Petite Version of this Post

Sometime in mid-October, Flywheel Sports at Market Street in San Francisco upgraded their bikes! I’ve had a few chances to try them out and in my opinion, the new bikes are a good thing.

And in case you have yet to try Flywheel Sports, you can get your first class FREE with my code FLYPETITE!

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Full Post

First Wave of Bikes at Flywheel Sports

When I first tried out the bikes at Flywheel Sports, I love how petite-friendly they were! The seats were finally low enough, which caused less strain in my seat area during and after class, if you catch my drift. The tech pack kept me accountable in terms of striving for the torq or speed desired. And the indoor cycling shoes provided by the studio made for a much safer ride (versus wearing sneakers).

New Bikes at Flywheel Sports

I’ve tried the new bikes at Flywheel and love them. Now, I’m still averaging the same score as I previously did with their older bikes. However, the new bikes are clearly an upgrade and here are the reasons why:

Adjustments made easy

• Previously, adjusting the old bikes required finding the right notch. If you were in between notches, best of luck to you. Note that loosening up the screws on the previous bikes sometimes proved to be a challenge.
• The new bikes have an easy release switch which you can flip from “locked” to “unlocked”. Note that once unlocked, the seat or handles might automatically rise up. It’s almost as if there were hydraulics involved.
• I do think the new settings now allow for more options that were previously “in between two notches”.
• Similar to the older bikes, the seat moves forward and backwards. However, the handles on the new bikes now do the same! So not only are these new bikes great for petite folks, but they’re also customizable for our friends on the tall end of the spectrum!
• These switches allow you to make adjustments to the handle and seat even while sitting down and clipped in. Note that adjusting the height of the seat is perhaps not the best idea while clipped in. I just love how I can make micro-adjustments as to how close or far apart my handles and seat are to each other – all while class is taking place.
• The only challenge about the handles is that it might take some elbow grease to push the seat or handle back down, but the staff is always there to help. The bikes are still new, so I’m sure this will ease up once they get some use.

 

Tech Pack

• Previously, the tech pack was located at the bottom of the handle on the left side.
• The tech pack is now bigger, perhaps the size of an iPhone, and is placed directly in the center of the handle bars.
• This is a much more convenient location, however, this also means that your neighbor can see your effort and results as well. (My competitive spirit is torn on this because I am not the strongest at indoor cycling, but I give it my all. To put it into perspective, a 6’0″ man will obviously generate more power / wattage than someone 4’11” such as myself.)

Torq It Out

• One of the main reasons why I love Flywheel Sports is because the tech pack allows me to zero in on specific metrics called out by the instructor.
• Most of the time, instructors provide a range for us to target in terms of torq.
• Similar to the old bikes, to increase the torq, you turn the knob towards the right. To decrease the torq, you turn the knob towards the left.
• With the new bikes, you can actually FEEL the notches on the knob, with each tiny notch more or less corresponding with one additional unit of torq.

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Conclusion

If you have yet to try indoor cycling at Flywheel Sports, now is a great time to do so, especially since the bikes cater to all sizes!

Remember, your first class is free with code FLYPETITE!

In good health,

Berniedette