Indoor Cycling Studio Break-Even: About $42K Monthly Revenue

Fixed costs $34.9K/mo Salaries + overhead

Contribution margin 83% After variable costs

Break-even revenue $42.0K/mo Monthly target

Break-even timing Month 1 Model break-even

Break-even calculator

Test monthly revenue, variable expenses, and fixed costs against break-even for an indoor cycling studio.

Lean Base Full

Monthly revenue Revenue sets the pool available to cover variable and fixed costs. $ Low sales Strong sales Variable expenses Direct costs like instructor pay, card fees, and studio supplies rise with sales. $ Tight costs Higher costs

Money available to cover fixed costs $44,187 $51,625 revenue - $7,438 variable expenses

Margin ratio

86%

Covers fixed costs

Yes

Fixed monthly costs This is the monthly overhead base contribution margin must cover. $ Lean overhead Heavy overhead

Break-even chart Revenue Total costs

Which indoor cycling studio expenses are fixed, and which move with sales?

Cost classification

Break-even gets cleaner when rent, payroll, and software stay fixed while class-linked wages, fees, and supplies move with revenue. Misclassifying one large line can make Month 1 break-even look safer than it is.

Expense	Cost	Break-Even Treatment	Common Mistake
Studio Lease ($10,000/month)	Fixed	Include the full monthly lease in fixed overhead.	Spreading rent by rider count and hiding occupancy risk.
Utilities ($1,200/month)	Fixed	Treat as fixed in this model’s monthly planning range.	Forgetting it may become semi-variable if studio hours expand.
Cleaning & Maintenance ($1,500/month)	Fixed	Include as fixed overhead for the current schedule.	Missing higher cleaning needs if class volume rises sharply.
Studio Manager salary ($5,000/month)	Fixed	Include the full recurring salary before testing class volume.	Counting manager pay only after the studio fills classes.
Front Desk Staff (about $2,917/month)	Fixed	Use first-year staffing as fixed monthly labor.	Ignoring later FTE increases as the studio scales.
Instructor Wages (8.0% of revenue)	Variable	Deduct from revenue before calculating contribution margin.	Modeling class delivery labor as fixed payroll only.
Credit Card Fees & Music Licensing (3.5% of revenue)	Variable	Apply as a sales-linked expense in break-even math.	Leaving payment and licensing drag out of margin.
Locker Room Supplies (1.5% of revenue)	Variable	Scale with member and drop-in activity.	Treating towels and amenities as a flat monthly line.

How does break-even change as occupancy rises from lean to full in an indoor cycling studio?

Scenario table

Higher occupancy and more billable days lift revenue faster than variable costs, so the studio moves from a deep loss to a small profit. The break-even line sits between base and full, and pre-sold memberships plus rent coverage do most of the work.

These are planning assumptions, not guarantees, and actual break-even will move with fill rates, class mix, and labor use.

Scenario	Monthly Revenue	Variable Costs	Fixed Costs	CM Ratio	Operating Profit	Break-Even Signal
Lean launch	$21,000	$3,570	$34,850	83.0%	-$17,420	Loss is about $17.4k a month, so this launch is far from break-even.
Base case	$34,900	$5,480	$36,308	84.3%	-$6,889	Loss narrows to about $6.9k, so it is still short of break-even.
Full utilization	$51,625	$7,434	$38,183	85.6%	$6,008	Profit turns positive by about $6.0k, so break-even is cleared here.

What breaks the break-even plan for an indoor cycling studio?

Stress test

The plan is tight. At about $42,000 in monthly revenue, a 10% sales miss, a 10% jump in fixed costs, or variable expenses rising from 17% to 22% can erase the cushion fast.

Stress Case	Changed Assumption	Break-Even Revenue	Revenue Gap	Risk Signal
Current plan	No change.	$42,000	$0 cushion	No cushion; any miss hurts quickly.
Revenue shortfall	Monthly revenue falls 10% from plan.	$42,000	$3,476 gap	Weak peak-hour fill can turn into a loss.
Fixed-cost pressure	Fixed costs rise 10% to $38,335 per month.	$46,187	$4,187 gap	Rent or staffing creep lifts break-even fast.
Margin pressure	Variable expenses rise from 17% to 22% of revenue.	$44,679	$2,679 gap	Discounting, coverage, and fees squeeze margin.
Combined pressure	Revenue falls 10%, fixed costs rise 10%, and variable expenses rise to 22%.	$46,651	$8,851 gap	Small misses plus cost creep erase the cushion.

Can this studio cover break-even before you sign the lease?

Founder checklist

Not yet, unless pre-sales and opening-month bookings can lift planned first-year monthly revenue from $21K toward the $34.85K fixed load and close the $42K target. Lock the lease, bikes, and hires only after demand, occupancy, and cash all hold in the same model.

1Pre-sold demand$42K/mo

Pre-sell enough memberships to reach the $42K revenue target before you commit to the lease, or break-even depends on hope.

2Fixed load$34.85K/mo

Test the $10K rent inside the full monthly fixed load, because revenue has to cover payroll, utilities, software, and overhead from day one.

3Variable margin17.0% var.

Keep variable costs near 17.0% of revenue, with instructor wages at 8.0%, so each class still throws off enough margin to pay fixed costs.

4Occupancy ramp40%→70%

Build a peak-hour schedule first, then add classes as occupancy moves from 40% toward 70%; hiring ahead of demand will lift payroll before revenue.

5Cash floor$882K

Hold the $882K minimum cash shown in Month 2, since build-out, bikes, and early losses land before the studio reaches steady sales.

6Launch build$218K

Fund the full $218K pre-opening capex for build-out, bikes, A/V, locker rooms, launch marketing, booking setup, and furniture before day one.