Get on yer bike

I've been looking to get one of these for a few years and never got round to bothering. I walk the dog as well as the usual moderate lifestyle most people pursue and I am deffo not a fitness dude.

Years ago when I smoked 40 a day I also cycled and afterwards did some rock climbing and hillwalking. I found that after I gave up cycling I was never quite as fit, even though I could romp over a couple of munros and be back for tea

There's something about cycling that really lifts you up a bit without pounding your body and I've found myself with less stamina over the last couple of years which can be quite annoying, life is getting shorter and it's nice to do things as long as possible

Anyway, enough about the incredible boring me

I don't want to get mown down by a mad Audi driver and I still want to give it a go so what about one in the house that's nice to use and can be moved easily as required

The first one I got was this one, 60 bananas, none were assembled and I took a risk of buying without trying

Total rubbish and a waste of money, very disappointed

Then I spotted this one and had a go at the shop, brilliant, fab, 60 bananas, it seems to use a magnet and flywheel and is very comfy indeed

There seems to be a glut of them showing up at the moment and prices are good, probably over run stock from china and some are very fancy machines indeed which replicate a real cycle while being 10 feet from the kettle and 20 feet from the toilet

Hopping on and doing 5km before morning coffee really is a doddle if you don't need to leave the house and risk your life on Britains third world roads, saves switching the heating on too

So don't buy unless you can try if you don't know exactly what you're getting, they are hugely variable even though they can look similar

Anyway, thought I'd share

Edited By Ady1 on 28/01/2019 10:13:35

Nothing like the real thing. I still try to get in about 20miles a week (just approaching 70th birthday) I agree about the state of the roads, I try to keep to bridal ways, canal towpaths and the like. It is amazing where you can get to on a bike that you can't by car and definitely not on an exercise bike. Of course one of the things you really notice on a bike are the hills ( you have to turn up the friction/magnet drag on the exercise bike) The other thing you notice is real weather last week started out blue sky and brilliant sunshine ended up cycling home in a blizzard

John

https://www.amazon.in/Aerofit-Upright-Magnetic-Feedback-Display/dp/ … your first link


I have one similar to this... just haven't been able to get my arse into gear ( pardon the pun) lately works fine for my useage.

George.

Edited By mechman48 on 28/01/2019 10:35:24

Kudos to Ady 1. Just got back from a 20 mile road ride, 'flippin cold! I'm still happy to mix it with other road traffic but would consider a static trainer in the future. I've recently had a go on a friends set up, a "real" bike connected to a loading device that replaces the back wheel and some computer wizardry called "Zwift". I found this really quite engaging. My real cycling passion is mountain biking, well away from the risk of other traffic.

John

My favourite café is also popular with cyclists and walkers, Lycra clad people is definitely not a good look but maybe it is comfortable for cycling. I don’t understand why the walkers don’t leave their muddy boots outside rather than leave clods of mud all over the café. My friends and I when out trail riding would leave our muddy jackets, overtrousers and boots outside and just walk in the pub in our socks for a pint and big bowl of soup.

Mike

Ady1:

I rode into your great city in a downpour at the end of the Scottish C2C cycle route; the route is partly off road and, no doubt, more enjoyable when it is dry! The sun came out in subsequent days and it was Festival time.

Please don't give up your real bike!

I've often wondered how fit a treadle lathe would keep you or do you just get big muscles in one leg?

Chris

For £60, you aren't going to get much.

It probably feels horrible to pedal, won't be stable, and won't be good for you ergonomically.

This is probably one of the best half decent budget exercise bikes to go for, that isn't crap:

**LINK**

Wife has an exercise bike which she rides while watching TV. I prefer to be out on a real bike. Used to ride to work regularly but since retiring I've been content with pottering around on the mountain bike mostly. Nothing compares with actually getting somewhere on a bike. Rail trails are popular in this part of the world at the moment, great for mtb and cross-over bikes, surface usually dirt and gravel/remnant ballast, gradients are gentle, scenery usually good, regular towns for 'refreshments' and no cars. Railtrail near me is about 160km end to end with overall elevation change of about 400m and very popular. A 44km Australia day ride on Saturday was originally limited to 80 people, about double that number actually turned up.

