Over recent years, there’s been a push away from the stationary bike when it comes to losing body fat and getting fitter. There’s been a school of thought that stationary bikes lack the resistance to offer a top notch workout, but anybody who has said that, clearly have not tried the Airdyne AD2 dual action air cycle. We recently looked at the best air cycles for all budgets here but let’s dive a little deeper with a quick Burntech.tv review
Some cardio equipment has fallen out of favour in recent times, with ‘old school’ strongman cardio and weights circuits replacing trudging away on treadmills and elliptical. HiiT has gained in popularity alongside these new trends, and this is precisely where the air bike comes into its own.
It’s a little known fact that the very original Tabata style interval sessions were carried out on Airdyne bikes. The brutal intensity offered by the dual action cycling and rowing remains one of the toughest workouts that you can do, and it’s reassuring that years of hard research have been put to good use by the manufacturer. With a slew of new patents, the company now have revised air flows which further enhance the training affect.
The Tabata protocol calls for four minutes worth of intervals, with 20 seconds of work interspersed with 10 seconds of rest. It’s a brutal but also incredibly affective way to train, with even the most conditioned athletes seeing some incredible gains in conditioning from the protocol. However, the fact that the Airdyne AD2 is set up for this type or workout means that it’s equally poorly suited for longer duration cardio. This is not an exercise cycle that you’re going to sit on and cruise for 45 minutes. You’ve got to be a fan of intensity to get the full benefits from this bike.
Setting up you Airdyne
You may have landed on this page seeking more information around the Airdyne setup. Many of the company’s higher specification models require professional assembly, which generally costs in the region of £200. Fortunately, the AD2 is suitable for home assembly. We were able to put our bike together in 27 minutes, and found the general assembly to be very straightforward.
Using the AD2
Once you’re all setup, the AD2 is very simple to use. It’s essentially a plug and play launch mechanism – turn the power socket on and start peddling to initiate the ride. From there, you control the bike via the workout display.
This model does not include a vast array of workout programmes, but it does offer a simple and intuitive interface that lets you get straight into your workout. The display shows your revs per minute, calorie burn, speed, distance covered and the time taken. The characters are large form and clearly viewing across a range of different lights.
The riding mechanism is quiet compared to many similarly priced air cycles from rival manufacturers. The air resistance nature has an additional selling point – it acts as a cooling mechanism. With the tough resistance and the gruelling nature of air bike training, that’s definitely no bad thing.
Unlike other exercise bikes, you cannot turn up the difficulty by pressing a button or turning a dial. The Airdyne resistance is all offered by air, so the only way that you get more resistance is by working harder and peddling faster. You are able to rotate using just your arms or just your legs for variation in training, but note that there are no handrails nor is there anywhere to put your hands. You are able to rest your legs, as the AD2 features a foot rest on the anchor point of each arm handle.
The AD2 is constructed with a mix of plastic and metal. I must say that this lacks the durability of other Airdyne models, such as the AD6, which are constructed entirely out of metal. We’ll have to see how this bike takes the test of time but I don’t imagine that this is going to be a major drama. The rest of the build feels robust and well-constructed.
The bike is not without its other faults. There’s no water bottle holder, which is strange and we felt that the seat left a bit to be desired. It’s certainly not as ‘comfy’ as a spinning bike skinny seat, and that does take some time to get properly used to. However, these negatives are offset against some other home use benefits. The bike has a very small footprint, is light and isn’t too noisy – three points which lend it to home based use.
So in conclusion, we feel that this the outstanding pick in the mid-tier bracket of air cycles.
