The Best Exercise Bikes of 2024

The Echelon Connect EX-8s is Echelon’s high-end exercise bike designed to compete with Peloton’s top-of-the-line Bike+. The EX-8s has some features that made it stand out during testing. The user-friendly buttons on the handlebars allow you to adjust the resistance while riding out of the saddle, which are much easier to use than reaching for the central knob.

The 24-inch curved touchscreen lets you tune out your surroundings more easily compared to a flat display—a claim we were initially dubious about. Furthermore, the bike’s wheels can be set to light up in sync with workout metrics such as heart rate or cadence for a more captivating experience. The EX-8s offers a smooth and silent ride, even during high speed sprints. You can ride while wearing sneakers or SPD cycling shoes, which strap securely in the pedal cages.

Like Peloton’s, Echelon’s membership includes live and prerecorded classes that are engaging and challenging. The upbeat instructors cheer you on throughout your workouts, and you can use the optional leaderboard to compete with your virtual classmates. If you aren’t one for group sessions, you can take scenic individual rides that transport you around the world, letting you ride through cities from Sydney to Singapore. Echelon charges less, too—$35 a month, with discounts if you pay up front for a longer membership in full.

However, there are a few compromises: The EX-8s’s seat isn’t as comfortable as the Bike+’s during long rides, and while the screen turns 180 degrees so users can take off-bike workout classes, it doesn’t swivel left to right, which can be limiting in small spaces. Because of this, it didn’t beat out the Peloton Bike+ for first place, but it’s still a worthy contender. The EX-8s adjusts for riders from 4 feet 11 inches to 6 feet 4 inches, and up to 300 pounds.

The SoulCycle bike is the at-home version of the nightclub-like studio experience. It’s also the sturdiest bike we tried—it’s very similar to the one you’d see in the SoulCycle studio, with a wide base and adjustable feet. The frame, which has a 350-pound weight limit, never wobbled or felt unsteady as we pedaled, and the 21½-inch touchscreen held completely still throughout every class, which wasn’t the case with any other bike. The SoulCycle bike is easy to adjust to suit riders between 4 feet 10 inches and 6 feet 10 inches, and an instructional sizing video starts right when you boot up the bike.

The instructors are, unsurprisingly, top-notch, while leaning into the inspirational jargon that is Soul Cycle in the virtual classes, though not so over-the-top as to be grating. The live classes have a leaderboard and instructors give shout-outs to keep up the motivation. In general, SoulCycle’s workout style is more focused on how you feel and connect with the music, and handle its on-bike choreography, which involves a lot of getting in and out of the saddle and moving your arms to the beat.

The only metrics you see on the screen are your cadence, “power” (a number based on your resistance and speed), and distance. When you finish the class, you see a number that reflects the percentage of the class you stayed on beat with the music. This can be confusing, as the teachers will tell you to adjust your resistance but don’t give you an exact number, which makes it feel like guesswork. (For what it’s worth, IRL SoulCycle classes are like this, too, minus the on-beat percentages.) You also don’t get a calorie-burn estimate when the class is done. Still, this didn’t prevent us from getting a good workout on the bike.

SoulCycle is part of the Equinox Group and requires opting into a year membership of its $40 monthly app, Equinox+, with purchase of the bike,. This gives you access to cycling classes (with unlimited members permitted per bike), which play on the bike’s screen, plus cross-training workouts, like yoga, strength, and indoor and outdoor running.

However, you can only access the off-bike classes on your phone or tablet, not the screen of the bike. We didn’t mind this, but it’s different from the other connected bikes, which show you all of the available classes on the bike screen as well as on any device where you download the app. (Possibly, for this reason, SoulCycle’s screen does not rotate at all.) The bike also offers a “free ride” function to the bike, in which users can pedal while streaming Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Disney+—something Peloton does not allow.

The SoulCycle At-Home bike retails for $2,500—the same as the Peloton Bike+—though a current promotion knocks $1,000 off, bringing to the price of Peloton’s OG bike. (That’s either a good deal, or an ominous sign.)

