Buy Exercise Bikes from Europe's No. 1 for home fitness

Exercise bikes – important facts

Exercise bikes, also known as stationary bicycles, have long been a favourite of home fitness equipment. This is largely due to their simplicity and familiarity; ‘It’s like riding a bicycle’ is a way to describe something a person can learn once and virtually never forget. Nevertheless, there are many slight differences between models. It’s therefore important to know what to look for when selecting the right exercise bike for you. All too often, a piece of fitness equipment ends up collecting dust or acting as a clothing rack. In this buyer’s guide, we hope to inform you about the differences between exercise bikes so you can find a perfect bike for your needs and goals that you will actually use.

Ride your bike – whenever you want

Let’s start with the benefits of a stationary bike, so you can tell if an exercise bike is the right category of fitness equipment for you. If at the end you aren’t convinced, then maybe have a look at our guides to treadmills or cross trainers to see if they’d be a better match.

There are a few advantages to using an exercise bike no matter a person’s age, fitness level or training goals. One of these is their accessibility: There is little training required to learn how to use a stationary bike, and the risk of injury is exceptionally low. Wearing a helmet is purely a fashion choice. Nearly anyone can sit on an exercise bike and pedal their way to an effective cardiovascular or fat-burning workout or even train for a race.

A few sessions per week on an exercise bike can greatly improve one’s health and general fitness and result in weight loss. And exercising while sitting down is very comfortable and easier on your joints than jogging. Many physical therapy programmes are designed around the use of a stationary bike for this reason.

Another benefit of using an exercise bike is the ability to set watt-precise resistance settings. This allows you to accurately measure and control the amount of effort you’re putting into your workout.

Upright or recumbent exercise bike?

The first major decision when it comes to selecting an exercise bike is: standard upright or recumbent? The standard exercise bike is much like a typical stationary bike – the saddle, pedals and handlebars are all where you’d expect them to be.

Recumbent exercise bikes, on the other hand, are built different. The pedals are not located under the seat but instead are out in front. The seat is set further back and lower with a backrest in an upright or slightly reclined position. This position is more comfortable and especially good for persons with back issues. Even though the position looks more “relaxed”, the exercise is equally as effective and intense as on a conventional upright exercise bike. The user’s legs, lungs and heart have to pump just as hard, but the minimal effort of supporting one’s own back and torso are slightly elevated thanks to the backrest. Our recumbent bikes have their own category in our webshop.

Seat adjustment

Your new exercise bike should have an adjustable seat, and the finer the adjustment options, the better! Please check if the height adjustments include a scale or number system so you can note your preferred seat height and quickly readjust it if the bike is used by multiple people. The adjustment mechanisms should be relatively simple, e.g. with an tightening screw or lever. For an ideal seating position, the saddle should also be horizontally adjustable, i.e. the distance between the saddle and the handlebars.

Saddle

The saddle/seat should be large enough for anyone exercising on the bike to sit on it comfortably. Gel seats offer the most comfort. Many exercise bikes use conventional bicycle seat attachments, so you can easily swap seats. If you don’t like the saddle, you can find a new one at a local bike shop or maybe use the exact same model as on your road bike. Different users might prefer different seats: one person may like a large, thickly padded seat for comfort whereas another wants to use their racing saddle.

Easy to mount with a lower frame and body

In the meantime, indoor exercise bikes have evolved from their outdoor counterparts to make it easier to take a sea. There is usually a large opening between the pedals and handlebar mast, meaning a user doesn’t have to swing their leg over the top tube of a bicycle frame. For people with mobility issues, this can be a must-have feature, but virtually all users can appreciate being able to easily mount and dismount an exercise bike.

Heart rate controls

Exercise bikes are great for losing weight. To make the fat-burning effect as effective as possible, users should invest in a device with the ability to monitor their heart rate. Heart rate controls have the advantage that you can set a target pulse range. Exercising within a certain range can optimise certain effects on your body, and some machines can adjust the resistance settings to keep you in your preferred heart rate range. For example, within 60 to 70% of a user’s maximum heart rate, a person can boost the fat-burning potential of their workout. The following table shows which heart rates are best for achieving various fitness goals:

• Intensity
  Training zone
  Training effect
• Intensity: Very light / 50 - 60%
  Training zone: Health zone
  Training effect: Maintains general health
• Intensity: Light / 60 - 70%
  Training zone: Fat-burning zone
  Training effect: Activates the metabolising of fat, improves base endurance level
• Intensity: Moderate / 70 - 80%
  Training zone: Aerobic training / fitness zone
  Training effect: Improves aerobic fitness, increases endurance performance
• Intensity: Intense / 80 - 90%
  Training zone: Anaerobes Training / Anaerobic zone
  Training effect: Improves lactate threshold, training to improve maximum overall performance
• Intensity: Maximum / 90 - 100%
  Training zone: Maximum training / competitive zone
  Training effect: Improves absolute maximum performance and top speed

Safety when using an exercise bike

It’s important to make sure all moving parts are covered with their inteded cladding (especially the drive system belt). This prevents anything from being caught or pinched. The cladding also minimises dust, soiling and sweat from interfering with the sensitive electronics inside the stationary bike. The cladding also serves a structural purpose by adding to the overall rigidity of the bike. We test the stability of every exercise bike: You can see these test results for each exercise bike and also read our assessment of the equipment features, ergonomic comfort and smoothness of the ride to help you compare machines.

