Budget vs Expensive Exercise Bike

Thinking about getting an exercise bike but not sure if you should splurge on a high-end model or stick to something budget-friendly? Well, you chose the right place to find out.

This can be super tricky because both options have their pros and cons so we can’t give you a definite answer because it’s not a black-and-white situation. The right choice depends on your fitness goals, budget, and of course, preferences. We’ll go over all the differences between budget and high-end bikes and we’ll also tell you what to look for in a bike so your investment doesn’t fall through.

Let’s see how to find the perfect exercise bike!

5 Benefits of Budget Exercise Bikes (Cheap vs. Expensive Models)

✅ Saving Your Budget

If you’re searching for a low-cost way to take up sports and have cardio training with burning calories, it’s not necessary to buy a premium-class exercise bike. A budget stationary bike will be enough for these purposes. An affordable indoor exercise bike costs $100-$300 and its quality is good enough for stable and relatively long-lasting performance (considering how often it’ll be used).

You can choose an upright or recumbent bike that will meet your fitness needs fully. These bikes can also offer an intense workout as an advanced spinner does, just twist a resistance knob for a proper level and pedal quickly.

✅ Making Your Training Interactive

A great advantage of a costly exercise bike is the availability of a touch-screen display that brings multiple features, so you can track more training stats than while using their cheap alternatives. Besides standard data, i.e., time, speed, distance, and approximate calories, you’ll get an opportunity to see more detailed information on your performance, such as maximum and average HR, fat burn % of calories, training effort rate, etc.

These numbers can matter to those who are keen on sports, workout enthusiasts, and advanced riders. By tracking each training, they see their progress throughout each session, analyze data, and build a personalized training plan.

✅ Compatibility with Devices and Fitness Apps

This feature is closely connected to the previous one that makes an exercise bike highly refined and upgraded compared to cheap workout bikes. This point is important mostly for more professional athletes and riders who know a thing or two about cycling.

What can be better than synchronizing your indoor bike with your gadget and linking to a sports app? Such a great perk gives access to even more precise data about each training, including intensity factor, wattage capability, RPM, and used intensity zones during the ride.

✅ Durable and Efficient Resistance Mechanism

Cheap bikes use friction resistance and are equipped with brake pads that are in direct contact with a flywheel when you increase a resistance level. However, this mechanism tends to wear out quickly. Meanwhile, a high-priced indoor bike is tooled up with magnetic resistance parts, i.e., two durable magnets, with a flywheel in between.

This is a touchless, quiet, and friction-free mechanism that can work for a long time and doesn’t require any maintenance. It creates more effective braking to a flywheel and a more gradual resistance level making it easier or more difficult to pedal. Thus, a rider can experience a more realistic indoor ride.

✅ Bike Size And Its Ability To Comply With Your Living Space.

Here we talk about whether you have enough space to place an indoor exercise bike, a stationary, or a foldable one, in your room without sacrificing your personal space. As usual, an expensive workout bike is larger and heavier than a low cost exercise bike because they’re stationary mostly, with a tablet-sized display (depending on the model), and is made of high-quality material.

On the contrary, budget exercise bikes are light, have no additional components that may influence their weight, and can be folded easily. This option is important for people who have little space in the room and don’t have an extra place to store it.

What to Look for in a Budget Exercise Bike?

1. Adjustability

For getting maximum comfort and effectivity from cycling workouts, it’s important to adjust a saddle and handlebars up and down, and back and forward. So, when seating, the rider’s legs should be slightly bent, as well as arms are. This body position won’t put extra tension on knee joints and the upper body. Generally, handlebars should be higher than a saddle to keep a rider’s back straight and relaxed to the maximum.

Additionally, handlebars should be at a forearm distance from your body. You shouldn’t lean forward too much or backward. Just a slight leaning position can be possible to keep the core tight and upper body muscles fit enough. Thus, 4-way adjustability is perfect for maximum comfort and a productive workout.

2. Durability

To be short, with proper setup and regular maintenance, your exercise bike, both cheap and costly, will serve long with zero or slight malfunctions. With appropriate and careful use, it can last up to 20 years. Additionally, consider the fact that the durability of a workout bike depends on the used resistance mechanism.

