Exercise Bikes: Repair / Disposal / Buying

About 10 years ago, I bought a LifeFitness exercise bike, which has served me extremely well. When I could actually motivate myself to work out, it was always at the center of an exercise routine which helped me drop 30, 40, even 50 pounds on different occasions (obviously, my weight’s gone up and down a lot over that time).

However, it looks like the bike is finally on its way out. It’s self-powered, and the electronic menu that lets me pick the resistance level is broke, which renders the bike useless. So I’m either going to get it repaired or buy a new one, which leads me to the following questions:

  1. Who repairs exercise bikes? Anyone? Or is it one of those things where it’s going to cost so much that it’s just easier to buy a new bike?

  2. How do you get rid of an old exercise bike? Just throwing it in a dumpster seems silly somehow. Do gyms purchase used bikes?

  3. I have a feeling I’m going to end up buying a new one. I have a good idea where I’m leaning, but I’ll take suggestions. Any recommendations on makes or where to get good deals?

Thanks - Sluggo

I bought an stationary recumbent bike from Sears, “Pro Form” for $199. It uses magnetic resistance so it is almost silent, and I can watch TV while pedaling. It also has programs for hills, heart monitor, and a fan. The downside is it only takes d cell batteries and seems to drain them if you leave them in the machine.

So I would recommend a unit that uses magnetic resistance, but make sure there is a way to plug it in, one thing I forgot to do.

Switch from the exercise bike to a Concept2 rower. It will kick your ass but good. It’s the only machine in the otherwise-all-free-weight gym I go to.

You can get pretty good deals on used models, too.

This is what Consumer Reports likes for an upright. Their recommended recumbent bikes are in the four figures.

4 figures? What does it do, liposuction your ass while you pedal?

Four figures, you know like $1,000 :) I didn’t know if OP wanted to spend that much.

I spent $1200 on my old bike, and was extremely happy with it, so dropping a grand on a new one isn’t entirely out of the question.

But obviously, if I can get similar quality for $500-600, I’d rather do that.

Consumersearch has a pretty good write-up of what you’re looking at and what the shape of the market is. (I really like that site in general, because it’s like they hire someone to do the 40+ hour “trawl the internet for reviews and forum posts” thing that I normally do when I research something, and then write up the conclusions and point to the sources.) Their conclusions seem a bit thin in this case, but they seem to be leaning toward the “mid priced is fine” thing.