Renpho AI Smart Exercise Bike Review: Gym Quality Exercise At Home

Who Is The Renpho AI Smart Exercise Bike For?

• The Renpho AI smart exercise bike is a fairly compact piece of equipment
• The Renpho AI Gym app that pairs with the bike offers a number of workout options, including classes and virtual rides
• The smart exercise bike really gets my heart pumping and sweat flowing

Exercise is something that most of us need more of in our lives, and that has been made all the more challenging the past few years. However, bringing the gym experience home has been made much easier with the Renpho AI Smart Exercise Bike. This bike offers the same pedaling work out as the machines at the gym without the hassle of actually having to go to the gym.

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Not Too Big

While it's obvious to say that the Renpho AI Smart Exercise Bike is big, it honestly is smaller than I was expecting. Overall, the bike is about 40 inches long by 20 inches wide and about 50 inches tall. That means the Renpho bike is capable of fitting riders anywhere between 4'11'' and 6'5''. The Renpho bike is just under 90 pounds, which is pretty darn heavy, but two wheels on the front make moving the bike around a little bit easier.

The Renpho AI smart bike isn't all that flashy to look at, but that's not such a bad thing. The whole bike is a two-tone gray with some black accents. There is a generic bike seat on the AI smart bike that has a bit of padding on it, but is definitely far from soft. The handlebars are covered in that rubber coating one would expect from a piece of exercise equipment.

Right in the center of the Renpho AI smart bike is a circular knob and a tray to put a smart device. The circular knob lights up once the bike is powered on, and can be rotated to "change gears" on the bike. Really this just adds or takes away resistance while riding. The tray has a rubber back, which provides a good grip on devices like smartphones or tablets that are needed to run an app to make the most out of every workout. Conveniently, there is also a USB port on the back side of the handlebars to charge a device if needed.

It's easy to make adjustments to the Renpho AI smart bike, like changing the height of the seat or handlebars. The knobs to loosen and tighten these areas of the bike have large handles, making them easy to grip. The one that is a little more tough is adjusting the seat distance from the handlebars, as that uses a round knob instead.

The one thing that is a little annoying about the Renpho AI smart bike's build is that the power switch is tucked all the way on the rear end of the bike. It's in a hard to reach position, and a few people who have used this bike have missed it when trying to start riding. It seems like it would have made more sense to put the power switch towards the handlebars, making it much easier to reach.

Taking The App For A Spin

Once the Renpho AI smart bike has been assembled, it needs to be paired with the Renpho AI Gym app. The Renpho AI smart bike uses Bluetooth to connect with devices and, once paired with the app, can provide all sorts of information on each exercise.

After launching the Renpho AI Gym app and creating an account, I was put into a testing program to determine my initial riding ability. After the first test, I was given free reign of the app to start exploring all the different features. There are three main areas for structured exercise: power courses, video courses and challenges.

Power courses are the most basic of the three modes. These courses are designed with specific goals in mind like building endurance or focusing on fat burn. Each course is rated on a difficulty scale and can range from a quick five-minute ride to a much more intense HIIT workout or 60-minute marathon.

The video courses are perfect for those who prefer the cycling class experience with a live instructor. These videos have three different hosts working out alongside the user, providing encouragement and enthusiasm to help push through the sweat. These courses are also divided by difficulty level, and some focus on specific areas like speed, while others are more general workout courses.

The final option with the Renpho AI smart bike are the challenge courses, which are my personal favorite of the three. These provide a video of a real world location, making it seem like users are pedaling through the streets of Paris or along the coastline in California. After all, if I'm going to be working out, I might as well make it feel like I'm on a fun vacation doing so.

What's cool about these modes is that across all three of them, the Renpho AI smart bike will make adjustments on its own depending on the selected exercise. For example, if a power course is focusing on interval training, a rider can expect that course to feature cycles of intense resistance. Similarly, if a user starts a challenge course where they are riding through the Alps, the bike will simulate going up and down hills by increasing and decreasing the resistance on the pedals. The only downside with the challenge courses is that it does not simulate being able to coast down hills. There are no breaks (or brakes) here.

Along with those structured workouts, the Renpho AI Gym app offers two other ways to exercise more flexibly. One mode allows users to set a goal for either distance, time or calories burned, with the workout ending once whatever goal was set has been reached. The other is a simple free ride mode, where users can start pedaling and stop whenever they want.

Fitness Tracking

Regardless of what mode was used to exercise with the Renpho AI smart bike, the AI Gym app records stats for users to track. This includes a chart tracking the number of calories burned over the past week, the total distance traveled while using the smart bike, the total number of minutes spent working out and more. The app also breaks down information by day, week and month, and users can even go back to specific days to see the exact workouts they did on those days.

Users who have an Apple Watch or ANT+ heart rate monitor can pair those devices with the AI Gym app as well to provide more information on fitness tracking. I don't have access to either of those options, so I can't personally speak to how well this process works.

Other Apps

The Renpho AI smart bike isn't just limited to the AI Gym app. The bike is compatible with a wide number of other apps, including Peloton on iOS, XERT, Zwift, Kinomap and more. This helps mix things up so that users aren't doing the same workouts over and over again, leading to burnout and boredom.

Big Price Tag

The Renpho AI smart bike has a fairly hefty price tag. It is currently available on Amazon for $500, though Amazon is offering a $75 coupon to help lower this price. While it makes sense that a large piece of exercise equipment is on the more expensive side of things, there are dozens of other exercise bikes on Amazon for much less. That said, I don't know how those other options can compare to the Renpho bike's list of features.

The one easy way the Renpho AI smart bike does help with keeping costs down is that the AI Gym app does not require any subscription or additional purchases at all. This is nice compared to something like the Peloton app, which does require a monthly subscription. That said, I'm sure the available workouts and videos are much more extensive on the Peloton app than on the AI Gym app.

Final Thoughts

The Renpho AI Smart Exercise Bike does an amazing job at bringing the gym experience home. Thanks to the AI Gym app, users can work out at their own pace, get encouragement from a class instructor, or feel like they're pedaling along a path on the other side of the world. It feels like it should go without saying, but the Renpho AI smart bike also really gets my heart pumping, providing a great workout.

Like with any other decent piece of exercise equipment, the Renpho AI smart bike is neither small nor inexpensive. That said, I have been impressed with how little space the bike takes up in my apartment. The lack of a subscription for the AI Gym companion app, and not having to sign any contracts with a local gym, do help make the high price a little more bearable.