DeskCycle 2 Under Desk Exercise Bike

This DeskCycle is the Cat's Meow...whether or not you own a desk. And to think I was within moments of purchasing one of the cheaper ones, I should say, one of the 'non-magnetic resistance' ones. Then somehow I stumbled across this one, and am so glad I did. I never knew cycling could be this smooth and quiet. I see no way for any part on this unique little machine to ever break down. Just wait until you see how it works. You can actually see the mechanism working as you cycle, thru the dark transparent top down into its smooth working innards. But you'll never hear it. Sweet.... I stumbled a bit putting it together, not paying enough attention to which end was the front, but once I recognized what I'd done wrong, everything was a piece of cake after that. I will emphasize what the instructions do, and that's to tighten down very tightly the pedal screws. You don't want the threads eventually stripping, which is the only thing I can see that could possibly go wrong with this cycle. I'm using the cycle with a very small fold-up round seated chair and sit back comfortably there and watch TV. Maybe tomorrow I'll read a book instead (currently working on the 1400 pg. 'Sacajawea' by Anna Lee Waldo...great book!). I think that will be a very pleasant time with a very pleasant cycle. I have no problem whatsoever with the cycle moving forward or anywhere else on my very short carpet. I can pedal it downward (as suggested in the instructions) or pedal it forward, it makes no difference, it stays securely where I've put it. This is a high-quality made exercise cycle. It's heavy enough to remain stable when on a carpet, but not too heavy to pick up and carry around. Although I think it would be perfect for placing under a desk, it's certainly not made for that purpose alone. Anyone who wants or needs this kind of exercise should be thrilled with the workout you can get with this cycle. And...you can take it easy on Setting 2 or 3, which you probably should anyway in the beginning, or set it on an upper number for a real tough workout. Don't worry about not getting enough 'resistance' with it. I can see now that I could never pump it at a setting of probably more than about 4 or 5 (it goes to 8). Oh...the pedals. I don't need the straps to go over my shoes so I just pedal on the straps (don't know if that's okay or not). I was pleasantly surprised to find that pedaling barefoot or with just socks (directly on the pedal) is equally comfortable. Somebody brilliant must have invented this cycle. And somebody equally brilliant wrote the instructions. They're clear and straightforward (a rare thing) and it should take you about 10 minutes to put this together. The pedals were just a little challenging for me...just be patient and make sure you start threading the screw in the right direction for each pedal. Then screwing it in all the way takes just a little muscle, but be sure the screw goes in all the way and to make it a very tight fit. (Don't keep screwing it in if you think it's not in the right threads...just start over til you're sure.) I wish everyone could afford to buy this cycle, and can just say it's more than worth saving up for if that's what it takes to have one. My advice to those who can't buy it right away is to either save up, or ask for it as a Christmas or Birthday gift. I would have been thrilled to receive it as a gift. Oh yeah, it comes with a one-year standard Warranty. If you're not sure between buying the DeskCycle or the MagneTrainer, write to 3D Innovations and they'll send you a chart that shows the similarities and differences between the two. The folks there are very friendly and helpful. I came down on the side of the DeskCycle because of its low and smaller profile. Well...I'm a lady and no spring chicken. And I don't work for this company. But I do think this DeskCycle is awesome! I'm looking forward to getting a lot of use out of it and having a lot of fun with it for a very long time. I highly recommend this DeskCycle to everyone who's looking to buy one. P.S. I just ordered another one for my daughter today (17 Dec). She tried out mine and fell in love with it. I think she knew if she raved about it enough I'd take the hint and get her one for Christmas. I bit the hook because she really wants it and I know it will help keep her healthy. What more could a mother want! lol

