Reebok I Bike S Exercise Bike Review

We have not yet had the opportunity to properly review the Reebok I Bike S Exercise Bike, but hope to be able to very soon.

This is a new 2011 model from Reebok Fitness and as a budget bike, we expected to see a smaller bike, but were pleasantly surprised that the bike is a decent size taking up a floor space of 110cm by 55cm.

The seat can be adjusted for height and it’s quite comfortable to sit on – a rather important factor! We found the leg levellers a useful feature to see on a budget bike.

The bike feels smooth and stable to use thanks to the 7 kilogram flywheel. The resistance can be adjusted by turning a knob on the upright and the resistance range can has 8 levels. One thing to note on this is that the resistance levels are evenly spread. Reebok call this their “M Force” braking technology. We particularly like this aspect, as we’ve found many manual magnetic bikes to have little different in actual resistance at low levels and then the resistance jumps to a very difficult level towards the higher settings.

As with all manual reistance bikes, the programmes are limited as the resistance can’t be controlled by the computer. This Reebok I-Bike S exercise bike has four programmes:

1. Target time programme – simply set the target time and pedal away. You can measure your progress by seeing the distance travelled in differnent sessions of the same duration.

2. Target distance programme – enter the distance you wish to cover and begin your workout (after pressing the start key!). Track your progress by seeing the time taken to cover the same distance reduce as fitness levels improve.

3. Target Calories – it should be noted that this is based on theoretical calorie burn of the average person! Nonetheless, it’s a useful programme: enter the number of calories to burn in the session and pedal away.

4. Fitness test programme – this is the interesting programme on this exercise bike! It attempts to provide you with a heart rate controlled workout in a bike without a chest strap wireless receiver! For this programme, the user enters their weight, height and age. Based on this information, the bike works out a target heart rate (based on 65% max heart rate) and when the 20 minute programme is started, the user keeps hold of the pulse sensors throughout so that pulse rate can be periodically measured. Based on the measured pulse rate, the console LCD provides a simple speed up or speed down display in order to keep the user within their target heart rate zone. Once the programme has finished, the bike carries out a one minute heart rate recovery test. During this time, it’s important to continue keeping hold of the pulse sensors. Based on the speed of the recovery, the computer provides a fitness test score from 1 to 6 – the lower the number the better the level of fitness.

As with most exercise bikes, it comes with a integrated transport wheels making it easy to move out of the way when not in use. The warranty period of 2 years is also pretty decent for a bike of this sort of price point.