Kettler Sport Picos Exercise Bike Review

Kettler is a brand that manufactures a myriad of different types of products. They’re famous for table tennis tables, garden furniture, road bicycles and fitness equipment, including, of course, exercise bikes. While the type of product they manufacture varies greatly, the standard they manufacture to does not and they’ve acquired a well-earned reputation for producing quality goods. We took a look at their rather chunky looking Picos exercise bike to see how it measure’s up in a notoriously competitive space at the mid-price point.

Assembly is simple enough and takes around 30 minutes to complete. It’s straight-forward enough that anyone who can pick up the pieces should be able to put them together. Once assembled this is a rather basic, but reassuringly chunky looking exercise bike. A quick shake test indicates that it’s as solid as it looks and if there’s any doubt, a quick look at the 46kg product weight and 150kg max user weight confirms initial impressions that this model is very solid indeed. It’s not the prettiest looking bike, but it sure is solid.

A good riding position is important for comfort and to minimise the chance of injury. The gel saddle on the Picos has enough width and padding to ensure that it’s comfortable for most people, though some may well want to change it for something a bit wider. The saddle is adjustable horizontally and vertically while the handlebars can also be adjusted to tilt towards to away from the rider making it easy to get a decent riding position. Most users should have no trouble in getting comfortable on this bike.

The console has a back-lit LCD screen that’s got a clean layout and simple to understand menus while the buttons are few, logical and well laid-out. There are 19 workouts to choose from, including some heart rate controlled programmes, and it’s possible to store up to 4 user profiles. There are 24 different levels of resistance with the transition time from one to the other being reasonably leisurely but fast enough for daily general use. The console also has a tablet holder built into it, with the only disadvantage being that once the tablet is placed in the holder, it’s no longer possible to see the console screen. There are no interactive functions here so it’s not possible to pair a tablet with the console. This means that when you place a tablet on the holder you can’t control the functions of the bike until you move it away again. Still, it’s nice to have the option of watching movies or reading a book while you work out.

The Picos also benefits from a water bottle holder (always good to see), transport wheels (which are most welcome given the weight of this bike) and Kettler’s generous 3-year on-site parts and labour warranty.

This exercise bike is rock-solid, heavy duty and comfortable. It also has user profiles, 19 preset workouts and a tablet holder so you can keep entertained. In fact, all-round this is a very good exercise bike. The one thing letting it down is the price. The Picos is built well, but it’s very basic for an upright bike that costs this much.