From Spin bikes to Stationary bikes to Recumbent bikes, GoodLife offers various ways to get your cycling “work-ins” during your “workouts”. Why did we select the bikes that we did? Allow us to explain!
Spin bikes
We use a variety of different brands of Spin bikes across the country, but they all fall into two main categories – chain driven and belt driven. There are advantages to using both kinds, and in most of our markets, if a Member has a preference, they can find a Club with a bike that suits their needs.
The advantages of a chain-driven bike are that you get a more ‘authentic’ bike experience – what we mean by that is that it will provide a similar feel to a road bike. Belt-driven bikes tend to offer a quieter, smoother ride. Our most common brands of chain-driven bikes are Schwinn and Star Trac, while Keiser is GoodLife’s most common choice for the belt option bike.
Schwinn is one of the bigger names in bike manufacturing worldwide and, with over 100 years of history, they bring a wealth of experience to the fitness industry.
Keiser makes a Spin bike that holds up incredibly well through high volume use with fewer service problems. Keiser also has one of the more simple but functional performance monitors for useful feedback when riding.
Stationary bikes
For our stationary bikes (both upright and recumbent) we have almost entirely used the Life Fitness Integrity series across the board. This bike has been something of an industry standard for decades. It is reliable, easy to maintain, rides quietly and holds up really well in any Club environment.
All that being said, we are, looking at our equipment offerings and do regular testing and pilot projects with new items. We want to make sure we stay at the top of our game so this is our chance to try out bikes with new features such as virtual rides, new performance monitors and so on.
Whether it be a Spin bike or Stationary bike, working in a 15 to 45-minute ride on your own or participating in a group cycling class will benefit your fitness in numerous ways. You’ll burn major amounts of calories, improve your heart health and cardiovascular fitness, increase muscular strength and endurance in a low-impact and joint friendly activity, reduce stress and boost your mood and energy with feel-good hormones called endorphins. Happy cycling!