Purchasing the best exercise bike might be one of the best decisions you make for yourself regarding your fitness. They provide a great workout to up your heart rate and help you burn those calories right from the comfort of your own home. If, for whatever reason, you can’t make it to the gym or out for a ride on your bike, an at-home exercise bike is the perfect piece of equipment to make sure you still get that burn-in.
Also, there is pretty much a bike for every need. If you’re trying to tone your arms, bikes with moving handle help you achieve that. Or, if you have problems with your knees or your back, you can purchase one of the recumbent exercise bikes, as they won’t stress those areas as much.
There are also bikes that you can connect to your fitness trackers, bikes that you can fold away if you only have a small space, and surely, there’s a bike available for whatever your budget may be.
Health Benefits of Exercise Bikes
Riding an exercise bike is a great way to strengthen your muscles, heart, and lungs while burning calories and body fat. Riding a bike is an aerobic or cardiovascular workout. This means that it improves the flow of oxygen and blood through your body, lowers your blood pressure, improves your sleep, memory, and brain functioning, boosts your immune system, improves your mood, and lowers stress levels.
It is also a great way to lose weight and burn body fat. If your workouts are done at a high intensity or in high-intensity intervals, combining this with a low-calorie diet can help you lose weight because you can burn more than 600 calories an hour. The key to losing weight is burning more calories than you consume.
The best exercise bikes provide a low-impact workout compared to other forms of cardio. It is a great option for people with injuries as it strengthens muscles and joints using the smooth motions of cycling instead of jumping or running.
The pedaling motion of cycling helps build strength in your hamstrings, quadriceps, and calves while also working on your back, core, and glutes. Also, if you have a bike with handles, you can work your upper body out as well. All in all, it is a great workout to strengthen your lower body, especially if you use high resistance.
Finally, a stationary exercise bike is safer than a road bike. While biking outdoors is a great workout, road or weather conditions can be hazardous and not very motivating. But with an indoor exercise bike, you can do your exercise from the safety and comfort of your home (or wherever you choose).
Best Exercise Bikes
The best exercise bikes are designed to help you up to your cardio and improve your mobility from the comfort of your home. Whether you’re looking for an affordable bike or a high-end one, or you are training for a competition or just trying to stay fit, we’ve prepared a list of the best exercise bikes to help you find what best suits your needs.
Sunny Health & Fitness Indoor Cycle Bike
Amazon’s Choice
Price: $277.73
This is a solid and sturdy stationary bike. It has a 49-pound weighted flywheel and a steel frame that can carry 275 pounds. It has an adjustable seat and caged pedals with clips to hold your feet in the right position.
This bike mimics the feel of riding on the road due to its leather band resistance system. This Sunny Health & Fitness bike doesn’t come with a screen, but it does come with a bottle holder, and you can assemble the bike within 10 minutes.
This exercise bike provides a quiet and comfy ride. The downside, however, is that if you are on the shorter side, you may find it a bit uncomfortable. Also, the lack of a screen means that self-motivation will need to be your driving force. Still, it is a great beginner-friendly bike that won’t break the bank.
Pros
- Affordable
- Quiet
- Good resistance
Cons
- It may is not the best for shorter people.
Yosuda Indoor Stationary Cycling Bike
#1 Best Seller
Price: $299.99
The Yosuda Indoor Stationary Bike is one of the best value exercise bikes. Despite its reasonable price, it is still a high-quality option. The YB001 model doesn’t offer as many features as some higher-end brands, but its solid build and design make it a great riding experience.
The biggest disadvantage of this bike is that it does not monitor your cadence. This feature helps you to follow along more accurately to workout classes. If, however, you are the type that likes to work out at your own pace, this may be the perfect bike for you.
Pros
- Provides great stability
- Affordable
- It comes with a spare brake pad
Cons
- Not the best for shorter people
- Cadence measurement is not available
Freebeat XBike
#1 Best Seller
Price: $299.99
This exercise bike is designed to turn your workout into a fun game. On the large screen with the device, you can join workouts that vary from 15-30 minutes in length. Instead of just rotating your legs, the class members compete to see who can stay on beat the longest.
The longer you can cycle on the beat, the faster you’ll climb the leaderboard.
As if that isn’t enough, the bike comes with space to store your weights so that you can easily take part in their strength workouts. And the rotating screen on the bike makes it that much easier to do the workouts that don’t involve the bike.
Pros
- Easy to assemble
- It makes working out more fun
- The screen rotates for off-bike workouts
Cons
- Requires membership
Exerpeutic Folding Magnetic Upright Bike
Price: $143.99
This folding exercise bike is a great option if you live in a smaller space. It doesn’t take up too much room when in storage. This bike can support a weight of up to 300 pounds, even though it can fold down to half its size.
Its large cushioned seat is adjustable, and the LCD shows speed, time, distance, calories burned, and much more. Not to mention the fact that you can adjust the tension to reduce or increase the intensity of your workout.
Pros
- Solid build
- Small footprint
- Quiet motion
Cons
- Not truly upright
NordicTrack S22i
Amazon’s Choice
Price: $1499.00
The NordicTrack Commercial S22i Studio Cycle is a great alternative to the Peloton. It has many great features, like the magnetic resistance, making the bike one of the quieter options on the list. Also, it comes with access to the brand’s iFit classes, where the instructors can adjust the resistance on your bike from a distance, taking more control of the workout.
Pros
- Good range of classes
- Relatively compact
- Silent magnetic resistance
- Relatively cheap subscription
Cons
- Is not foldable
MYX Fitness Bike
Price: $1599.00
The MYX Fitness bike is the best alternative to the Peloton for people who want exceptional quality but don’t want to pay as high as the Pelotons. This bike is also better for people who prefer personalized experiences to classes.
Pros
- High-quality build
- Rotating touchscreen display
- Much cheaper than the Peloton
Cons
- Training services can be improved.
Bowflex VeloCore Bike
Amazon’s Choice
Price: $1699.99
Even though this bike is expensive, certain features like the Lean Mode, its large display, and its unique design make it a viable alternative to the Peloton. Also, the side-to-side motion of the lean model will help work out your midsection.
Pros
- Flexible platform
- More affordable subscription
- More interesting rides with the Lean Mode feature
Cons
- No live classes
- Expensive
- Relatively heavier and bulkier.
Is an Exercise Bike Better than a Treadmill?
The most popular cardio exercise equipment is the stationary exercise bike and the treadmill. They are found all over fitness studios, commercial gyms, and even home gyms, as they are a great option for an indoor cardio workout.
A treadmill provides a means for you to walk and run indoors, while a stationary bike allows you to cycle indoors. While both have their unique advantages and disadvantages, when it comes to burning calories, neither has a significant advantage over the other, especially during shorter workout sessions. It all depends on the intensity and length of the workout.
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Conclusion
Stationary exercise bikes are no doubt a great addition to your home gym. It is safe to say that an exercise bike is a good place to start if you’re considering home workout equipment, as these bikes feature several functionalities to help you as you get on your fitness journey.
