(Part 5) Best exercise bikes according to redditors

1. Figure out how you can get/make some off-grid energy. You might not be able to be 100% off-grid, but something's better than nothing. Maybe you could use some solar panels, or maybe even an exercise bike generator. A crank charged radio might be useful as well.
   
   
2. LOTS of political graffiti artwork. Things with anti-state, anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, anti-fascist, anti-consumerism messages and the like.
   
   
3. A library. Lots of liberating reading material.
   
   
4. It might also be good to be less dependent on super markets for food. Gardening would be the first step. Tomatoes are usually pretty easy to grow, and you might be able to get some money by growing your own food if there's a farmer's market nearby. You could also grow some pot, if you are inclined to do so. Depending on where this place is located, you might be able to get some meat by fishing or hunting.
   
   
5. If you can, try to get the rest of the community around you involved.
   
   Edit: Also, get lots of rain barrels.

They had some of those at the gym i used to go to. Expresso interactive bike. I like them much better than even the ones with the tv's on them. They had got some newer ones that had virtual tours of state or national parks.

I'm going to say the few times I've been on a recumbent bike I've definitely enjoyed the workout. Especially if you get a really nice seat. Wife and kids can use one, and they are reasonable in price as well as other stuff. You could look used, search on amazon whatever. I've also heard of the bike/elliptical crossover trainers

From my understanding with home workout equipment and from research and other people I know the 300-500 range is usually the "works for about a year and has some minor inconveniences" thing. The machines that run 1-2k can last around 5 years, but 3k is a lifetime investment. So consider that whatever you buy may break in a year. Especially with daily solid use.

Also I've heard nothing but amazing things about PreCor gear, so take a look at craigslist or even businesses for sale to see if a gym has a used machine. You can also contact PreCor directly and ask them if they know of any used ones for sale (or so I read somewhere online once but never followed through personally so I may be handing out false information) It may be worth your time to look into it though! A phone call that could get you a 3-4k elliptical for even 1k may well be worth a 20 minute phone call -- though you may be like me and unable to spare 1k right now. That may be a down the line thing.

I would also second the switching up your diet. Change is great. Even just for a month "off" and practicing eating normal. Talk to your doctor about a switch for a while. I would imagine losing your routine that has gotten you this far can be scary, but it might be worthy of some research/consideration.

So far though holy moly dude, amazing work!! Your family must be so proud and honestly this is the greatest thing you could do for yourself! What an amazing example you are setting for your kids too! There aren't enough exclamation points here to express how impressed I am!

I bought the Sunny SF-B1110 in 2017 and used it over the course of 2 years. Along with it, I used the Peloton app, of course, and a Wahoo cadence tracker. The set up worked well for me. Solid bike, heavy flywheel, and the chain drive seemed less likely to need replacement, so I went with that rather than a belt.

I didn’t spin exclusively- I also ran and went to a local gym - but I estimate I did 200 or so rides in the time I owned it.

Personally, I recommend it if you: a) you don’t have lots of extra money to spend and; b) if you’re not sure you’ll keep up with spinning/Peloton. Those were my reasons for going with the app + Sunny approach. No regrets from me :)

Link to bike below (I think.....I’m doing this on my phone)

Sunny B1110

EDIT: I should also mention I just sold it and it is still in near perfect condition. No issues at all.

Thank you for specifying multiple items! I couldn't pick.

1. I want an attractive bar server. Something like this I love my wine and liquor. I have to wait until my kids are all old enough that I don't have to cringe whenever they're near it, though.
   
   
2. A stationary bike. I'm paying $300 a year for a gym membership just to ride stationary bikes. Why not buy my own and cancel the membership? We'd save money long-term. High impact exercises are a problem for me because of repeated injuries to the same ankle. Bikes are my way to burn lots of calories in a short amount of time still.
   
   
3. A nice bird bath for my front yard.
   
   
4. This appetizers on ice thing. This would really come in handy for parties I've thrown!
   
   
5. An awesome popcorn popper. I love popcorn but I have absolutely demolished every other popper I've had...they just don't hold up to once-a-day or even a few-times-a-week use for at least a year. So, if anyone has any other very durable suggestions, let me know!
   
   

> Didn't they get sold off to some other company? Swear I heard that somewhere...

I believe it was just their US distributor that got bought out, and then they switched to a new distributor afterwards (Remtronix, who also own the "RT Systems" line of radio programming cables and software).

