Best of the Best

Stationary Exercise Bikes are one of those pieces of gym equipment that most folks don’t think too much about until they find a really BAD one. You may not realize it, but if you regularly ride an exercise bike at the gym, I’ll bet you head for the same particular bike in the same spot each time you walk in, right? Now I submit that your favorite bike is not chosen because of quality, but rather because of scenery: come on admit it, you pick a bike that has the best view of the cute buns on the aerobics floor!

But even the best of "bun shows" won’t keep you on a bike you don’t like, as there is nothing worse than a BAD stationary bicycle. Thus, the bikes I’ve chosen, and the criterion I recommend you consider when shopping for one, fall into a somewhat tight window.

A home stationary exercise bicycle:

a) Must be of at least "good" quality construction and function

b) Must be priced for home use

c) Must allow you to do the "programs" and track the "variables" that you want

Now you might be saying, "'Good' quality? Duuuuh!" But a durable, comfortable, smoothly functioning, stationary bike is arguably the most difficult piece of exercise equipment to engineer and manufacture; and thus, the landscape of home gyms, garages, and basements is littered with far too many "towel racks" that once masqueraded as economical exercise bikes! You should always balance economy with utility, but with a stationary exercise bike, this is especially true. I mean, a cheap set of free weights might still get the job done, even a cheap mountain bike might get you from "a to b", but a cheap stationary bike that you won’t get on, won’t do much of anything!