3. Comfort

Speaking about the bike’s comfort, we consider a rider’s correct position to accommodate the pressure on the body properly. Almost all tension goes to the inner body and the rest, that is a little percent, comes to the core and arms for stabilization. While riding, your shoulders and arms shouldn’t be tense, but your legs should move actively with a properly adjusted resistance grade.

General comfort also depends on pedaling smoothness and speed. This can increase your performance and prevent muscle overload and injuries. A saddle plays a crucial role in enhancing the rider’s comfort, meaning not hurting the butt, providing a better quality of the training itself, and further progress by following specific fitness goals.

A well-adjustable position doesn’t have to cause numbness in the legs and toes too. Although, comfort position may depend on a rider’s preferences: whether they prefer a more aerodynamic aggressive position or a standard one.

Tips From the Champ

The surface you’re running on is another great thing about it because it’s low impact. This means that it’s nice to your hips, knees, and ankles and it’s good to use even if you have issues with your joints. The belt is 45’’ in length when wrapped around the running surface. It’s also 17.5’’ wide – which is plenty.

Oleksiy Torokhtiy

Olympic Weightlifting Champion

4. Drive System

Budget training bikes we observed have a belt-drive system and possess brake pads or magnetic resistance systems. The latter is more advanced and in default increases the bike value. Unlike a friction mechanism, a magnetic one doesn’t make contact with a flywheel since a magnetic force works here by varying the resistance degree.

So, the magnets become closer to the flywheel. This creates a highly sensitive resistance knob enabling a rider to apply precisely that resistance level that fits their expectations and training purposes.

Also, this privilege vouches for quiet bike performance, and little to zero maintenance and such indoor bikes are highly durable. Meanwhile, contact resistance, both with felt or leather pad, directly influences the flywheel. If you tighten the resistance to the max, you won’t be able to pedal at all.

Such a mechanism provides quite an ineffective resistance level – too light or too difficult pedaling, without gradual switching like with magnets. These brake pads wear out over time and need to be replaced, or lubricated regularly.

5. Assembly

When we look for a limited-budget exercise bike for home training, we want to find enough light, easily portable cycle machines that won’t require some extra power to assemble.

Generally, all exercise bikes we reviewed come with a user’s guide where you can find step-by-step instructions on how to assemble a bike, what element to take, and which tools are required (that are included in the package).

What’s more, generally you can do it on your own or ask a friend to help you. But, the assembly process won’t take much time, approximately an hour or two.

6. Portability

One of the major advantages of affordable exercise bikes is the ability to move them from one place to another without hassle. This feature is important for people who don’t want to train every day but to do some pedaling several times a week to keep in good physical shape.

7. Price/Quality

Everyone wants to find an inexpensive exercise bike with a good price and quality balance, but it may be a challenging task. Speaking about a low cost workout bike, we presented you with the best options to have a well-balanced home cardio training out of some superb features, premium materials, memberships, and so on.

So, we show that everyone can cycle at home without spending much money and not sacrificing greatly the bike’s functionality. It’s obvious, cheap exercise bikes have simple mechanisms, second-quality materials, etc., but it doesn’t affect your workout if you don’t have extraordinary fitness goals.

8. User Interface

Like more costly models, at-home cheap exercise bikes are also equipped with a much simpler monitor. But, still, it’s available and offers a rider to track basic training stats, i.e. the duration of the ride, distance, calories, and speed, more fancy ones have pulse sensors, and so on.

As usual, an ordinary workout bike has a one-window LCD display with limited functionality and the absence of Bluetooth and a WiFi connection.

More advanced exercise bikes come with built-in programs or can be synchronized with fitness applications to make the ride more versatile and get more information on their performance.

