Exercise Bike Thoughts!?

[TBaySimon]

I've been weighing up options on exercise bikes to help me through winter, basically to stop my fitness dropping. Exercise is both physically and mentally a help to me. At 63 it is becoming that bit more challenging though in the last couple of years I'd say I'm probably at the fittest I've been and want to keep it that way... for as long as I can.

I've ruled out the likes of Kickr Core and Tacx Neo, well I think I have!! I don't have a spare road bike to use and I'm not one for faffing, if I have to swap it about no matter how easy I know that I'll more than likely end up not using it. I know winter is more than likely going to indoors but I do like getting out when conditions permit.

The Stages SB20 is the one that I keep thinking looks good quality and better value than some though I do question whether or not I need power meters. I don't use them on my road bike and don't feel like I'm missing out. Some times it is easy to be attracted to all the bells and whistles. I do want to use some form of software to keep me engaged. As I understand it I would still get estimated power values which are 5-7% accurate rather than 1-1.5% accurate.

Really I want to exercise and I'm not a racer, nor never will be a data analyst.

What have others bought and what has been your experience of quality, reliability and service needs? I'm happy to spend £1800 but at the same time if I can do it for less than £1k I'd be happier.

Thanks in advance for any of your thoughts.

Simon

[ed.lazda]

I would definitely recommend one with a power meter. Connect up to Fulgaz or Zwift and your indoor riding experience is much more realistic -- worlds away from the traditional approach of getting bored while spinning away staring at a brick wall. I have a Kickr bike which I think is great. It's a bit outside your budget; I don't know about the second hand market for these.

Another recommendation: think about it as going for a bike ride indoors, not as doing training or a workout. Fulgaz in particular is based on filmed rides, and once you get into it you can almost imagine you're doing the ride for real.

[oaklec]

I've been using Zwift with a Zwift smart trainer and I'm impressed.

It's one of the smart trainers where the rear wheel of the bike is removed. Having a route to look at on a screen, with other riders live on the screen as well is so much better than using my non smart trainer.

Regarding the power meter, zwift somehow calculates power using speed and the course you are riding plus rider weight. I don't know how accurate it is but I find it really useful when cycling because after a few rides I worked out I could sustain x Watts for an hour ish, so if I see I'm riding at a much lower power then I know I'm slacking off and if I'm at a much higher wattage I won't be able to sustain it.

My set up is smart trainer, bike with rear wheel removed, laptop / trainer table (£50 from planetx), laptop (ipad would work fine) and an internet connection.

Any cheap bike will work fine, the only consideration is that the gear shifters on the bike need to match the cassette on the smart trainer.

The Zwift subscription is £13 per month, I'm getting my moneys worth by using it 3 times per week. It's enabled me to cycle more than I usually would because I would usually avoid peak traffic times and bad weather but neither of those things are revelant to a smart trainer

[VinceLedge]

If you bought a smart direct drive ( no rear wheel needed) trainer and a cheap 2nd hand bike or frame - you only need the gear changers, no brakes or rear wheel it would come in well under £1k and save you faffing about with your road bike.

[TBaySimon]

Sorry for the late reply, it has been a busy day (cycling and entertaining)!

Thanks for the informative replies, reading/hearing other peoples experiences and thoughts does help me. It is good to read about your setups.

Thanks again.

Simon

[Pendodave]

I went through the same thought exercise last year - 3 months of indoors cycling from Dec thru Feb.
Ended up joining the local gym. Cost about £100 (it's an LA facility). Decent bikes, other equipment available for general strength training, free showers, no sweat to clear up, no kit clogging up the house for the rest of the year. Might be worth considering.

[TBaySimon]

Thanks @Pendodave that's something I never considered! The local authority gym is 1 mile away from me, I'll go and have a look later.

I've never been a gym person so this may be a daft question and I know everywhere will be different but in your experience are generally able to access them when you want? Any down sides or questions I should ask when I go to look?

Thanks

Simon

[JohnI]

One thing I can't understand is why good quality exercise bikes (e.g. Kickr bike) are more expensive than a basic road bike plus a smart trainer (e.g. Kickr core). With the latter setup it almost feels as if you get a bike that can be used outside if you want to for 'free'. I do tend to use my road bike on the trainer in the winter, but I have a tourer and MTB which are more practical for actual cycling at that time of year. I used to go on a Wattbike in a gym near where I was working but I prefer the home setup - I'm not sure how many gym bikes can be linked to Zwift (or similar) and that's the thing that makes a big difference for me. The whole experience is quite immersive.