i doubt that cycling under my desk is going to result in my figure looking like it did when i was practicing muay thai 13 hours a week, or even when i was spending an hour and a half on an elliptical trainer each night, but what i can say is that it is AWESOME to know i'm burning at least a handful of calories extra each hour than i otherwise would. here's my quick and dirty review after two days of use: this product is, as everyone else says, shockingly well made. despite the hundreds of reviews indicating its high quality, heft, smooth rotation, and absolute silence, i was skeptical, and couldn't help but wonder if perhaps everyone just had lower expectations. well, i can vouch: it is high quality, heavy without being forbiddingly so, and rotation is absolutely smooth and there is no noise at all. i cannot tell you how many people have walked by my desk in the past two days who didn't even know i was cycling unless i pointed it out. so that right out of the gate: if you want to try an underdesk cycler, don't go cheap to save $50, and don't waste your money on the $300 versions. start here. even if it ends up not being for you, it WON'T be because it's cheap or squeaky or impossible to put together. which brings me to the next thing: it is, again, as others have mentioned, painless to put together. i did it in about ten minutes, and it only took that long because people kept stopping by my desk to ask me wtf i was doing. as for results, it's too early to tell, and again, i don't expect them to be shocking, but what i can say is that my thighs and even glutes are already noticeably firmer (not sure how my glutes are, since i'm just SITTING, but indeed they are). the most surprising benefit, though, is already tighter abs. when i woke up this morning, i expected my legs to be sore - they weren't. it was my CORE that ached, and it was a delicious sort of ache. this is because if used properly, you will be sitting on the edge of your chair, holding your stomach in, and relying on your core for balance as you pedal and type at the same time. which brings me to an important note: you definitely want to observe correct posture,, and NOT try to use this sitting back in your chair, because if you don't, your lower back will begin to ache in as little as five minutes. also, regarding those who have said they don't like peering under their desks to look at the display - i can't speak for older versions of the machine, but at least in the new ones, there's a long cord and stand so that you can put the adapter on your desk and monitor your progress. i will say that i'm a little flummoxed by reviews here and elsewhere that indicate averaging "ten miles a day", or even 40, because at least if mine is calibrated correctly, i did 97 my first day and 104 today. i hit 7 miles within the first ten minutes of my workday today. of course, i have resistance set at only 2, and am pedaling quite fast, and doing so *most* of my workday (290 minutes yesterday, 300 today), but i have a hard time believing i'm ACTUALLY pedaling at 23 to 25 mph, which is what the meter indicates. so i'm skeptical i've actually hit THAT distance. either way, this is probably the best $160 i've spent in awhile, and even if i don't end up looking like i spend three hours a day in the gym as a result (and i won't), it's awesome to not just be sitting and spreading ever wider the nine hours a day i'm behind my desk. also, as others have stated, my coworkers are fascinated. the skeptical ones: "we'll see how long you stick with it," and "there's no way that mileage is correct." the curious ones: "that's so cool! if you start seeing results, i might get one too!" the enthusiastic ones: "let me try it! oh wow, this is awesome!! where did you get it? how much? can you send me the link?" all in all, again, if you want to go an under-desk cycle route, don't even hesitate to go with this product. oh, by the way: regarding the calorie counter, don't get excited. i'd supposedly burned 2000 calories by noon yesterday. even the literature that comes with the cycle says "don't trust the monitor, it's wrong." go to the website they give you and plug in your age, height, weight, resistance, distance, and time, and it will give you a theoretically more accurate calorie count. for a profound example, by the time i left the office today after 5 hours of cumulative peddling, i'd supposedly burned over 4000 calories. when i plugged my numbers into the site, it gave me a far more realistic read of 687. not as exciting as four grand, but still, 687 calories more than i'd have burned otherwise. in summary, you can't go wrong with this - though if you are tall or your desk is weirdly low, you'll have issues - but you would have issues with ANY of these products, in that case, and probably none that would be so smooth and silent and well-made. this is a shockingly high-quality product for the price, and honestly, i kind of can't believe how inexpensive it is relative to its worth.

