REVIEW – Home exercise bikes are still a hot item in fitness these days, with hundreds (thousands?) of models and price points to choose from. The SUNMYTH Exercise Bike promises an improved experience over your bargain exercise bikes with a heavy-duty design, but it’s not as expensive as those $2000+ models. How do it do when we spin it through testing? To the review!
What is it?
The SUNMYTH is a spin-style exercise bike.
Hardware specs
- 44.88 x 21.26 x 46.06 inches
- 95 pounds total weight
- 275 pound weight capacity
- Adjustable resistance
Design and features
The SUNMYTH Exercise Bike is a spin-style bike, built around a heavier flywheel and a body position that emulates racing bikes. The bike weighs in at 100 pounds, which the manufacturer claims reflects its heavy-duty build for extra durability and stability.
Don’t let that weight intimidate you after you get it assembled, though. I had some issues with getting the bike together (see below), but a pair of solid rubber wheels facilitate scooting the bike around if you need to stash it in a corner. The rubber feet keep it grounded for work. Tilt it on the wheels to move it about.
The solid wheel design of the SUNMYTH is typical of other spin-style bikes I have used. Big, solid, and smooth.
A big red control knob allows you to adjust your resistance during your workout. Note that this knob doesn’t have any unit-based measurement of resistance so you’ll be adjusting by feel. You can push that big knob at any time to engage the brakes to stop the wheel.
The pedals of the SUNMYTH are designed for spin-style biking. The foot cradle accommodates the front 1/3 to 1/2 of your foot based on your foot size. The strap is designed to accommodate a large variety of foot sizes and is pretty easy to manipulate.
The seat and handlebar use identical knob mechanisms for adjusting the heights. You’ll twist to loosen the knob, then pull it out to release the pin so that the handlebars (or seat) can slide to the desired height.
When it comes to height measurement, the seat post uses a numeric system while the handlebar uses letters. I honestly don’t know why this is… maybe it’s for spin classes so you can remember your setting? I appear to be a 13J.
The seat itself offers two additional articulation points. You can undo the knob under the seat and slide the whole seat frame forward or backward to accommodate your body type. You can also adjust the angle of the seat by loosening the nut under the seat. Don’t lose the Alan wrenches that came with installation!
The SUNMYTH’s handlebars accommodate multiple hand positions depending on the exercise you’re doing, and are coated with a rough grip finish so that your sweaty hands don’t slip. There’s a tablet stand that also uses a rubberized backing & a shelf to keep your tablet from sliding out.
You will also find an onboard performance monitor that keeps tabs on your time, speed, distance, and calories burned. This battery operated unit has no on/off switch. It starts up when you start spinning and shuts off a few minutes after you’re done.
Setup
Assembly of the SUNMYTH Exercise Bike is a bit of a struggle. Some of it I expected, some I did not.
The whole package weighs in at 1oo pounds and comes well-packed. You’ll need some help getting it to the desired destination. You’ll have a big ol’ pile of packing materials to dispose of when you are done, but everything came well protected in my case.
The main frame of the bike comes in one piece. You’ll be assembling all the associated parts: the base, the handlebars, the pedals, the seat, etc. This seems like it should be a straight shot, right?
Not so much.
The assembly instructions were sparse, poorly worded, and in some cases unclear. There were issues with the machining and/or preparation of the parts, resulting in several situations where I was forced to whack something with a mallet to get it to fit into its designated slot because the components weren’t aligned properly. The screws were dipped in some sort of hard plastic that I had to scrape off or they would jam in the threads. The net result was that the 9 components that I had to assemble to the main frame took 70 minutes of sweating, cursing and grunting to get into place.
The final build is rock solid and the operation of all the parts is smooth, but the frame itself is not level. It leans to the left despite all my efforts to level it using the adjustable feet on the base. And the tablet tray is way off. See pic below. See how it doesn’t sit parallel to the handlebars? There’s only one way the clip hooks to the bar, and there’s no way to adjust it.
I get that this isn’t a $2000 piece of exercise equipment, but it’s not on the super-low end either at a $600 retail price. I don’t expect perfection, but I do expect better quality control at that price point.
Performance
The general performance of the SUNMYTH Exercise Bike is very solid. My wife, my son, and I have been using it for the past month with no issues related to stability or regular operation. The beefy frame is plenty stable. Adjusting for different body types is fine. The wheel/pedal mechanism is smooth and solid. Absolutely no issues to report on any of those fronts.
The big issues for me come in the little details relative to the price point of the product. See that folding table next to the bike, for example? We keep that there because there’s no cupholder on the bike for your hydration bottle. This seems like a small thing, but it’s a pretty standard accessory that is conspicuous in its absence here.
There’s also the issue of the performance monitor, which feels like a dollar-bin plastic unit that was thrown in as an afterthought. The LED display is weak at best. See how you can barely see the display from this angle? It’s only clear if you’re positioned directly above the monitor, standing on the pedals. It has no built-in controls or adjustments.
The omission sticks out like a sore thumb given the price of the bike. If this was a $200 model I’d understand. But at $600 I expect better.
I’ll also note that the SUNMYTH’s seat itself tends to shift unless you really lock in the adjustment screws below the seat. We did get this resolved after a lot of tightening. We also purchased an inexpensive pad for the seat for some extra cushion after my wife and son reported that the seat was uncomfortable, but that’s not unusual for spin bikes.
Finally, the alignment issues I identified earlier are disappointing. Your tablet won’t slide out, but it doesn’t sit parallel to the handles. The whole unit also seems to be slightly off-center. It’s all usable but I would expect better quality control here.
I’ll emphasize again that the overall performance of the SUNMYTH Exercise Bike is great. Someone has been using the bike at least one time a day (sometimes more) over the past month. It feels solid and durable and does the job. But the lack of attention to the little details is a bummer.
What I like
- Solid construction
- Smooth operation
- Plenty of adjustments for different body types
What needs to be improved
- No cup holder
- Assembly issues due to some bad finishing
- Alignment/leveling problems
- Cheap performance monitor
Final thoughts
There is a lot to like about the SUNMYTH Exercise Bike. The build is rock solid and the performance is smooth. It’s holding up nicely to almost daily use and I have no doubts about the long-term durability of the unit. But the retail price of $600 puts this bike at a level above your typical budget exercise bikes, and I expect better attention to the little details at that price.
Price: $599.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by SUNMYTH.
