Echelon EX-5s Review: A Peloton Rival Held Back by Its App

The Echelon EX-5s is a connected smart exercise bike built to go head to head with Peloton, pairing a big 21.5-inch rotating HD touchscreen with 32 levels of quiet magnetic resistance and a heavy, planted steel frame. It is aimed at someone who wants studio-style spin classes at home, on a proper bike with a screen baked in, without paying full Peloton money. At roughly £1,349 on Amazon UK it is a serious purchase, and the headline verdict is split: the hardware is genuinely good, but the Echelon Fit app and software let it down often enough that you should go in with your eyes open.

In short, if you love the Echelon class library and you treat the subscription as part of the deal, this is a comfortable, capable bike that can replace a gym membership. If you want rock-solid software or the freedom to watch your own content on the screen, the EX-5s will frustrate you.

Who the EX-5s is for

This is a bike for people who actually want the classes. The whole design assumes you will subscribe to Echelon Fit and ride along with live and on-demand instructors, scenic routes and leaderboard sessions. If that is you, the integrated screen is the point and it works well. If you just want a quiet bike to pedal while watching your own telly, you are paying a lot for a screen you cannot fully use, and a cheaper non-screen bike makes more sense.

Build, ride feel and noise

On the hardware the EX-5s earns its keep. The powder-coated steel frame is heavy (the bike is around 56kg) and feels reassuringly solid when you climb in and out of the saddle. Resistance comes from a magnetic system over a weighted flywheel, and almost every reviewer praises how quiet and smooth it is. There is no chain slap or whirr to speak of, so the loudest thing in the room is usually the instructor on the screen. That makes it a realistic option for a flat, a spare bedroom or anywhere noise matters.

The fit is flexible. The seat adjusts up and down across many positions and slides fore and aft, and the handlebars adjust for height, so it accommodates a wide range of body sizes. The honest caveat is comfort over time: some owners find the seat fine for an hour, others swap it out and note the handlebars are not heavily padded. As with most spin bikes, budget for a gel cover or a saddle swap if you ride long. A handful of heavier riders also mention a slight rocking when cadence climbs above about 90rpm, so if you are a powerful sprinter, expect to plant it firmly on a level floor.

The screen, the app and the subscription

Here is where the EX-5s stops being a clear win. The 21.5-inch screen itself is bright and sharp, and the fact that it rotates means you can turn it to face the floor for off-bike yoga, strength or stretching sessions, which is a genuinely nice touch. But the screen runs Echelon's own software and nothing else. You cannot stream Netflix or YouTube on it, so if the app is misbehaving you are stuck.

And the app is the most common complaint by a distance. Across expert reviews and owner feedback you see the same themes: videos freezing partway through a class, background music cutting out, and some classes simply failing to load. Bluetooth pairing with heart-rate straps and tablets is reported as flaky for some users, and data export to platforms like Strava and Garmin is limited, so this is not a bike for the metrics obsessive who lives in third-party apps. None of this makes the bike unusable, and plenty of people ride it happily for years, but it is the single biggest reason the EX-5s sits below the very best connected bikes rather than alongside them.

You also need to factor the subscription into the real cost. The bike comes with a short free trial, but after that the screen is mostly a dashboard without a Premier membership at roughly £29.99 a month (cheaper if you prepay a one or two-year plan). One upside worth knowing: a single membership can cover several users in a household, so a couple or family shares one fee. If you are weighing this against rivals, our best smart exercise bike UK guide lays out how the EX-5s compares on price, screen and subscription, and the wider exercise bikes hub covers non-connected options if you would rather skip a monthly fee entirely.

Value

At about £1,349 plus a monthly membership, the EX-5s is not cheap, but it does undercut a fully loaded Peloton while offering a comparable big-screen, class-led experience. Whether it is good value comes down to one question: will you use the classes? If you will, the hardware is strong enough that the bike justifies the spend and the app annoyances become something you tolerate. If you only half-believe you will subscribe, look hard at a screen-free bike (the Echelon EX-5 without the touchscreen, or a simpler model paired with a tablet) and put the saved money toward whatever app you actually enjoy. For broader options across budgets, our exercise bikes hub is the place to start.