An exercise bike is a piece of fitness equipment that simulates cycling and designed for home or gym use. These fitness machines are extremely popular worldwide thanks to their versatility and functionality.
Unlike the case with many other exercise machines, exercise bikes are pretty much for everyone, regardless of gender, age or level of physical fitness. They look very much like your regular bike, with handlebars, seat, and pedals.
They also come with an electronic console featuring a display that shows all kinds of metrics and other information about your heart rate, mileage, calories spent and total training time. This seemingly simple contraption can offer some decent full-body training without exhausting its user.
Besides, it’s possible to adjust the intensity of your training by changing the level of pedal resistance.
Types Of Exercise Bikes On The Market:
1. Upright.
This is very similar to regular trekking bikes. If you are a big fan of road bikes who enjoys the challenging intensity of a racing bike ride, you can try it in the comfort of your home with a machine like this.
2. Recumbent.
This type of exercise bikes offers more comfort for your back and joints and is generally great for beginners and those who prefer to take it easy and slow. Thanks to the reclining position where your legs are stretched forward, users don’t feel any pressure on their spinal and lower back muscles.
3. Portable.
Compact machines that don’t look like a regular bike. There are no handlebars and no bike seat and they don’t offer any challenging cardio workout. That’s why they are widely used as post-trauma training equipment at rehabilitation clinics. They are usually much more affordable than their stationary counterparts, don’t take much space and can be easily carried around.
4. Hybrid.
Thanks to an adjustable seat, you can use these bikes to train both in a reclining position and sitting upright.
Schwinn has become quite a reputable American brand that produces fitness machines for home and gyms. Its stationary bikes got particularly popular among the fans of home exercising during recent years thanks to their affordability, versatility, and reliability.
Schwinn 130 and Swinn 170 are both upright stationary bikes that have several similarities but still are different enough to offer some food for thought when you are trying to choose the perfect fitness machine.
Schwinn 130 Vs 170 Comparison Chart
Schwinn 130 Upright Bike Review
Schwinn 130 isn’t exactly a high-end exercising machine and may lag behind some market leaders. On the other hand, it will still be a great pick if all you want is an affordable and reliable exercising machine without a great variety of features.
With its 22 preset exercising programs and 20 resistance levels, it’s still fairly versatile and will be great for both beginners and experienced fitness fans. The preset routines include 4 beginner programs, 4 advanced programs, and an adjustable workout routine.
There are only 2 user profiles that allow downloading and syncing your workout data to health-tracking apps (Schwinn offer its app partnered with MyFitnessPal app). This should not be a problem for you in case you want a personal exercise bike.
There is no Bluetooth connectivity feature but you can use a USB cable to connect your device to the console.
DualTrack LCD allows using the media tray for watching videos or movies on your tablet or phone while being able to keep track of all the important workout data.
The seat looks comfortable and nicely padded. Another nice thing about it is that it’s adjustable and customizable. This means that you can take the seat off any time you want to replace it with another one you like better. And you can easily adjust its height for more comfort during workouts.
By the way, handlebars are adjustable too, so it’s great to know this model can be tweaked and tuned according to your personal needs.
One of its great features is that you can consistently monitor any changes in your heart rate by gripping the handles with the heart rate sensors in them. You will immediately see the information on the LCD.
The frame looks stable and solid so the machine doesn’t jiggle and wobble even during high-intensity workouts at the highest resistance levels. And the bike is very quiet too.
Pros:
- Nice and affordable workout machine for personal use
- 22 preset exercising programs and 20 resistance levels are great for beginners
- Sturdy enough to endure up to 300 lbs of weight
FAQ:
1. What’s the seat like? Is it fit for long training sessions?
The Schwinn 130 looks like a regular mountain bike seat. It’s quite small and contoured so it might not feel very comfortable during a lengthy workout. It’s doesn’t seem to be a problem, though, as you can easily replace it with a larger one whenever you feel like it.
2. How easy is it to assemble?
This stationary bike comes with a pre-assembled frame, so you shouldn’t worry about spending hours trying to figure out what goes where. You only have to attach a few things to complete the assembly, so it’s both easy and fast.
3. I’ve plugged the bike into the outlet but the console still doesn’t work. What’s the issue?
You’ll have to push the Power button on the console to make it work as it doesn’t switch on automatically.
Schwinn 170 Upright Bike Review
It’s safe to say that this model is a more advanced and feature-packed version of the Schwinn 130 bike. While they have a lot in common, Schwinn 170 offers more versatility, more comfort and a wider choice of features. Naturally, al of this comes at a higher price as well. However, it remains within the mid-priced category.
This upright exercising bike has 29 workout programs and 25 resistance levels, which makes it a better choice for advanced users. There are also 4 user profiles, so it’s better suited for an entire family.
This model also has a Dual Track LCD but this time it had a bright blue backlight that makes all information easily visible for users.
The manufacturer paid more attention to comfort enhancement with this bike. The padded seat is larger and looks more comfortable and the adjustable handlebars are padded too. The pedals are wider and better positioned for more comfortable foot support.
Besides the hand-grip heart rate sensors you can see in the Schwinn 130, this bike also offers to use a telemetric heart rate tracker with a chest strap. the chest straps, however, don’t come in the package and have to be purchased separately.
Pros:
- Maximum user comfort
- Very versatile
- Great for family use
FAQ:
1. How noisy is this bike?
Schwinn 170 is very quiet and works very smoothly. The only sound others will likely hear when you use it is your breathing.
2. I’m quite short with less than 5 feet of height. Will this bike be convenient for me?
Thanks to the fact that it has many adjustable parts, including the seat and the handlebars, it will be quite comfortable for you to use.
3. What’s this bike’s weight?
It’s less than 80 pounds, so it’s quite easy to lift and carry around.
Conclusion
Both Schwinn 130 and Schwinn 170 are well-made, solid workout machines, well-designed and made with a focus on quality. However, there are distinct differences between them.
It’s worth noting, however, that these differences don’t make one of the models worse or better. They are just targeted at different categories of users.
If you are looking for an upright stationary bike for solo use, quite affordable but still reliable, you might want to choose Schwinn 130.
But in case you value comfort and more versatility above all and are ready to pay a higher price for it, go for the Schwinn 170 bike and you won’t be disappointed.
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