Exercise Bikes

A bike is a bike... right? How hard could shopping for a bike be? Well there is a lot more to a quality stationary bike than you may think. Before you start shopping, there are a few definitions you should know and differentiations you should make. Here are some general facts and principles that will help you make the best choices for your needs:

The Exercise

The stationary bike is a superior, traditional cardiovascular exercise machine. Extremely low-impact and very easy to execute, bicycling is a great way to lose weight, train aerobically, and build leg strength. The advantage cycling has over other exercises is its ability to span a wide range of resistance levels. The bike can be as easy or hard to pedal as you want. Unlike most machines, a bike can be used to rehabilitate an injury, because of its low resistance, and can build leg power because of its greater resistance. The drawback is that it is not a weight bearing exercise, so you lose the benefits associated with weight bearing exercises. Also, the seats of traditional upright stationary bikes are often unavoidably uncomfortable, making it difficult to ride for long periods of time.

Types Of Stationary Bikes

There are two different categories of bikes, upright and recumbent. Within each category there are different subdivisions. Upright bikes can either be single or dual-action. Dual action bikes use both the upper and lower body in the exercise. Recumbent bikes can be either fully or semi-recumbent.

Recumbent Bikes

Recumbent bikes are bikes that have their seats in a reclined position. Fully recumbent bikes are fully reclined; semi-recumbent bikes are only partially reclined. By being in the recumbent position, you take pressure off of your back (unlike an upright bike). Also, you bring your feet and legs more parallel to your heart, the rule of thumb for reducing blood pressure during the exercise. Recumbent bikes are ideal for people with high blood pressure or bad backs. Also, the seat is much bigger and more comfortable than on a traditional upright bike. A more comfortable seat will encourage you to stay on the bike longer during each workout, which over time will increase results significantly.

Being reclined will not change the feel of the exercise, but it does change the way it affects the muscle. The recumbent bike uses more hamstring than quadriceps; the opposite is true for an upright bike. They also work the abdominal group more so than an upright bike. A recumbent bike's seat will typically have some lumbar support as well.

Dual-Action

A dual-action bike allows you to exercise both you upper and lower body while cycling. The arms and legs are usually dependent on each other, meaning that when one moves so does the other. The advantages of this include an increased calorie burn, greater all-body muscle toning and the ability to transfer some of the workload from the legs to the arms. Being able to transfer the workload is ideal for someone who is rehabilitating a leg injury or has other leg or hip problems.

A dual-action bike is the one of the few dual-action machines that is actually beneficial because of the ability to transfer the workload. The dual-action benefit of increased calorie burn is of only small significance as is the increased muscle tone (to get true muscle tone you need to strength train). Most dual-action exercise machines are nothing more than marketing gimmicks and are bio-mechanically incorrect.

Manual Resistance

Stationary bikes can change levels of difficulty either manually or automatically. There are several ways a manual stationary bike can get chance resistance levels: tension band or break pads, magnetic, or wind.

Tension bands and break pads are found on the least expensive bikes. They are manually controlled by the user and typically require you to turn a knob to tighten or loosen the belt or break pads wrapped around the bike's main flywheel to achieve the desired resistance.

Air resistance bikes are commonly referred to as Airdynes, as in Schwinn Airdyne, which was the original air resistant bike. When you pedal an Airdyne, you drive a large fan inside the main housing. The harder you pedal the more resistance you create. Typically these bikes will be dual-action.

Magnetic resistance bikes use a bank of regular magnets to create resistance against the flywheel. Magnetic resistance bikes are often very quiet because there is no friction in the drive system; the magnets never actually touch the flywheel. The less moving parts that touch, the less likely there is to be a breakdown as well.. Operating a manual, magnetic resistance bike simply involves turning a knob or lever that brings a bank of magnets closer to or farther away from the flywheel.

Motorized Resistance

Almost all motorized exercise bikes use magnetic resistance. There are two ways a motorized, magnetic bike can work. One way simply uses a motor to automatically adjust the bank of magnets to or from the flywheel just like a manual bike. The other way uses electricity to increase or decrease an electromagnetic field produced by a fixed set of magnets around they fly wheel. Another name for both types of systems is Eddy Current (the shape of the magnetic field that is produced in these systems is similar to the shape of an eddy in a body of water, hence the name).

Self Generated Power

Some exercise bikes are motorized, but do not need to be plugged into an electrical outlet. These bikes use an alternator to convert the energy generated by the users own pedaling into the electricity that powers the bike. Two advantages to this are that you won't draw any electricity out of your wall outlet and you can put the bike anywhere in your home because it has no electrical cord requirements. The disadvantage to it is that once you stop pedaling you lose all of the information on your display board because you are generating the electricity that is powering it. A bike that uses self-generated power will use electromagnetic resistance.

Drive Systems

The smoothness of the ride of an exercise bike is often determined not only by the resistance system, but by all of the moving components inside the bike. The most important of which is the drive mechanism that connects the pedals to the flywheel. This mechanism can either be a rubber belt or a chain. A belt is the smoother of the two. Bikes that use an alternator have two belts or chains; one connects the pedals to the alternator the other connects the alternator to the flywheel.

Electronics

Electronics often times are what catch a customer's eye first, but are not a determining factor in terms of quality. From basic electronics to the top of the line may only be the difference of $200-$300. What customers really pay for is durability.

Electronics do however provide many useful motivational functions; some are just for fun and others are engineered to maximize the quality of one's workout.

Bikes that have no motorized or magnetic resistance have little electronic capability. Their displays are limited to time, distance, RPMs, calories, etc. Motorized and magnetic bikes have the ability to simulate hills automatically by making it harder to pedal as if you are going uphill. The most elaborate and useful electronics will actually read a user's heart rate and automatically adjust its resistance to keep the user in his/her target heart-rate zone.