What’s the difference between an upright bike and a spinning bike?

This is a question that we get asked all the time, so if you’ve seen the title of this post and are reading on then suffice to say you’re not alone.

First and foremost both upright bikes and spinning bikes are great ways to get fit and stay fit. They give great cardio workouts; are non-impact so your joints don’t suffer; and are very easy to use so they suit most people.

But what is the difference between an upright bike and a spinning bike? Here are three of the main differences:

1) Riding Position
A spinning bike is as close as you can get to an outdoor bike for indoors, and so the riding position is very similar to an outdoor bike. Handlebars and seats are fully adjustable to you can get a riding position that is comfortable for you. This means that you can set the spinning bike up to feel like a Sunday afternoon cycle or a full on sprint or hillclimb. There’s less adjustment with an upright bike and they generally don’t feel like an outdoor bike.

2) Resistance Control
Upright bikes will tend to have computers that control the pedalling resistance for you – the harder the resistance the harder it is to pedal. This is usually done by a series of programs on the bike console that will replicate different cycling profiles (e.g. cycling up and down hills). With the vast majority of spinning bikes the resistance control is manually adjusted by the cyclist. There are some exceptions where the spin bike has a computer and this gives you the best of both worlds – a spinning bike that automatically controls the pedalling resistance for you.

3) Fixed Wheel vs Free Wheel
All upright bikes are free wheel bikes. This is like an outdoor bike – you can stop pedalling and the wheels keep moving. Spinning bikes (with the odd exception) are fixed wheel bikes. But what does this mean in practice? The best way of thinking about a free wheel bike is by considering what happens on an outdoor bike when you’re cycling downhill – at some point the road wheel will travel faster than you can pedal and at that point you’re not making the wheels turn. This is OK when you’re out cycling because you can enjoy coasting down the hill. When you’re on a spinning bike you want to be getting the most out of our workout, so coasting isn’t an option. Therefore, with a fixed wheel spinning bike, you can’t coast – there is always resistance for you to pedal against and the wheel (flywheel) can’t spin faster than you’re pedalling.

There are other differences of course but the three above are the main things to be aware of.

Which is best, a spinning bike or an upright bike? It depends on what you want to get out of your exercise. Spinning will get you fit and keep you fit and it can be very demanding if you want it to be. Upright exercise bikes can also give you a great workout but there is the option to just stop pedalling and coast which kind of defeats the object (in our opinion – then again we would say that as we focus on spinning bikes). Whatever you decide – a spinning bike or an upright bike – then we think you’re choosing a great form of exercise.