I’ve been riding my bike indoors on my Bike Trainer (indoor bike stand) quite a bit this year and experimenting with different entertainment options to make it more interesting and make the time go faster.

I have found various things that work for me that help keep me entertained and motivated and I am always crazy about keeping track of all my workout stats so I have also hooked up and used a couple of different devices either on my bike or in my workout room.

For example I have a small stereo in my workout room and I hookup my iPhone to it for music. The cable reaches my handlebars so I hook my iPhone up to my handlebars so it is handy. I have also hooked up a laptop in the room to watch videos things on the internet (unfortunately I do not have a cable-box for that room so I don’t have a tv in there).

I also use my wireless heart-rate chest strap and Bike GPS computer (Edge 800) to monitor my heart-rate (OK, it’s only a Bike Trainer but I have it setup with almost as many options as most exercise bikes!).

Well, this still wasn’t quite enough stats for me so I also hooked up my old bike computer, which is a wireless wheel-magnet type of bike computer, to my bike and moved the wheel magnet to the back wheel so I could monitor my MPH, Distance, Average and Time.

So far I have found that I like different options depending on my mood and how much time I plan to workout. For shorter workouts I just keep it simple and listen to music. If I want to do some extra time then I’ll use the laptop and watch something (like on Netflix or YouTube).

Anyone who has surfed the Exercise Bike and Trainer pages on this website knows that I have done a ton of research on exercise bikes and spin bikes over the years too. Although I have met with experts in the fitness field and have reviewed and ridden countless exercise bikes and spin bikes I am always looking for new information and a different perspective.

In the past I have ridden commercial quality exercise bikes at a fitness center and then gone directly to a retail store (the same day) and ridden the residential models in order to get a better comparison of as many models (in the different categories) as I could.

You can get some commercial grade (or at least light commercial grade) exercise bikes at retail stores and on the internet but it can be hard to see a really good selection of commercial and residential exercise bikes all in one place.

I was fortunate to be able to review and compare commercial and residential model exercise bikes at Johnson Fitness in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin on my last trip there but that is not usually an option for most people that are just looking for a good quality exercise bike.

Anyway, getting back to my quest for more information and a different perspective on indoor fitness bikes (and to the subject of this post), I decided to visit one of our local fitness clubs, XSport Fitness, to compare their commercial grade exercise bikes with my new home-made bike trainer setup (which I just used the day before).

They have a ton of Exercise Bikes (Uprights and Recumbents) at XSport but really only 2 brands, Life Fitness and Star Trac. Most of the bikes were in good working order although I noticed that one of the Life Fitness bikes had a clanking sound as I rode (so I switched to another bike).

All of the cardio equipment at XSport (Exercise Bikes, Elliptical Trainers, Treadmills, etc.) had small TV screens that were controlled a device called Cardio-Theater and had small controllers next to the monitors where you could plug in headphones and control the volume and channels.

I ended up riding some miles on a Star Trac Upright then I switched for some more time on the Life Fitness Recumbent.

So here are my thought after riding my Bike Trainer one day and the Exercise Bikes at the Fitness Center the next day. I usually prefer keeping my rides and workouts simple and don’t really like driving to a Fitness Club (XSport is about 15 minute ride for me) so that is a big plus for the Bike Trainer workout (or in-home equipment in general).

I also like that I don’t have to re-adjust everything on my Bike Trainer and I can keep track of my stats consistently (it’s always on the same equipment).

I wore my wireless chest strap and brought my bike computer with me to XSport so I was able to compare the HR stats from the Exercise Bikes to my wireless chest strap monitor. In this case, the HR monitors on the commercial bikes at XSport were very close to the wireless monitor and very accurate (a plus for the fitness center).

One of the nicer things about the Exercise Bikes at the fitness center was the Cardio-Theater TV screens that they had on all the equipment. I didn’t spend a long amount of time on each machine so I didn’t get totally involved in any of the shows that were playing but I did watch for a while and it was convenient and time passed much quicker while I was watching a show.

The other, most obvious, positive thing that you get with the Fitness Center, in general (not just the exercise bikes) is the huge selection of equipment that they had there. I also spent a little time on an Elliptical Trainer and on a Treadmill. That was plenty for me but they had plenty more if one has the energy for it.

One of the advantages that Exercise Bikes have over Bike Trainers is the built-in consoles with all the stats and workout programs. As I mentioned above, I have hooked up (and rigged up) some equipment to my bike trainer to monitor my workout stats but the built-in consoles are just easier and track more information.

Many of the Exercise Bikes on our Best Exercise Bikes page have consoles that allow you to upload and download your workout stats and additional workout programs to your computer or to and from the Internet.

Of course, if you want the convenience of an in-home workout and want to keep the costs down you may just want to check into a Bike Trainer instead.

You know that saying “If you’re going to talk the talk then you need to walk the walk” (or something like that). Well, I think I’ve earned a little more of the right to talk the talk after walking so much of the walk ~ or more accurately, riding the ride. Actually, I get a little wore out in the process sometimes! 🙂