Hey everyone,

I recently sold off my old drum kit for a nice bit of dough, and not only do I have the leftover $$$, but I now have space in my tiny place to have a bike.

Normally, I'd tell myself to not be lazy and get the most out of the fistfulls of money I dump into golds every month, but the 20 minute drive to go BACK to the gym at the end of the day, after I have already gone for 1.5 hours at lunch to lift just seems to NEVER happen.

So, after looking for awhile over craigslist and ebay, I found that I could get what seem like at least semi-nice bikes for a couple hundred (what is left from I got from my drums). My question to you people is this:

Who owns stationary bikes (regular or the laying back kind), what kind are they, and do you like them? Are there any that I should either look for, or make sure to avoid?

I'm interested in that, too. My MIL has me looking on ebay and craigslist for a <$200 treadmill for her, and AFAICT, you just can't get a decent one for that price, even used. The consumer-quality ones aren't meant to stand up to daily use over a period of time. Ellipticals seem to be the same way. Maybe bikes are built better?

(As a side note, my parents used to own a gadget you could set your regular bike on, which would let the rear wheel spin against resistance, effectively converting it to a stationary bike. If anyone knows what that thing is called, or whether brand matters (theirs was *really* noisy), that would be great!)

i have a Nordic Track sl-705 upright bike

No batteries or plugs needed - everything, included the onboard fan is pedal powered...

it's got a bunch of different programs on it and also works with i-fit (which I've never used)

the seat is comfortable and it puts you in a good seated position without killing your back

the thing weighs over 100lbs so it's pretty solid (after I had it delivered, the manual said weight limit of 250lbs for it - i was over 350 at the time and didn't break it)

Do I like it? No - but it's me -I find it incredibly boring... and need to go somewhere when I'm pedaling - staying in one place is just incredibly dull to me...

If they have one in your area - look at Play it Again Sports - they're basically a used sporting goods store where people will send their coat racks, I mean unused exercise equipment for sale.

If you want to come to chicago, you can have mine... just pedal home...

ah, awesome... I didn't know play it again does exercise equipment too!!! I thought they just did sports equipment

the one near me does have equipment as well but each store is franchised so they might be different - I bought my weight set there... and have been really happy with it...