Exerpeutic offer a lot of high-quality fitness equipment at affordable prices. They’re perfect if you’re a beginner or have a tighter budget but still want equipment that will perform well and last for years.
Today we’ll do a brief Exerpeutic 900XL recumbent bike review. We’ll show you what this bike does well, why it’s worth looking into and which features to pay attention to when shopping for one of these machines. Let’s dive right in!
Exerpeutic 900xl Recumbent Bike Review in Brief
Exerpuetic 900xl Recumbent Exercise Bike
The Exerpeutic 900XL is a fairly basic recumbent bike that’s oriented towards beginners and budget users. It comes complete with heart rate monitoring and a comfortable padded seat.
If you’re on the lookout for a cheap recumbent bike that will get you by for years to come, this is definitely it. In terms of the price-to-performance ratio, you can’t go past the 900XL.
Design
The Exerpeutic 900XL was designed with simplicity in mind. It is all about getting the basics to people who are on a budget, or those who are not looking for something over the top. The 900XL is one the best budget recumbent bikes you can get under $300 right now. With that said, let’s take a look at what this bike offers.
Starting with the frame, we see a standard H pattern design that features transportation wheels in the fronts and a set of leveling feet in the back. All in all, this is the most basic yet functional design layout available.
The seat is mounted on a stable platform. It consists of two flat surfaces; one for the seat itself and one for the back rest. Both of these are lightly padded, which means that there’s a subtle level of comfort available. On each side of the seat is a handlebar where you’ll find your heart rate monitor sensors. Mind you, this is a feature you don’t see too often on budget bikes.
As far as adjusting the seat goes, you can move it horizontally to adjust for length of stride. However, Exerpeutic’s decision to use a completely level rail on which the seat is mounted on can cause some issues. To be specific, the lack of a slight angle in the rail can put taller users in a seating position that might lead to premature fatigue.
Moving towards the front of the bike we find the flywheel’s housing. Since this is a basic model, the flywheel is fairly small. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s ineffective. With 8 levels of manually adjustable resistance, this bike offers plenty of variability. It’s not the quietest flywheel out there, but it’s not too bad either.
Despite being a fully analog bike in terms of resistance control, the Exerpeutic 900XL still features a display unit. Although fairly modest, it has a large enough display that will show you your stats in a clear and understandable way.
Build Quality
One of the main concerns people have with budget recumbent bikes is build quality. Can these bikes give you your money’s worth of use and performance, or is it just better to get something more expensive? In the case of 900XL, you can rest assured you get what you paid for.
Rather than decrease build quality, they’ve kept the price down by simply reducing the number of features you’re getting and keeping everything as simple as it gets. The frame is fairly robust for what it is, and the materials are good.
Performance (How Well Does It Work?)
As far as performance goes, the Exerpeutic 900XL recumbent exercise bike offers a combination of reliability and range. The 8 resistance levels on this bike offers plenty of variability, whether you’re looking for long or short bouts of exercise.
Make sure to switch things up from time to time and you’ll get a decent workout out of this bike every time. With that said, this isn’t a bike for advanced users who need more complicated programs to keep progressing. If you are a more advanced user, feel free to check out our list of the best recumbent bikes to find a suitable model.
Summary
The Exerpeutic 900XL is a great recumbent bike. This brand has found a perfect balance of price, features, and performance that caters to budget users and beginners alike. It has plenty of features to help you get in shape. It’s also a great beginner bike to use to figure out what features you’d like to have on your next bike.
We also have to appreciate the fact that such an affordable recumbent bike comes complete with heart rate monitoring. Sure, this feature is no longer exclusive to high-end bikes but it’s still not that common in this price range. Overall, Exerpeutic’s 900XL recumbent bike is definitely worth considering.
The Good
- An extremely affordable recumbent bike
- Comes packing great features, including a bunch of creature comforts
- Good build quality
- A stable, robust frame
- Decent resistance control for a budget bike
- Heart rate monitoring
The Not So Good
- The lack of an angle on the seat rail can be an issue for taller users
- The instructions that come with the bike are not very comprehensive