The NordicTrack S22i bike offers a tantalizing premise for restless cyclists: the ability to ride at home while feeling like you’re biking somewhere out in the open. This is possible through iFit, the app offered through NordicTrack’s bikes and other connected exercise equipment, which features classes taught as guided scenic rides in which instructors lead you through trails in Colorado, Japan, and more. The scenic rides are truly special, with camerawork that makes you feel like you’re really wherever the screen is showing you. If you’re someone who doesn’t love the traditional studio-cycling class model, it could make the S22i worth it for you.

The bike automatically adjusts its electromagnetic resistance, like the Peloton Bike+, as well as incline and decline, something that isn’t offered on any other bike we tried. This gives the sessions a more natural feel, though you can also adjust the resistance and incline on your own with buttons on the handlebars.

All the instructors we experienced were great, and iFit offers more standard studio cycling classes as well as cross-training classes including yoga, HIIT, and Pilates. There are also a number of live treadmill, bike, rower, elliptical, and strength classes several times a day. All live classes have a leaderboard as well as a pre-class “waiting room,” where you can check in and send the instructor questions before class, which helps boost a sense of community. The 22-inch touch screen that tilts and rotates 360 degrees for off-bike classes, though we sometimes found the screen rotated a little too much, as well as shook during hard pedaling.

The bike—and iFit—have some snags, however. We had some trouble with assembly, as we conducted our tests during the height of the pandemic and in-home assembly was not available and our tester had no help (the instructions state it’s a two-person job, and we agree.) On the plus side, customer service was great, and it seems our issue was a random fluke, not something that happens regularly. Without the weird malfunction, and with two people to set it up, it would almost certainly be easier—or you can pay NordicTrack an extra $200 to do the work for you.

The iFit app is also a little confusing to navigate because it has extra content like TedTalks and meditation sessions and lumps them all together without an easy way to filter things out. So, to find a ride or HIIT class, you have to sift through a bunch of other stuff. Most of the classes tended to be 40 minutes to an hour, too, and it’s hard to find anything shorter than a 20-minute session—not bad for overall health, but not great if you just want to add a 5-minute ab class to round out your ride, or only have time for a 10-minute workout.

The bike fully adjusts to fit riders from 4 feet 10 inches to 6 feet 10 inches and up to 350 pounds. For its nearly $2,000 retail price, it comes with a pair of three-pound dumbbells and a one-month trial of iFit, which costs $39 thereafter. The warranty is better than most: It covers 10 years on the frame, two years on parts, and one year of labor. NordicTrack is also the only company that offers service plans (for an additional cost) to have your bike tuned up regularly.

The Echelon EX-5s-22 is a close approximation to the original Peloton bike, down to the paint job and retail price. Live and on-demand classes can be streamed via the Echelon app ($35 a month) on the bike’s 22-inch tablet or any app-enabled device. The instructors are fun, engaging, and offer an overall good workout.

Like the Peloton, the screen shows your cadence, resistance, and output, so you know exactly how hard you are working. Throughout classes, instructors may suggest the cadence and general resistance to aim for, but more often than not, they say to be at a “moderate,” “challenging,” “hard,” or “all-out” level, allowing users to go at their own intensity. One notable plus: Echelon bike’s tablet swivels around 180 degrees, making it easier to follow off-bike classes, while Peloton’s similar bike has only a stationary display.

That said, the quality of both the bike and the video isn’t as good as Peloton’s, and the community of bikers is much smaller. The EX-5s-22, which is also rated for riders up to 297 pounds, felt less stable than other bikes, and we noticed some shaking of the tablet during higher intensity pedaling. On the plus side, the seat and handlebars are fully adjustable, and riders from 4 feet 5 inches to 6 feet 11 inches will find a fit.

The Echelon warranty covers one year on parts and components and two years on the frame, the stingiest of all we tested, though a three-year extended warranty is available for an extra fee.

The Bowflex C6 is a pretty good bike. And you know why? It’s the exact same build as the Schwinn IC4, both made by Nautilus, with a few cosmetic tweaks and Bowflex branding.

The C6 has its own small screen that displays basic metrics including distance and RPM and comes with the same accessories as the Schwinn: a pair of three-pound weights, a Bluetooth heart-rate monitor, and a device holder, for propping up a Bluetooth-connected phone or tablet from which to stream app-based workouts from the likes of Peloton or Zwift. The Bowflex has the same resistance levels as the IC4, which don’t match up with Peloton’s instruction, so you’ll have to do some math or adjusting to get it right as you ride.

