Product Review: Flexispot Desk Exercise Bike

I first saw this desk bike at CES 2019 and I had to have it.  I’d previously had a spin bike that I stopped riding because I told myself I was too busy to set aside an hour to work out.  The desk bike would remove that excuse because a significant portion of my work involves me sitting at a computer screen, which I could easily do while riding the Flexispot desk bike.

Setup of the bike was basically nonexistent, it came in 2 pieces that slid onto one another, fold out the legs and you’re all done.  The build quality is great and the materials are high quality with the exception of the calorie counter and timer, which is basically the exact same unit that has been included on every exercise bike since 1990.

The bike has 3 different adjustment mechanisms:  The seat and desk have over a foot of travel from their highest to lowest point, and the desk can slider forwards and backwards to get into the most comfortable position.  The pedals come with an optional silicon cover so you can use them with bare feet (which I prefer to do)

In practice the bike is almost exactly what you would expect:  You’re not going to be able to work as hard on this bike as you could on a dedicated spin bike.  You probably won’t be getting up out of the saddle, and it isn’t going to turn you into Ariana Grande, but you do get your heart rate up and you will sweat (if you are trying to).

Using the resistance dial I was able to get to a happy medium between feeling like I wasn’t working out at all and working so hard I couldn’t concentrate.   I found that I was able to push my heartrate up to about 130 beats per minute (the equivalent of a light jog) while still getting work done.  The arm rest on the desk does get slick if it gets sweat on it, but that’s actually good because it means the sweat isn’t soaking into it and can be easily wiped away.

My only complaint about the bike is that the crank arms are a bit too short making it feel a bit like I was riding a children’s bike.  I think it actually may have been a conscious design choice because it makes leg movements less violent and allows your upper body to remain more still too do work, but coming from a spin bike and a background in cycling it felt a bit off to me.

Pros:

-If you’re super busy like me this allows you to do two things at once: work and work out.
-Adjustability is phenomenal and I feel confident that anyone would be able to find a comfortable riding position on this bike.
-Materials are thoughtful and high quality
-Work out intensity can be easily adjusted with the resistance dial

Cons:

-Crank arms are shorter than my old bike which took some getting used to.
-For a product at CES the technology in the bike computer is shamefully outdated, but you aren’t buying this bike to look at the timer.

Verdict:

The bike is great at what it is intended for: Light exercise while working.  However, my experience is that if you came up with excuses in the past to not exercise on your old equipment, you will come up with excuses not to use this one.  While the exercise bike has increased the amount that I was exercising infinitely (going from zero days a week to 2 is an infinite increase) I still find myself coming up with reasons not to work out.  Next step: electronic motivation machine!

Buy the Flexispot Desk Bike (Amazon): https://amzn.to/2VrPpCW