The Best Fitness Bikes for Upgrading Your Home Gym
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Fueled by the surge of interest in at-home workouts during the pandemic, exercise bikes and smart fitness gear have risen in popularity over the last couple of years. But you don’t need a pricey Peloton to clip in and ride. There are many brands are out there to choose from — no matter what your budget might be.
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From Hollywood-favorite SoulCycle (Beyoncé, Jay-Z and David Beckham have been seen at the brand’s studios) to MYX Fitness and Schwinn, some of the best stationary bikes come in a variety of price points and have interactive features, including a library of classes and other workouts, intensity levels and more. They don’t have to break the bank either, allowing you to focus instead on beating your own personal records and enjoying the ride.
Ready to pedal? Here are some of the best Peloton bike alternatives to help you sweat it out at home.
1. SoulCycle At-Home Bike
BEST SMART BIKE
Tap it back with the SoulCycle at-home bike (read our review here). This invigorating indoor cycling class is now available from the comfort of your own home — so you can sweat like Jessica Alba, Angela Bassett, Rebel Wilson, Kaley Cuoco and other Hollywood stars who have been spotted at the company’s fitness studios.
The bike is powered by sessions through an Equinox+ membership, which also gives you access to unlimited, on-demand classes from fitness brands such as boxing-inspired Rumble, Precision Run, Pure Yoga, HeadStrong meditation and Tom Brady’s TB12. You also can’t go wrong with the music selection, which has tons of genres including Latin, R&B, pop, hip-hop and reggae. The bike measures 62.2 inches long, 22.2 inches wide and 53.5 inches high, and SoulCycle recommends ordering weights (available in two-, three-, five-, eight- and 10-pound options) and a bike mat when you purchase. From there, all you need are Delta or SPD-style cleats to clip in and start pedaling.
BUY NOW:
$1,900
2. Renpho AI Smart Exercise Bike
BEST AFFORDABLE FITNESS BIKE
The Renpho AI Smart Exercise Bike (currently $100 off) is about half the price of the Peloton and gives you a personalized selection of training programs based on your power level and biometric data. It has an adjustable seat and handlebars that can accommodate rider heights from 4 feet 11 inches to 6 feet 1 inch, with a maximum weight of 265 pounds. It can also help you modify resistance while you train based on your goals, cadence and output.
This stationary workout bike is recommended for anyone at any fitness level or age. It offers an AI Gym app with more than 70 classes and no membership is required. You can select from 80 digital resistance levels with auto-follow, a personalized AI weight loss program and a belt drive with silent smart motor damping, plus Bluetooth. This bike also syncs with Apple Health and Google Fit and is compatible with Apple Watch and ANT+ heart rate monitors, and it captures real-time metrics including RPM, power, cadence, resistance and calories. This is also a great option for households with multiple users, and it gives each rider the chance to track their own information privately.
Buy: Renpho AI Smart Exercise Bike Indoor Cycling Bike $599.99
3. Schwinn Fitness Indoor Cycling Exercise Bike
BEST FITNESS BIKE FOR SMALL SPACES
Designed with a sleek footprint that can fit into almost any space, the Schwinn Fitness Indoor Cycling Exercise Bike works with the Peloton and Zwift apps and can connect to your phone, tablet or TV. It’s 52 inches tall and the maximum weight recommendation is 330 pounds. It has magnetic resistance with 100 micro-adjustable resistance levels, and the full-color backlit LCD console monitors your heart rate, speed, time, distance, calories and rotations per minute (RPM).
It includes a free JRNY workout-app membership for one year (regularly $149 annually) for customized exercises and to assess your fitness level. The app creates daily adaptive workouts that automatically adjust as you improve over time, and provides coaching and feedback that guides you through your activities. You can even ride virtual routes around the world that auto-adjust in real-time to your speed. Dual-link SPD foot pedals come standard with toe cages or clips and an adjustable race-style seat.
Buy: Schwinn Fitness Indoor Cycling Exercise Bike $933.79
4. The MYX II Fitness Bike
BEST FITNESS BIKE WITH ACCESSORIES
The MYX II fitness bike is more affordable than a Peloton and comes with some bonus items. While it may seem just like a bike, in many ways MYX Fitness is your own new home gym. The stationery bicycle provides you a great home studio upgrade that doesn’t require tons of space and gives you great accessories — the perfect additions to your workout. It comes with the Polar OH1 heart rate monitor (which can be paired with an Apple Watch), a six-piece weight set with a kettlebell, a stabilizer mat, an exercise mat, a foam roller and a resistance band. The bike also has a 12-month warranty.
Whether you have 20 minutes, or even longer to spare, the brand’s content library offers thousands of workouts with new sessions added weekly. The screen also shows your data during your workout, including heart rate, speed, cadence and distance. The MYX Membership is sold separately at $39 per month and one membership gives you up to five profiles so you can sweat on and off the bike with friends.
Buy: Myx II Fitness Bike $1,399.00
5. Echelon Smart Connect Fitness Bike
BEST FOR MULTIPLE USERS
Echelon’s Smart Connect fitness bike is not only designed for everyone and every home — part of the company’s motto — but it’s also budget-friendly and multi-user-focused. You can have up to five other people (such as other family members or roommates) access Echelon’s library of classes on the Echelon Fit App, including both live and on-demand workouts such as Pilates, running, rowing, HIIT, kickboxing, strength training and yoga in addition to cycling.
It comes in black and white, and offers 32 levels of resistance so you can vary your intensity while pedaling. It has a footprint of 20.28 inches by 10 inches by 37.8 inches, and each person can ride with their own personal settings and preferences so no one misses out on a ride.
