Exercise Bike Buyer's Guide
Cheap Exercise Bikes UK - Discounted Exercise Cycle Equipment - British Retailers of Discount Exercise Bikes at the Cheapest Prices
How Much Should I Expect To Pay?
The cost of exercise cycles varies depending on your requirements. Entry level exercise bikes can be bought for under £150 but you will only get the very basic static bike and little else.
Mid-price exercise bikes will cost anywhere from £150-£350 and should come with smoother, silent operation, magnetic resistance as opposed to a belt and flywheel set-up, heart rate monitor and several built-in fitness programs on a programmable console.
Top of the range exercise cyles can set you back £400 and over and should give you all the bells and whistles as well as a longer warrantee for parts and labour costs!
The consideration should always be to buy what you can afford but always remembering you get what you pay for - a super cheap model is great value if it does what you require...if not, then it will be the most expensive clothes horse you ever bought.
Baby Got Back...
...or in other words, try looking for a model with a nice, plump seat! If you are going to be sat there for an hour a day it'd better be comfortable.
In addition, there are two styles of seating position:
Upright Exercise Bikes - The traditional style of seating as if you were riding a normal bike. These allow you to treat the stationary exercise cycle as if it were a normal, out-and-about moutain bike kinda thing as opposed to an indoor exercise bicycle. You can stand up on the pedals and really go for it as you would if pushing it hard on the open road.
Recumbent Exercise Bikes.- The recumbant bikes are different and may feel strange to people used to frequently riding normal outdoor bikes. The recumbent models actually put the rider in a more reclined position which is kinder on the back and spine and offers a more comfortable workout
Which of these you choose is a matter of personal preference. There are pros and cons of each although for most home users the recumbent models seem to be the most popular. Be sure to find a model with adjustable seating and handlebars though to ensure you will be comfortable using it and other members of the household(if any) can adjust it to their needs..
Resistance Is Futile!
Well, actually resistance is everything or else you would just be free-wheeling it and gaining next to nothing from your workout. again there are two main ways in which exercise bike manufacturers provide resistance to increase or decrease the intensity of your workout:
Tension Belt - The least desirable option which is generally only seen on the least expensive models. The old-school belt-and-wheel exercise cycle is basically a nylon belt which can be tightened up or slackened off around the drive wheel. They are noisy and if you decide to up the ante during a workout you need to jump off the bike, make tension adjustments and jump back on again.
Magentic Resistance - The best exercise bikes, those in the medium to high price range, feature magentic resistance rather than mechanical belts. This method results in an exercise bike which is much quieter and pleasurable to use. Magnetic resistance can be adjusted using the control panel meaning there is no need to break your routine to raise or lower the intensity of your workout and on the better models, programmable routines can alter this automatically to add variety to your workout or to work in conjunction with heart monitors to keep your heart rate in the desired range.
Beam Me Up Scotty
Exercise Bike control panel options, feedback and features vary wildly across the price bands, makes and models.
The least expensive models may have no control panel at all which is a big reason to steer clear of them. Lack of feedback or variety is a big reason why people get bored and quit exercise routines and you don't want to be pounding away with a stopwatch around your neck to keep time, two fingers taking your pulse whilst counting the pedal revolutions to estimate distance travelled now do you?!
The better entry level exercise bikes and lower-medium range cycles may give feedback on time, distance and provide a few programmable routines. Check out what control panel options they do offer and decide whether it's enough or lacking something you would like before making the purchase.
If you have ever seen one of the control panels on the more expensive models it can be a bit like looking at the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. However, do not fear, if you are a technophobe as they are typicaly quite user friendly. These models tend to have a bucketload of useful and not-so-useful options and loads of programmable and pre-programmed routines to play with.
The choices are up to you, but for serious exercise routines look for things like programmable exercise routines to keep it interesting, heart rate monitoring and feedback control and a nice LED display to keep you informed of your current progress in terms of time, distance and speed.
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