I was hesitant to get this product as I'd had a cheap version of this years ago and it didn't go well. Well let me tell you, they have come a long way since then and this product is amazing! I wish I'd looked this up sooner.It is well worth the $200 price tag. Solid and sturdy quality similar to what you'd find at a gym. It is also easy to assemble. You a total of 6 major pieces to put together. Tool and screws come with it. And it is so quiet, no noise at all. I actually did a client interview while using it (On tension 1) for 30 minutes and it gave me a good workout while at the same time not disrupting my flow. In fact, I find myself organically putting my feet into the pedal straps and pedaling while I'm at my desk. After a while I forget that I'm pedaling and I'm just focused on my work. A word of caution to Diabetics, this thing WILL give you a *true* cardio work out and will lower your blood sugar like crazy. Be sure to keep something sweet nearby, incase you get too low on this thing. This is perfect for the home office or the office at your company. It's portable, but it's a bit heavey, not too heavy to transport it to the living room LaZBoy or couch, but you probably won't be doing that too often. Anyway, check this out: At the time of this writing 30.Nov.2021- Amazon has these deals that let you get this thing for $75. So I went to buy this product a few days ago on and it said that if I signed up for an Amazon credit card (with no annual fee) then Amazon will give me a $100 gift card off this product, making it only $99. Then the seller had an additional coupon that knocked off an additional 24 dollars, so in total I only had to pay $75. Isn't that wild? I can't wait to see how my health looks 6 months from now. I know I'm going to shed some of this weight and baggage and look and feel so much better....gonna look so good like movie star! lol Update 12/8/2022 - I have lost 60 lbs and have been able to get off all but 1 medication since using this cycle daily for at least 45 minutes to an hour AND dieting , i.e. carefully tracking my calorie consumption. This is a really high quality item!

I bought this hoping to stick it under my desk and burn some calories while I was working. Unfortunately, it doesn't fit under my desk, so I had to put it next to my desk instead. For the most part, it's exactly what I thought it would be. It's very quiet and operates very smoothly. The range of motion is smaller than an adult-sized bike, and more like the range of motion you might expect on a children's bike. That's to be expected out of a device like this. It's easy to use while I'm working, and I can even work up a bit of a sweat without too much effort or extra noise. I've even used it while on the phone with customers, and they were completely unaware. What I'm a little disappointed in, was that I thought this would track the data in the app for me. It doesn't do that out-of-the-box. To connect this to your phone, you need to buy another accessory, and it's not clear to me what that accessory syncs with because it doesn't seem to be an OEM part. Also, it comes with a tether to tie it to your chair. Most office chairs have wheels, so it's hard to keep yourself from pushing away from your desk and to keep the deskcycle from inching away from you while you are pedaling. That tether is a pretty poorly executed idea when compared to the rest of the bike. it's just a long strap with velcro on it. I would have preferred something with some kind of clip-on connector that could more easily be disconnected without having to completely undo the entire tether. With this, you either have to fiddle with the velcro strap every time you want to use it or leave your chair permanently tethered to the cycle, making it hard to move your chair around. It also seems like the pedals are smaller than normal. It's been a while since I've pedaled a real bike, but the pedals on this seem more narrow than I remember, and my feet have a hard time staying in the center. It has stirrup straps, but if they're tightened down too much, it's difficult to slide my feet in and out of them. For the moment, those stirrups keep my feet on the pedal, but I can tell they're taking some strain. Because of how thin the whole mechanism is, my knees are further apart than the pedals and I'm having to pedal inwards rather than straight. This geometry ends up with the side of my foot being off the pedal. On a real bike, I think the pedals would be several inches further apart than they are on this.

The Quick Review This thing is so cool and so well made. It’s is - exactly as advertised - incredibly smooth and whisper quiet even at the highest resistance settings or the fastest pedaling. Also, the highest levels of resistance genuinely put up a LOT of resistance, which is very impressive for such a compact cycle. Who needs a recumbent bike when a DeskCycle and your favorite chair are far more comfortable (and affordable). Negatives I have only one minor negative: most of the weight rests on the back of the device, so it wiggles a bit in the front even on carpet. This was easily solved for me by packing some lead shot into a sock and stuffing it into the front tube. If you are using the DeskCycle on solid floor instead of carpet, I’d also recommend gluing some non-slip material to the bottom of the feet. That is one minor negative, and it’s easily solved! 
For Tinkerers If you are into a little light-weight electrical engineering, there is a really fun modding project you can do with the Desk Cycle... When my DeskCycle 2 arrived and I realized that it had two separate 3.5mm outputs attached to two separate internal switches (typically used with the included speedometer), I knew I had to turn this thing into a gaming controller for walking/running forward and backward. I attached each output to a Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller and wrote a little CircuitPython code to monitor pedaling and turn that into keyboard presses based on whether you were pedaling forward or backward... including Shift/sprint when you are pedaling extra fast. Out-of-the-box the DeskCycle has ONE magnet attached to the wheel for tracking RPM. This meant the responsiveness of my little gaming controller project wasn’t so great. So to improve sensitivity, I added 3 more 16mm neodymium magnets to the main wheel. Luckily, the wheel already has 4 recesses for 16mm magnets (which are used to trip the internal RPM switches)... so it’s just a matter of stuffing them in with a little glue. This made all the difference in the world, and now I can play games and exercise at the same time. If you are interested in my code, you can find it on Github under the username Veraxus. This whole project would not have been so easy if the DeskCycle wasn’t already so well made. Seriously, it’s a very impressive product.

