I bought a spin bike for the house and I’ve got questions...
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HilTri
Posts: 378 Member
My gym uses Life Cycle IC5. I bought an IC6 for my house and I love it. I still like to go to the gym to ride and I teach spin classes too. Having the bike at home is very convenient and I am so glad I purchased it. I use Les Mills On Demand and the Peloton App for variety. The question I have is this....do I need to break the bike in? The brand new gears are so stiff, my resistance barely gets to 60 (out of 100), compared to the bike at the gym, I burn fewer calories for the same amount of work. The computer screen is slow to respond too, I wonder if that requires a break in period too. This is my first brand new piece of gym equipment for the house. I hope that someone who has made a similar purchase can shed some light. Thank you.
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The question I have is this....do I need to break the bike in?
No you shouldn't have to - it should work perfectly out of the box.
The brand new gears are so stiff
Gears on a stationary bike? Are you sure as I've never come across gears on an indoor bike as they would serve no purpose.
, my resistance barely gets to 60 (out of 100), compared to the bike at the gym,
What kind of resistance does your bike use? Mechanical brakes/friction material may bed in. Air resistance or magnetic resistance doesn't need bedding in. (Mine uses both magnetic and air.)
Just a thought - maybe it's the well used bikes in the gym that have lost mechanical friction/resistance over time and yours is how it should be?
I burn fewer calories for the same amount of work.
How are you estimating calories?
In the physics sense the same amount of work burns the same calories.
The computer screen is slow to respond too, I wonder if that requires a break in period too.
No, computers don't work like that.
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Is there any setup/calibration needed before use? I know some of ours do require an initial calibration/configuration before they go into service, but I don't know all the nitty gritty about what that entails, or what the "symptoms" would be if it wasn't done.1
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Is there any setup/calibration needed before use? I know some of ours do require an initial calibration/configuration before they go into service, but I don't know all the nitty gritty about what that entails, or what the "symptoms" would be if it wasn't done.
A power meter should be calibrated before use so I'm wondering if the new bike feeling harder is simply the power reading being off so it's feeling harder at the same apparent power output compared to the gym bikes?
It happens at my gym when people calibrate the power meters while pedaling - feet unclipped and flywheel not moving is the correct way that my particular brand of bikes should be calibrated (calibration to zero) so if someone does it while pedaling at 50 watts the power meter reading reading will be too low by 50w.1 -
Why does your house need a spin bike? Can't you just downsize?2
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Great info. I was thinking that the gym bikes are worn out from all of the use they get. Sijomial, I will try your suggested calibration method on tomorrow’s ride. Thank you.0
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Great info. I was thinking that the gym bikes are worn out from all of the use they get. Sijomial, I will try your suggested calibration method on tomorrow’s ride. Thank you.
Worth reading the manual as not all power meters have the same calibration method. My outdoor bike's power meter has to be calibrated in a different way to the gym bikes.
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Say what Jestog63? I don’t think that is pertinent to my question. Thank you though2
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My gym uses Life Cycle IC5. I bought an IC6 for my house and I love it. I still like to go to the gym to ride and I teach spin classes too. Having the bike at home is very convenient and I am so glad I purchased it. I use Les Mills On Demand and the Peloton App for variety. The question I have is this....do I need to break the bike in? The brand new gears are so stiff, my resistance barely gets to 60 (out of 100), compared to the bike at the gym, I burn fewer calories for the same amount of work. The computer screen is slow to respond too, I wonder if that requires a break in period too. This is my first brand new piece of gym equipment for the house. I hope that someone who has made a similar purchase can shed some light. Thank you.
In addition to the possible calibration issues already addressed by others, you might want to do some research on the generator and possible changes over the years. A resistance of 60 on your bike might well be the same wattage as a higher resistance setting on another generation or model.
I have a Precor elliptical that can provide 720 watts ressitance, but others with the same resistance scale (1-20) are in the 550 watt range, and I think some older models were even less wattage.0 -
Are you using it in erg mode?1
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NorthCascades I don’t even know what that is! I don’t think I am.1
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Somebody disagreed. Why would the bike assist resistance based on the power you're putting out then it's not in the mode that adjusts resistance to force you to output a specific power? Outside of erg mode it should simply use the resistance you set, right?0
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So you were already getting lots of great advice on your subject, so my comment was totally on the lighthearted side. I spin at the gym in class only because I do other stuff and do not believe in my case it would be a wise purchase. Enjoy that bike.0
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janejellyroll wrote: »
I obviously require a joke book written by a professional because several of you either can't recognize or don't like a bit of jocularity.1 -
Hi...used to have an indoor Lemond and now I have a Keiser at home. They had different resistance systems and resistance for "levels" were very different. I think you already got advice on calibration...but I didn't worry about my old bike's resistance "levels" being different than the new one...resistance "levels" are arbitrary and just set by each manufacturer.
Ideally you have a measure of power (usually in watts... not all measure power but many do) and those are typically accurate within 10-15% and that's probably more worth calibrating or researching how accurate your bike tends to be.
On the cals burned: depending on brand, these can be wildly off. The most accurate (by a lot) way to calculate kcals is just to use your power. If you have power...
Kcals = ave watts x 3.6 x time (in hours)
If your power is accurate (which you can calibrate), this is extremely accurate within 2-5%.
Lastly, consider training based on power instead of resistance. Peloton has power based training ("Powerzone") as do most specialized cycling apps (Sufferfest, Zwift). The Peloton power coach is pretty good. Power based training tends to help avoid over and under training and leads to faster performance improvement.
Hope that's moderately helpful.
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I obviously require a joke book written by a professional because several of you either can't recognize or don't like a bit of jocularity.
I was just about to rush to your defense to say you were just making a joke.... So you can hold off on that book purchase!
Sarcasm and humor both are often misunderstood online, because we don't have all the body language and tone of voice as cues. Not to worry, happens a lot.
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