Amazon Prime Bike Confusion: Amazon now says it has nothing to do with Echelon’s $500 ‘Peloton Killer’; Bans the bike from its marketplace

Yesterday we wrote about the new Amazon Prime Bike after the announcement that the eCommerce giant unveiled a low-budget alternative that was priced at just $499. Shares of Peloton plunged immediately after the news. The news about the launch was also covered by major online media outlets. Such a deal seemed almost too good to be true with many on YouTube started to compare Prime Bike to Peleton Bike.

Now, it turns out that Amazon was not involved in the new Echelon Bike. Business Insider reported Wednesday morning that the “Echelon” “Prime Bike” that went on sale Tuesday isn’t “an Amazon product or related to Amazon Prime”, citing a statement from the company. As a result, Amazon has removed the product from its online store (it had become available “exclusively to ‘Prime’ customers”.

Amazon later banned the $500 “Prime Bike” from its marketplace saying it has no formal connection to the product. What’s also interesting about the ongoing drama is that the Prime Bike is virtually identical to the $499 exercise bike Echelon sells on Walmart. Strangely enough, Echelon said in a press release that the bike had been developed “in collaboration with Amazon.” The company told Forbes on Wednesday that Echelon “does not have a formal partnership with Amazon.”

“We are working with Echelon to clarify this in its communications, stop the sale of the product, and change the product branding,” Amazon added.

The original press release has now been deleted from PR Newswire. The EX-P bike is marked as “currently unavailable” and the “Prime” name has apparently been removed from the listing. The press release for the Prime Bike clearly states that the product is “Amazon’s first-ever connected fitness product.” The release also quotes president and CEO of Echelon Fitness, Lou Lentine, boasting about the companies’ work together.

“We were built on the idea of attainable fitness for everyone. The Prime Bike was developed in collaboration with Amazon, aiming to create an amazing, connected bike for less than $500 and it’s proven to be a phenomenal match,” said Lentine. “Amazon looking to us to partner on their first-ever connected fitness product is recognition of our commitment to deliver quality at a reasonable price-point as reflected in our explosive growth over the last year.”