I became a big soul cycle patron when they opened close to my house this past winter. I have a number of friends in NY who are devoted followers to their classes. I noticed that once soul cycle entered the market several cycling studios opened in Boston, and with the exception of Flywheel all were homegrown creations. I decided that I would try out all of these spinning course offerings in the Boston area to determine if Soul cycle is an experience that can be easily replicated.

I found a number of gyms with stylish and clean studios sprinkled through out heavily trafficked areas of greater Boston.  Each studio was equipped with trendy playlists pumping out the motivational popular music that kept the class participant engaged for 45 minutes to an hour. But thats pretty much where the similarities ended. What was missing from the other studios that soul cycle provided was an uplifting motivational experience that enabled me to center my mind and body in a similar manner that yoga allowed me to. What I also found was that the quality of the instruction was far superior too. All of the cycling studios had the same type of moves that they called out during the routines. The difference was how the soul instructor was able to make the routines and moves simple to understand and easier to execute during the session.

Soul Cycle's competitive advantage is that they are able to deliver the cycling experience better than any of the competing studios enabling Soul to demand as much as $10 per class more than there counterparts and limit the need to spend on marketing as they have an evangelical customer base who recruits new devotees for them.

Take away: create an easily adaptable, spiritually uplifting, results oriented fitness experience that can be deployed in multiple major metropolitan markets.