Gym bikes

kentphil
kentphil Posts: 479
edited January 2014 in The cake stop
Why is the position on gym bikes so awful? Or is it just me? You can only adjust the seat height, the position feels so cramped, your arms are too far apart, horrible pedals, the list goes on....
1998 Kona Cindercone in singlespeed commute spec
2013 Cannondale Caadx 1x10
2004 Giant TCR

Comments

  • arran77
    arran77 Posts: 9,260
    Erm, because they're designed to be used by hundreds of different size / shape people, most of whom aren't cyclists and don't have a clue what a bike is supposed to feel like :wink:
    "Arran, you are like the Tony Benn of smut. You have never diluted your depravity and always stand by your beliefs. You have my respect sir and your wife my pity" :lol:

    seanoconn
  • upperoilcan
    upperoilcan Posts: 1,180
    KentPhil wrote:
    Why is the position on gym bikes so awful? Or is it just me? You can only adjust the seat height, the position feels so cramped, your arms are too far apart, horrible pedals, the list goes on....


    Get on the spinning bikes,different beasts all together,plenty of adjustability.
    Cervelo S5 Ultegra Di2.
  • sungod
    sungod Posts: 17,341
    ^this

    rarely, a gym will have a proper bike trainer, wattbike/similar, but the only times i've seen them they've been occupied the whole time i was there

    unlike the awful ones with the fixed bars, stupid fat saddles and wobbly foot straps, i've tried sprints on them but i'm tall enough that my my knees hit the damn bars, grrrr
    my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny
  • pipipi
    pipipi Posts: 332
    The bikes at the Virgin gym were quite adaptable with handlebar height, Seat height and being able to move it backwards and forwards. But it still never felt quite like my bike! And that's probably a good thing. It seemed to always be wanting me to sit upright however much I adjusted.

    The pedals did have SPD on one side and a strap on the other side so that was quite good.

    I agree that a gym bike is probably designed for comfort for a standard person, and it's also designed to be used for an hour maximum. Whereas an hour is probably a short time for most roadies.


    I would liked to have tried a Wattbike so that I could get an idea of consistent effort. Trying to remember each time how much resistance to twist on or off was too confusing in the middle of a workout, let alone comparing from week to week.

    Is the Wattbike designed any better for roadies?
    Giant TCR2 and lovin it!
    http://www.trainerroad.com/career/pipipi
  • bernithebiker
    bernithebiker Posts: 4,148
    Gym bikes suck.
  • arran77
    arran77 Posts: 9,260
    bernithebiker wrote:
    Gym bikes suck.

    More or less than running :wink:
    "Arran, you are like the Tony Benn of smut. You have never diluted your depravity and always stand by your beliefs. You have my respect sir and your wife my pity" :lol:

    seanoconn
  • markhewitt1978
    markhewitt1978 Posts: 7,614
    arran77 wrote:
    bernithebiker wrote:
    Gym bikes suck.

    More or less than running :wink:

    Less than running as it's still cycling of a sort.
  • Mikey23
    Mikey23 Posts: 5,306
    The ones that the plebs use are pretty rubbish but we have a couple of fully adjustable 'proper' ones that you can ride through various bits of the USA on which is quite cool

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