Looking into maybe buying a stationary bike in the near future. That or the treadmill was pretty much all I ever used when I had a gym membership and based on my cursory price checking buying the bike looks to be cheaper than a two-year gym membership commitment. I don’t know a lot about them though. What sort of stuff should I be looking for as far as features and functions and whatnot? My price range is going to top out at about $500 and I don’t need anything super fancy.
Bike machines are boring as hell. But then so are gyms.
Why not just ride a real bike? I take mine out every day.
Because I don’t want to ride a real bike. I want to ride a stationary bike in my bedroom or living room or wherever it ends up getting situated. Why even post if you’re not going to talk about exercise bikes?
Well. . .one thing you can do is buy a real bike, and buy a “trainer” for it.
That way, at least you have the real bike if you ever do want to ride it. And riding a real bike on a trainer is not worse than riding a specifically designed stationary bike.
You won’t have all the fancy gadgets, but you’ll have a bike.
A trainer is a thing that you clamp the bike into. I know people that spend hundred of hours on theirs each year. Well, “hundreds” may be exaggerating, but “a lot”.
Anyway, for real stationary bikes, I prefer the bicycle-shaped ones as ooposed to the ones you sit in like a chair. The one I’ve used at the gym looks like this. Some people call that a “spinner bike” maybe. I’d look for one that allows you a lot of different arm positions.
In the winter, I ride my bike on rollers – essentially three drums that you balance on.
I have a real bike and an exercise bike, and I usually end up using the exercise bike more. I enjoy “real” biking when I can, but considering that it’s about three degrees outside right now with plenty of snow, it’s nice to have the option of staying in my living room. With the schedule I used to have, I usually wasn’t able to exercise until about 11:30 at night, so it was good for that, too.
Anyway, I bought the cheapest one I could find - a hundred bucks at Sears - and it’s served me well for five years now. I wore through the resistance strap a couple years ago, but amazingly, Sears’ website allowed me to figure out the part number for the strap and order a replacement for five bucks, which I installed myself with a not unreasonable amount of swearing and anger. I’m going to go use it right now, as it happens.
I bought a Schwinn in August. I, too, thought that I didn’t need “fancy stuff” and ordered the bottom-of-the-line. Two months later, the bike store called to say that Schwinn had discontinued the model I ordered, so they were giving me a complimentary upgrade to the top-of-the-line model (a price differential of about $150). Since I had all the features, I decided I might as well play with them.
And I love them. There are sixteen resistance levels, so I’ve been able to watch myself slowly graduate upwards, as I get stronger and more fit. The bike has a program that will change the resistance to keep your heart rate within a range that you select. It has several programs that simulate real bike rides, which are fun (well… fun in a “stationary exercise equipment” kind of way). It has programs that measure your heart rate recovery, and the power you’re able to put into the bike. In short, it’s sort of interesting.
What I like best is that, unlike on a treadmill or (what I had before) an elliptical machine, your head is staying stationary with regard to the display and reading rack, so you can actually read (or knit, heh) while on the thing. It’s also completely silent so far–a big plus for television watching, and would have been a big plus when I lived in an apartment with unreasonable neighbors below.
The one drawback–the only drawback–is that the seat is darn uncomfortable. It’s been the limiting factor in my workouts so far, because I just can’t stand to sit on the darn thing for more than 30 minutes at a time.
In short, the Schwinn is doing very well for me so far. I like it. I can’t find the model number written on it anywhere, but go to Schwinn’s website and have a look.
How much self discipline do you have? I do two hour sessions watching TV* and a simulated road trip or varied workout would be a distraction, I just try to keep up a decent work rate. I’ve worn out one cheapo excercise bike and replaced it with an old Turnturi found in the classifieds in the local paper. It is completely bare-bones but does the job. The only real drawback is that the flywheel is too light. When this one wears out I’ll get something with a smoother action, and quieter, but I don’t want any computerised gubbins that I won’t use.
To summerise, get something mechanically robust. Do you really need a heart-rate monitor? Will you be watching telly or do you want to do simulated road trips while listening to show tunes? You could do the opposite of my minimalist approach and try spinning which seems to be a whole lifestyle.
