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Pedal at your desk with the Cycli trainer, now on Kickstarter

Get the miles in without leaving your desk

Sit at a desk all day and wish you could be pedalling your bike? Here’s a potentially simple way to fit in some more miles without skiving off work. It’s the Cycli, a Bluetooth-enabled under-desk trainer that has taken Kickstarter by storm. 

The Cycli is a compact pedal trainer with an adjustable magnetic resistance unit, a rechargeable battery (so you can take it anywhere with you) and easy touchscreen interface. It tracks your progress, including the number of calories expended and distance pedalled.

The company has given it Bluetooth and developed a companion app, which allows you to compete against other people using the Cycli trainer, whether office colleagues or people around the world. The company realises it’s often easier to stick to a fitness goal if you’re not doing it alone.

cycli.png

A large LCD touchscreen provides easy access to the key features like time spent exercising and calories burned. A turn-dial provides various levels of resistance and the magnetic resistance device inside the device is claimed to provide smooth and quiet operation, so hopefully it won’t have the entire office shouting at you to turn down the noise.

The product has been developed by a specialist technology company called FlintRehab that for the last seven years has been building tools aimed at helping to rehabilitate people with injuries. Recently it has decided to expand its product line to help people in need of increasing their fitness. 

cycli 3.png

“…It’s no surprise that we don't exercise as much as we should. Most of us sit all day at work looking at a screen, and when we go home we either have no time for exercise or are too tired to do anything but lounge on the couch and watch TV”” says the company.

"Because of this, we wanted to create an exercise tool that people can use while they are going about their daily lives. We sit for an average of 8 hours per day, so why not put those sitting hours to better use?”

The company put its Cycli on Kickstarter with a $35,000 funding goal, and at the time of writing with 19 days to go, the funding figure is a staggering $131,076, gained from 956 backers. The product has clearly hit a nerve with people. 

cycli 4.png

The product will retail for $199 but you can currently bag one for $119 with an early bird special if you’re quick. The only downside to all this is that the company says it will only ship to the US.  

www.kickstarter.com/projects/cycli/cycli-the-worlds-first-bluetooth-enab...

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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12 comments

Avatar
nniff | 7 years ago
0 likes

One minor observation - most office chairs have wheels.  If you wind up the tension surely your chair would move back until your leg was straight.  Exercise over.

Avatar
Innerlube | 7 years ago
0 likes

Um, just tried and there isn't enough room under my office desk for a pedalling action - knees would hit the underside of the desk.

which might explain why the guy in the pic at the top of the article doesn't have any (knees that is, and no desk top either)

...

 

Avatar
bikebot | 7 years ago
1 like

Will you be getting one in for review?

With lots of pictures of it being tested please.

Avatar
srchar | 7 years ago
2 likes

Rubbish.

Avatar
iso2000 | 7 years ago
2 likes

Will it integrate with Stava? 

Avatar
Guanajuato | 7 years ago
1 like

Other than a connection to your phone & a touchscreen (because a button is so last year), what has this got that things like this haven't?

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4557085.htm

Avatar
tritecommentbot replied to Guanajuato | 7 years ago
1 like

Guanajuato wrote:

Other than a connection to your phone & a touchscreen (because a button is so last year), what has this got that things like this haven't?

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4557085.htm

 

Interesting, so basically this product is already on the market! This is just a smart connected version. Ala smart toothbrushes etc. 

 

Meh.

Avatar
peted76 replied to Guanajuato | 7 years ago
1 like

Guanajuato wrote:

Other than a connection to your phone & a touchscreen (because a button is so last year), what has this got that things like this haven't?

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4557085.htm

Wow who knew!  I'm easily pleased.... 

Avatar
vonhelmet | 7 years ago
5 likes

Kickstarter is certainly an excellent medium for getting stupid ideas broadcast to the general public.

Avatar
peted76 | 7 years ago
1 like

Gah! No shipping outsuide of USA.. I was ready with my card #sadface

Avatar
tritecommentbot | 7 years ago
1 like

Any word on the DB's at different resistances? If they're not mentioning it, it means they want it buried because they know it's an issue. Nothing in their video suggests any design has gone into making it quieter other than choosing magnetic resistance. 

Avatar
handlebarcam | 7 years ago
2 likes

As if modern open-plan offices aren't noisy and smelly enough already.

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