Comparing Exercise Bike Types

If you’re in the market for an exercise bike and already feeling overwhelmed by the number of choices, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve teamed up with a few of Ireland’s finest exercise equipment retailers and will leverage their expertise to compare and contrast various exercise bike types. This article is for you if you don’t know your indoor bike from your upright bike.

The Health Benefits of Exercise Bikes

Before we discuss the various exercise bike types, let’s spend some time concentrating on the health benefits of cycling.

Weight Loss

Many of us are in the market for exercise bikes to help us lose weight. An exercise bike is an excellent way to shift some extra pounds. The calories burned in a session are dependent on the intensity of the workout, your age, and your gender. However, the main factor that goes into weight loss is consistency. By ensuring you get a decent workout a couple of times a week, an individual should start to see significant weight loss before long.

Muscle Strength and Tone

The primary muscles targeted by cycling are the quadriceps, the glutes and the hamstrings. A person’s calves are also targeted during cycling. Regular cycling helps tone and strengthen these muscles. Powerful legs are essential for almost all types of exercise, and regularly bike workouts help improve your legs’ conditioning.

Sport Improvements

Have you ever wondered why booking a spin class is so difficult? The reason is that sports teams tend to book them out during their off-season. Cycling is one of the best ways to maintain fitness and helps improve sports performance. An exercise bike is a controlled movement that helps limit the possibility of injury while still giving an intense cardiovascular workout.

Low Impact

When compared to any other exercises, cycling is low impact. You don’t put too much stress on your knees and hips during cycling, which reduces the possibility of pain or injuries to the vital joints.

Cardiovascular fitness

Cycling is an easy way to increase your cardiovascular fitness. Whether you’re looking to increase fitness, improve sporting performance or run a marathon, regular cycling should be a cornerstone of your exercise regime. Cycling raises your heart rate, which increases the supply of oxygen to your blood and the supply of energy to your body. Good cardiovascular fitness helps lower blood pressure and helps reduce the risk of stroke while improving overall heart health.

Different Types of Exercise Bikes

With the substantial health benefits of cycling at the forefront of our minds, let’s move on to the different types of exercise bikes. Different bikes are designed for the diverse needs of individuals. Therefore we want to look at what we believe are the advantages and disadvantages of the various exercise bike types.

Generally speaking, exercise bikes can are broken down into five distinct categories

• Upright bikes
• Recumbent bikes
• Indoor cycling bikes
• Interactive exercise bikes
• Air bikes

Upright Exercise Bikes

Sometimes referred to as static home exercise bikes, the upright bike is probably one of the most popular exercise bike varieties.

Advantages of Upright Bikes

• Upright bikes are quite small and are therefore suitable for homes of all sizes
• Upright bikes are comfortable to use
• Most upright bikes are extremely good value and are often much cheaper than some of the other exercise bike varieties.
• The position of the saddle means that it is easy to watch TV or use a tablet while exercising.
• Some upright bikes are fitted with a touch screen that will take you through various workouts, including warm-ups and cool-downs. Some of these systems also include fitness software that can track your progress.

Disadvantages of Upright Bikes

• Due to prioritising comfort, the upright bike does not mimic the position someone would sit on while riding an outdoor bicycle. Therefore these exercise bikes are not ideal for those looking to improve their outdoor cycling performance.
• Typically upright bikes are not used in gyms; therefore, if transitioning from a gym to a home workout routine, you may find the adjustment uncomfortable.

We recommended upright bikes to:

• People at the beginning of their fitness journey
• Those looking for low-impact exercise after an injury

Recumbent Exercise Bike

Coming in second to upright bikes, recumbent exercise bikes are also prevalent within Irish households. Sometimes referred to as recumbent cycles, these bikes are probably the most comfortable.

Advantages of recumbent exercise bikes

• Recumbent exercise bikes are the number one choice for those recovering from an injury or those undergoing physical rehabilitation.
• They are a perfect Choice for Absolute Beginners.
• The carefully balanced ergonomic design of recumbent bikes means they are incredibly comfortable. The adjusted sitting position supports a user’s back. For additional comfort, a recumbent bike seat is more like a regular chair and less like a saddle.

Disadvantages of recumbent bikes

• Unfortunately, the design of these bikes means they are typically quite large and therefore take up much more space.
• The design of the sitting position means it’s challenging to get an intense workout with a recumbent bike.
• Due to a recumbent bike’s frame, it does not mimic an actual bicycle. Therefore this bike type is unsuitable for those looking to improve outdoor bicycle cycling performance.

We Recommend Recumbent Bikes to

• Those recovering from a long illness or those undergoing physical rehabilitation
• People with serious back problems
• Older people looking to maintain their physical fitness

Indoor Cycling Bikes

For those who enjoy HIIT training or interval training, Indoor Cycling Bikes are the best equipment to conduct these kinds of workouts.

Advantages of Indoor Cycling Bikes

• Indoor bikes offer incredible flexibility due to variable seat positioning and adjustable pedal intensity.
• Perfect for improving outdoor cycling performance.

Disadvantages of an indoor bike

• The small saddle and thin frame of indoor bikes mean they are not as comfortable as other exercise bike varieties.
• The flywheel, which spins and controls the momentum of pedaling, can cause injury to children or pets.

We recommend indoor bikes to

• Outdoor cyclists that want to supplement their training
• Experienced fitness enthusiasts looking to increase their overall cardiovascular health

Interactive Exercise Bikes

In many ways, an interactive exercise bike is an upgraded indoor cycling bike. From a build perspective, interactive bikes are similar to indoor bikes. However, interactive bikes include additional fitness software that can connect to Wi-Fi, meaning you can plug into spin classes worldwide.

Advantages of interactive exercise bikes

• Some of the most popular interactive exercise-size bikes, like peloton, have a massive network of live spin classes running 24 hours daily. 
• Great for motivating individuals to continue their fitness journey.
• Intuitive and innovative software that tracks fitness progress.

Disadvantages of interactive exercise bikes

• These bikes are some of the most expensive on the market.
• Like indoor bikes, interactive bikes aren’t comfortable to ride, making them only suitable for people who are committed to their fitness routine.

We recommend indoor bikes to

• Established fitness enthusiasts
• Those who enjoy spin classes 

Air Bikes

These bikes combine an exercise bike with an elliptical machine. Air Bikes include pedals like an exercise bike and pully levers like an elliptical machine.

Advantages of Air Bikes

• Great for those looking to up their exercise game as air bikes combine an intense lower-body workout with upper-body movements
• This bike tones not only your legs but your shoulders, triceps, forearms and biceps
• Suitable for athletes looking to improve both their cardiovascular fitness and overall sporting performance
• Highly suitable for HIIT training or interval training

Disadvantages of air bikes

• Air brakes are EXTREMELY loud
• Not suitable for beginners as it is an intense workout
• A large and bulky design can be challenging to move around a property

We recommend Air bikes to

• Athletes looking to improve their sporting performance
• Individuals who want to improve their overall workout routine
• Individuals who want to maximise muscle engagement during cardio exercise

As you may have learned from the above, there are various types of equipment and, therefore, multiple factors to consider when purchasing an exercise bike. Whether you’re a beginner or someone returning to exercise after a long hiatus, bikes like a recumbent bike or an upright bike may suit your fitness needs. Those further along their fitness journey may want to consider an interactive bike or even an air bike. Whatever bike make you choose, make sure to always discover from a local supplier. GetLocal makes comparing exercise bikes between retailers easier than ever before. Get the right product at the right price from a local retailer with GetLocal.