It's not bad, but the batteries (green ones) came smashed like a sad jolly rancher. Thankfully I have spare AAs to test it out. One thing I forgot to mention about both the DeskCycle 2 and the Ellipse is the option to use the Display stand for your desk. Do it! It works great and serves as a reminder on your desk to keep motivated. I guess, if the Ellipse is way out of your budget and you can settle for a lesser model, get the DeskCycle 2. Just know that you'll have to strap your feet every time you want to go. --- I left a review for both on the Ellipse model too, here's what I said: You know the saying, "quality over quantity?" It really shows with this Ellipse model. Please, don't wait any longer and get this one! Why? Oh, still not convinced? You want me to explain further? Ok then, no problem, read up! :) Look, I tried the original DeskCycle in 2018 and it...was okay but I returned it after a day. I purchased the DeskCycle 2 and the Ellipse at the same time and from ease of assembly, and trash/recyclables from packaging, Ellipse is the way to go. The Ellipse requires you to fit the foot board on one side, flip it over, screw, flip back, then do the same to the other foot board. Done. The DeskCycle 2 requires you to assemble both the front and back leg stands as well as the foot pedals onto the machine. You could probably assemble 10 DeskCycle Ellipse models in the time you finish 1 DeskCycle 2. So, yeah, it's easy to assemble. Yeah but it's pricy right? Sure, but remember "QUALITY over quantity?" This is a very smart piece of engineering, thoughtfully planned out without the potential IKEA assembly stress. For quality control, the machine is set to 8, the highest resistance, so be sure to read the instructions thoroughly and crank it down to 1 before trying. Both machines worked great for my chair with wheels, but I'm also not on carpet so maybe it's a different story for that. There's zero noise level from both models. Seriously. You could hypothetically take it to a public library and it wouldn't disturb others - you still might get looks. Again, hypothetical. I have returned the DeskCycle 2 and purchased another Ellipse for myself as the first Ellipse was a gift. If it helps, the person typically favored the recumbent bike at the gym when we used to go, while I preferred the elliptical. We both 100% enjoy the Ellipse more the the DeskCycle 2. You don't have to strap in everytime, as you do with DeskCycle 2. With Ellipse, you just go, and you can adjust your foot placement for motion type! Oh, one more thing, the pedals can be secured if you want to lug it around or use it as a free weight hahaha. This is probably my favorite Amazon purchase of the year.

I bought this since after I graduated school and started working, I quickly put on 50 pounds and lost my flat abs that I used to have. In school, I at least was moving around a lot (due to a large campus), and I suspect age helped as well. But sitting for 8+ hours a day was very bad for my health. I tried a few things over the past few years but nothing did enough or stuck as a habit. I was able to stop the trend of adding pounds, but reversing it is altogether different. Then I saw a news story about them putting pedals on elementary school desks to let kids burn off energy while sitting in class, and I thought that there must be something like this but for adults who sit all day but need to exercise and maintain their health. I found this and gave it a shot due to the high reviews. I've had it for almost a week now and so far, it's met all my expectations! It's too soon to see if it will have a long-term impact on my weight and overall health, but I know what a workout is supposed to feel like, and it definitely gives me one. I have it set up under my desk in my cubicle at work. I swapped out my foot reset for this. It's obviously taller, so I was worried that I might not have enough leg space to use it effectively, being 5'10". The bad news is that my knees do knock up against the underside of my desk, but since I'm using a corner desk, I was able to back up my chair a little bit so that my knees come up in front of the desk. The downside is that if I want to use my keyboard, I have to have it on my lap, and can't pedal. But I do have a lot of time where I'm just waiting for tasks to finish on my computer so I can put the keyboard on my desk and just pedal away. I do martial arts practice and ran a lot in school previously, so my legs already were pretty strong. I was able to pedal pretty well at full tension, but I found that tired me out very quickly. I backed it down to about 3/4 tension (it has 8 levels, so this would be 6) and am able to use that as my "easy-medium" setting. I push it up to 7 for more tension, and back it down to 5 for a cooldown. I've been trying to do interval-style training with it, and I find it is very easy for me to start doing regularly. Since it's always under my feet, it's not a disruption or an effort to actually go and do it. I can start pedaling on a whim. What's handy is it also has a digital readout that, while it can be mounted to the device, also has a stand that lets you put it on your desk. It helps me see how much I use it day-to-day. This gives me motivation to match the amount of effort I put into using it. I usually try to match or exceed