Exercise bike recommendations

Joined
Feb 5, 2014
Messages
1,335
Location
Tulsa Ok
Some very nice set ups. I have something else on the big screen and lap top running Rouvey. I only road zwift a few times and well hated the video game feel of the virtual roads. There race and training stuff is supposed to be vey good. I MUCH prefer the real roads videos of Rouvey. Try a few and see which you like best
I have not heard of Rouvey. We have been looking at trainer road and a few others just to change it up. I'll look into it. Thanks.

the few races I have done have been cool, but so many people sandbag. I am a big guy so I suck on hills. My ftp is ok at like 260 but I just get hammered on any ride with significant climbing. On the flats however..... :)
 
Joined
Feb 23, 2018
Messages
514
Location
CO
My wife and I picked up a spin bike (not sure the brand, but it's a pretty decent one) that a guy my aunt works with was throwing out, he barely used it. I swapped out the pedals for some with clips off amazon, and bought us each a pair of shoes. We just bought the peloton app, I believe its ~$14/month, and we downloaded that app to a firestick that we hooked up to an old ~30" tv in our guest bed room. It's pretty handy to be able to jump on and do cardio in the house. My father in law has a peloton, it really is nice, but I cant justify the cost difference, our pieced together system works pretty well.
 

MidwestElkHutner

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 6, 2017
Messages
102
Location
MO
My wife has the peleton, I would say it is a well built piece of equipment and she gets plenty of use out of it. But it is definitely geared towards the spin class enthusiast. I have been using my road bike on a smart trainer for the last couple of years using zwift. Primarily during the winter months as I ride outdoors as much as possible. I started with a Saris wheel on smart trainer. The ride was pretty comfortable, and having zwift control the resistance was a game changer in an interactive experience. Anyone who has spent a fair amount of time cycling indoors understands that. For Christmas, I upgraded to a wahoo kickr V5 turbo trainer and the experience is even better. I plan on picking up a rocker plate just over the summer and my indoor setup will be complete. I have gotten my wife to start doing more zwift rides then spending time on the peleton, and her outdoor riding ability has improved ten fold with zwift over peleton.
 

Coop12

FNG
Joined
Sep 23, 2021
Messages
21
I bought a Bowflex C6 bike a couple years ago. My wife mainly uses it and has really enjoyed it. It was affordable at less than $1k and uses her iPad Pro with the Peloton App. They now make more advanced models but we wanted one that wasn’t reliant on an application to function.


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Joined
Apr 16, 2019
Messages
525
We have an Echelon bike at our house. I think we got it on sale on for around $500. It came with 3 free months of spin cycle classes that my wife loves, and now we have a subscription for the classes. I use it almost 3 days a week too. If you like a screen you can hook it up to your TV or your phone. It’s the best stationary bike we found for the price. Amazon or Walmart sells them.
 

hunt1up

WKR
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Messages
1,622
Location
Central Illinois
I'll be another to tout the smart trainer annd Swift. I have a Cycle-ops wheel-on smart trainer. I forget the model, maybe an M2? The wheel-off trainers are more accurate but more expensive. The wheel-on model seems to work excellent though. The real time resistance changes and inclines seem very realistic.

My wife wanted a stationary bike but we didn't want to pay the high monthly prices for the Peloton subscription. I did the deep dive innto bike research, much like I do with hunting stuff. If you look for used stuff you can get some killer deals on gym quality bikes that are lightly used. I ended up finding a Lemond Revmaster Pro. I want to say I paid like $400 for it and it was cherry. My wife added an ipad mount and there's tons of subscription based programs out there. You can run Peloton on an i-pad if you want the same programs.
 

Muzzy48

FNG
Joined
Feb 29, 2020
Messages
41
I’ve been looking for some options too but never realized they made these smart trainers with all these apps. I was like the OP and looking for cheaper but quality exercise bikes to train during the winter months. My concern was getting a spin cycle that is too cheap though and not having enough resistance to suit my needs. Can anyone speak on spin cycles? Is the resistance of 30-35lb flywheel pretty substantial? Idk how that compares to normally riding a bike or an expensive gym bike. I bought a Trek Marlin 6 MTB this summer. How would that work on these smart trainers being that they are geared differently than road bikes? Sorry, not trying to highjack the OP’s thread.
 
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bradb

WKR
Joined
Jan 8, 2013
Messages
963
I know my trainer can be at enough watts that I sure as hell can't make the pedals go around! I am running a single in the front and have the reality set at 70% in Rouvy so I can ride more of the mountain routes with out grinding a 50 cadence
 

Muzzy48

FNG
Joined
Feb 29, 2020
Messages
41
i meant in regards to a spin cycle as far there being enough resistance but thanks for the info.

I edited the earlier post to help maybe clarify things. Thanks.
 
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bpurtz

WKR
Joined
Jan 22, 2016
Messages
480
I know you said Exercise Bike, but maybe consider a Concept2 erg?

My wife was on the crew team at OSU and when my youngest son decided to try out for the team we bought an erg - it can be a pretty darn good workout...
 
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Joined
May 26, 2015
Messages
68
Rogue Echo bike. Mt. biking is a full body sport not just legs so you should train accordingly. You wont need 30 min. on the Rogue to get a good workout.
 

Hicksy

FNG
Joined
Feb 18, 2022
Messages
18
I mount my road bike to a Wahoo Kicker. Much better than a peloton which I also have.
 
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