes. Their Echelon Connect service will get you live classes, on demand classes, scenic rides and more. If you add Extra Mile, you’ll have access to all of those practices that will help you recover from your ride and also give you some much-needed mindfulness—yoga, pilates, meditation and more. You can get one full year of Connect and Extra Mile for just under $34 a month.

So, to summarize, Echelon gives you everything NordicTrack and Peloton offer but MORE or for LESS.

Additionally, Echelon is sweetening the deal by offering buyers 100% free shipping with the purchase of an annual membership—not a bad plan!

Winner: ECHELON

Cost

The Peloton bike, oft hailed at the “best in its class,” is going to set you back just about $2000. Did that price just knock the wind out of you? Yeah. It has that effect. Of course, this is not to mention subscription to the app, which can bring that price up almost $1000 for a total price of $3000 (AKA the down payment on a small house).

Thankfully, Echelon is a fraction of the cost—half to be exact—clocking in at $999. NordicTrack S10i splits the difference with $1499 (plus the cost of subscription, of course).

Peloton will ship you your bike for $250 flat with assembly included and Nordic Track is about the same (although the customer service reviews of their in-house shipping service is anything but glowing).

If you think you can assemble your bike yourself, Echelon will ship it to your door for $99. Not for nothing, the Echelon is deceptively simple to assemble—about 45 minutes from box to biking. As we mentioned (and we think it’s worth mentioning again because it’s a heck of a deal), the purchase of an annual membership nets you absolutely free shipping!

Winner: ECHELON

Early round wins by Peloton and NordicTrack each made it look like one of these two companies was going to stroll into the winner’s circle, but Echelon managed to run the table from there on out.

A well-built bike and a best-in-class app for the fraction of the cost of the other guys makes the Echelon Smart Connect a no brainer. It bears repeating if you’re still undecided—Echelon is offering completely free shipping with purchase of an annual membership!

Overall Winner: ECHELON SMART CONNECT BIKE

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This post first appeared on LEV Revolution, please read the originial post: here

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Bike Battle Royal: Echelon Smart Connect vs. Peloton vs. NordicTrack S10i

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