My gym membership is currently on hold during the pandemic. I won’t be going to a gym for the foreseeable future, but I still need a release for my stress and a way to get some exercise. For many months I have been interested in getting a studio bike, but I had no idea which one to purchase and I was hesitant to spend that amount on workout equipment. But the more I thought about it and the longer the “quarantine” life continued I realized that I spend that amount on a gym membership annually for my family. I also realized that even though the gym was close to my home I found excuses on many occasions not to go. I finally decided that having workout equipment at home was ideal and worth the expense. I’m sharing my experience trying the NordicTrack Commercial S22i Studio Cycle Bike.
I purchased the bike on July 23 for $2235.37. Yes, that is a lot of money, but it’s half what we spent on our family gym membership in 2019. I realize that we are fortunate to get one. The purchase included a 1-year i-Fit membership, which is valued at $468. One reason I didn’t purchase a used bike is that similar bikes weren’t that much cheaper in my area. I also looked at lower-cost bikes and the reviews weren’t as great as the reviews I saw for NordicTrack’s. NordicTrack also had a lower-cost option, the S15i, but I liked the S22i more.
I was informed that the estimated delivery time is 10-14 business days after your order ships. On Aug. 9 I received a notification that my order had shipped, and a local last-mile delivery company delivered it to my home on Aug. 14. I think that is a reasonable time frame for delivery. By comparison, when I researched Peloton bikes the website said to allow about eight weeks for delivery. Also, the price on the Peloton was about $200 more when I looked it up and it didn’t include a membership to the app. That certainly influenced my decision, along with the fact that the 22” Smart HD Touchscreen swivels so I could use it more easily for yoga classes. You don’t need to buy special shoes for the NordicTrack either, because include of clipping in you insert your shoes into the pedals and secure the straps.
I began my NordicTrack experience with the shorter on-demand classes, which include floor strength workouts sometimes. I immediately appreciated the fan feature on the bike to cool myself off during sweaty sessions. On the right you see the leaderboard with how you’re doing compared with others. I also appreciate that the incline and resistance change automatically by the trainer so I don’t have to mess with settings and I can just focus on pedaling. (You can also manually change the settings, though.)
I have enjoyed most of the workouts I’ve completed so far. I was able to adjust the seat for my height. So far, my workouts haven’t used the 3-pound dumbbells that came with the bike, but I’m sure that’s coming. The bike has a music port but I have yet to listen to music during class. For me it helps to just listen to the instructor, at least right now. You can adjust the volume settings for music and instructor separately on the screen. After each workout, I can see and save my stats, or delete the workout, if I wish. I can also schedule workouts if there’s a certain class I want to do on a specific day. The bike seems really well-made and sturdy. It has two water bottle holders and a holder for the dumbbells. The user weight compacity is 350 pounds.
Delivery was threshold delivery by a local company. NordicTrack has currently suspended its “white-glove service” of assembling it in your home. Putting the bike together took Graham maybe an hour and a half.
It’s only been a week but I am happy with my purchase and already I am seeing myself have more motivation to work out. I feel excited to use it each day. I will provide an update on my experience after a couple of months for those interested. Would you consider buying a studio bike?