Alinco has always been a mixed bag for me. My very first radio in the hobby was an Alinco DJ-S41T and I've owned several other radios by them since then including the excellent DJ-G29T handheld (222 MHz + 902 MHz bands), and I like their solid state switching power supplies as well. But their HF radios are a decidedly mixed bag, and some of their newer handhelds appear to be Wouxuns from China with Alinco stickers slapped on top.

I'm curious to see what the next few years hold in store for this manufacturer. I'd like to see them stick around and give us a few more interesting new models but if the end is near, at least it was a pretty solid 30-year long run. And they've always got their fitness line to fall back on, too :-)

I've been on a handbike for 20+ years and while I love it, a handbike has exactly zero advantages to a regular bike. It's heavier, slower, bigger, and goddamn expensive. Sure, you work different muscles, but you could get one of these for a fraction of the cost and be just as well off.

Handbikes are:

• Terribly difficult to transport. They're really long and simple-but-still-a-pain to disassemble. Only one company makes a handbike rack and it costs $375.
  
• So expensive. The cheapest ones go for $2000, but it'd be like getting a road bike from Wal-Mart. Design and components are sub-par and you wouldn't ever really be happy with it. You'd need to spend $4000 or more to get quality components and design.
  
• Slow. You're using a MUCH smaller muscle group and you don't have the same weight and leverage as you do on pedals. And you're much more sensitive to grades - even the slightest incline is amplified.
  
• EDIT: They're also difficult to see. If you worry about cars seeing you on a regular bike just wait until your head is 2' off the ground. Even with a HUGE safety flag I've had a lot of close calls.
  
  I love my bike and I love riding, but if I did have a choice I'd never choose a handbike.

If you insist on staying inside and not getting a real bike, get a Spinning Bike. This is a cheapo. I have the Pro, and it's a great workout...

Run far, far away from recumbent bikes...

If you're in the states, it looks like you can get a used one on Amazon for a little over $150.

I'm sure you could figure out how to hook up a pc or console.

I know what you mean about the stationary bike. That and the bus. I would read as a form of escapism on the bus. I recently bought this thing:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B007PXGKXG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

to try and recreate the recumbent bike effect but...I've not figured out a useful way to incorporate it into my desk. Ideally I'd like to have my electronics all have to be powered by some form of exercise, but that's a long way off at the moment.

And thank you for the compliment.

Thanks! :D

I considered buying one of these, because it's pretty impossible for me to ride a bike on the streets where I live. I used to go to the gym, but for whatever reason, I just don't like being there.

Dieting is actually not that hard since I learned how to cook stuff properly, but I still have my setbacks every now and then.

Thanks for the advice :)

This kicks my ass, I actually use it instead of the digital bikes at my gym, can't beat that price either. Air resistance, so you're your own a/c to keep yourself cool during your workout.

Nice find.. wind trainer though wonder how loud it would be.

Think I will grab this even has a remote. Dunno why I didn't think to check Canada amazon, usually they have nothing.

Most likely the actual sensor on the flywheel is just counting revolutions the same way a normal bike computer does. The speed, etc, just comes from a simple calculation in the console.

For example, if you could figure out how to read what's coming from that cable it's probably just a series of "clicks" (ie. one bit of data for every revolution of the pedals). All you have to do then is figure out what one revolution of the pedals equals in distance (on a normal bike computer you do this simply by entering the diameter of the wheel the sensor is attached to, no idea how you would do it on a stationary bike).

Once you know that you'd have to find/build a piece of software for your laptop that would be able to do the same calculations to give you speed/distance/calories-burned (although that's a total scam IMO)/etc.

Good luck!

EDIT: I just looked at the pics after I wrote that and have one other thing to add. I have a similar exercise bike and the resistance is adjusted digitally through the same cable (it's a ribbon cable though, not a single cable like yours). If that extra data is going through that same 3.5mm jack then the data-stream is going to be more than just a revolutions count. It's probably some kind of proprietary data stream that gets encoded/decoded by a small IC somewhere inside the bike itself. You could probably still interpret it, but you'd have to record the signal coming out and find a way to kind of reverse engineer it to see the raw data, then figure out what calculations are done with that data to give you a read-out, etc, etc. Honestly, it's probably going to be a lot more time consuming than it's worth. If you do decide to pursue it good luck!

My gym has older versions of this bike, which works well enough for spin classes. The footprint is any bigger than the distance from the front of the handlebars to the end of the saddle.

Comedy option: get a unicycle and a set of rollers.

I love this Folding Exercise Bike. It actually lives up to its reviews. It's quiet. It works quite well. It's pretty cheap too. Only thing for me: the onboard computer is cheesy. But even that works well enough for me. (I only use the calorie counter.)