Four years ago after a period of what I now know was angina, I had a mild heart attack, was fitted with two stents, and subsequently encouraged to take up moderate exercise. Initially I devised a daily 2 mile walk - utterly boring and only acceptable if I can go on auto-pilot. But I didn't fancy inclement weather so I bought a JLL JF200 exercise bike for use on those bad weather days. Initially, 1/2 hour, 10km & 240 cals burnt, and that was hardish going. Difficulty level was initiallly a struggle on 3, but reasonably easy on 2.

Slowly, I discovered that my chest does not like cold - mild aches etc. So this winter I have more or less abandoned the walk and concentrated on the bike instead. Still doing 1/2 hour, but the distance travelled is now regularly over the 10km mark, and the calories burnt is generally in excess of 260. Still hardish going though, and boring, so I have taken to reading books. Difficulty level is still on 3 but I can now keep it up for longer and at a slightly higher speed. And best of all, no chest aches.

There is also a pulse rate monitor which only works if your hands are located correctly on the sonsor pads on the handlebars. Generally I don't bother, but on odd occasions I have noted that my pulse rate is around 60 resting and upto about 90 when peddling hard.

I should point out that when I attended the re-habilitation sessions following the stent installations, I was told that the objective was not to aim for olympic standards, but to exercise at a rate felt to be somewhere around moderately hard, eg around 12 -15 on the Borg scale.

I've turned the handlebars round so that I'm now sitting more or less upright. The seat is uncomfortable, but that could be a more general loss of "padding" material around the nether regions than anything else!

Was it worthwhile? Well, as long as it helps to defer anymore heart attacks, and staves off any angina then it probably was. Obviously I have no idea how accurate the so-called dials are so I only use them as a guide. But even so, I do seem to have improved.

Happy cycling,

Peter G. Shaw

Edited By Peter G. Shaw on 28/01/2019 14:19:37

Chap next to me at work puts his real bike on a gizmo which also connects to the internet and a display so he 'races' other online people over a simulated course. That provides the competitive element to make him push it and get fitter. However I think it can get quite expensive to subscribe as well as the equipment

A couple of bikes got half inched from a shed in my area recently and it was in the papers they were worth 4 grand

Great to ride no doubt but you can't really chain them up in the street and go shopping

Used to be a keen cyclist, but age and idleness caught up with me.

I found that a home cycle stand, provided enough resistance to raise a sweat, Used to use it whilst watching TV until got it in the neck for marking the lounge carpet! Stood it on a sheet of hardboard after that!

Ought to get on board again, but having been ridden into the kerb a few times by drivers who don't see what is ahead of them, let alone alongside, am very wary. Plus SWMBO is concerned about inhaling all the benzene from the "low emission" vehicles around me.

Howard

Edited By Howard Lewis on 28/01/2019 16:30:40

Ady, assuming you have a road-going bicycle of some kind already, I would opt not to buy an exercise-bike as such, but a turbo trainer.

Turbo trainers take up less space, allow you to use your own bike (that you are used to and comfortable with) on it and generally provide a much smoother ride with more realistic resistance than a lot of the dedicated exercise bikes at the lower end of the food chain.

I own this one: https://www.cyclestore.co.uk/kinetic_road_machine_2_0_smart_trainer-ID_73443

but less expensive and perfectly competent ones are available, e.g. https://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-tt-02-fluid-trainer/

In case you're wondering, I used to race competitively in a club, and had done for over thirty years, until an immune disorder (that developed a few years ago) confined me to slightly more sedate riding. But I still use my trainer quite a bit.

I saw a cycle simulator in Evans Glasgow shop.

There was a normal bike in a stand with an electrically controlled brake and a widescreen TV showing a cycle race.

I think the rest can be guessed, although I didn't have a go of it.

Neil

My experiences more-or-less co-incide with Peter Shaw's. However our local gymnasium has exercise bikes with a screen in front of them and you can choose about 6-7 rides around Paris and the same in Rome - so as you pedal you go on a bike ride. I think they must have filmed the video in the very early hours of the morning because there are no lunatic car drivers around. I would not like to try those rides in real life

Chas