Exercise Bike Review:
ProForm GL35
I did a little research on different bikes. I had the choice between a recumbent bike or an upright. I think the recumbent bike would have been a great choice as well. Since it requires no balance. This upright doesn't require much balance either. It's also a bit smaller and compact.
Basically, the decision stemmed from that fact that I needed to do more cardio. At least 3-5x a week. Nothing too serious but something healthy and if and when I wanted to cut, I could. I spend about 45 minutes with weights at the gym and time constraints don't allow me to spend much more.
Additionally, I needed to do my cardio preferably on non-weight training days or at least 8 hours apart. So having a bike at home seemed like a great choice. While I can't do my weight workouts at home, I can certainly get in a fair share of cardio at home as I don't need anything too fancy.
What I like about the Proform GL35: It's compact
It's sturdy
It's REALLY SUPER quiet
It's ifit.com compatible
Pedal clips
What I don't like about the Proform GL35: The seat is painful.
What is ifit.com? The bike has 4 smart-programs installed. No big deal. They work. But the ifit.com thing is cool. You hook up an audio cable to the bike to the output of your VCR, CD or Computer. Signals are sent and the bike changes resistance and pace depending on the programs. So in the mornings, I log in to ifit.com, and pick one of about 100 programs and it does a program for me. Interval training, steady fat burn, or whatever. There's also a modular phone jack in the back for some later proposed use. Not sure what yet.
Is it quiet? Super quiet. Even at 7 resistance, you can barely hear any noise other then huffing and puffing.
How much is it? I got mine for $249 at Fogdog.com. There's a million similar sites that sell it. I picked that vendor because of the free shipping and no CA sales tax.
What about the seat? I looked at the configuration of the seat. And then I looked at my gym. Same size bolts and locations. So I'm thinking that I will take the seat post in to a on-site place that sells exercise equipment and see if I can get a replacement seat that is more comfortable. It doesn't appear to be proprietary but more of a standard exercise bike seat. That makes the only negative I have to say about the bike, something that can be addressed and resolved.
I want more details. Go to
ProFrom and check it out. This bike has a lot of features that I don't discuss. Like a heart rate monitor. If you check it out at their site, you will see this a good bike, under $300 that will probably get the job done for those who need cardio but don't want to spend a fortune and don't have the room at home. Plus, if you can workout at home for cardio then there's just no excuse for not doing it.
Conclusion: Recommended
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