Exercise Bike

For years the exercise bike has been one of the most widely maligned pieces of home gym equipment, and for good reason. Most bikes were little more than a bunch of metal parts crudely bolted together with little regard for ergonomics or comfort. It's for that reason that most bikes have ended up stored in basements or closets, out of the public view.

Not only were the exercise bikes of yesteryear shabbily built, many of them were gob-smackingly ugly. Fluorescent accents and gleaming white paint jobs are hardly the ingredients of high fashion, which is yet another reason so many of these dinosaurs were banished to spare rooms, never to be seen or used again. And those daring enough to keep their bikes out in the open still had to contend with space limitations. It seems the majority of bikes were built by companies with wanton disregard for interior real estate.

The Modern Exercise Bike

Fortunately, the makers of home health equipment learned a few things from their miscues. Today's recumbent bikes border on the luxurious, with comfortable reclining positions, drink holders, and pulse-metering devices among other selling points. Take advantage of fully automated features that let you customize your own workout by choosing your duration, incline, and resistance.

With the rise of elliptical trainers, the exercise bike is in danger of extinction. An elliptical machine provides all the same benefits as an exercise bike, but with a more fluid and natural movement. But you can expect to pay substantially more for an elliptical, which, along with more advanced technology, is why bikes have maintained a market presence.