Indoor exercise

Tony Ward said:

Looking for some advice on stationary bike vs spinning bike and would be very grateful for some guidance as there seems to be a lot of choice out there.

Bit of background first to set context. 38 year old, male, 6' 5" (196cm) 14 stone (196 pounds, 89 kilos) used to be competitive rower. Married 4 young kids looking to fit some training in around work and family life. My wife would also like to use the same machine (about a foot/ 30cm shorter). Neither of us are looking to use this as preparation for cycle racing but as general exercise equipment

Rowing machines are easy: 90% of serious rowers at all levels will use either the Concept 2 (the one you see in most gyms) or the Rowperfect. Both use a wind-resistance flywheel so as you pull harder it gets harder. Cycling seems a bit trickier....

Having searched the forum a bit there seems to be a choice between:

rollers/ trainers - clearly seem preferred by competitive cyclists but not ideal for ease of use for myself or my wife to just jump on for half an hour.

"exercise bikes" - seem to have electronic measurement, watts, etc. but questions over quality, geometry, etc.

"spinning bikes" - better set up/ "feel" but not very good for measurability of performance.

Is there a robust machine that will fit all, provide reasonably realistic increases in resistance in return for increase in effort and a high degree of measurability of output?

Thanks in advace for any help.

Tony Ward

How much are you willing to spend? I bought a cycle ops indoor bike for $1700. It has a power meter, flywheel, adjusts to fit most if not all, and "feels" like a real bike. Not to mention it isn't clunky and weighs like truck like other exercise bikes.

Rollers/Trainers are preferred by people who already have bikes since they are cheap, there are no fit issues (assuming your bike fits you already), and during the summer months the bike can be ridden outside. You could get a used bike and a stationary trainer and probably still come out money ahead.

I guess I'm not well versed in the differences between a spinning bike and an exercise bike, so I'm afraid I'm no help there. I will say that watts readouts, etc. aren't particularly important if you're just looking to keep in shape a bit, although the programmed course profiles are kinda fun sometimes.

One thought from a fit standpoint might be to look for something with adjustable crank lengths since there is such a size difference between you and your wife.

SketchySmurf said:

How much are you willing to spend? I bought a cycle ops indoor bike for $1700. It has a power meter, flywheel, adjusts to fit most if not all, and "feels" like a real bike. Not to mention it isn't clunky and weighs like truck like other exercise bikes.

Thanks. I've seen this on the web and it looks like a good piece of kit. However, as you say, it is $1700. Quite a lot for the sort of use I am looking at. Is there anything cheaper that people would recommend - say up to about 500 GBP or $850 USD?

A set of rollers (Krietler) for easy days to prefect technique, and a high quality resistance trainer (Kurt, or a 1up) and invest in a library of Spinervals and “closet train” until you are riding like a madman on the loose, worked like magic for me a couple of years ago when work and weather kept me off the street. Being able to ride hard being dead white with no tan marks will throw more than a few people off… LOL

H

frenchyge said:

Rollers/Trainers are preferred by people who already have bikes since they are cheap, there are no fit issues (assuming your bike fits you already), and during the summer months the bike can be ridden outside. You could get a used bike and a stationary trainer and probably still come out money ahead.

I guess I'm not well versed in the differences between a spinning bike and an exercise bike, so I'm afraid I'm no help there. I will say that watts readouts, etc. aren't particularly important if you're just looking to keep in shape a bit, although the programmed course profiles are kinda fun sometimes.

One thought from a fit standpoint might be to look for something with adjustable crank lengths since there is such a size difference between you and your wife.

Thanks. I agree that watts are not really important for staying in shape. I am, unfortunately, however a slave to measurability. Years of staring at the screen on the Concept 2 (and watching the numbers get steadily worse!) have ingrained that into me. Without knowing whether I am faster than last time, I find it difficult to keep interest.

Sure. I'm with you on the importance of measurability. There are biking computers in the $30-50 range that include rear wheel sensors to provide speed and distance measurements while riding on a trainer. Not trying to sway your decision, just pointing out another option. Good luck.

Tony it's time you popped a Spinerval into the DVD player and just pretented ol' coach Troy is in the room with you...you can measure your workouts by the amount of sweat on the floor if nothing else.

One of the guys in the gym told me you can fit a bike computer to the spinners to give you some measurability. Has anyone tried this? I am still a bit concerned that with a manual resistance system you would not get repeatable results.

Tony Ward said:

One of the guys in the gym told me you can fit a bike computer to the spinners to give you some measurability. Has anyone tried this? I am still a bit concerned that with a manual resistance system you would not get repeatable results.

I have a spinbike (Giant Tempo) and an old cateye astrale with cadence. I hooked up the computer to activate the cadence. It works like magic! The speed part and distance measurement is another thing. You cant use the flywheel to measure speed and distance. A spinbike with cadence during bad weather days are good enough than not having to ride at all. 🙂 🙂

Thanks for that. Why can't you use the flywheel to measure speed and distance? I know it wouldn't correlate to "real cycling" but could you not measure one session to another?

tanggoman said:

I have a spinbike (Giant Tempo) and an old cateye astrale with cadence. I hooked up the computer to activate the cadence. It works like magic! The speed part and distance measurement is another thing. You cant use the flywheel to measure speed and distance. A spinbike with cadence during bad weather days are good enough than not having to ride at all. 🙂 🙂