Exercise Bike - recommend me a good one

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Batman

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#126977 25-Jul-2013 17:50

It's the time of the month again and I have an itch that won't go away ... I want to buy a bike that I can ride while I watch my hours and hours of tv at night ...

Problem is - they range from $99 to over a grand!

I have narrowed down to spin bike and magnetic resistance (upright not recumbent)

I only want to pay the cheapest for the best experience. If only I live in Chch or AKL I can go into the no1fitness warehouse but I can't - so maybe someone can tell me which is good.

I went to elitefitness - the cheapest magnetic resistance pulses away like mad ... the smoothest magnetic resistance is $499

No1fitness stuff generally are around 30-40% cheaper - or so it seems.
- i'm looking at VA-500, Ni-trac7 pro 6000 for magnetic resistance
- not sure which spin bike is good

I have a feeling I'll get the spin bike, but I know nothing about them. I am a keen cyclist :(

I don't expect anyone to be able to assist but hey ... you never know :D

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#866049 25-Jul-2013 17:53

if you already have a bike buy a wind trainer off trademe then all the exercise you do is on the right bike.

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#866097 25-Jul-2013 18:43

hmm im in ChCh, have a exer bike unused and potentially for sale. shame. (its belt tension).
Also have a couple mountain bikes too.

scuwp

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#866100 25-Jul-2013 18:47

+1 for the wind trainer idea. Otherwise why not hire one for a few months. Hire places we have around home often have deals on ex hire models, or offset the rental on a new one if you decide to buy.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

tukapa1

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#867158 27-Jul-2013 19:04

joker97: It's the time of the month again and I have an itch that won't go away ... I want to buy a bike that I can ride while I watch my hours and hours of tv at night ...

Problem is - they range from $99 to over a grand!

I have narrowed down to spin bike and magnetic resistance (upright not recumbent)

I only want to pay the cheapest for the best experience. If only I live in Chch or AKL I can go into the no1fitness warehouse but I can't - so maybe someone can tell me which is good.

I went to elitefitness - the cheapest magnetic resistance pulses away like mad ... the smoothest magnetic resistance is $499

No1fitness stuff generally are around 30-40% cheaper - or so it seems.
- i'm looking at VA-500, Ni-trac7 pro 6000 for magnetic resistance
- not sure which spin bike is good

I have a feeling I'll get the spin bike, but I know nothing about them. I am a keen cyclist :(

I don't expect anyone to be able to assist but hey ... you never know :D

I've bought a heap of gear over the years from both Elite Fitness and No1 Fitness for our work gym. Both suppliers have provided excellent gear at good prices. I have found myself purchasing from No1 fitness more often as their prices are sharper (just spent over $3k a few weeks ago).

I have bought a spin bike form Elite a coupe of years ago - they no longer have that model on their website however. It was belt driven and has taken a small hammering in our work gym and it still goes well.

My advice is to keep away from chain driven models. Pay the extra for a belt driven model. You will regret going for a cheaper chain driven spin bike in the long run. The belt driven models are smoother and quieter and more representative of an actual road ride than the chain driven. Especially if you plan on watching TV while exercising the noise of the chain driven will get distracting.

From those two sites I wouldn't go any lower than this or this so you're looking at least $749. Either of those two will do you well.

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#867213 27-Jul-2013 20:51

thanks for that. do you have any experience with the magnetic bikes i'm looking at va-500 or the ni-trac7 6000 pro?

tukapa1

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#867227 27-Jul-2013 22:10

joker97: thanks for that. do you have any experience with the magnetic bikes i'm looking at va-500 or the ni-trac7 6000 pro?

Totally different beasts. We have had both magnetic and belt driven spin bikes in our work gym.

The spin bike gives more of a 'real world' cycle work out. The magnetic is a basic exercycle workout. They are quite different in use.

If you haven't tried both I would suggest going into a local store and trying them out. Failing that do a casual visit to a local gym with both and put them through their paces.

If you are a cyclist who rides a real bike then the general consensus is go for a belt driven spin bike.

If you just want to do a cardio warm-up before other exercise or a half hour cardio session etc then maybe a magnetic is all you need.

In practice you will get a far better work out on the spin bike (providing you use the same effort on both styles of bike).

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#867228 27-Jul-2013 22:13

hmm ... back to the shop to try the spin bike then!

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#867231 27-Jul-2013 22:33

by the way thanks to those who recommended wind trainers - firstly I have little kids and I don't want to store the bike while they're in the lounge the whole day and then set it up at night (if I leave my bike on it the baby will bite the bike chain, the pre-schooler will remove every bolt he can find and the primary kid will destroy the trainer ...

but very tempting though ...

might go magnetic in the end due to costs and quietness (I'm trying to imagine watching tv with the squeaking leather pad)

tukapa1

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#867257 27-Jul-2013 23:59

joker97: by the way thanks to those who recommended wind trainers - firstly I have little kids and I don't want to store the bike while they're in the lounge the whole day and then set it up at night (if I leave my bike on it the baby will bite the bike chain, the pre-schooler will remove every bolt he can find and the primary kid will destroy the trainer ...

but very tempting though ...

might go magnetic in the end due to costs and quietness (I'm trying to imagine watching tv with the squeaking leather pad)

If you have an elite fitness near you I would recommend going in and trying the Elite Force-SX Pro Spin Bike before making your decision. The spin bikes we have used are very quiet.

I think if you are a keen cyclist then you will be disappointed with a magnetic.

However, if your budget can't stretch to $749 then I guess that decision is already made for you!

Good luck.

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#867281 28-Jul-2013 08:34

which type has lower maintainence / lasts longer?

tukapa1

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#867288 28-Jul-2013 09:00

Definitely the spin bike. They have a solid flywheel which is belt driven, no electronics and are much more able to deal with the sweat that tends to follow a hard work out.

The magnetic exercycles have many more components to go wrong and we have had to do maintenance on all the magnetics we had in our gym, but never on the spin bike.

We no longer have a magnetic bike as our members voted overwhelmingly to stick with the spin bike instead.

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#867290 28-Jul-2013 09:06

thanks ... :D

Satch

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#867792 29-Jul-2013 12:59

I had the VA-500 from No 1 Fitness and found it to be a piece of crap. The pedal straps kept breaking which was quite dangerous when you were cycling fast-ish. Then one of the solid plastic pedals snapped underfoot and threw my leg flying mid cycle. I took this up with No 1 Fitness who were completely unwilling to accept a flaw with the bike. Despite telling them I was not a world champion cyclist, they insisted I was cycling too fast!

My girlfriend ended up buying me one of these from Elite http://www.elitefitness.co.nz/Proform-300-ZLX-Exercycle/P1531/2704 for Christmas. A much better bike (albeit 3-4x the cost) with none of the issues of the VA-500. I did have an issue with the bike early on and they send me replacement parts at no cost and no questions asked. The bike is a lot more solid than the VA-500. You get what you pay for I guess.

I use the bike most weeknights after work and watch TV while I am cycling. It is very quiet and I have no issues hearing the TV over the cycle.

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#867798 29-Jul-2013 13:06

hmm same price as the suggested spin bike ...

i have in fact tried the proform 300 at elite fitness - very smooth and quiet.

i am wondering about the ni-trac7 but i guess it'll be the same issues *sigh

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#867799 29-Jul-2013 13:11

joker97: i am wondering about the ni-trac7 but i guess it'll be the same issues *sigh

I may just have got a shonky bike, but the service I received when trying to rectify it was enough to make me want to ditch it.

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