Advice: Exercise Bike - new/used?

AMc

Looking at one of the questions on the rollers it’s 113cm long   the overhang of the rear wheel.
The stand and rollers are £160 on there own. That leaves me taking my bike off the road or picking up something super cheap on gumtree etc.

Not sure that works though I appreciate the suggestion.

nick67

I was suggesting you used it with a turbo trainer instead of the rollers.

It doesn't take long to fit and then refit your normal wheel.

nick67

I bought my rollers, which fold in 3 if required when not in use, they are Elite Quick Motion Rollers, paid £140 lightly used. They can be seen here with my summer bike, which I should be on instead AVF

                                                                       

p9ul

If you want an accurate HRM you'll be wanting a chest strap version rather than a wrist based (but it depends on how serious you want to get.

Zone 2 for fat burning is pretty low - I don't feel like I'm doing anything and I think a general rule of thumb is that at the upper limit, you'll only be just breaking a sweat.

Remember that your body can only burn fat at a certain "speed limit" if you go higher than that your body has fuel itself with glycogen / carbs.

If you have one handy - try laying an exercise mat down as an exercise bike, turbo trainer  will take up roughly the same space, plus you'll probably want a mat anyway to dampen any noise and catch sweat.

AMc

Ok. I don’t think that shortens the overal length enough though does it?
Half the front wheel on my 700c wheel is only 30cm so I'm still at 140cm so a foot too long.
It means dragging the bike through the house and up the stairs.  That's not going to be popular with the rest of the household so I'm really looking for a semi-permanent solution.

That looks fabulous.

My first HRM was a chest based job.  It was great until it stopped working, but then I stopped working with it too so it's probably fair.

My initial plan is to reduce some weight, build up a bit of strength and get back to riding outdoors.  
If I can hit the lower end of the fat burning zone without breaking a sweat then I should be able to pop on the bike a couple of times a day when I'm watching webinars, reading docs etc. and not need to change and shower.
I'll aim to do something more intensive on the days when I have enough slack in the schedule too.

I had thought about needing to put something on the floor.  I don't have an exercise mat though.
I've only ever really exercised as an incidental to my daily life - my 4.5 mile commute in London was brilliant; it was quicker than public transport and mixed some longer runs with 30  sprints between traffic lights in Zone 1.

I saw a picture of myself the other day when I'd been doing that for 3 years and looking at myself now is what's spurring me on to do something about the podge which has crept up on me .

reiteration

maybe you could do some other exercises too - like burpees and jumping jacks etc?

AMc

There are other cardio type exercises I could do at home but they really don't appeal.
I primarily want to do some low impact, low intensity exercise to lose some of the spare tyre.
I can imagine myself mindlessly pedalling away for 20-30m while I check through my emails or watch YouTube videos.  I'm fairly self disciplined so I think this could be effective.

I genuinely appreciate all the suggestions and advice.

So back to my question:  Reconditioned gym bike or brand new consumer bike?

mr:w

If you're on facebook, check out two groups - Road Cycling Buy & Sell UK, and Road and Racing bikes for sale in the UK.

Plenty of decent bikes come up around the £200-£300 mark. Get one of those, a used turbo trainer or rollers, get your fitness up and when you're ready, get out on the road. Have a look at this thread as well.

Peloton bike, any good?

AMc

Thanks but I still don't have room for a full size bike and turbo in the only room I can put the exercise bike in.

mr:w

If you bought a bike for road riding, where would you keep it? Garage, shed, garden?

If you've got space for a road bike, it'd take up no more room to have that bike on a turbo.