Just found this deal on Dealsdirect for a mini-exercise bike. Great if you have a comfy couch/chair and want some exercise while working at your desk. These are not that bad in regards to quality. I've used mine a fair bit. Awesome deal at this price! Shipping is cheap to expensive depending on where you live. Some will definately come away with a win, Sydney 2000 postcode is only $4.95 delivery!
I remember riding a bike with no seat. Not enjoyable!
Must be a pain in the ass to ride.
Always wanted to learn how to ride a unicycle without going sterile.
I saw something like that in a Japanese comic once. The character appear to have enjoyed that.
I always wanted to get a few hundred of these to put under each desk at work, bolt a small generator to each and see if we could at least generate enough to run the lighting. Commercial units have already been released but are ten times the price of these :(
Figure I read is 100w for hard riding. At the pace office workers can manage, I would say you'd be lucky to get a sustained average of 30w, or 250w/h per day. Around 7.5c worth per person per day. The benefits of increased bloodflow to the head from the exercise, and lower demand for heating in winter might still make it worth it.
Take into account the additional power required to ramp up the a/con to rid the office of the extra BO and I'm pretty sure you'll be in negative territory.
Cool info. Every little bit helps but of course the extra activity would also increase body temperatures so the piddly amount of power generated may end up being pointless if the AC then has to work harder as a result. Hmmm, back to my original plan of simply switching off the lights in our area. We like it dark & gloomy and get plenty of light in from the windows anyway.
I also have thought of this exact situation for a long time. I realise the power saving might not be worth it but I was thinking it could be more directed to OHS and encouraging a healthy workplace. Maybe everyone has to reach a target of 10 km or they risk being fired on the spot. JJ. I guess some staff (eg. those with heart issues, bad BO, etc) may not be able to use them. But hey, I love the idea as I hated working in an office and was always thinking of ways to do the work on the PC and exercise at the same time.
The stand-up desk option is a good idea too. I've used this sometimes but I wouldn't want to do it all day.
I've always wished they would turn one carriage of every train into a gym. Think of the time you'd save. In all that wasted commuting time you would turn trim taut and terrific.
@sparkles: Yes, this is similar to another concept I had… all the kinetic energy wasted at Gyms could very easily be harnessed as electrical energy. Now that a lot of Gyms offer 24/7 access you could pretty easily fit them out with a small battery bank connected to intelligent lighting systems so that the energy produced from the fitness equipment could be stored to power energy efficient lighting when required. Once the Gym empties out in the wee hours the lighting could be reduced to a couple of critical zones for safety and then automatically illuminated once the next person enters. Some of the larger Gyms may even be able to store enough power to supply their AV gear and/or offer discounts to those members who produce over & above a certain limit. Works for super-engineered Formula 1 cars but could very easily be applied to so many normal daily activities.
If you could just take the heat energy from human bodies, and combine it with a form of fusion, the machines we would have all the power we would ever need.
@SteveAndBelle: we humans just can't generate that much energy. Powering a building AC would require many many kilowatts. Most gym goers would be doing very well to push out more than 300w for a few minutes.
You'd have to burn them. That should give you the kW you need. Although, you'd have a dwindling supply problem
Edit
Where does all the energy go from the food they feed this
@ChickenTalon: if you could could up all the spinbikes you could get a fair bit of power out. A half decent cyclist can hold over 200w for an hour and well trained ones over 300w for 2hrs. So with say 10 people per class, 8 classes a day, you could get close to 20,000w a day / 600kw a month.
@thedeva1970: Holding over 300w for 2 hours is very impressive for someone not being paid. We're talking about Lorna Jane gym goers here, I doubt most could maintain 300w for 60seconds. If they could hold 100w for two hours i'd be impressed. An elite female rider can do between 350-500w for 60sec bursts. And that would push them deep into anerobic effort (not maintainable).
"Data from several researchers shows that professional male cyclists produce power outputs of between 320 and 450 watts during time trials ranging from 5 to 70 km in major tours."
http://education.polarusa.com/consumer/powerkit/Article2.asp
burn em
@ChickenTalon: well I don't paid and have done 2hrs @ 300w, Pro's do 400w plus for 2hrs. Not sure I agree with the Elite females numbers though, as I have raced against Aust Elite Femailes and they smoked me. so I reckon they could hold 500w for at least 5mins as I know I can hold 420w for 5mins and I'm just a club rider. But agree, most gym goers would struggle to hold a constant power, but 150w should be achievable for most.
