This site may contain links to affiliate websites, and we receive an affiliate commission for any purchases made by you on the affiliate website using such links. Read Our Disclosures
Continuing their product line of bestselling fitness equipment, the Exerpeutic 1200 Folding Magnetic Upright Bike is currently one of the most popular exercise bikes in the world, with over 1000 reviews to its name.
It’s these reviews that we take a quick look at in this review, together with the overall design, display console functions, and even a quick look at the assembly instructions.
Design features
A common problem among lower priced exercise bikes is a lack of support and comfortable seating.
This is why it became one of the areas that Exerpeutic focused on when designing their folding upright bike.
The extra large seat provides a more comfortable seating position, which in turn can lead to longer workouts and faster achievement of fitness goals as a result.
The ergonomic handlebars also offer 3 different grip positions, to help you maintain a natural posture when cycling and reduce the pressure on your lower back.
There’s also plenty of room between the pedals and the handles, to help prevent taller users from hitting their knees on the frame.
In order to keep the price low, there will always be some sacrifices that have to be made in terms of features and workout functions.
Despite this, the Exerpeutic 1200 still manages a respectable 300 lb maximum weight capacity, and 8 manually adjustable resistance levels.
These 8 settings are controlled by a magnetic resistance system, which you’ll find to be much quieter and smoother than the fan driven alternatives.
Although the resistance can’t be automatically controlled by preset workout programs, you can still put together an effective training routine that proves challenging for your current level of fitness.
To cater for a wide range of user heights (5 feet 3 inches to 6 feet 2 inches) and body types, the distance between the seat and the pedals is fully adjustable, using a small hand wheel attached to the frame support.
Exerpeutic 1200 – Features Summary
- Unique, Space-Saver Design: Easy to get on and off the bike, providing a more effective and comfortable workout
- Leg Stabilizers: Extended leg stabilizers to prevent any movement or tipping when exercising
- Tension Resistance: An 8 level Magnetic Tension control system
- Computer: An easy-to-read large window (3.3”W x 1.5”H) LCD display
- Crank System: Three-piece “high torque” cranking system provides a smooth and consistent pedaling motion
- Quiet: The precision-balanced flywheel and V-belt drive provide a smooth and quiet operation
- Safety: Larger pedal design with safety strap prevents any foot slippage when exercising
- Seating Comfort: A large seat cushion sits people of any size. The bike is easily adjustable to fit user heights between 5’3″ and 6’1″
Compact footprint and foldable frame
Whenever you buy any new piece of fitness equipment, it’s always important to do some quick background research on the company.
What sort of products have they made before? Have these products been successful? Do they specialize in products in a particular price range?
If you were to take a look at any of the fitness equipment in the Exerpeutic range, you would quickly realise that this is a company with a history of developing high quality exercise equipment.
Although the Exerpeutic 1200 is currently their most successful model, they also have not just one, but two recumbent exercise bikes with nearly 1000 reviews each.
This is also a company that specializes in a particular price point, with each bike being available for close to the $150 mark, and each with a compact frame design.
In fact, the folding frame design and compact footprint were two of the most frequently mentioned positive points in the customer reviews we read through.
The smaller flywheel and thicker base stabilizers ensure that the bike remains in a stable upright position, even if it needs to be folded and stored away.
Display console design
As with most exercise bikes under $150, the Exerpeutic 1200 features a scaled down display console in terms of its functions and size.
The smaller console size helps to prevent any imbalances when cycling at higher resistance levels, which might otherwise be caused due to the lightweight frame.
The screen itself is compact yet functional, and allows you to scroll through a range of different workout stats. This includes your time, heart rate, speed, and distance.
Although there is the option to track how many calories you are burning during your workout, this is a number that is renowned for being inaccurate among lower priced bikes.
As a general guide, if you do want an exercise bike that provides accurate tracking of calories burned and heart rate, you need to find a design that lets you to at least enter your weight.
Even the resistance is adjusted manually, resulting in a lack of buttons on the console itself. The single button that is available simply allows you to scroll through which feedback is currently being displayed on the screen.
