Exercise Bikes Guide

If you are interested to purchase an exercise bike, don't get baffled. You can simply go through these guidelines patiently.  All your possible queries that may come to your mind are answered and what most crucial features you should anticipate in an exercise bike, are explained here. After reading these tips, you should be able to decide on the right type of bike, which will accommodate your all needs.

The exercise bike needs to be comfortable while using. It may sound something ridiculous, but it is a necessity. Many people ignore this fact and just purchase an exercise bike considering the price only. At he same time, you should be able to make adequate adjustments on it so that you can sit and workout comfortably as required by you. It makes sense to say that your exercise bike must be comfortable to sit and work unlike a treadmill and elliptical trainer where you have to stand. You will have to sit on the exercise bike for a  long workout session while you maneuver it. For this reason, the comfort is a very crucial factor.

When you go to purchase an exercise bike, be particularly firm about the adjustability of seat and handle bars to accommodate you body. You should examine the seating options intimately.

The exercise bikes have generally two types of adjustment options for seating:

Recumbent Exercise Bikes:

Two types of Exercise bikes are commonly available in the market. One is Recumbent Exercise Bike. It has more comfortable seat as compared to the other type Upright Bike. The rider can sit in a more at ease position. It gives you comfort on butt and back in a right way when you ride Recumbent bike. A Recumbent bike is more suitable for those who are not in proper physical shape and have a bad posture.

Upright Exercise Bikes:

However, the upright bike has its own other benefits. These bikes have seats similar to the conventional touring bikes where you can crank the bike more intensely by just standing on the pedals. You get more physical exertion this way. The Upright bike needs lesser space to keep.

Those riders who do not have much fancy for bikes can ride on Recumbent bike more comfortably and easily and will prefer to use this type of exercise bike regularly.

Type of Resistance and Operation:

Different types of adjustable resistances are usually provided on the exercise bikes. The cheaper bikes are fitted with a tension belt; mid price range of bikes have a magnetic resistance.  The eddy current type of magnetic resistance is smooth and most suitable and durable as well, but it costs more. It will be preferable, if you get your bike with eddy current type magnetic resistance, provided you can pay the price.

If you have decided on a magnetic resistance type of bike, you should get a bike provided with a push button or an electronic resistance control. This way you will not need to struggle with so many knobs to vary the resistance when you are exercising.

Monitor for Heart Rate:

You normally get different types of heart rate monitors on exercise bikes. Cheap exercise bikes mostly do not have any control for heart rate on them.  Mid price ranged exercise bike may have either pulse grip type  heart rate control or a wireless type heart rate control.

You should prefer the wireless heart rate control of the type as provided on Ignite 746 model of recumbent bikes.  This type of heart control monitor gives very accurate measurements.

There are high quality expensive bike models which are provided with the heart rate controlled programmed workouts and the resistance of bike is itself automatically adjusted to match the targeted heart rates.

Display Console with Built-in Workouts:

Medium and high end quality exercise bikes are equipped with small LED displays or Full Screen LCD readouts to display heart rate, distance, time, speed, work out mode, etc.

There are either no displays on cheaper bikes or whatever displays are available are inadequate. There are no in-built  workout programs.  It is better if you can avert buying a cheap exercise bike. It will not provide any feed back data on display and you will soon be bored and start disliking it and lose your motivation.

You can not find much choice of display consoles on the exercise bikes falling between $ 300 and $600 price range.

There is a nice display console provided on Schwinn 213 exercise bike. It generates lot of feedback about heart rate, distance, time and calories burnt by you. You can view the display comfortably and keep a proper track of your workouts.

High end exercise bikes have their own charm as they ddisplayy everything you need with maximum details on a LED display console. They are provided with minimum ten in built work out programs.

Prices and Quality :

If you think it is possible to buy an almost good exercise bike for 100 bucks, you are really mistaken.  You may be able to get an inexpensive exercise bike looking good in Walmart and Costco store, but it is not really worth buying and will be a waste.

If you are searching a reasonably good exercise bike, it will not cost less than $300. Even after paying so much, you will not be able to get a good bike to your entire satisfaction.

A mid range good exercise bike comparable to Schwinn make will range between $300 and $500. This quality of bike will be noiseless and will have magnetic resistance. In addition it will be provided with a quite comfortable seat, a built in work outs and a good heart rate monitor.

You can purchase a high end exercise bike priced above $600. With this price you will get push button control with eddy current type magnetic resistance control, latest LED display console, pulse driven workouts, an adjustable seat, adjustable handlebars and a bundle of built in programs for workouts.