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I'm hoping you can help me! I moved to a place with little soundproofing and neighbors below and next to me who complain about noise at night. Due to my schedule I can only exercise nights indoors and I love cycling so I decided to get an exercise bike but it needs to be quiet.

Based on what I've learned so far, I want a belted spinner with magnetic resistance. I'm shopping on Amazon since I need to use their card for this but I'm having a hard time finding this combination. I'm willing to forego a spinner and get a regular upright but I don't want to sacrifice magnetic resistance or belt instead of chain.

Also, I'm short (5'2) so it needs to fit me and I don't care about consoles/programming options/etc. I never use them. I came down to these:

http://www.amazon.com/Sunny-Health-Fitness-Indoor-Cycling/dp/B002CVU2HG/

http://www.amazon.com/Schwinn-140-Upright-Exercise-Bike/dp/B00275R1TY/

Or the 120 model.

Sunny reviews mostly complain about noise saying it's loud because it has pads for resistance and a chain drive where the chain slaps against the side of it or something but it's the only one I saw on Amazon in my budget that didn't have a lot of "defective" complaints.

Schwinn's reviews mostly complain about some kind of defect that causes you to not be able to peddle and a grinding noise right out of the box and needing get it replaced immediately for both models. I think the 120 is magnetic but don't know about the 140. Those problems seem worse to me than the Sunny issue but since I'm buying it to AVOID noise and prefer magnetic resistance, it ends up making this a toughy.

Unfortunately no place nearby has any bikes for me to try so I'm flying blind. Any thoughts on these bikes or any others you know of that would fit what I need for my budget? Even if it's not on Amazon, please let me know it and I'll research it and find a way to get it if I can. Also, I'm not interested in using a trainer, only standalone exercise bike. Thank you!!!

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One thing you should do is get a rubber mat to put the bike on. You want a heavy-duty one about a half-inch thick, such as is used in weight rooms. And it wouldn't hurt to put a piece of plywood under that (though not directly on another hard surface) so as to spread out the vibration a bit. – Daniel R Hicks Feb 18 at 2:41
That Sunny unit appears to be an old-fashioned friction unit, not magnetic resistance. – Daniel R Hicks Feb 18 at 2:43
(I'm trying to remember what bike are at my gym. There are a half-dozen different brands, most of which do pretty well in a fairly challenging environment.) (But most would be over $300.) – Daniel R Hicks Feb 18 at 2:45
I checked this AM -- most of the bikes are Star Trac. This is a popular brand (and durable) and may have some in a less expensive line for you. There are also some LeMond branded bikes, both friction resistance units and magnetic, and at least the resistance units hold up quite well. These are likely priced a bit higher, though. – Daniel R Hicks Feb 18 at 16:27
thanks so much daniel! – user6172 Feb 18 at 18:25

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1 Answer

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Assuming you already have a bike, have you looked into a trainer? Since you're not buying as much equipment, essentially just the resistance unit, you can get much better quality without spending as much. I got a CycleOps Fluid2 and it's pretty quiet, and also folds down pretty small which would probably be beneficial in an apartment. There's quite a wide range of them, and I understand that most of them are pretty quiet as long as you stay away from the cheaper "wind" trainers.

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Thanks! I read up on trainers and don't want one. I wouldn't use it. Anything that takes an extra step, even if it takes two seconds, I easily use an excuse just not to bother and I don't need any more excuses lol Also, I sometimes ride places (work/friend's house) and leave my bike there taking the bus back later. That means no bike at home so I prefer standalone. I like keeping things separate. I did read good things about the cycleops though as I was looking around! – user6172 Feb 18 at 1:41
Yeah, I didn't read all the way to the end of your question where you said you didn't want a trainer. I like mine a lot so I guess I was just a little quick on the trigger. It only takes a couple minutes to set up, but I can see that being an issue. – Kibbee Feb 18 at 1:57
Of the two, I'd probably go with the "Sunny Health" one as it looks more like a bike you could ride for a long period of time, but the comments do say that it's loud. The wide seat on the Schwinn looks like it woudln't be comfortable. Also, although I'd never recommend a bike from Walmart, I've seen some decent looking exercise bikes there, such as this one. Again no experience with these, so you'll have to research them yourself. Not sure where you live, but if it's in the US there's probably a Walmart not far away. – Kibbee Feb 18 at 2:00
Thanks everyone! Yes, the few bikes I stumbled across people mentioning that sounded like they'd be good for me were all around $1000. I did check out some of the proform bikes since they have them on Amazon. The complaints were basically the same as for the Sunny only someone had a video of the noise there's makes and it was unbearable, like a huge bee in your ear LOL. I like the thought of putting the mat under it, that may help, I hadn't thought of that. Thanks everyone for your help! – user6172 Feb 18 at 13:28
Woops i meant theirs – user6172 Feb 18 at 16:00

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