Exercise Bike

Drake5

Drake5

Drake5

Soldato
Joined
12 Dec 2005
Posts
14,291
To keep things simple, I'm trying to lose some weight and I've been looking at investing in a cheap exercise bike for £100. Lots on Amazon with hundreds of reviews, but are they really any good?

My plan is to just use it every night after work for about 30 minutes... Would be efficient for me because I don't finish work till late and I wouldn't fancy doing cardio in the pouring rain.

Cheers
 
I would recommend a spinning style bike. You'd need to go second hand to get one in your budget though.
I got myself a schwinn like this for under £100 on ebay. It's big and heavy, so it takes up quite a bit of space and cant easily be moved when not in use, but that does make it very stable and can take a lot of abuse.
Dont bother about anything with a computer on it. If you must, you could get a heart rate monitor (a seperate one with a chest strap) but anything with a reading of speed/distance/etc is completely meaningless on an indoor bike.
Download the "sufferfest" podcasts or look up some spinning videos on youtube. A proper structured workout like that will be much more beneficial than worrying about how far/fast you have cycled.

Looking on ebay, there are a couple of spinning bikes near you:
example 1 - good bike, my old uni gym used those. Looks in good condition too, might go over your budget a bit?
Example 2 - needs a bit of a clean, but looks like it might go fairly cheap.
Example 3 - looks a bit older and seems to need a new saddle (most spinning bikes use normal bike seats, so you should be able to get something fairly cheap) looks like it might go for a good price as well.
 
Exercise equipment at that price point is generally horrid to use and will be a waste of money. I have a Life fitness exercise bike which i use when the weather is too poor for running outside but it cost me just under a £1000. That is the kind of money you pay for decent cardio equipment which is good to use and won't fall to bits after a handful of sessions. To lose the weight you need to cycle at a decent pace and a £100 bike will just rattle to death.
Spinning bikes are more heavy duty as the poster above mentioned and are a good alternative to stationary bikes. But they don't have built-in programs.
The other option is rowing, the Concept2 would be epic for losing weight with a daily 30min session. A 2nd hand buy would be worth seeking out but it will still cost.
 
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