distance day over day and put in at least an hour of cumulative exercise. I also wear a Fitbit Surge so I can monitor my heartrate during exercise, and it also gives me a better metric for calorie burn than the readout on the machine (which, like all exercise bikes, can't be completely accurate). Before I got this, I had a hard time hitting 3000 calories burned per day. Since I got it, this has become much simpler. I've watched my heartrate hit my peak zone several times with intense cycling using this machine. I have great expectations that it will help me achieve my goal of weight loss. It also is a great workout for my legs, for which I need to build up my strength in my martial arts practice, so it is a great complement to that as well. It is incredibly silent when you pedal. I can barely hear it. The most sound I hear is my clothes from my motion. My coworkers have commented on how silent it is as well. It is heavy (but not overly so), so it remains in place on the floor as I work. I do have to hook one of my chair legs over the stand though, since my chair tends to roll back as I pedal. Also of note, when I'm not using it, it's low enough that I can rest my feet on top of it so it makes a comfortable footrest! I also sometimes just sit with my feet on the pedals (like if I'm typing, as I need the keyboard on my lap), so it's not really obstructing my ability to sit comfortably when not in use. Setup is easy. It just requires tightening a few nuts and bolts for the stands and the pedals, which can be done with the included wrench. Nothing feels wobbly. Sometimes when I pedal, I do feel a little hitch each rotation, but I think that depends on the direction my feet are pressing, and it doesn't feel like it's broken. I only mention it because it can potentially be an audible sound, though it's still very silent. Overall, I'm very happy with it and definitely would recommend it to others! It's a well built piece of machinery that does its intended job very well. It might end up being just the thing I needed to get my health back on track!

It doesn't really work all that well under the desks I have; I have to cycle away from my desk; therefore, defeats the main purpose for purchasing the exerciser, which was pedal while at my computer and reading work material. It is not designed for a combination of long legs, and short desk height. While it does stash away neatly under my desk (my desk meets the recommend specifications on the deskcycle web site), in order to use it I have to lower my chair and extend my legs in such away that my arms and neck would have to be at least a foot longer to reach any material at my desk. My computer desk is worse since I have a sliding keyboard pullout that shortens the clearance under the desk. Yes, I could raise both of my desks and it would then work, but I don't think I should have to alter my chair height or desk height to do so. My work area is comfortable as it is and the main thrust is I'd have to alter everything just to pedal moving away from the focus of why I'm at work--and that is to work not pedal. Minus one star. The other irritation is the feeble attempt to count calories either using the built-in monitor or the calculator on the web site [...] . The monitor over estimates, which should be no big surprise; but the web site calculator under estimates for my gender, weight, and pedal settings (resistance, distance, time). Thankfully I have a heart rate monitor that is very accurate and so use it instead. However, if you need to burn those extra few kcal, then pedal away to get to your mark using the deskcycle calculator. My thoughts are these type of exercisers should just accept they can't come up with an accurate way of measuring calorie burn and stop trying. Minus one star. One star: Great craftsmanship! It is a substantial piece of machinery with a nice heft to it. It does fit nicely under the desk and is very quiet. One reviewer complained about smells, which I can't fathom where an odor would emanate or how anyone could detect it. No smell, barely a sound, smooth mechanism. The monitor is a nice bonus with its built-in memory chip that allows you accumulate a total or delete at your discretion at any time. One star: It is an exerciser. There are plenty of variations in the resistance settings that by changing the setting, the amount of time pedaled and the speed, I can get a nice aerobic workout. Even my husband was impressed when he gave it a whirl. The design is such that I can change the setting while pedaling; but it's very easy to pause, change the setting, and resume without much effort as well. One star: In spite of my disappointment that it won't work while I'm at my desk in the conventional sitting arrangement, it is small and light enough to arrange it into some other configuration that allows me to get some pedaling in anyway. I'm still determining the intricate details of that arrangement, but I'm confident that I'll come up with some sort of setup that will allow me to pedal and work. I like that I can easily carry the contraption and its compactness. Bottom line: I don't regret the purchase and would recommend this to anyone with the above two caveats. It'll do what it should do while I use it. I only wish I could conveniently pedal while at my desk in my normal seating arrangement.

