spin bikes (aka spinning cycle or group cycle)

<posted & mailed>

Quoted message said:

Dear All,
I am a student at Staffordshire University, studying a
BA(Hons) in Product Design. For my final year I am going to be
designing a new spin bike (aka spinning cycle or group cycle), but at
the moment my knowledge is limited.

Usenet is probably not where you want to go with questions like this. If
you really are serious in undertaking a qualitative survey on problems with
spinning bikes, I would recommend that you get in touch with a health club
which offers these classes. Tell them that you are a researcher, and see
if you can't speak to people who actually use these machines.

Alternatively, you could do something revolutionary for a product designer
and actually USE the product you are attempting to design--why not join a
spinning class yourself? It will give you immediate and personal insight
into the machine.

But then, ride a real bicycle: you'll see it's much more fun.

-Luigi

Quoted message said:

Dear All,
I am a student at Staffordshire University, studying a
BA(Hons) in Product Design. For my final year I am going to be
designing a new spin bike (aka spinning cycle or group cycle), but at
the moment my knowledge is limited. Who better to ask, than people who
are into fitness or cyclists? So in my investigation I was told to use
the Google Groups for help. In my research I will be looking at
existing Spin bikes. So if people could reply with problems that have
occurred when using the bikes, I would be very grateful. An example of
this could be sitting on the bike, paddling, or the general style. This
would be a great help to me and vital research for the project.

Thank you for your time and hope to hear from people, soon.

I think UseNet is a fine resource to get *ideas* about different
designs. My health club has a maintenance contract for all their
equipment and I'm sure a company that does that kind of work could tell
you what breaks and how often. But those of us that use the spin bikes
have a better idea about what we'd change functionally. The only spin
bikes I've used are called Star Track V-Bikes, so all my comments refer
to them:

1. Most of the adjustments are good, but there is no way to adjust
saddle tilt - and they all feel too "nose down".

2. All the adjustments are made with individual levers which are too
short for a good tight clamp, and too long in some places to go all the
way around without being obstructed by some other part.

3. These bikes have the SPD/toeclip dual-sided pedals - probably the
best compromise, but I wish I could use my regular road shoes.

4. The grips are always sliding off the ends of the bars (slowly, over
many classes) - put an end plug in there that holds 'em on!

5. These bikes have a dial that adjusts the resistance on the flywheel.
It works fine but there's no indicator to show what resistance you're
using - there should be.

6. The feet don't adjust to account for uneven floors so sometimes you
get a bike that rocks around.

7. No place to put your walkman if you're riding outside of class.

I can think of a lot of things I'd put on a super-expensive bike, like
power meters and cadence sensors, but I figure these 7 items could be
incorporated into a reasonably priced machine.

--
My bike blog:
http://diabloscott.blogspot.com/

Luigi de Guzman said:

Quoted message said:

4. The grips are always sliding off the ends of the bars (slowly,

over

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

many classes) - put an end plug in there that holds 'em on!

Cinelli cork bar tape: even comes with endplugs!

-Luigi

Shellaced cotton holds up better.

As for spin bikes, a Bianchi Pista is a screaming good deal.
Of course the dog ( cannine sprint assistant)
, an old italian coach and airfare to ride the
hills of Tuscany balance out the price.

Scott Goldsmith

Diablo Scott said:

1. Most of the adjustments are good, but there is no way to adjust
saddle tilt - and they all feel too "nose down".

The solution to sizing to adapt a fully adjustable
bike-fitting rig to be a spin-bike.

Quoted message said:

3. These bikes have the SPD/toeclip dual-sided pedals - probably the
best compromise, but I wish I could use my regular road shoes.

I just have two identical pairs with different cleats.
But then, I buy the $39 shoes.

Quoted message said:

4. The grips are always sliding off the ends of the bars (slowly, over
many classes) - put an end plug in there that holds 'em on!

Hose clamps.

Quoted message said:

5. These bikes have a dial that adjusts the resistance on the flywheel.
It works fine but there's no indicator to show what resistance you're
using - there should be.

Hard if not impossible to make; a bike with a PowerTap
on the crank would probably be the only way to gauge
resistance consistently.

Quoted message said:

6. The feet don't adjust to account for uneven floors so sometimes you
get a bike that rocks around.

Now that's just wrong. Although it brings up the point
that stationary bikes don't rock, and real bikes do, and
a little of that countermotion would be a good thing.
Although the slower riders would probably just end up
leaning farther and farther over until they fell off...

Quoted message said:

7. No place to put your walkman if you're riding outside of class.

What? You don't wear a three-pocket jersey in the gym?

