Best Exercise Bikes
The first choice you must make when selecting the best exercise bike for your home is whether you want a recumbent or upright bike.
The main difference is that with a recumbent bike you are sitting down with your legs stretched out in front of you and you will have a back support on the seat. An upright bike is designed more like the bike you used to ride as a kid. You won’t have the back support and the seat will be smaller, but you will be able to stand up and move around more during the workout.
Best Recumbent Bike
Recumbent bikes are popular with people who have injuries in their knees, hips, or leg muscles because the sitting position prevents any weight from bearing down on these joints. The best recumbent exercise bike currently on the market is the Schwinn 230 bike.
The Schwinn 230 recumbent exercise bike can hold a user up to 300 pounds and is sold within a more reasonable price range than most other bikes. Yet, it still delivers all the features that you will need to get in a good cardio workout at home. There are 16 resistance levels and 12 different workouts already preset into the console. You simply press a button to be taken through a workout designed to get your body in shape!
The console will also tell you everything you need to judge how hard you are working: calories burned, distance, speed, time and distance time, RPM, and watts. The side arms will even read your pulse if you simply grip onto them. A bike that rides quiet and offers all of these features could easily retail for more, but Schwinn continues to deliver high quality at reasonable rates.
Best Upright Exercise Bike
If you are more concerned with building body mass and burning a ton of calories than safety or comfort, an upright bike is probably your best pick. You will be able to stand up and shift positions so you work more muscles and put more tension down on your legs to build muscle with time.
The best upright currently being sold is the Nordic Track FreeMotion c7.7 upright bike. You will pay a bit more for this bike than you would the recumbent bike featured above, but you will also get the quality and features often found in professional gyms.
The FreeMotion bike has different resistance levels and pre-programmed workouts just as the previous bike, but it offers conveniences most other bikes simply can’t provide. There is a plug-in to connect your MP3 player or a CD player and the music will play out of speakers on the console. There is also a fan with three speed settings to keep you cool so you can ride longer. Contact grips will take your heart rate, or you can use a chest strap system that is compatible with the popular Polar heart rate monitors.
Of course, the best feature of this bike is the warranty, which includes a lifetime guarantee on the motor and frame!
Choosing the best exercise bike for your home can be difficult with so many options on the market, but either of these two would be excellent selections whether you are just trying to drop a few pounds or need to exercise for more serious health purposes.