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The Insider Pick:
An exercise bike is a great way to keep your heart healthy, your muscles toned, and your weight right where you want it. When you have a stationary bike in the home, you won't be able to make excuses about why you skipped a workout, either. The Exerputic 4000 Magnetic Recumbent Bike is our top pick because it's well made and fairly affordable.
Exercise bicycles, also known as stationary bikes or spinning bikes, have a surprisingly long history. In fact, a man named Francis Lowndes invented a device approximating the function of an exercise bike in the late 1790s. His creation, called the Gymnasticon, predated even the earliest riding bicycles by several decades. By the end of the 19th Century, as bicycles took their modern form, stationary bikes used for exercise became a more common sight in homes and gymnasiums.
For much of the 20th Century, the exercise bike and the treadmill were essentially the only stationary devices suitable for cardiovascular exercise. Then in the latter decades of the 1900s devices such as the NordicTrack, the elliptical trainer, and stair machines gained in popularity. For while, exercise bikes seemed almost passé, used more for hanging laundry than for fitness in the home and relegated to the back corner or many fitness centers. Then the spinning craze hit a few years back and exercise bikes surged into style once again.
And why shouldn't the exercise bike be popular? On those days when it's too cold for a run or too rainy for a walk, or when there's no time for a trip to the gym, a home exercise bike is a great way to get your heart rate up and your leg muscles pumping. When you use the various seated and standing positions and the interval training approach of a spin class, you can even get what amounts to a total body workout right there on a stationary bike. And compared to an elliptical trainer, many exercise bikes are relatively affordable and compact. Some even fold away to stash in a closet or under the bed.
Our guide includes exercise bikes to fit every budget and every home. Some are small enough to tuck under a desk, while others will require a few square feet of real estate. But all of the stationary cycles included will help you hit those cardio fitness and weight management goals.
SEE ALSO: The best home gym equipment you can buy to get fit
The best exercise bike overall
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Why you'll love it: From the padded armrests and seat cushion to the ergonomic backrest to the customizable workout settings, the Exerpeutic 4000 Magnetic Recumbent Bike proves you can burn calories in comfort.
Who said a fat-blasting cardio workout session had to be unpleasant? No one who has ever eased himself or herself into the plush seat of the Exerpeutic 4000 Recumbent Bike, certainly.
This superlative home exercise stationary bike has a generously padded seat the cradles your core while promoting airflow, a mesh backrest that offers plenty of support while keeping you cool, and padded armrests that keep your elbows and forearms comfortable even as your legs churn away at the bike's magnetic tension system.
The Exerpeutic 4000 offers 24 different levels of tension, so whether you're just starting to exercise for the first time in years or you're looking for a way to stay fit between century rides, this bike will offer just the right level of challenge for you. It also comes with 12 workout programs, so you can tailor your exercise sessions to suit your fitness goals and your personal preferences. While you're using the bike, an onboard computer will track metrics including distance, RPMs, your heart rate, and even the watts of power generated.
And while this is a larger bike that will take up some room in the home, it's lightweight enough to be rolled into the corner (or the garage) after each use.
One satisfied owner calls it "sturdy and super quiet at all speeds," adding that the "seat is extremely comfortable." Another buyer says the Exerpeutic 4000 Magnetic Recumbent Bike offers "everything I want" in a stationary bike.
A TopFitnessMag.com review calls the Exerpeutic 4000 a great choice for people who are of medium to "bigger proportions" who want to shed the "extra pounds." A write up from IndoorsFitness.com praises the "advanced console" the bike features, noting its many programs and its connection to a fitness tracker app.
Pros: Comfortable seat design, multiple fitness programs, large weight capacity
Cons: Poor manual makes initial setup frustrating
The best low cost exercise bike
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Why you'll love it: The Marcy Recumbent Mag Cycle exercise bike costs less than half the price of many similar bikes without notable loss of quality.
Let's be clear here: the Marcy Recumbent Mag Cycle is a pretty basic stationary bike. The onboard "computer" tracks time, speed, distance, and approximates likely calories burned, but it's not going to offer you customizable workout programs like you get with many more advanced, expensive exercise bikes. But what this low-cost bike will do is help you burn calories, lose weight, and tone your muscles, which is all those other bikes do anyway, just with fancier features.
The Marcy Recumbent Mag Cycles offers eight different intensities of magnetic resistance, so it suits people of varied fitness levels. Using these eight settings, you can create your own workout program by switching up the difficulty during the session. While in operation, the Marcy Recumbent bike is quiet and stable, suitable for use while you watch TV or with kids sleeping in the room next door.
While this is a more basic option than many exercise bikes, its low cost makes it a great choice for those on a budget or who aren't sure they'll use it much and thus hesitant to make a large investment.
One satisfied owner calls her Marcy Recumbent Mag Cycle "very quiet" and a "good value for the money." Another was happy to find that the "assembly was easier than [he] thought it would be."
A writer from BikesReviewed.com called the Marcy Recumbent "easy to mount and dismount," a safety quality that makes it ideal for seniors. A BestWomensWorkoutReview.com piece called it a "budget-friendly exercise bike."
Pros: Great low price, easy to mount and dismount, quiet operation
Cons: Computer is basic and limited
The best folding exercise bike
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Why you'll love it: The XTERRA FB150 Folding Exercise Bike provides a fine cardio workout when it's set up for use, then folds away into a compact package.
Ironically, the best thing about the XTERRA FB150 Folding Exercise Bike is how little you'll see of it most of the time. When folded up, this bike occupies just 17-inches by 18-inches of floor space, so it can be stuffed in a closet, tucked behind a door, or even laid flat and slid beneath a bed that sits well above the ground.
Not only can you stash this folding stationary bike just about anywhere, but you can use it almost anywhere, too. Even when deployed for use, the bike measures only 18-inches wide and 32-inches in length, so it will fit even in a smaller room.
The XTERRA FB150 Folding Exercise Bike has an adjustable padded seat so it can accommodate riders of varied height, and its curved, multi-grip handlebars allow you to grasp on wherever is most comfortable. When you take hold of the pulse grips set at the sides of the handlebars, you can keep track of your heart rate, helping you achieve ideal cardio intensity.
The bike's small onboard computer also tracks time, speed, distance, and calories burned. A simple dial adjusts the resistance difficulty, which is spread across eight settings.
An EXTERRA FB150 owner named Mary calls it "fantastic" and loved the bike's ease of assembly and how "comfortable and easy to use" it proved to be. A buyer called Ashley said it was "quiet" and perfect for a "workout while watching TV."
A HealthFitnessCritique.com review called this compact bike easy to fold down and tuck away "when you're not using it" and said was easy to "put together in less than half an hour with the clear instructions and simple tools in the box."
Pros: Compact bike folds away for storage, low price tag, easy assembly
Cons: Too small for many users
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