[Jupestar]

I went through the same thought process a couple of years ago.

In the end I decided to go with a smart trainer and a old bike frame (matching my main bike) and minimum bits.

The main plus for me was that if something went wrong I was more likely to be able to fix it, and I know where I am with cassettes, chains and chainrings. I really run my old parts into the ground on it..

Same as you no way I wanted t the faff of swapping in, especially as IMO you do want the bike very clean before you put it on.

Also it's much easier to pack away when I need too.

The main downside I have, is my wife wants to use it now and she had a difference size bike. Something that a indoor trainer would have been easy to solve.

For her it's no problem to swap he bike in (she just tells me to do it). Which means I use it much less as of her bike is in it I can't be bothered.

I think.of I was going for a exercise bike I might look at a subscription. just in case something went wrong with it.

[Mick F]

Having used an exercise bike in the RN on ships to keep me cycle-fit whilst at sea, I can see their value.
The only complaint is that they are boring in the extreme.

The best thing I bought for the winters at home, was a set of rollers.
Place them in a doorway, climb on and hold yourself with your elbows on the doorframe, and then pedal!

It takes some practice and you have to find the right gear. The faster your wheels turn, the easier it is to balance.
You have to concentrate to stay on!

Ease up, and you'll wobble. It's like pedalling up a hill and the higher the gear the steeper the hill.
I could only manage 15mins at a time, and I fitted a wheel magnet computer to see my speed. 20mph was a good one.
15mins, have a rest and a sit down, then another 15mins = ten miles total UPHILL.
I managed four repeats once = 20miles.

Exercise bikes, no.
Rollers, yes.

[Pendodave]

Thanks @Pendodave that's something I never considered! The local authority gym is 1 mile away from me, I'll go and have a look later.

I've never been a gym person so this may be a daft question and I know everywhere will be different but in your experience are generally able to access them when you want? Any down sides or questions I should ask when I go to look?

Thanks

Simon

At my council gym, the "proper" exercise bikes (wattbikes) were almost never used. The smarter looking ones with posh screens are busier. Neither are as busy as the running and cross training machines.
Time of day can obviously be an issue, but I work shifts.
I checked with reception about payments/cancellations - I'm sure everywhere has different rules about it.
Most places would let you have a look around or taster session before parting with cash.
Obviously has plusses and minuses compared to a home setup. Personal circumstances will determine how they both stack up.

[JohnI]

At my council gym, the "proper" exercise bikes (wattbikes) were almost never used. The smarter looking ones with posh screens are busier.

Yes, I've noticed that as well. I think the original Wattbikes looked a bit basic compared to the other types, but the advantage is that they're easier to setup like a real bike (saddle height etc) and you get power numbers (the clue's in the name) so they're more aimed at people who already cycle and want to do a structured indoor session. The newer models have more bells and whistles and are 'smart' but I don't know how common they are in gyms. One advantage of my indoor setup is that apart from being 'smart' I'm using my own bike so I don't need to make any adjustments to riding position before I start.

[Audax67]

For the lump of cash those things cost I'd rather buy a Decathlon road or gravel bike + a Tacx or similar. That way you have a spare real bike for when the other's getting fixed or whatever rather than a piece of kit that I, in any case, would grow to detest. Exercise bike = all the pain and none of the pleasure as far as I'm concerned.

Caveat: make sure bike is compatible with Tacx. My carbon butterfly isn't. My turbo bike is a Y2K MBK alu bumbasher.

[TBaySimon]

Thanks again for the replies.

I went to the gym and it was pretty packed full of old codgers (like me but probably a bit older) on doctor referral. They had 5 exercise bikes (can't remember the make) of which only one was being used, which pleased me as... no waiting to use one of this was typical.

But then the shear number of people in the place put me off, I've had COVID twice and I'm happy to avoid having it again.

Value could probably work out ok but convenience and flexibility wouldn't be as good.

Overall, I'm not quite feeling the gym membership route.

I'll take another look at additional road bike and trainer.

Thanks again and it was definitely a worthwhile thought about the gym route.

[cyclop]

After a hospital foul up/error/oversight,call it what you will,my wife needs me to be home for the time being,not sure for how long.Thus I,m confined to my turbo,a basic trainer I,ve had for years with resistance using the bikes gearing,more than enough for my needs.A pal,on the other hand ,does 65% of his riding on an indoor setup with all the gizmo,s,quite structured.Depending how long term my wifes problems are,I may well invest in something similar.