Ease of assembly
Despite its simple design, you’ll be pleased to hear that Exerpeutic have supplied a well written user manual, complete with full assembly instructions.
In fact, the step-by-step walkthrough is what takes up the majority of the pages in the manual, which is also partly due to the lack of preset workout programs.
Unlike many lower priced pieces of fitness equipment, just because you’re paying a lower price, doesn’t mean you have to decipher broken English explanations and complicated drawings.
Each step provides you with the following information:
- An exploded drawing of how the parts should fit together
- A list of tools required for that step
- A full textual explanation
- Hardware list of all the parts you need
In truth, much of the setup is already done for you, with the main frame and flywheel housing each arriving pre-assembled.
Aside from the display console attachment being a bit awkward, there’s nothing particularly complicated about the remaining assembly.
This has resulted in a recommended assembly time of less than 30 minutes, from having the parts laid out on the floor, to enjoying your first workout.
If you want to have a quick read through the user manual before buying, feel free to download your own personal copy.
Customer reviews
Even though we aim to provide all the information you need to know about the Exerpeutic 1200 in our own review, there’s one other place that’s worth a visit before buying. The Amazon customer reviews section.
Currently home to over 1300 reviews and more than 300 answered questions, it’s no surprise that this is currently the number one bestselling exercise bike on Amazon.
But it isn’t just the number of reviews that’s impressive. It’s the fact that even after many hundreds of reviews, this is an exercise bike that maintains an exceptional average rating.
Although we’re unable to read through all of the reviews ourselves, we have been able to analyze several hundred, and provide a quick summary of the pros and cons they mentioned in the lists below.
Pros:
- Heavy steel frame tubes provide excellent support and stability when cycling
- Oversized and well padded seat makes extended workouts comfortable and enjoyable
- Lightweight frame makes the bike easy to move between rooms if needed
- Quiet pedal motion
- Plenty of leg room to allow taller users to achieve a natural, unrestricted cycling motion
- Smooth cycle motion across the full range of resistance levels
- Competitively priced
- Compact footprint means you don’t need much space to position the bike for an effective cardio workout
- Free shipping
Cons:
- Although well padded, some people found the seat to be slightly too wide, making it more difficult to reach full leg extension
- Feedback from the heart rate pulse monitor and calories burned metrics aren’t always accurate
- No preset workout programs
- Limited screen size means you can’t have all workout feedback displayed at once
Although the Exerpeutic 1200 still has its fair share of lower rated reviews, these are mostly points that you will find in the reviews for any bike at this price point.
The display console will be very basic, and a couple of the stats displayed won’t be accurate due to the inability to enter your weight and age, but this is part of the reason why the price has been kept so low.
Exerpeutic’s parent company (Paradigm Health & Wellness) frequently respond directly to reviewer comments in cases where they are experiencing any issues with the bike, which is something rarely seen with fitness product companies even today.
Review Overview
Overall Review Rating
4.5 / 5
Considering its low price, the fact that the Exerpeutic 1200 has such a large number of highly rated reviews is confirmation, if it were needed, that this is a high quality piece of fitness equipment.
Despite the lack of preset training programs, you do still have 8 levels of resistance to progress through in your workouts, and a folding frame design that makes it extremely convenient for anyone with limited space.
If you're looking for a lightweight exercise bike to use for your home cardio workouts, you won't find a more popular and comfortable design than this.
User weight limit: 300lbs
Product dimensions: 31" (L) x 19" (W) x 46" (H)
Product weight: 39 lbs
USA Home Gym gives in-depth insights into gym equipment, supplements, and fitness training methods. The motivation behind USA Home Gym is to provide you with information that goes beyond what you can find in any user manual, customer review, or other online review sites.
We go to great lengths to ensure that our reviews are completely comprehensive, usually covering everything from the design features to the warranty coverage and exercise options. This is all to help guide you towards the home gym equipment that’s best suited to your goals and budget, whilst also being the highest quality option in your chosen price range.