@thedeva1970: that's good, very few people can do 300w for 2hrs. You should be shopping for a contract if your weight is down and you can hold 300w for an entire 2hrs. Plus the 420w for 5min, if you weigh 75Kgs and you're managing that it puts you between cat 1 & 2 at 5.6w/Kg and well on your way to domestic pro.
The ladies are smoking you because of their power to weight, but none of them could hold 500w for 5min, just too far outside the range.
Have a look at the woman's column, 5min, absolute best is 6.6w per KG so your very best and very heavy woman's cyclist at 65Kg is doing 430w MAX for 5min.
http://d4nuk0dd6nrma.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/…
The gym goers will be doing very well to do 2w/Kg for a full 2hrs
Here's some reading on it:
http://www.ilovebicycling.com/comparing-power-to-weight-rati…
http://education.polarusa.com/consumer/powerkit/Article2.asp
http://cyclingtips.com.au/2009/07/just-how-good-are-these-gu…
@ChickenTalon: I wish I was 75kgs but sitting at 87kgs at the moment (so cat 3 for me), but I'm a rouleur, not a climber where w/kg is in my favour!
Its a great chart that one and one I check occasionally to see where I'm at, but have to admit haven't looked at the females, so I stand corrected.
Some good reading there, so thanks for the links. I try to find a link to a great article that compares the doping years of the TdF to recent years, amazing what drugs can do.
Since I got my power meter, I'm addicted to the numbers!!!
@thedeva1970: the main difference with female riders is that they don't have the same punchy anaerobic capacity. That's why you see the bigger differences in gender on the shorter efforts. And why it's really hard for female riders in mixed races that end In bunch sprints.
Good to see female participation increasing though, many more women's races.
What power meter do you have? I've been tempted to get one now there is genuine competition. Looking at the vector, but I really like the shimano cleat system.
@ChickenTalon: thats true, they never smoke me in a sprint!
I've had a few over the years, started with a powertap, then a Quarq and now using a Stages on my new bike. Vector is a good choice now they have addressed the issues with the pods breaking, but Stages is best bang for your buck as you can get them for around $850 if you hunt around.
I was on Shimano cleats but moved to speedplay a few years ago and never looked back, they are awesome. Just put your foot on them and go, no having to get the front of the cleat hooked in before you lock in. I could never go back to that system which is why Vector is no longer an option for me.
But get a power meter, it has transformed my riding, taking me from a C grade rider to A.
Whoa, looks cool. Thanks for the heads up. Why don't we ever hear of these shows?!?
One of my faves, only 2 seasons of 3 episodes, each completely different but it's a cool concept!
@SteveAndBelle: Glad you liked it! Enjoy the rest. I love how left field the first episode was, it wrenches you into the series. Here's some other shows I recommend if you're interested. I haven't updated the list so there's more now but all good: http://www.zeyus.com/blog/2014/03/12/top-10-tv-shows-that-iv…
We had one for my wife's recovery from a broken leg.
It was rubbish, as it would keep sliding when in use. Did not matter what it was put on, the pedal action would push it around and make it annoying to use.
Ended up throwing it out in a hard rubbish cleanup.
I agree with you Mate Ijuiceman
Would velcro stop it from sliding?
There are different ways to engineer a solution :)
I'm confused. If there is no seat and nothing to hold onto then how are you to stay on this thing?. You'll end up going backside over head.
You sit on a normal chair while using it.
That explains it.
….wow
it doesn't have to be a normal chair. it could also be your grandmum or your dog
How dare people neg this comment! Best laugh I've had today, the mental pictures.
Helmet definitely required when riding this
Serious lee?
I use a chair. But if you want home extreme sports go for it.
And how would putting a chair on your head help in any way?
some people geez!
Balance, legs are hand holds. Pretty simple, really.
For $20 you cannot go wrong though. I like mine and I'm a fussy bastard.
Do you think you could rig this from the roof so I can lay in bed and pedal?
You'd be mad not to.
And if you rigged up a motor to it you could still do laps while you sleep.
You either have a very short ceiling or very long legs. :P
Very disappointing !!! I thought all of these comments would be a crack up…
Need a good laugh at 2:49am….
Great setup shmahoo !!! Makes me want to go riding…
I have my Logitech G27 for arms and legs workouts.
Set the force to MAX. "May the force be with you."
I just need something for the beer belly now (More Beer..). lol
Nothing to strenuous :p I wouldn't want to do too much work from the couch :)
Aww, price already back. Not paying that. Expired
It'll mark itself expired at 00:00 :)
Yair i snooze d. Good find, km~
11.95 PH for Melbourne