- not live TV that would suck, dumb action films work best to keep the old heart-rate up but CSI, Bones and BSG are OK substitutes for when no Arnie films have been on that week
When I was actually working out I had good discipline. I had a gym membership several years ago and dropped 100 pounds in about a year. Then I started working someplace that had a workout room so I dropped the gym membership. When I lost that job I lost some motivation to work out and put some of the weight back on. When I got a new job I joined a different gym and started getting back on track, but (and I know this sounds odd) after Bush got elected in 2004 I went into a depression and could not get motivated. Now I’m feeling both motivated and disgusted with myself for putting more of the weight back on so I’m ready to get back to it. Going to the first gym or to the company workout room orked for me because they were situated on a route home for me. The second gym was out of the way and I kept making stupid excuses not to go. With the bike at home I’ll have no problem clambering up on it for 30 or 60 minutes after work. I don’t need a heart monitor or a scenic road trip screen or whatever, but I do want something with some variable resistance.
Even the cheapest bike will have that, what you get by paying more is a smoother action. I suggest getting something with a substantial flywheel and/or a smooth resistance mechanism.
I guess what I meant by “variable resistance” was the computerized thingie that lets one select different auto-adjusted levels. “Rolling hills” or “gradual incline” and the like. I felt like I did well when I had a chip changing up the effort level.
Some things to watch for…
Type of resistance. I have one that uses magnetic resistance. This is quieter and won’t wear the bands out.
Higher quality bikes provide better workmanship. It sucks to have everything getting lose on you on the bike. Bikes take a lot of stress that works against the nuts, bolts and welds.
I guess I’m saying don’t go for the cheapie. Those are for the people who buy them knowing they will end up being clothes hangers after a couple of months.
In Wisconsin, everyday is not a possibility. Here in the northern midwest our winters last 6 months. I have an recumbent bike ($400 bucks) at home for when I watch TV. It’s easier and allows me to actually watch TV while peddling. It’s self powered too.
We have a pretty cheap ($300) ProForm recumbent bicycle that we’ve had for years. We both really like it, but I find that it aggravates my arthritic hip like crazy. It has programs that do things like increase the resistance while asking you to increase your speed. It used to be quite quiet, but lately it has developed a rumble.
What I like about the recumbent bikes is the comfort. As exercise, though, I don’t think they are nearly as effective as a treadmill (which we also have), and I think I’ve read that they aren’t as good as the upright sort of bike, either, but don’t quote me on that one.
We seem to be the type of people who use exercise equipment. Our machines are in use every day.
Dangit. Forgot my link. The bike isn’t available any longer, but there are probably very similar ones available. Ours came with light weights and the ability to lay the back flat to use as a bench.
I’ve tried recumbent bikes at the gym and didn’t find them very comfortable. The seats always seemed to be too short somehow. I felt like I wasn’t sitting on it securely. Maybe there are ones out there with longer seats than my gym had.
One thing to look for is that the bike should be very adjustable. I’ve used bike at the gym where the seat height was adjustable in 1/2" increments. That’s not good when I make 1/8" adjustments on my real bikes. Seat height, tilt, and fore/aft position should all be adjustable, and the option to change the seat would be good. The same adjustment flexibility should be available at the handlebars. Getting the bike to fit is going to go a long way towards your comfort on the machine.
I have a great Schwinn exercycle that uses a fan blade for resistance. It’s a real bicycle wheel, without the tire, and with sheetmetal paddles fitted to the spokes. There’s a grillwork around it, but it moves plenty of air around which makes riding it cooler. The handles go back and forth, the two sides moving in opposite directions. This thing is pretty heavy and very nicely made, and I think it was around your price point but a few years ago.
I’ve had runs of several years where I’d ride this thing a half hour every morning and it’s been great. I want to get back to it (been dealing with bronchitis). The thing’s great. But it did have a huge wide seat that I replaced with a racing saddle, and I twisted the seat post clamp around to get a more typical upright road bike leg angle.
I’ve used those air resistance bikes before and haven’t been thrilled with them. For whatever reason I find it hard to maintain a consistent pace with them and I don’t like all the wind that goes with them.
I bought my husband this bike for Christmas. It’s affordable but not the bottom-of-the-line bike. I did a lot of reading up on different bikes and reviews, and felt that this suited our needs (4 or so days/week use, needed something with a VERY small footprint, quiet). he likes it a lot and, most importantly, has actually been using it. We had a Nordic Track which did nothing for the past few years besides gather dust and create a hazard for the children, so I really wanted to buy something which would actually get some use.
Oh sure, link me to a cool looking bike that’s not available. Thanks a heap!
Actually, that looks very similar to the bikes I used at the gym and there are some other bikes on the page that have potential.