I ordered this because a) I'm disabled with few safe options for exercise, and b) I need to rebuild ankle and foot flexibility after an injury. I've had this for a little over a month, and it's been exactly what I needed it to be. I'm incredibly pleased with this purchase. A few notes: - This assembles quite easily and you should be ready to go within 15-20 minutes. The instructions tell you that if you need more height, you can raise the front bar by removing the bolt and lifting it to the next notch. I gather that some people need theirs low to fit under desks. I use mine from a living room chair and don't have to worry about bumping my knees, so after a week or so of pedals scraping the carpet, I went ahead and raised mine. Ease of pedaling immediately improved, and I feel much more of a workout in my thighs now. The bike comes with its own assembly wrench, which you'll want to hang onto for adjustments like this. I labeled mine and set it aside in a safe place. - Other reviewers have mentioned that you will definitely want to follow the pamphlet instructions and build up your routine slowly. When you start pedaling at the lowest difficulty, it's true that it seems ridiculous to waste time that way. It's very tempting to crank it up higher. But as your workout goes on, it becomes a matter of endurance and will stop feeling like your feet are just flying in circles. From the first couple of days, I noticed a vast improvement in circulation to my lower legs on even the easiest setting. Swelling was down noticeably. I did the 1 setting for a week, and 2 felt like a challenge. Then I did 2 for a week, and 3 felt like a challenge. I've built up to the point where I alternate ten miles on 3 and five miles on 4, and after a while on 4, the 3 feels just as easy as the 1 did. I expect it will keep going this way (for the record, my dial goes up to 8). The pamphlet lists options for cardio training, endurance, and so on. You can tailor your own experience to exactly what you need. -Even at a 4 setting, it is very easy to exercise while watching tv, reading, and so forth. I wouldn't try talking on the phone at work unless you're on a lower setting where you won't be out of breath. You can go for long stretches of time, but I advise wearing some sort of footwear to avoid pain from prolonged pressure on the pedals. This equipment makes it very, very easy to commit to a daily exercise routine. You can make excuses to avoid an outdoor run or walk or the tedium of basement gym equipment, but it's hard to come up with a convincing reason that you can't sit on a chair and pedal while watching tv or reading. After a while, your brain shifts to other things and your legs go on autopilot, and the next thing you know, you've reached your goal. This has been my experience, and this is coming from a previously paralyzed person with the exact opposite of autopilot legs. If I can do it, anyone can. - The only thing that annoyed me with this bike ended up being my own fault. I noticed that it was pushing away from me while I pedaled, especially at higher settings, and I would have to stop every few minutes to pull it back toward me. Upon closer inspection, the back feet (on the bar closest to me, near the difficulty dial) had been bumped during storage and were flipped upside down, so the back end had no traction on the carpet. Once flipped back into place (and now I check, every time I pull the bike down from where I store it on its side), there have been no further issues. They do include a velcro strap to help tether the bike to work chairs in settings where it might try to go walkies. - The maintenance on this bike is low to none. All of the workings are encased in a clear plastic shell and should perform well with no adjustments. The velcro loops over the pedals are stiff at first, but adjustable and tend to soften with time. I have also tripped and spilled coffee on this thing, and it wipes right off with no damage to the works. The display screen with the readouts for time, distance, and so on can either be mounted on the bike itself or on a separate little stand you can put on a table or desk, which is a nice touch. I was hesitant to buy this because of the price...I've had cheapie barebones pedal contraptions in the past, and always discontinued using them after a while. I'm so glad that I bought this one, which I use multiple times a day. I would absolutely do it again.

I bought this following a total knee replacement. I work a desk job. The pedaling keeps my knee from getting stiff. It is very quiet. I frequently use it during video meetings. No one knows I am using it