Elliptigo Bike: First Report

I found the bike very easy to master; after about ten minutes, I felt completely in control. Debbie is having a somewhat steeper learning curve, but that’s because she’s been accustomed to riding on the back of a tandem bicycle for the past twenty years and hasn’t had to worry about minor details like steering, shifting gears, and braking. But, as you can see in the movie, she’s doing just fine.

The bike definitely provides a vigorous workout, which shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s used an indoor elliptical trainer. The motion is identical, although the bike has regular handlebars so you’re not getting an upper body workout. (The thought of adding those moving bars to the bike is downright frightening.)

The bike itself is well-made, with quality components. The welds are thick and uniform, probably equal to the standards you’d find on a good mountain bike. The 8-speed gear systems shifts easily and reliably and the brakes are scary good.

One slightly disconcerting feature is the noise of the bike, caused by the rollers attached to the “pedals” sliding up and down channels (see photo at right). I can’t think of an alternate design that would eliminate that noise, but you probably won’t need a handlebar bell to let pedestrians know you’re coming up behind them.

The bike comes with a owner’s manual chock full of warnings and alerts about the dangers of riding this contraption. There are at least six stern warnings about the fact that you are very tall when astride the Elliptigo, putting you in danger of “serious injury or death” should you forget your height and attempt to ride under short things like power lines or taxiing aircraft. As you can tell in the video, I take those warnings seriously, donning my protective Fire Ant Gazette Anti-Trauma Baseball Cap. Don’t be like me, kiddies; wear a helmet.

The Elliptigo owners community appears to be a large and active one, judging by its Facebook page. The sport is now spawning support industries, such as elliptical biking shoes (although as far as I can tell, they’re just repurposing some athletic shoes for this type of riding).

I don’t think this will supplant our regular biking equipment, but it will certainly be a viable cross-training (and pleasure cruising) alternative. It’s especially welcome for those inevitable times that running is out of the question due to injury, something I’m dealing with right now.