Flywheel to open new location in Dubai

The spinning craze is about to heat up the Persian Gulf.

Flywheel — the New York-based chain of indoor-cycling studios whose regulars include Katie Couric, Jimmy Fallon and Sofia Vergara — is set to open a new location in Dubai, The Post has learned.

The Mideast spinning salon will mark Flywheel’s first overseas location following a fresh round of financing this spring. Recent investors include handbag magnate Lew Frankfort, the chairman of Coach, whose youngest daughter Alana is a fanatical spinner.

Flywheel, which aims to more than double its revenue this year to $20 million, plans to add more locations in Europe and Asia beginning next year, said co-founder and President Jay Galluzzo.

But the company was persuaded to launch its overseas expansion in Dubai by a coterie of investors in the desert commercial hub, he said.

“Dubai is extremely warm — exercising outdoors is pretty much unheard of,” Galluzzo told The Post, noting that afternoons in the Mideast commercial capital regularly top 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

The air-conditioned, 4,500 square-foot studio, which is looking to draw locals, expats and tourists, will open in July in a trendy neighborhood that’s in the shadow of Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.

Flywheel’s Dubai studio marks a fresh challenge to bitter New York spinning rival Soul Cycle — a sweatbox for celebs like Brooke Shields and Jake Gyllenhaal that was acquired last year by gym giant Equinox, and where Flywheel co-founder Ruth Zukerman formerly had been an instructor and co-founder.

Last week, Flywheel opened a new studio in Seattle — the chain’s 12th location nationwide since it was founded in February 2010.

As with Dubai, weather was a factor in picking the location, according to Galluzzo.

“Seattle is interesting because it’s raining all the time, so the idea of exercising indoors is a draw,” Galluzzo said.