(Just let me be there when you do; I want to watch the
stares.)

Quoted message said:

I can think of a lot of things I'd put on a super-expensive bike, like
power meters and cadence sensors, but I figure these 7 items could be
incorporated into a reasonably priced machine.

The machine you ride at the gym probably costs about $2-3,000.

And it still breaks more often than a real bike would.

--Blair
"8. Inch-thick crankshafts."

Quoted message said:

Diablo Scott said:

1. Most of the adjustments are good, but there is no way to adjust
saddle tilt - and they all feel too "nose down".

Yep, this is the one item that cannot be readily adjusted on the Lemond spin
bikes at my club. Fortunately they are well maintained by our LBS so I
haven't had to resort to bringing a wrench to make my own adjustments.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

3. These bikes have the SPD/toeclip dual-sided pedals - probably the
best compromise, but I wish I could use my regular road shoes.

Got a spare set of pedals? Bring 'em and a pedal wrench and switch pedals
for class.

My wife needs her Speedplays to keep her knees happy so we go through this
ritual every class for her. No big deal.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

5. These bikes have a dial that adjusts the resistance on the flywheel.
It works fine but there's no indicator to show what resistance you're
using - there should be.

A nice feature for sure, but I can see it would tough to keep calibrated
without making it $$$.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

7. No place to put your walkman if you're riding outside of class.

What? You don't wear a three-pocket jersey in the gym?

(Just let me be there when you do; I want to watch the
stares.)

10 - 20% of our class wears cycling jerseys in class. No stares.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I can think of a lot of things I'd put on a super-expensive bike, like
power meters and cadence sensors, but I figure these 7 items could be
incorporated into a reasonably priced machine.

The machine you ride at the gym probably costs about $2-3,000.

Doubtful. Our Lemond Spin bikes, which are the best stationary bike I've had
the pleasure of riding, cost about $1100.
REF: http://www.lemondfitness.com/products/revmaster/index.html

I imagine a club buying 30 of these at a pop gets a nice discount.

Quoted message said:

And it still breaks more often than a real bike would.

Most clubs pretty much ignore the bikes until they break. Our LBS has a
contract with our club and periodically performs preventative maintenance on
the bikes. Result: Never seen a broken bike at our club.

Chris Neary
[email hidden]

"Science, freedom, beauty, adventure: what more could
you ask of life? Bicycling combined all the elements I
loved" - Adapted from a quotation by Charles Lindbergh

Blair P. Houghton said:

Quoted message said:

5. These bikes have a dial that adjusts the resistance on the flywheel.
It works fine but there's no indicator to show what resistance you're
using - there should be.

Hard if not impossible to make; a bike with a PowerTap
on the crank would probably be the only way to gauge
resistance consistently.

The indicator doesn't need to actually measure anything, just have a
reference number - say 0 to 10 in half unit increments for
repeatability. Or 0 to 11 for the really good ones!

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

7. No place to put your walkman if you're riding outside of class.

What? You don't wear a three-pocket jersey in the gym?

Lots of jerseys in my classes too - not so many outside of the spin
studio though. I prefer a T-shirt.

Quoted message said:

The machine you ride at the gym probably costs about $2-3,000.

And it still breaks more often than a real bike would.

The StarTrac V-Bikes at my gym retail for $850.
http://homegymcentral.com/star_trac_v_bike.html

The little adjustment levers break when people use the pipe as an
extension lever, the bottle cages break sometimes, but mostly the crank
bearings seem to go bad.

--
My bike blog:
http://diabloscott.blogspot.com/

Chris Neary said:

Blair said:

Quoted message said:

Diablo Scott <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

7. No place to put your walkman if you're riding outside of class.

What? You don't wear a three-pocket jersey in the gym?

(Just let me be there when you do; I want to watch the
stares.)

10 - 20% of our class wears cycling jerseys in class. No stares.

I don't see many jerseys. One guy wears a spandex shirt,
but no pockets, and no sponsor logos. Some of the girls
wear tight tops; more like track suits than jerseys.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

And it still breaks more often than a real bike would.

Most clubs pretty much ignore the bikes until they break. Our LBS has a
contract with our club and periodically performs preventative maintenance on
the bikes. Result: Never seen a broken bike at our club.

My gym has a guy who's in there at least twice a week PMing
the bikes. Most things only need to be fixed when they
break (cranks, e.g.) but sometimes he'll scrub all the
resistance bands and burnish the races. Given that the
gym doesn't charge any extra for spin classes it's probably
one of their bigger loss centers.

--Blair
"But they get all the free steam heat
they can pump out."