Cycling is coming to Wall Street.

SoulCycle, the high-end indoor cycling chain, filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on Thursday in hopes of raising as much as $100m. The New York-based company, which has 38 studios across the US, didn’t specify how many shares it plans to offer or at what price.

As the IPO approached, the main question potential investors will be asking is: how many Americans are willing to pay $35 to ride a bike in a dimly lit room for 45 minutes while being yelled at? Will the cult that is SoulCycle grow beyond Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York?

“We do not have a target demographic because at SoulCycle, ANYONE can be an Athlete, a Legend, a Warrior, a Renegade or a Rockstar,” the company wrote in its filing with the SEC. “It is the place people come, regardless of their age, athletic ability, size, shape, profession or personality, to connect with their best selves.”

Even as SoulCycle might try to reassure potential investors that the “journey” that is a SoulCycle class is for everyone, that is not exactly true.

For the most part, customers are professional and aged 25 to 50, according to Ellen Yates, 53, who has been a fitness instructor for more than 30 years and has owned studios for over 20 years. Currently, she is a president of N2Shape and owns a cycling studio in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia.

“You have to convince people that they can do it and that is is not too difficult,” she said about cycling. “Otherwise they feel that it is only for athletes. This is not true. It is for all shapes, sizes and ages. I even have a spinning class for seniors.”

Yates got into cycling in the early 2000s when it first became popular. Then the interest died down, but now it is back – mainly thanks to SoulCycle.

“They helped create the resurgence of spinning. It helps the entire industry,” she explained.

This is especially true for independent studios that have been able to open in areas where SoulCycle has yet to expand. Boutique fitness studios offering cycling, yoga and other classes are the fastest-growing part of the gym industry, according to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, and they made up 21% of the fitness industry in 2013. Independent studios can also adjust their classes and prices to the needs of their clientele and appeal to particular demographics.

Appealing to older users might be more difficult for SoulCycle, which has been described as “nightclub with bikes” with its curated playlists and candle-lit studios. Additionally, its classes cost about $34 a pop – the first ride is $20 – which might make it difficult to appeal to consumers in lower-income brackets.

“They’ll attract someone that’s more affluent because they have set their prices at $34,” explained Yates, adding that SoulCycle is better suited for urban areas where demand for cycling studios is high and potential members might be willing to pay more to join.

To figure out just how affluent some of the SoulCycle’s members are, consider this: 50 Hamptons SuperSoul classes cost $4,000. That’s about $80 a class, which includes priority on waitlist and concierge service. The price tag of the classes automatically narrows down the pool of potential SoulCycle users.

In 2014, the average cost of US gym membership was about $41 a month. Certain gyms also offer cycling classes at no cost to their members.

“The truth is, they’re really not that expensive,” Julie Rice, one of the founders, told the Wall Street Journal in 2013. “A cocktail in New York can cost $16 or $17, so we always tell people that it’s the same as inexpensive personal training or the price of two cocktails.”

The problem? These kind of price comparisons only hold up in cities where cocktails do cost $16. SoulCycle, which plans to open as many as 250 studios across the US, is not unaware of the challenges it faces. In its filing for an IPO, the company admitted that failure to expand into other markets is one of its biggest risks.

“[O]ur studios in the New York metropolitan area and in and around Los Angeles and San Francisco generated approximately 95% of our revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 97% of our revenues for the year ended December 31, 2014,” the filing said.

SoulCycle earned $25.3m in 2014, up 42% from 2013. Its revenue was $112m in 2014, up 49% from the previous year. SoulCycle can also claim almost one million rides in the first quarter of 2015. During the first three months of the year, the company held 25,641 classes and about 10,378 people attended a class on daily basis.

In 2014, studio fees accounted for 83% of its revenues. The rest came from the $54 T-shirts, $78 sweat pants and $58 tote bags sold within the studio, all stamped with the SoulCycle logo.

Bill Pryor, owner of CycleBar, a 10-year-old cycling studio near Boston, plans to capitalize on the increased interest in cycling. Pryor, who also runs Spynergy Consulting that works with studio startups, got together a group of partners earlier this year and turned CycleBar into a franchise. Business Insider described CycleBar as SoulCycle’s biggest threat.

According to Pryor, SoulCycle brand “oozes with exclusivity” and there is market demand for a more affordable cycling option.

“One of the reasons we launched CycleBar Franchising is because we believe an affordable model that is well executed can work in many markets. We have sold over 100 franchise units to date in 22 states, the first ones will start opening in the fall of this year,” Pryor said, pointing out that SoulCycle had only 38 locations as of March.

‘Pack. Tribe. Community’

The rapid growth and rise in popularity have led to an overload of customers – a problem each company wants to have – and the creation of waitlists and premium memberships for those willing to pay. As SoulCycle has entered the spotlight, so has its culture and the devotion among its loyal fans, which has been described as cult-like.

The company’s IPO filing played into that portrayal by disclosing details like the fact that aspiring cycling instructors attend training known as “Soul University” and lines like:

• “We are a ‘culture of yes’.”
  
• “Our mission is to bring Soul to the people.”
  
• “The experience is tribal. It is primal.”

If there is any doubt about the cultish popularity of cycling, just look to how it has permeated through to popular culture. Earlier this year, an entire episode of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt focused on cycling culture.

“SpiritCycle is a cult. It’s just another cult,” Kimmy declares while trapped under a stationary cycling bike in her living room. Kimmy, the main character of the Netflix series, had just emerged from an underground bunker where she was kept for 15 years. “Why does this keep happening? What’s wrong with me?!”

There is nothing wrong with Kimmy. Americans have long been looking for exercise regimens that would make them happy, less stressed and thin. As for the cult-like devotion within SoulCycle, there is no need for a real-life Kimmy Schmidt “spintervention”.

“Eventually, just like CrossFit, it will die down,” said Yates. According to her, other group exercises, such as zumba, have had similar surges in popularity.

This is exactly why Yates is unlikely to invest in SoulCycle once it goes public. Cycling – as the new American organized group exercise – could just be a fad.

That is not to say that there won’t be a small, dedicated customer base for this type of exercise. It just means that growing – something that public companies have to do – could be much harder to do.