Cardiovascular training can be a fun and exciting way to enjoy exercise while putting your body in motion. Sometimes, though, nothing quite tops the great indoors. Work out on an exercise bike is very good, and it can satisfy both, allowing for an effective workout from the comfort of your own home. Thanks to updated tech and integrated content, fitness bicycle for home use has become popular in recent years. It represents an accessible alternative to the gym and a hassle-free way of getting rid of those pesky extra pounds. If you have the idea of buying a home fitness bicycle, you will certainly go through various ways to find out about it in order to get the best one. Although you may have seen it advertised on TV, on the Internet and in the newspaper, you will feel a little overwhelmed because of its variety. So choosing a good and suitable fitness bicycle for you is not as easy as you might think. But fortunately, I will list some of the factors to look for when buying a fitness bicycle in the following article. Please continue reading.
1. Comfort
Comfort is key when buying an indoor exercise bike, and a lot of the factors that go into whether it's right for you may boil down to the seat, which needs to feel comfortable when you sit on it. Too hard a seat will cause pain in the tailbone and sometimes numbness in the legs and toes if it’s not comfortable for you to sit on. It’s hard to tell from words like gel, foam, and ergonomic what the seat will actually feel like on your butt, so ask for more details before you buy. If it ends up not being as comfortable as you’d hoped, that’s not a deal breaker—you can buy a seat cushion or even padded cycling shorts to ride comfortably.
2. Stability
It is important to make sure that a fitness bicycle is stable. For safety reasons, comfort reasons, and even noise reasons, you definitely don’t want a fitness bicycle that shifts back and forth as you ride. When you pedal (both sitting and standing out of the saddle) the fitness bicycle should not move. It should stay firmly planted on the floor. If it doesn’t look stable or like it can support your weight, then it may lack durability. Therefore, when you are buying a fitness bicycle, I recommend that you check its weight because the heavier it is, the higher the chance it’s going to be sturdy and stable.
3. Adjustable Seat and Handlebars
A good fitness bicycle should have a seat that adjusts both vertically (up and down) and horizontally (forward and backward). Make sure the seat adjusts in such a way that you can get into proper and most comfortable position on the indoor bike. In addition, a good fitness bicycle should also have handlebars that can be adjustable both up and down and forward and backward. Fully adjustable handlebars to accommodate different arm lengths and personal preferences, as this will allow you to exercise comfortably.
4. Adjustable Resistance
When buying an exercise bike, you will generally find that the cheaper models have fewer resistance levels you can adjust. Adjusting the resistance can make your workout on the fitness bicycle harder or easier. So, if you want to make your workout more challenging, please choose a fitness bicycle with multiple levels of adjustable resistance.
5. Other Features
In addition to the several factors mentioned above, I recommend that you look for other features that meet your goals, such as:
- Ability to Attach a Heart Rate Monitor and Headphones
Connectivity is obviously not essential to a good workout, but it may be on your features wish list. If you’re a person who likes to track your stats, you might want a fitness bicycle that is able to sync with your fitness tracker or heart rate monitor. Bluetooth capability to attach headphones is also a convenient feature on any fitness bicycle that has a built-in video screen, especially if you’re taking a class with roommates around.
- Digital Display
If the indoor exercise bike has an attached video screen, it should also display your stats there. If it doesn’t, look for a small digital tracker that shows your speed, RPM, distance, and watts (or power). While you may not need this, a lot of people want to track their stats. You may also find it helpful during a class, if the instructor uses cues based on reaching a certain RPM or wattage.
- Water Bottle Holder
During you work out on a fitness bicycle, you will inevitably sweat, particularly if you plan on doing lots of high intensity interval workouts. So it is important to drink lots of water and replace any water that you have lost through sweating, which is why a water bottle holder is always a very useful feature that many people look for on a fitness bicycle.
As mentioned above, I have listed for you the five main factors to look for when buying an exercise bike. I hope these will help you make an informed buying decision!
