Opti Folding Exercise Bike Review - Don't be Caught Out!

Overview

Overall the Opti folding exercise bike has a number of minor issues and lacks the quality you get with other similarly priced models.

As a result, we recommend that you consider looking at the F-bike by UltraSport which is an all-round better bike. It does cost about £10 more but comes with free shipping and a full 2-year warranty.

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Features

6kg flywheel
Magnetic resistance
Hand grip pulse sensors
Foldable
Built-in console
Maximum user weight: 100kg
Dimensions: 111cm (H) x 41cm (W) x 81cm (D)
Product weight: 13.4kg
1-year warranty that covers manufacturing faults

Assembly

Firstly, there is some self-assembly required to have the bike up and running.

Overall, the assembly process is simple and can be done in about 30 – 45 minutes. However, there were a number of complaints about the pedals being difficult to attach and even resulted in some users returning the bike.

Resistance

In terms of resistance it was less than impressive. We weren’t expecting much resistance from a bike that costs under £100 but the adjustment dial seemed to make no difference at all.

The turn dial knob which controls the resistance is a “stepless” variable system. As a result, there are no clear levels of resistance to choose from. Therefore, it is unclear what difficulty the resistance is meant to be.

Nonetheless, the bike was nice and quiet when being used as it is a magnetic system. However, there were some users that complained about a squeaking noise.

Chances are this is because they turned the resistance dial too much and might have damaged to the resistance mechanism. If this is the case, they won’t be able to claim under the warranty which only covers manufacturer’s fault.

It would have been much better if there were set levels of resistance to choose from similar to the F-bike by Ultrasport.

Despite its drawbacks, if you are looking for a basic model to increase your activity levels then it will help burn those excess calories.

Design

Designed with home users in the mind the bike is foldable and lightweight which makes it easy to store away in-between uses. Once folded the dimensions are compressed to 134cm (H) x 41cm (W) x 25cm (D).

In addition, this unit has an adjustable seat height to help make it comfortable for a variety of users.

Note: The manufacturer specifies the minimum and maximum user heights by an inside leg length of 70cm – 82cm.

To ensure your feet stay secure while pedalling there are Velcro foot straps attached to the pedals.

opti-Console

Display

While the display is basic, for under £100 we wouldn’t expect a high-end console.

It tracks time, speed, distance, pulse, calories and has a scan feature.

Hand pulse sensors are built into the handle bars which weren’t particularly accurate but still act as a good indicator of your workout intensity. Furthermore, the speed and distance were also just as inaccurate but at least it tracks the time accurately.

Nonetheless, the console is simple to use as it controlled with just a single button to cycle through the different metrics.

Warranty

Opti include a 1-year warranty on manufacturer faults. This can be a concern as they might pass the blame of any issues onto the users and not cover any repairs under the warranty.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we weren’t expecting much from the Opti exercise bike, but it lacked quality and had a number of issues.

Although, this is a cheap exercise bike and you do tend to get what you pay for, there are better models available on the market for the same price, if not less.

We would recommend that you checkout the UltraSport F-bike which resolves a number of the issues we found on the Opti model.

In addition, Ultrasport has a great customer service reputation and even if there are any issues they will be sure to help get the problem resolved with their full 2 year warranty.