IN A SPIN

This Stationary Bike Gave Me the Best Lower Body Workout of My Life (and Only a Few Mental Breakdowns)

Cyclists are built different.

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There are other cardio exercises, and then there’s cycling. Something about the thigh-crunching, butt-busting nature of pedaling a high-resistance (fine, medium-resistance) (FINE, no-resistance) bike absolutely wrecks me. I can hike up and down hills for hours, shadow box until my arms fall off, even row for a good 20 minutes before chanting “Nope. Nope. Nope.” to an empty room. But cycling… woof.

If any bike would change my mind, it’s the VeloNix, the newest offering from the exercise technology company Speediance—the makers of a weight machine I love that turns the smallest corner of your room into a full gym. If it’s possible for a stationary bike to look sexy, this one does. It abandons the pretense of wheels that so many stationary bikes have retained in favor of sleek, high-tech-looking lines. This is more than just an aesthetic decision: the elimination of external wheels and gears reduces the risk of children and pets getting pinched and injured.

The biggest thing about this bike is the giant screen, which is quickly becoming table stakes for any high-end exercise device. The VeloNix’s is thoughtfully designed; it pivots easily so you can tilt up when you’re standing (I believe the cycling girlies call this “climbing”) or rotate it to keep watching after you hop off the bike to stretch and cool down.

But it’s what on the screen that has the potential to turn me from a noodle-legged noob to a biking pro. It natively streams most major video platforms, like HBO, YouTube, Prime Video, and Netflix, so you can turn your couch potato binge into the most harrowing thigh workout of your life.

Amazon

$2499

VeloNix Stationary Bike

Speediance also has an expansive selection of classes, so you can follow a peppy instructor’s lead and push yourself to even higher heights, competing to climb the leaderboard.

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If you want to pretend you’re on a real bike, all you have to choose is where. The landscape videos let you touch down on paths across the globe, with dynamic resistance that increases as the terrain inclines. You can “race” against other cyclists or zone out in a beautiful Swiss landscape. You can even take on legendary rides, like past Tour de France routes, and mark your time against the pros.

If you’re a biking die-hard, you know it’s all about the stats. In every screen view, you can see a plethora of performance data displayed at the bottom to optimize your workout. The bike can connect to Zwift, Strava, Android, and Apple watches, and more.

Some of these premium screen experiences do require a monthly subscription, which is something to factor into the overall purchase price—and the bike itself is not cheap. But if you’re one of those built-different cycling enthusiasts, the bike rewards that experience.

Even as a novice, I appreciated the ease of perfecting the seat height and the convenient thumb buttons for making quick manual adjustments. I did find the seat it comes with pretty uncomfortable—quite hard and too small for my… let’s say ample assets—but it’s my understanding that swapping out a seat for one to your liking is easily done, and the secondary market for plusher stationary bike seats is booming.

If you’ve been eyeballing a Peloton bike, the VeloNix is a competitor to consider. As a high-end piece of equipment, I don’t know that people looking to pick up cycling for the first time will be adding to cart (hello, my noodle-legged friends!), but those who have been grinding on their manual bike with an iPad duct-taped to the handles: maybe it’s time to consider an upgrade?

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