The Best Home Exercise Bikes for Fun Workouts Anytime
Get a quality ride at home with these standout models
Although we’re no longer confined to our home gyms, there’s something nice about having our workout space within arm’s reach. In fact, many exercisers still prefer at-home workouts, according to a report from the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, an industry trade group. Indoor cycling can be a particularly effective workout, whether you’re just trying to stay active or seeking to improve power and performance.
Over the course of several months, we spoke with experts who shared their top factors to consider when choosing an exercise bike, and then we got riding. Whether you want the “best of the best” bike with every bell and whistle or a more streamlined version to just move your legs, there is an option for everyone. We found the Peloton Bike is the best exercise bike for most people, while the Schwinn IC4 (and the identical Bowflex C6) is a more bare-bones option for those who want to use another app, or no app at all.
Best overall exercise bike
Peloton
Bike
The original Peloton Bike combines great software and hardware for the best in-home cycling experience.
Pros
- Ample data for fitness and progress tracking
- Thousands of studio and scenic rides
- Trainers with big personalities
- Impressive social connectivity
- Smooth, quiet ride
- High-quality display screen
Cons
- Delta-compatible shoes required
- Without the monthly membership, features are extremely limited
- Lower max allowable weight than other bikes
Specs
- Flywheel: Magnetic
- Max allowable weight: 297 pounds
- Power meter: Yes
- Pedals: Delta only
The original Peloton Bike is a standout in the exercise bike space. It outperformed the other models we tested when it came to providing the best overall experience. What sets it apart: its ability to connect with friends on the leaderboard, metrics and huge class library, all part of the $44-per-month membership. At first blush, Peloton might seem like a studio experience with the vibes of a New York City club scene—ultrafit trainers who bore into your soul while you climb to a 2010 beat—but there’s far more to it.
That membership includes access to thousands of live and prerecorded workouts that extend beyond the bike to rowing (the company also makes a rowing machine), running (and a treadmill), yoga, outdoor running, stretching and strength training. You can choose music genres ranging from ’90s to country to the Barbie soundtrack to yacht rock and everything in between. In a rush? Opt for a five-minute workout. Many Peloton enthusiasts will find their favorite trainers and follow them to the ends of the earth (or at least to the company’s in-person studios).
If the instructor-led classes aren’t your preferred way to ride, you have other options to enjoy. Peloton has gamified riding with Lanebreak. You ride with a first-person perspective and rack up points through ramping up resistance, finding a regular cadence and hitting your power output. It’s similar to rhythm games such as Guitar Hero, but on a bike. There’s also the Scenic Experience, which lets you ride “outside,” taking in incredible vistas from around the world. At the time of publication, Peloton is beta-testing an entertainment feature that lets you watch Netflix, Disney+ and YouTube TV while riding.
The 21.5-inch, 1080p touch screen can be a little overwhelming if you aren’t a metrics person. You’ll see cadence, power, time, resistance and distance, in addition to the playlist and your heart rate (if you pair a smartwatch or heart rate band over Bluetooth). During a class, the instructor will tell you what resistance and cadence to use, and the numbers will be highlighted in yellow if you’re in the range. If you prefer your workouts based on your personal exertion level, rather than predetermined figures, you can take Power Zone classes, which are driven by your personal output on a scale of 1 to 7.
Through the membership, you can also access nonequipment workouts like outdoor running, strength training and yoga on the Peloton app; it can be used on phones, tablets and even some TVs. The all-access membership allows five users to use one account, but you can’t have two people riding two Bikes at the same time.
As for the Bike itself, the ride is quiet and smooth, with seamless resistance adjustments via a big red knob. It feels comfortable and stable underneath, even when you’re riding hard out of the saddle. Upon your initial login, you’ll see multiple videos that will walk you through how to determine the right heights and distance from handlebars, and you can easily adjust the seat height and position if you have multiple riders in your home. The entire Bike has a footprint of only 2 feet by 4 feet, and the company will set it up during delivery; that’s built into the price and not something you get from lower-price competitors. (Peloton issued a recall for the Bike in May 2023 due to a seat post that could break; the company reports there have been 35 instances of this happening, with 13 injuries. It has addressed this issue by mailing out a free replacement seat post to those who request it here. If you’re buying a new Bike today, the replacement is included.) The Peloton Bike’s pedals require you to clip in with Delta-compatible cleats, as opposed to the other popular style, Shimano Pedaling Dynamics (SPD)-style cleats. Because you’re clipped into the bike, you’ll be able to generate more power and avoid slipping around like you might on a bike that uses platform pedals and toe cages. We’d prefer the more common (SPD)-style cleats, but you can buy shoes from Peloton or many third parties. One Buy Side editor loves this pair from Venzo, and I wear these, from Liv, which are compatible both with Delta- and SPD-style cleats.
