Bowflex C6 Indoor Cycling Bike – First Impressions

Last year I made a concerted effort to improve my level of activity and fitness and began doing more to get out and be more active. I began taking about 40 minutes at lunch time to get in a 2+ mile walk, and then would try and do the same in the evenings when I get home. To many people, this doesn’t seem like a lot, but for me, it was a huge step. I work at a desk for 9+ hours a day and don’t get a lot of time to get steps in. For me, I went 0-100, and was thrilled. That wasn’t the best choice as my body wasn’t used to it, so I tempered things a bit, but worked my way back up. By December, I was doing significantly more activity than I had been in a long time, and was ready to take the next step.

I wanted something that I could do at home, as I do have a significant issue with self-consciousness in a gym setting, and I needed something low impact because of my back issues. I initially was looking at ellipticals, then I began looking into a bike as people were recommending them, so I started researching Peloton. Man, was that a disheartening thing to do. The cost was astronomical. I looked at the financing, I looked at other options and began looking at bikes with a low entry cost to get a trial in.

In mid-December, my mom, wife and I were looking at options and happened upon the Bowflex C6. I never really thought of Bowflex with this, but the reviews were all positive, it works with many of the different apps that are out there, not limiting you to one program, and was on the realistic side of the price point. After discussing it with Danielle, I began working on figuring out how I would be able to put the money together to get the bike. Well, it turned out that Danielle decided to pull the trigger on it for me. She went above an beyond in researching things, and looking at different app options, and made sure it would be a surprise for me. I was beyond thrilled.

This past Friday, after an interesting experience with FedEx, the bike was finally delivered. That night, we assembled it, and the next day, I took my first ride with the bike and the Peloton app.

That ride was more painful than I would like to publicly explain, but not for the reason of being out of shape. The seats on cycling bikes are notoriously uncomfortable, and I knew it would be bad – I didn’t anticipate it being so painful that I would be shaking in discomfort. After those 20 min, I took a bit of time, gathered myself, and went online to look into options. I was not going to let that be my excuse for failure.

I bought a couple options for myself, one was a gel cover for the existing seat, and another was a completely new seat. The gel cover was helpful for my wife, but the replacement seat was what I needed.

Ride 2. Man, was this another experience! The second seat arrived on Sunday and I gave it a go. This was a whole new level that has made me so much happier and excited to keep this journey going! I was able to knock out a 20 minute ride and had no ill-effects due to a seat. I got the blood moving, sweat dripping, and it felt great.

The bike is awesome. I know I am only two rides in, but I am feeling great about this, and this is something I cant wait to get more into.

The construction is solid, everything feels sturdy, and that means something coming from a large man like me. The bike was easy to assemble in the course of about an hour. It was able to be moved into the basement before assembly with just my wife and myself.

We both are on the Peloton train for the app, and for both of us it works extremely well as we both use iOS devices, an iPhone and Apple Watch, which allows the Heart Rate to be tracked and integrate with the Peloton application. When it comes to the adjustments to resistance, it is a simple rotation on the knob, and it all seems to line up to what is being mentioned in the videos.

In terms of overall adjustment of the bike, everything from handlebar height, distance, seat height and distance are adjustable. I am nearly 6’5″ and near the end of the weight limit and the bike fits me fine, and it feels solid under me. My wife on the other hand is around 5’3″ and is able to compress everything down to fit her well.

The only big negative that both of us have on the bike is the indicator for the RPM is a tiny bar at the top of the LCD screen, we both feel it would be better if this was a digital readout by number versus an arbitrary bar. We both had an issue where the screen is not readable with the overhead lighting in our room, so we had to actually turn the overhead lighting off due to the glare, which is a minor inconvenience. The water bottle holders are only good for ~20 ounce Gatorade-sized bottles, which is a bit of an issue for us as we both use larger bottles for this kind of thing.

Overall, we are both very happy with the bike. After having that successful feeling I am looking forward to getting back on and continuing my journey. I will be sure to keep updating this like I have with my Traeger Review Series and hope to have a successful story to tell along the way.

If you have any questions that I may be able to answer, please reach out! I will do my best to be able to answer them!

See my follow up, here: One month later

Please note this product was purchased with my own funds, however, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This is no way changes my opinion of the product. If you are interested in the seat that I used please use the link below:
https://amzn.to/2WKovp8