Recommended Exercise Bike

ProForm 500 SPX Exercise Bike

• Dimensions: 50”H/20.8”W/49”L
• Display: LCD display, compatible with the iFit app with access to more than 30 workouts
• Resistance Mechanism: manually controlled resistance, belt-drive system
• Product Weight: 107 lb
• Noise Level: silent
• Assembly: easy, requires two persons
• Maximum Weight Capacity: 253.5 lb
• Best Used For: general and intensive indoor exercising
• Special Features: quick stop braking, tablet holder, water bottle holder, leveling feet, 40 lb flywheel, transportation wheels
• Warranty: 2 years for a frame, parts, and labor
• Package: bike, user’s manual

CHECK LATEST PRICE

This is a good affordable indoor cycling bike for home workouts that has a 4-way adjustable seat and handlebars, and a single-window LCD display enabling you to track your training stats. Additionally, you can change your body position due to non-slip multi-form handlebars, dipped grips, and their vertical and horizontal positioning.

There are quick-stop brakes to stop a bike instantly in case of emergency and control ride intensity. You can manage the resistance level with the help of a manually controlled knob.

The belt-drive system provides you with the maximum realistic ride, so you can enjoy a silent ride almost like when riding a road bike. Additionally, a 40 lb flywheel vouches for smooth pedaling.

Transport wheels that are situated in the front of a bike make it easier to move a training machine wherever you’d like to place it. This exercise bike can be used for burning fat, and losing weight. It’s also possible to pass a fitness test via a fitness app, and do intervals for a specific time and distance.

What Is the Difference Between Cheap and Expensive Stationary Bike?

1. Getting Detailed Data on Your Performance

Compared to the best inexpensive exercise bike that provides standard measures, i.e, time, distance, calories, speed, more expensive smart indoor bikes present much more detailed statistics and metrics during the training itself, and after it uploads to the synchronized fitness app, or your smartphone or wristwatch.

With this option, you get data such as heart rate and its connection to the workout zones, the time you spend on each of them, wattage stat separately and whole for the ride, and intensity factor. Some programs can offer personalized recovery training, considering your performance. A top perk is the ability to connect your indoor bike to the Zwift platform and join the online cycling community to have even more fun and improve your physique greatly.

2. The Higher Price, the Better Quality, and Comfort

The more money you’re ready to spend on tools, equipment, clothes, or workout machines, the better quality they’ll be and you’ll get more comfort while using them. As usual, more costly indoor stationary bikes offer users maximum adjustable options and full bike functionality to get out the maximum benefit from it and easily gain your destination.

High-quality bikes come with fully adjustable saddles that are moderately small yet comfortable and handlebars, which offer you several grip options for diverse riding positions. These features guarantee that a bike will fit anyone of any height, constitution, and riding style.

3. The Cost Depends on the Style of a Stationary Bike Ride You Prefer

What does it mean? If you’re a newbie in cycling and sports in general, then you won’t consider some expensive bike models to improve your health state and burn calories. If you search for a stationary indoor bike just for general fitness goals, i.e., to lose weight and get rid of fat, you’d rather look for a standard exercise bike that covers your needs at least at the minimum.

On the contrary, if you’re a well-trained person, a regular gym attendee, or a professional cyclist, you’ll focus on advanced multi-functional indoor bikes to make progress and develop your muscles, or get prepared for some bike competitions.

FAQ

Is a Budget Exercise Bike Worth It?

Buying an inexpensive exercise bike’s worth depends on your goals. If you want to have a light, comfortable cycle workout at home to maintain or increase your fitness level, then buy this kind of bike. If you’re a more advanced gym-goer or experienced rider, you’d better look for other indoor bikes.

How Much Does a Quality Cycling Bike Cost?

A high-quality multi-functional indoor bike may seem quite costly. Such a cycle machine is fully feature-packed, with numerous adjusting features and mechanisms to guarantee a rider high customization, get the maximum out of the cycling workout, and make considerable progress. Their cost may reach starting from $800-$900 and even up to $2000-$3000, depending on the brand and model.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a simple. cost-effective way to stay active, a budget exercise bike will do just fine. You get basic features and functionality, along with all the benefits an exercise bike can provide.

If, however, you want fancy features, high-end build quality and a more immersive riding experience, you’ll need to shell out a decent amount of money for it. Just remember to consider factors like durability, warranty, and comfort before you make your decision.

Whatever you choose, the most important thing is that it fits your lifestyle and helps you achieve your goals. If you want a shortcut and you don’t feel like researching a bunch of bikes, give the ProForm 500SPX bike a try.

Happy riding!

References:

1. Photos are made by Torokhtiy Media Team.