Runner-up exercise bike
Schwinn
IC4
Schwinn’s reliable, no-frills exercise bike offers a basic computer and dual-sided pedals.
Pros
- Simple computer provides basic metrics
- SPD-style and platform pedals for versatility
- Compatible with workout apps, including JRNY, Peloton and Zwift
Cons
- No power meter
- Tablet/phone console is designed for taller riders and is not adjustable
- Computer buttons function is not obvious
- Cadence metric is hard to read
Specs
- Flywheel: Magnetic
- Max allowable weight: 330 pounds
- Power meter: No
- Pedals: SPD-style and platform
The Schwinn IC4 is a reliable and lower-price exercise bike that will give you control over your workout with the option to connect to certain fitness apps with varying degrees of integration, including Peloton, Zwift and parent company Nautilus’s JRNY (which we found to be lackluster). The IC4 doesn’t have its own screen, but it does have a built-in bike computer.
Schwinn’s IC4 is best for someone who wants to hop on the bike and just start riding. The computer allows you to build your own time-, calorie- or distance-based workout, with less-than-intuitive controls. The unit comes with a heart rate monitor for your upper arm (although neither I nor my husband, who was also testing the bike, could get it to connect). Schwinn confirmed with me that this bike does not display power in watts on the console (more on this below), but through certain third-party apps it can calculate power using cadence and speed. This is different from a power meter that measures your actual output.
We found the Schwinn IC4 more approachable for newer riders thanks to its dual-sided pedals: a traditional platform with a toe cage on one side and an SPD-compatible pedal on the other, so you can ride with your preferred style of shoes. Unlike many other exercise bikes, the Schwinn IC4 (like the Peloton) has 100 levels of resistance—I’d be impressed if anyone used them all regularly. For comparison’s sake, that’s nearly triple what most other models have.
The bike itself is sturdy, and like other models I tested, it does not take up much space. The handlebars are a little loose if you try to wiggle them; the Peloton’s stood firm. We recommend paying for the $149 assembly to avoid setup headaches.
We appreciated that the computer clearly shows you all of your metrics in one place (another model we tested forces you to toggle). But the cadence metric is small and can be tricky to read. For those who want to sync with a fitness app or watch TV on a phone or tablet, the bike has a nonadjustable media holder. I’m 5 feet 2 inches, and it was very hard to comfortably view my phone from the saddle.
When it comes to adjusting the bike for the right fit, it’s not seamless. The adjustment handles bump into the seat and handlebar posts, to the point that the manual has specific instructions on how to address the issue.
The Schwinn IC4 comes with two 3-pound dumbbells (with racks at the front of the bike), and two water bottle holders at the front, below the handlebars. The water bottles are meant to hang, so they’re not as easy to grab as on other models, including the Peloton.
We confirmed with Nautilus, the parent company of Schwinn and Bowflex, that the Bowflex C6 is identical to the Schwinn IC4. If you find the Bowflex for a lower price, you should choose that model instead.
Others you should know about
The Peloton Bike+ is the company’s top-of-the-line offering; it has a rotating screen, an option for auto-adjusting resistance to match the changes instructors make during on-demand classes, and four-channel audio, to name a few of the premium features. It costs $1,000 more than the standard Bike, and we don’t think those upgrades are worth it. But if you want the prime Peloton experience, this is the bike to get.
The NordicTrack S27i Studio Bike is a premium-price bike that’s all about the bells and whistles. It has incline and decline control, 24 resistance levels and classes through the iFit subscription that offer “smart adjustment” workouts. In other words, the more you ride, the more the bike learns your abilities and preferences and adjusts workouts accordingly. The screen also swivels for nonbike workouts. It’s the same price as the Peloton Bike+, and the (limited) Amazon reviews suggest hardware issues.
The Echelon EX-3 is a top-rated, streamlined exercise bike that comes highly regarded in online reviews. It checks off many of our boxes: magnetic flywheel, Bluetooth connectivity, access to fitness classes and rides, 32 levels of resistance and dual-sided pedals. Unfortunately, it’s only compatible with the Echelon app. If you don’t use the subscription you can still ride but you’ll need to control the workout yourself.
We tested the ProForm Carbon CX by NordicTrack, a lower-price option. Unfortunately, we encountered a host of problems, starting with its initial setup that required multiple technician visits, replacement parts, and many emails and phone calls with customer service. Some issues were not specific to my test case, as I found other users experienced similar problems.
How we picked
Trust us
I have been a journalist for two decades, covering topics like running, nutrition and fitness gear. I have extensive experience testing products, including running shoes, folding treadmills and running strollers. Although I’m an avid runner, I’ve fallen in love with spin classes and outdoor riding. The low-impact nature of cycling is key for all athletes when it comes to cross-training and injury recovery.
