‘Project Tinman:’ How Peloton Planned to Conceal Rust on Its Fancy Exercise Bikes

Peloton has faced a number of crises in recent months, now the company is facing yet another as details of a plan to conceal the internal corrosion of exercise machines referred to internally as “Project Tinman,” are made public. One outraged employee who came forward said: “It was the single driving factor in my beginning stages of hatred for the company that I had spent the previous year and a half falling in love with.”

Breitbart News has reported extensively on the issues that exercise bike maker Peloton has faced in recent months. The Financial Times now reports that Peloton is facing yet another scandal as details of the company’s plans to conceal the internal rusting of its exercise bikes components are made public. In September of 2021, staff at Peloton warehouses noticed that some of the company’s high-end exercise bikes manufactured in Taiwan had paint flaking off in certain areas.

The cause of this was a build-up of rust on “non-visible parts” of the expensive bikes such as the inner frame of the seat and handlebars. Peloton has claimed that this does not affect the integrity or usability of the equipment, but given that the bikes cost between $1,495 and $2,495 as well as an additional $250 setup fee, many customers would be unhappy to discover their exercise equipment was rusting away.

Peloton then allegedly undertook a program to hide this rusting from consumers, dubbed internally as “Project Tinman.” Eight current and former Peloton employees across four states in the U.S. have revealed details about the plan which they described as a nationwide effort to avoid another costly recall just months after a child died due to the design of the company’s treadmill.

The Financial Times reports that internal documents reveal that the “standard operating procedures” for corrosion were to use a chemical solution called “rust converter” which conceals corrosion by reacting “with the rust to form a black layer.” This does not fix the issue but rather conceals it.

Insiders were reportedly angered about this move as they felt that it was at odds with Peloton’s previous claims of focusing on user experience and making its customers — which the company called “members” — feel as if they are part of a larger community.

One outbound team lead who inspects products before they are shipped to customers stated: “It was the single driving factor in my beginning stages of hatred for the company that I had spent the previous year and a half falling in love with.”

Peloton stated that the issue affected at least 6,000 of its exercise bikes and that 120 staff members had undertaken “rigorous testing” on the bikes and concluded that the rust had “no impact on a bike’s performance, quality, durability, reliability, or the overall member experience.”

Read more at the Financial Times here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com