York 2 in 1 Rower and Cycle

...local gym, we purchased a York 2 in 1 Cycle Rower. We actually brought ours from eBay for £150.00 but if you are buying new you can expect to pay somewhere in the region of £260.00 at the cheapest search on Kelkoo.

##THE LOOK##

This is a very solid bike/rower and is therefore by default very heavy. This is reflected in the look of the machine and you have a very solid, sturdy piece of equipment, taking up a relative ...
...at the end of the room, by my desk, so is not too intrusive, but if you have a smaller room I would suggest a smaller bike as this really is quite a beast. The makers suggest in the guide that you should place the bike on an exercise mat or similar due to the fact that it has mechanisms in it that have been greased and so on and they say it's just in case of leakages. We haven't done this and have had no problems so far but if you have it on an expensive ... more

In a vain attempt at getting fit, whilst not spending a fortune at the local gym, we purchased a York 2 in 1 Cycle Rower. We actually brought ours from eBay for £150.00 but if you are buying new you can expect to pay somewhere in the region of £260.00 at the cheapest search on Kelkoo.

##THE LOOK##

This is a very solid bike/rower and is therefore by default very heavy. This is reflected in the look of the machine and you have a very solid, sturdy piece of equipment, taking up a relative amount of space in your living room. Ours is situated at the end of the room, by my desk, so is not too intrusive, but if you have a smaller room I would suggest a smaller bike as this really is quite a beast. The makers suggest in the guide that you should place the bike on an exercise mat or similar due to the fact that it has mechanisms in it that have been greased and so on and they say it's just in case of leakages. We haven't done this and have had no problems so far but if you have it on an expensive carpet it might be wise to follow that advice.

It is mostly black, with the handle bar column being silver, which looks stylish and modern. The seat/saddle is black leather (alright not real leather) and is extremely large. The rear end of the seat is big enough to fit the largest of bums (soon to be slimmed down) whilst still being comfortable enough to pedal without scraping your inner thighs.

Considering this converts from a bike to a rower, it is very neatly designed. When in bike mode you can't really tell it will become a rower so easily without spotting the rowing seat, tucked away behind the foot pedals and the handle for rowing neatly folded into the crossbar of the bike.

Once in rowing mode it is even larger and will easily take up the whole floor space in a smaller lounge. Ours remains in the bike position when not in use and is only converted to the rower when my husband actually uses it for such.

##THE USE##

We brought this in early April with the intention of losing some post Christmas bulge before our early summer holidays and to be honest we were very enthusiastic to start with. The weight limit for this machine is 225lb (16.5 stones) so I knew I would be safe to get right on! I began by telling everyone I would be doing 20 minutes on the bike every night but when it came to starting I could, shamefully, only manage 6 minutes before my legs were burning like the clappers and I had no choice but to stop. We looked up on the internet and spoke to a few people and were told when you first start an exercise regime, if it's new and you haven't been exercising regularly before you should do it every other day, not every day, and for about 10-12 minutes each time. This made me feel slightly better and I settled into a more relaxed approach to using the bike.

Once you are up on the saddle and have adjusted it to suit your needs in terms of height (the twist knob on the back of the seat bar easily adjust this) you can begin. Slip your feet into the pedals, secured by cross over foot belts, and start to pedal. There are various settings you can select by the dial on the handlebars, numbered 1 - 10 and these dictate how hard it is to pedal and how much strength you need to get them round. I usually have it somewhere in between 4 and 5, with 1 being the easiest and 10 being the hardest. The setting I use has enough ease to pedal away at a speed I feel comfortable with, but provides enough resistance for me to end up breathing heavily and therefore properly exercising by the end of the 10 minute session.

The handlebars are great. Instead of being a traditional shaped set of handlebars that you get on a normal bike, they are shaped like a large rectangle on its side. You hold onto the bottom straight of this rectangle, where there are thin metal covers over the rung to catch your pulse etc (more on that later). You can hold on anywhere around the rectangle if you feel more comfortable but it won't record your stats in terms of pulse and heartbeat. The oval screen located in the middle of the rectangle handlebars shows all the information that makes your ride a little more interesting.

As soon as you start to pedal it switches itself on automatically and on the bike it will show you TIME, DISTANCE, CALORIE, PULSE.

On the Time setting you can either let it count upwards in minutes to keep an eye on how long you have been exercising for, or you can set it to count down, like a timer so you can concentrate on pedalling more.

The Distance setting can be set to either kilometres or miles by a switch on the back. On top of this you can either set it to show how many reps per minute you have done on the bike or strokes on the rower. You can also set a count down on the distance to cycle/row a specific distance.

The Calorie setting shows you how many calories you burn during your workout. It is very surprising how slowly this adds up actually and makes you realise how easy it is to consume too much. For instance a 10-minute cycle on a number 5 setting will burn approximately 30 calories. Not much eh? You can also set this to keep going until you have burned off the number of calories you set it to count down from.

The Pulse function records your heartbeat, through holding the metal strips on the handle bars and there is a guide in the booklet to show how to interpret the readings, to let you know when you are training in the recommended zone to ensure peak fitness and whether you are warming up/cooling down adequately.

With all these functions, if you set it to countdown, either distance, calories or time itself, an alarm will go off when you reach the end to let you know its time to cool down and slowly end your exercise session.

The rower is very easy to convert to, with a simple locking knob that you remove and fold down the handlebars, which becomes the track for the rowing seat to run up and down on. You release the "oar" pulley from the cross bar of the bike and relocate the computer to a section on the seat stick. It is as simple as that and you have a rower. Again the tension of the pulley can be adjusted from 1 through to 10, making it easier or harder to pull the handle. The seat glides smoothly over the track and is very effective in working out a vast section of your muscles.

##OVERALL##

I am really enjoying using this bike. I say bike as the rower I do find a bit too much for me. The actual exercise is not as enjoyable as the cycling on the bike and therefore I do tend to use the bike all the time and my husband uses the rower more.

I love the fact that I can see how many calories I have burnt during a session as I can eat a chocolate bar and then keep cycling till I have burnt it off again! Lol But seriously it is interesting to watch the stats and once you have get used to the pulse rate etc, it's great to see your fitness improving.

The instruction book that comes with this machine is great too. All the details for putting it together to begin with are supported by photos instead of drawings, which really helps in terms of assembly. There is also loads of other stuff in there to help you get the absolute best out of the machine.

In the 3 months we have had it I have managed to lose around half a stone, doing a ten-minute cycle on number 5, 4 times a week. I am really chuffed with this as I have still been eating around about the same amount as before, which goes to show what a little bit of exercise can do for you. Imagine the results if I started eating healthily too!

I love the fact that I can watch TV while I exercise or just talk to the kids, in fact, it says in the booklet if you are too out of breath to hold a conversation while using this machine you are pushing it too hard. I love bits of advice like this.

At the end of the day we have paid £150 for a piece of equipment that is going to make our lives healthier and happier, without stepping out the door. The older kids use it too and our 13 year old is football mad and has been cycling to improve the strength in his legs in order to play better football.

If you are looking for a serious exercise bike you can't really go wrong with this model as it gives you versatility in the cycle/rower option. It is solid enough to feel as though you are exercising on a proper gym bike, rather than some of the small flimsy ones you can get on the market now, and although it is expensive it has to be worth it to improve your fitness and therefore your life.

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