To better understand the indoor cycling space and what consumers should look for when purchasing exercise bikes, I spoke with Jennifer Sage, founder of the Indoor Cycling Association; Olympic gold medalist and Zwift ambassador Kristin Armstrong; Cedric Bryant, Ph.D., president and chief science officer for the American Council on Exercise; and Joel Press, M.D., physiatrist-in-chief at Hospital for Special Surgery.
We tested
When purchasing at-home exercise equipment, particularly expensive items with lots of ins and outs, such as treadmills and exercise bikes, there are many things to consider to make the most of your investment.
- Budget: Your budget should be the first consideration when shopping for an exercise bike. “I want to stress that if you can put a little more money in, go for the better quality,” Sage says. “You definitely get what you pay for. A $300 bike is going to be a piece of crap.” Sage explains that a lower-price bike is going to have a cheap drivetrain, which comprises the parts of the exercise bike that will make it move. “A cheap bike might last a year before you get grinding and bumping,” she says.
- Fitness goals: It’s important to ask yourself what you want to achieve with your exercise bike. “Do you need a bike for something general, like cardio while watching a movie, to move your legs?” Sage says. “You don’t need bells and whistles for that. A lower-level bike is fine.” Bryant warns against getting seduced by premium features if you are someone who just wants to move. “Even the most basic models will still provide feedback,” he says, including speed, cadence and calories burned. If you truly want to improve your fitness and performance, you should be looking at a bike with a power meter. “Until fairly recently, people used their heart rate or just a general assessment of their rate of perceived exertion [to gauge effort],” Sage explains. “But power—watts—is the only true representation for how hard you’re working…and how you’ve improved over time.”
- Comfort and adjustability: Anyone who’s ridden a bike, inside or outside, knows that your bottom can get a little sore if it’s not used to sitting for hours at a time on a bike saddle, so comfort is important. And it goes beyond the comfort of the actual saddle. “There should be three points of contact—hands, bottom and feet,” Sage explains. “If you aren’t connected and comfortable, you’re not going to continue anything.” A good exercise bike will have plenty of adjustability to allow for those three points of contact and make you feel comfortable and supported.
- Pedals: Avid outdoor cyclists opt for clipless (confusingly, also called clip-in) pedals, which require riders to essentially snap themselves into the pedals. This allows the cyclist to generate more power and stay connected to the bike, explains Armstrong. “Peloton did a good thing when they forced people to buy the [clip-in] shoes,” she says, pointing out that you cannot ride a Peloton bike without them. Not only can you ride harder with clip-in shoes, Armstrong says, but the cycling shoes also have stronger soles and don’t bend. “If you ride a bike with a shoe that is soft, like a sneaker, this can hurt your arches,” she says, noting that the only reason not to clip in is if you have knee or hip issues that are exacerbated by twisting your leg to get out of the pedals.
We took all those factors into account and called in three of the top exercise bikes to test. We opted to have them professionally set up to avoid any hassles and potential safety issues. Then we rode.
After setup, I adjusted the seat height, seat distance from the handlebars and handlebar height, assessing how easy (or not) it was to do this: Did the handles or knob bump anything? Could I easily lift the seat and handlebars? How tricky was it to loosen or tighten the handles or knob? The Schwinn IC4 allows you to move the handlebars up, down, forward and backward, but the Peloton’s only move up and down, which required me to move the seat all the way forward. All of the units I tested use a magnetic flywheel, so I listened for noise.
And then, of course, there’s the ride itself. How smooth did everything feel? Did anything catch? I assessed whether my feet slipped around in the toe cages or while clipped in. All of the saddles were relatively comfortable, and since they’re bike seats, you can swap them out for more comfortable models if you choose. I turned the resistance knob during the workouts to gauge how easily you can do this while riding; the Peloton is pretty sensitive.
I’m a smaller rider, so I noticed right away if the console or screen was challenging to see; the Schwinn media holder does not adjust, so I strained to watch workouts on my phone. At first, the Peloton screen seemed low (it can be tilted slightly), but once I got riding I could comfortably see everything. In order to get a sense of the workout offerings, I tried a variety of workouts via Peloton, iFit and JRNY. I used the Peloton app on non-Peloton bikes, too. I chose workouts between 20 and 30 minutes long that varied in difficulty (and music); iFit and Peloton had the best libraries.
Our experts
- Jennifer Sage, Eagle, Colo.-based certified personal trainer, cycling instructor and founder of the Indoor Cycling Association
- Kristin Armstrong, Boise, Idaho-based three-time Olympic gold medal cyclist and Zwift ambassador
- Cedric Bryant, Ph.D., Redmond, Wash.-based president and chief science officer for American Council on Exercise
- Joel Press, M.D., physiatrist-in-chief, Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City