Buzz
Opting for a secondhand Peloton is a clever way to get a premium exercise bike at a lower price. I purchased mine pre-owned and have zero regrets; the seller was trustworthy, to my knowledge, and I saved around $500 compared to buying directly from Peloton. However, not all secondhand bikes are as they appear, and it would have been helpful if I could have checked the bike’s history beforehand.
Now, Peloton has introduced a tool for this exact purpose. It's called the Peloton History Summary, which allows users to trace the history of any Bike or Bike+ via its serial number. The key caveat is that the tool is currently in beta and may not provide results for all bikes at the moment.
What You Can Learn from the Peloton History Summary
I entered my Bike’s serial number, only to be informed that my Bike wasn’t included in the beta. (Peloton is rolling it out gradually, so your bike might not show up yet, either.)
However, Peloton does provide a sample summary on their website. This example shows what a history report might include:
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Total hours the Bike/Bike+ has been used
Whether a technician has ever been sent by the company to fix it
How many previous owners the Bike/Bike+ has had, including the current one
Whether the Bike/Bike+ is still under a protection plan and when it expires
This information is incredibly valuable when you're thinking about purchasing a secondhand Peloton. When I bought mine, I probed the previous owner about the Bike’s background, but I had no way of verifying if he was being honest. In the end, his story checked out: The Bike had no major problems and appeared to have been lightly used. The only issue was that it needed a new bearing cartridge, a part that tends to wear out with time. (Peloton sent me a replacement for $45, and I installed it myself—a slight inconvenience, but not a terrible deal.)
How to Use the Peloton History Summary When Purchasing a Secondhand Bike or Bike+
To access the history summary, locate the serial number on your Bike or Bike+. On the history page, Peloton provides a guide on where to find it: It could be on or behind the front fork, or located behind the flywheel. (It is not on the back of the screen; the number there only applies to the screen itself, not the entire Bike/Bike+).
I discovered that the easiest way to read the serial number from its tricky position was to snap a photo of it, then use my iPhone’s text scanning feature to copy and paste the serial number. (Be sure to verify that it copied correctly—check for mix-ups, like confusing a zero with the letter O, or the reverse.)
When purchasing a Bike or Bike+, you can request the serial number from the seller and then run it through the history tool—similar to how you would do a VIN lookup for a used car. Be sure to confirm that the serial number matches when you pick up your new Peloton before making any payment.
Peloton recommends that sellers take the initiative by checking the history of their own Bike/Bike+ and including that in their sales listing. They also note that they are still refining exactly what details the history tool will reveal, so stay tuned to see how this feature evolves once it exits beta.
