Got in too late to edit my post about buying a better spin bike. I ended up cancelling that order same day, as I was seeing some red flags in reviews and they acted like they weren't sure it was canceled. They charge a cancelation fee if you don't cancel same day as the order, so I wanted to make sure they honored that. After at least twice being transferred to their order status line when no one was there to talk to, and leaving two messages for their sales manager that I didn't get response on for a couple days, I called my bank and had them start a claim. I FINALLY got through to their sales manager, whom I was told was the only one that would know for sure if it had been cancelled.
He said it had been cancelled, but when I told him I had my bank do a claim on it, he was worried if the bank did a charge back they would be double paying a refund. I said it's not my fault they are so hard to reach, at which point he admitted their phone and computer tech was old school. I told him I'd call my bank and have them stop the claim, then he refunded the order. These guys might be legit, but I did see one YT video where a guy paid a lot of money for one of these bikes, and it didn't come as ordered. He was still waiting for them to have someone install the correct display.
This all made me a bit gun shy of trusting online spin bike purchases, so I've been going to the nearby LA Fitness and Planet Fitness to do upper body and spin bike workouts, as well as a treadmill workout today. LA Fitness uses Kaiser spin bikes, they are high quality and built to last, but I don't like how the resistance unit is designed. It uses a lightweight, small flywheel, and a lever at the handlebar stem to adjust resistance. The problem is two fold, the lever doesn't have positions to click into for each resistance level, and the flywheel doesn't have enough mass to provide smooth rotational momentum. It was hard just to get the lever to a desired resistance level, and when I let go it would more often than not change 1 level. When I applied enough resistance for a simulated climb, it would step up the resistance way too aggressively and at a point only 22 out of the 88 levels it goes up to. So it's just a fiddly, odd design that doesn't feel smooth at all when stepping up resistance.
Their cable and other machines are good, and they have a hot tub and pool, but they have NO resistance bands at all. All their staff bring in their own, but they say if they offer any for customers, they get stolen.
Planet Fitness has Matrix spin bikes, which uses the same rear flywheel design as the Kaisers, but it's bigger and heavier, and the magnetic resistance unit is FAR more gradual in feel. The only slight weird thing about these bikes is the belt feels like it slips a bit right after changing resistance. You also have to reach quite far in front of you and tap the up or down arrow numerous times to change resistance. These bikes have very nice, large screens though, the Kaisers are tiny.
For the most part, both gyms tie on the other workout machines, except Planet Fitness' multi exercise cable machine doesn't facilitate pec flys like the LA Fitness one does. Planet Fitness also has no hot tub or pool, but I don't tend to use those anyway. Planet Fitness DOES however have resistance bands, not many, but enough for the hrs I go. I would also say Planet Fitness has more respectable members. The ones at LA Fitness can be a bit snobby (mostly younger ones), even leaving a water bottle at a workout station, then walking off as if it's unofficially reserved. Their older members at an unofficial spin bike class were quite friendly though. I started coughing badly after my treadmill session at Planet Fitness though, and I hope it's not their air circulation system.
As for treadmills, I've only tried one at Planet Fitness, a Matrix one. It's plenty adequate for my mi walk/mi run days. Overall I'd say Planet Fitness is an easier to use club. It's closer to me by only 1 blk, but having to cross the very busy avenue that separates the two to get to LA Fitness makes it feel like a lot more than 1 blk, especially on cold, windy winter days when you're waiting a long time for the traffic light to change.
I'm hoping this won't be a permanent routine though, as it definitely takes more time out of my day. I'm waiting for the crank spindle assembly of my spin bike to arrive, which is still under warranty. Ideally once I pull the crank arms and pulley off I'll be able to tell what's causing the noise and fix it properly long term, instead of just a 10 mo temp fix.
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