The C6 has a weight capacity of 330 pounds and can be fully adjusted for riders from 4 feet 6 inches to 6 feet 6 inches in height. Its pedals have cages that can be used with regular sneakers as well as brackets for clipping in with SPD cleats. The mechanical flywheel is smooth and silent, too, which makes pedaling comfortable and unintrusive. We got the in-home assembly, which made it quicker, though online shoppers say it shouldn’t be too hard for two people to put together without paying the extra fee.

Bowflex’s warranty covers three years on parts, 10 years on the frame, and one year on labor, just like the Schwinn’s. You can also add on five years to the parts and labor with the Bowflex Protection Plan for an additional cost.

The Bowflex C6 and Schwinn IC4 retail for the same $999, but sometimes one will run a better promotion—get whichever one is currently offering a cheaper price.

Compared to others we tried, it’s no surprise that the $300 Sunny Health & Fitness SF-B901 bike ended up in last place—with its chunky steel frame rated for riders up to 275 pounds (the least of all we tested), a 40-pound mechanical flywheel for resistance, and not much else, it’s about as basic as a studio-type cycle gets.

It has no Bluetooth connectivity or extra features, and if you want to use it with an app like Peloton with your tablet or phone, you’ll have to buy a holder to keep it in place and you won’t get any feedback from bike to tablet. The bike we tried also did not have a water bottle holder, though Sunny sells some variations that do.

That said, for the price, it’s not a bad buy. It’s available with a chain or belt drive—the chain drive is usually less expensive and thus more popular, so that’s the one we tested. It made a slight grinding sound when we pedaled and never felt like a totally smooth range of motion. And, no surprise, the pedals are outfitted with cages for regular shoes, not cycling cleats.

We also thought the resistance knob was hard to twist and didn’t seem to have much room between very light and very heavy, which is annoying for workouts that require nuance (i.e., most app ones).

On the other hand, we found the seat surprisingly comfortable, and the bike itself is easy to adjust—you can move the seat up and down and fore and aft and change the handlebar height and reach to fit riders with inseams ranging from 30 inches to 42 inches (we’re not sure how that translates to height, either). We sprung the extra $89 for assembly—which was provided through Amazon and went without a hitch—but Amazon reviewers say it’s not very difficult to do with two people.

If we hadn’t been fresh off a $2,500 bike, we probably would have found the Sunny fine enough. Some Amazon reviewers swear by using it with the Peloton app, once a tablet holder is added to the bike—so, if you don’t want to spend a ton of money on an exercise bike but still want to get some indoor cardio, the Sunny is a suitable vessel.

Editor's Note: The original Peloton Bike was recalled in May 2023 due to an issue with the seat. New purchases now ship with a redesigned seat (look for "updated seat post" listed in the specs). We recommend not purchasing this product unless you can be certain that it is new and being shipped with the updated seat post.

In our tests, the Bike+ outscored the original Peloton Bike—but this one is no slouch. Both bikes share important fundamentals, such as access to live and on-demand classes taught by Peloton’s charismatic instructors.

You also have all of the same metrics, like the leaderboard, calories burned, output, resistance, and cadence (and the ability to hide them). The OG Peloton has the same weight limit of 297 pounds and can be adjusted for riders of heights from 4 feet 11 inches to 6 feet 5 inches.

However, you’ll miss out on some Bike+ benefits, including self-adjusting resistance, the swiveling screen, and improved sound quality. The Auto Follow feature may be the least important out of all of these—when you have it, it’s easy to rely on, but Peloton’s instructors do a good job of talking you through the numbers that it isn’t a total game changer.

But you may regret not having the rotating screen if you plan to do a lot of the floor workouts, and you may find the sound muffled, as it’s piped from rear-facing speakers on the 22-inch touch screen display. (A good fix is to get a pair of wireless Bluetooth earbuds.) If those details are enough to make a difference for you, go for the Bike+. If not, you’ll be a-OK saving some cash with the original Peloton.