Resistance settings and training programmes

Exercise programmes offer you more variety and help with achieving your fitness goals more effectively. You don’t necessarily need a lot of different exercise programmes; this is often a matter of preference. But all exercise bikes should be capable of displaying exercise performance output measured in watts. [For simpler machines without a watt display, see the exercycles category.] This is a general requirement for high-quality, A-Class exercise bikes, i.e. “cycle ergometers”, according to European norms and standards (EN 957-1). We recommend that you select a bike with at least one programme for improving your performance based on heart rate measurements, one for interval training, the ability to set a custom user-defined programme and a small selection of pre-configured hill sections. This helps you mix up your workout to keep it feeling fresh to make sure you are at least maintaining a good level of fitness if not using the options to increase your athletic performance. The training computer should be simple enough for all members of a household to use it. If multiple family members want to use an exercise bike, it’s good to check if the computer can save multiple sets of training data so each person can have their own user profile and individually save and monitor their progress.

Comfort

An ergonomic design can minimise fatigue and prevent injuries from repetitive strain or bad posture. Details like the adjustability of the saddle and handlebars, a low entry height, the pedal space (Q-factor) and general construction can determine if a stationary bike is a good fit for you and other users. You can see our rating of the ergonomics for various exercise bikes in our webshop. You’re also welcome to visit any of our stores and test out a variety of models in our showrooms to test out what features are most important to you.

The handlebars

The more grip options a stationary bike has to offer, the better. First of all, this means more users are likely to find a grip position that personally suits them. Secondly, you can change up your grip to avoid fatigue. Make sure to check if the handlebars are covered by comfortable, slip-resistant materials. Seat adjustments are the main factor in finding a comfortable riding position, but it’s also good when handlebars can be tilted or have vertical and horizontal adjustment options.

The feeling while training on an exercise bike

Closely related to the comfort while sitting on the bike is the quality of how it feels to pedal it. An exercise bike should provide a good concentric run, and this depends on a number of factors including the worksmanship and quality of the materials. We have ridden all the bikes and rated the “Smoothness of Rotation”.

Flywheel mass

We often get questions about the weight of the flywheels on the exercise bikes, and we feel it’s important to say that the flywheel mass alone is not as crucial as it may seem. Much more important is the overall construction and quality of the braking system. A large flywheel can be a sign of a good stationary bike, but it should not be the decisive factor.

Any other questions? – We are happy to provide advice!

We hope we were able to offer you some assistance in this buyer’s guide about exercise bikes. If you still have any questions, feel free to call us on our free Service Hotline or write us an E-Mail. If you’d like to test ride some of our exercise bikes, you are more than welcome to visit one of our many Shops and compare what we have in our showroom!

Alternatives to an exercise bike

Aside from a recumbent bike, you may also be interested in an indoor cycle or an exercycle or mini-cycle.
‘Exercycles’ here is used to refer to the predecessors of the modern “cycle ergometer” exercise bike. Our exercycle product category refers to any pedalled stationary fitness equipment of the accuracy classes B & C, simply put: they lack watt measurements. Class A is reserved for “ergometers” that can accurately measure the work (Greek: érgon) output by the human body. The construction of our exercycles can be very similar to our other upright and recumbent bikes or drastically simplified for portability, e.g. a set of pedals that can fit under a desk.
Indoor cycles are a particularly sporty type of stationary bike that more closely resembles a road bike. These bikes are popular among cycling enthusiasts and for group courses. The resistance can be set significantly higher, and they often include features aimed at recreating a realistic cycling experience.

A mix between a cross trainer and an exercise bike

The Taurus Ergo-X is an example of an air bike that combines features of an elliptical cross trainer and an exercise bike with a fan system. Air-resistance is a conveniently suitable option for any fitness level where pedalling and/or working the handles faster = more resistance. However, it may be important to consider the noise level and if this may bother family members or nearby residents in an apartment building. This style of stationary bike is a great option for getting an effective full-body workout that activates both your legs and arms.

5 good reasons to purchase an exercise bike

To cap everything off, we will summarise the most important advantages of exercise bikes:

• Exercise regardless of weather conditions at any time of the day.
• Stationary bikes are relatively compact to save space.
• They are simple, safe and fun to use.
• Resistance is accurately measured in watts.
• Exercise bikes are very accessible – nearly anyone can hop on and pedal their way to a healthier lifestyle!