Fun Fitness Ride

Fitnex B50 Upright Exercise Bike Review

When you first look at the Fitnex B50 exercise bike, you immediately notice that it’s a very cool looking bike. But we didn’t judge it on looks along when we picked as our Best Buy in its Price Class. Some of the factors we considered were:

  1. Wide base seat with gel-foam padding – To sit upright in a safe position, you must rotate your hips forward to place a slight curvature into your spine, which brings your bottom directly under your body weight. That’s the reason cycling pants have built in padding because without adequate padding, the gluteal muscles are impinged and become sore and bruised. Fitnex has taken an extra step to ensure comfort by using gel foam, which is a very dense high-tech foam with better impact-absorption properties than regular foam. The seat is wide at the base, further reducing discomfort by dispersing pressure over a wider area. A well-padded seat, like padded cycling pants, will protect your behind and allow you to train longer and more frequently. It’s the most important feature of an exercise bike.
  2. Heavy duty steel frame. The Fitnex B50 will support a rider up to 300lbs!
  3. The Fitnex B50 uses an electronically controlled magnetic braking system, the same kind used in exercise bikes costing twice as much. In the past, resistance came in the form of ‘roller’ or ‘band’ friction, resulting in inevitable parts-burn-out and noise. Unfortunately this technology is still used in many other bikes in the same price class.
  4. The bike uses an electronically controlled device that moves the flywheel, thereby varying the resistance felt by the legs. Since no parts actual make physical contact, there is no friction and no parts wear. This results in reduced noise, a much longer life for your exercise bike and very smooth resistance. There are a total of 16 resistance settings in all.
  5. The Fitnex B50 has a durable, crack-resistant body housing. All moving parts on this bike are enclosed within a tough outer shell. This protects you against injury, protect your clothes from becoming jammed in the crank mechanism, reduces dust accumulation in joints and bearings and protected the machine from rusting from any sweat and moisture getting on the mechanism. In addition it reduces the bike’s noise making this machine almost silent.
  6. The bike has Padded handle bars, allowing you to lean forward and braces your shoulder girdle. This allows you to use your accessory breathing muscles (pec minor, intercostals etc) to increase air intake which helps you burn more calories during the workout. You still have the option of sitting in the upright position and gripping like regular bars. In that position, you can train longer, in comfort, for greater fat metabolism. The handle bars and console also act as a good magazine holder.
  7. The counter-balanced pedals swings the pedal into the upright position, so every time you get on, both pedals are in the correct position ready for you to slip in your feet and get started.
  8. The Fitnex B50’s built-in heart rate monitor is a part of the handle bars. It monitors your heart rate through 2 hand sensors and gives you feedback through the console.
  9. The same heart rate control found on elliptical trainers and treadmills, is also included on the Fitnex B50. You can program your target heart rate into the console and grip the heart rate sensors. The onboard computer operates on a feedback loop, continuously comparing your heart rate to your pre-programmed target zone and adjusts resistance to suit. For example, if your heart rate falls below the target rate, (that is you are slacking off), the computer will automatically increase resistance to elevate your heart rate. This is a very safe way to train, especially if you are new to exercise bikes.

Conclusion

We were very impressed with the Fitnex B50 exercise bike from the moment we saw it and we liked more and more as we evaluated it for this review. Fitnex have 3 upright exercise bikes in their range (one cheaper and one more expensive) and we found the B50 to be the best combo of features, function and price. It is obviously well suited to home use but its solid and reliable construction would also make it a good choice for a club environment.

Don’t be misled by a sale price. ALWAYS LOOK FOR FREE SHIPPING! This bike weights over a 100lbs and without free shipping, that could add over $125 to the price.

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