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Do you want to know more about exercise bikes and help in choosing the one that is the best fit for you on your fitness journey? Or maybe you would you like to know more about a particular one?
It can be confusing,
There is more than one type and a wide range of prices and features.
Our site is dedicated to providing the most comprehensive exercise bike reviews online and help educate visitors on the bikes to make it easier to choose the one that is best for you.
Whether you want one to add more exercise or burn calories to help with weight loss goals through to being someone who is a serious athlete we spend the time needed to fully investigate each bike so everything is laid out simply for you.
Exercise bikes have been a mainstay of fitness for a long time. You’ve probably seen them being used at a gym.
Now they can be an affordable and a popular option to get fit at home.
With good reason.
They are great way to get a low impact cardio workout and help you meet your personal fitness goals from burning calories to getting or staying in peak shape. You are mostly work out the lower part of your body.
The 3 main styles of exercise bike indoor cycling, recumbent and upright.
You can find reviews for each of these styles under the reviews tab in the menu at top of the site and additional explanations about each bike type under the buying advice tab. There is a drop down to take you to the information and review.
The compare tab in the menu provides a list of bikes with a summary of each bike. You can easily compare the features of all the bikes. There are links to the full review for more information on each of the bikes.
If you want to know more about a specific bike or information about a feature please use the search bar
The Styles and Their Benefits
Indoor Cycling Bikes
Also called spin bike (spin bikes are a brand of indoor cycle from the company that first developed them) – are the bikes that provide the closest experience to riding an outdoor bike. They can be used by people wanting to train indoors, as well as high intense spinning type workouts. The Peloton bike is probably the most known of these bikes.
They have a bike seat and a large wheel at the front (usually) called a flywheel that provides much of the feel of the road bike. You sit upright and lean forward to hold the handlebars at the front of the bike.
There are more holding positions so you can get a better range of training than on a road bike. This all makes them ideal for training over winter for serious road cyclists but they’re just not for them.
They don’t have to be used for those type of workouts they can be used successfully for low intensity workouts designed to keep you moving or to burn calories.
The extras are limited at the affordable end and often don’t include a basic console.
You can start off slow with them and build up to where you are pushing up the intensity (resistance and speed) and making the pedaling harder by turning up the resistance and get out of the seat as you would when riding a road bike up a hill. There are a wide range of workouts you can find online to help you get started.
Read more about these bikes in our guide here
Recumbent
These have a different seat arrangement. The seat is more padded and larger (generally) and has a back rest to provide more support to your back. You sit back into the seat.
The pedals are out in front of you. This provides more comfort and also less impact on the joints. They are often recommended for people who are looking at rehabilitation. They are often used for lighter forms of exercise as you might want in injury recovery but you can also get an intense workout enough to get your heart up and a get a good sweat on. They are good for lower body exercise, calorie burning and cardio workouts, or even training.
Some people find they can pedal for longer at higher intensity than when they sit upright so they get a better cardio workout. The sitting position can also help to reduce the possibility of back and neck pain for some people.
The bikes generally come with more extras and as you move up the price range you can have fans, speakers and pre-programmed workouts.
For more information on what to look for read our guide here
Upright
These are the more traditional style of bike also commonly known as stationary. You have a seat similar to a bike seat but often larger and more comfy but usually without a back rest. You sit upright like you would on an outdoor bike and all the exercise is done seated.They’re not designed for standing on the pedals.
Some of the more expensive bikes provide you with the ability for tough workouts.
These bikes are good for lower body exercising, burning calories and cardio workout. You can also get good training in for cycling too, if you don’t want the bike feel that you have with indoor cycles (and don’t want to stand on pedals). You can get more extras with this bike similar to recumbent with built in speakers and training programs.
For more details read our buying guide here
Within Upright there are couple of style of bikes that have specific features that can cater for people who want something more:
1. If you are looking for something that is big on space saving:
Folding – these are for those who want to exercise but also don’t have much space to store a bike when it isn’t being used. They can be real space savers. They are similar to the traditional upright bike (you sit upright) but have an X-frame so they can be folded up and put away in a closet when you’ve finished working out.
They are designed for lighter workouts but can help with weight management and generally getting more movement in your life.
There are that allow you to exercise in a position halfway between recumbent and upright known as semi-recumbent with a back rest.
Read more here: Folding Bikes Better Than The Gym
2. You want a bike where you can exercise your upper body too:
Air or Fan – (Known by both although Air is the more popular way to describe now) these can provide you with some of the most intense workouts. But you can do light cardio workouts too. There is fan at front of the bike and the faster you pedal the harder resistance as pushes through the air. They also come with handlebars that you move back and forth. These are great for working lower and upper body. They’re great for overall fitness, burning calories and if you want high intense cardio workouts. This intensity is a reason why they are a favorite with CrossFit.
The advantage with using air for resistance is that it can be gentle as you want or as tough as you want – it can scale up or down with your fitness levels and/or reason for your exercise.
Check out guide to Air Bikes Here
Thanks again for stopping by and we hope you find our site useful in finding the bike you want.