York Nexus Exercise Bike Review

 

The York Nexus series of fitness equipment was orginally launched in 2010 as a mid market range with a good degree of success. Now, as the range is coming to the end of its lifecycle, the products in the range have been getting offered at heavily discounted prices.

As a result of this, the Nexus exercise bike is now available at under £200. So, is this an absolute bargain or an old product that is about to be replaced by a better model?

Certainly, going by the specs alone, the Nexus is extremely good value for money. When testing the bike, we found the pedalling action is rather smooth with as a result of the 6kg flywheel and quality bearings used in the construction of the bike and we’re impressed that the bike offers computer controlled magnetic resistance – something that is rare in budget priced exercise bikes.

We can conform that the seat is comfortable and finding a good riding position will be achievable for users of most heights as both the seat and the handlebars can be adjusted. Getting started on the bike is also simple in manual mode – simply pedal and adjust the resistance using the up and down buttons on the console!

The display on the console consists of a large LCD screen that displays all of the relevant performance metrics at all times. This consists of exercise time, distance, calories consumed, speed, RPM and heart rate (which can be measured by grabbing the pulse sensors on the handlebar for a few seconds).

Boredom is unlikely to set in with this York Nexus as the console is packed full of programmes to provide exercise variety. In addition to manual mode, there are 12 pre-set programmes, 4 user-definable programmes and 4 heart rate controlled programmes! We’re big fans of heart rate controlled programmes as they enable efficient and effective training to reach specific goals.

One programme that is particularly original is the ‘body fat’ programme. When this programme is selected, you enter your gender, age, weight and height into the console, and grab the pulse grip sensors while the computer measures elements of your body composition. Based on the measurements, the console provides a body fat percentage and works out an exercise programme to suit! In addition, the console provides an estimate of your basal metablic rate, which is plain english is the number of calories a day your body uses as starting point (ie. to pump around blood, keep lungs going etc). This is a particularly useful thing to know and measure when trying to achieve weight loss; regular exercise leads to an increase in muscle mass, which in turn leads to a higher BMR and if you use more calories each day to keep your basic body functions operating, the easier weight loss becomes!

Finally, there is a heart rate recovery test function built into the exercise bike. We’ve seen this on an increase number of exercise bikes and believe it to be a nice feature. At the end of an exercise session (when your heart rate will be increased), you simply hit the recovery test button, grab the pulse grip sensors and the computer measures the rate at which your heart rate is recovering back towards a resting level. The quicker the recovery, the fitter you are and this rate is measured over a minute and the results are banded as a fitness rating of between 1 and 6.

The maximum user weight is 125 kgs (over 18.5 stones) and there is a full 2 years parts and labour warranty in the event of a problem, though it’s important to remember to register the product with York Fitness to get the second year. Finally, it’s worth mentioning that there are transport wheels on the front of the machine, making it relatively easy to move it around once assembled and there are independent leg levellers to ensure that the bike will be stable on uneven floor