If you bought a Peloton Bike between July 2013 and May 2016, you might want to check the clip-in pedals. Peloton is currently recalling the out-of-warranty PR70P pedals as they can unexpectedly break while you’re getting your sweat on—possibly resulting in injuries.
Peloton announced the recall on its website, though it’s a bit buried in its support section, which was initially spotted by Business Insider. The company notes that if you’ve never replaced the pedals, and bought it during the aforementioned time frame, you might still have the faulty pedals. The PR70P pedals in question can be identified by looking for the Peloton logo and the word “PELOTON” molded into the body, with the orange logo and “PELOTON” in white lettering on the top of the cleat binding, as you can see in this photo. The orange logo is key here, as pedals with the white lettering without the orange logo aren’t being recalled.
The pedals in question are outside of warranty, and the company says it recommends that Peloton users replace their pedals every year.
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, roughly 27,000 bikes are impacted by the recall. The agency also said that there had been 120 consumer reports of pedals breaking, as well as 16 reports of injury. Five of the injuries also required medical care, including “stitches to the lower leg.” Yikes.
So what do you do if you have the faulty pedals? Peloton and the CPSC recommend you submit a New Pedal Order Form either via this link. If you’re affected, you may have also already received an email with the link. Needless to say, don’t ride the bike until you get those new pedals. There’s also a video tutorial detailing how consumers can switch out the pedals, though you can also pay an extra $100 to have a Peloton technician come and do it for you. (That said, due to covid-19, appointments may be limited depending on where you live.)
The news comes at an interesting time for the at-home fitness company. The pandemic has been a boom time for Peloton, as many fitness boutiques and gyms remain shuttered. According to CNBC, Peloton’s stock is up 380% in the year-to-date, and the company ended its latest quarter with a 113% increase in subscribers, for a total of about 3.1 million members.
The company also recently launched two new products: the Bike+ and the Peloton Tread. The Bike+ is an enhanced version of its original bike, which is still available at a discounted price of $1,895. That said, despite its pandemic-induced success, there is some competition on the horizon. Apple will soon be launching its Fitness+ service, which is also an on-demand streaming subscription complete with trainer-led workouts. Apple’s service will be slightly cheaper at $10 a month, compared to Peloton’s $13/month subscription for its app-only membership. (It costs $40 a month if you have Peloton’s hardware.) So far, Peloton CEO John Foley is playing it cool, however. “They’re [Apple] not coming into that [hardware] category. ... They’re just going to be the content. And we think the special sauce, the magic, is our connected platforms, and in order to work out at home you need a stationary bike if you’re going to be biking,” Foley said, referring to Fitness+.
In any case, time will only tell how Peloton fares in the long run. This pedal recall probably won’t be much of a setback. As ridiculously expensive as Peloton bikes are—and as terrible as their holiday commercials may be—Peloton owners are pretty hardcore devotees of the platform.