Concept2 Forum

Newbie here. 57 years young. 5-11, 200lb. No fitness freak but do some sort of exercise everyday - weight train, run at an 11min/mile pace with some HIIT sprints once or twice per week. Good health overall and eat healthy for the most part. Older I get more metabolism slows and would like to get down to my fighting weight of 185lbs. Am considering adding a more joint-friendly (vs pounding the pavement) indoor bike. More I look at the BikeErg vs the Echo, more torn I am. Only have budget and space for one. I'm sure the Echo would provide a near death workout which would definitely be a challenge but seems to me that is solely what it is for. Seems to me the BikeErg could provide steady state as well as HIIT though without the higher calorie burn of the Echo. In short, Echo seems to be beyond belief at one thing (HIIT) and the BikeErg seems pretty good at two things (steady state and HIIT) so more bang for the buck? So...you can only get one. Appreciate any insight folks can offer. TIA.

I had a good look around at different bikes when I was in the market for it, I looked at the Peloton, Wattbike, Assault Airbike as well as some cheaper spinning type bikes but in the end I went with the C2 BikeErg as I wanted to do something "different" with the bike, I started out on it just doing the standard free rides but then got in to Zwift and let me tell you it's been the best fitness investment I've made in a number of years.

I got my rowing machine and bikeerg at the same time, I've just done over 1m metres on the bikeerg yet only completed about 1000 metres on the rower, the bike is just that good.

Have a test ride somewhere if you can, you won't be disappointed.

Oh and edited to add, I am a 49yo 120kg male and I am seeing week on week improvements on my health because of it.

I was faced with the same choice: Echo or BikeErg last month. I am similar to the OP i.e. in my 50s, 5,11”, try to exercise each day e.g. rowing on my Model C, jumping rope, sledgehammer slams, lifting dumbbells etc. Only I am a 70kg middleweight. I was just about to push the button on the Echo in the cart and then I swiveled 180 and bought a BikeErg.

Everything I read suggested that the Echo was the absolute best machine in existence to ‘build your engine’. The reviews were incredible and it was only about two-thirds the price of a shipped BikeErg. But I thought I really want something that I can cruise for 20-40min and then gradually build up my power output over the months. And very few users seemed to use the Echo or the Assault Bike for anything other than HIIT. It seemed like a great machine but a specialized one.

Anyway, I took a leap of faith and bought the BikeErg. It has totally surpassed my expectations. First off, I prefer the motion to my road bike on an inexpensive trainer I inherited or the few spin bikes I have tried. The pedaling motion is smooth but you are always fighting the inertia of the flywheel- a good thing. I never feel like I am free riding on the momentum of the typical spin bike’s 45lb flywheel. Secondly, I found unlike rowing, I recovered quickly from a BikeErg workout. It might burn 10-15% fewer calories per a minute of time than rowing but I was likely to go twice as long or cycle twice as frequently! And the ratio seems to hold, left to my own devices I tend to bike at least twice for every row. I found the stock saddle uncomfortable but not unbearable. I switched it out for my leather Brooks B17, bought the 5 buck phone holder so I can stream Netflix and never looked back.

I have only done HIIT once on my BikeErg - the Tabata protocol on the PM5. However it convinced me that while it may not be an Echo, the BikeErg was more than capable of outrunning my 4 cylinder engine.

Garage Gym Reviews has given top scores to both Echo and the BikeErg. And I tend to agree with Coop on that website: the BikeErg is the better, more versatile option for most people.

I have both a BikeErg and Rogue Echo Bike and can attest that they are both incredible machines! For me the BikeErg is the clear winner, but not for the reason I would have expected before I had them both.

The Echo bike is incredibly solid, you can go as hard as you want and it doesn't budge or flex at all. While the BikeErg is solid, it's just not nearly as solid as the Echo bike - the Echo bike is an absolute tank. On the other hand, my BikeErg does flex a bit, which is probably to be expected as it's much lighter and built differently. The Echo bike is also smooth as can be with the belt drive. I was doing steady state on it in addition to the Tabata preset workouts on the Echo bike and it's certainly smooth enough to handle both modalities. Despite the Echo being smooth enough for steady state, the BikeErg is definitely even smoother and feels more like a bike so do prefer it for longer rides. The Echo bike does certainly provide a high quality HIIT workout platform, but I also have to state having done HIIT on both machines that the BikeErg will absolutely wipe you out in short order when you go hard on it. Having done distances from 200m all the way to 100k on the BikeErg I can truly say it is amazing across the full spectrum of intensities. All that said my main point is that you really you are not giving up potential steady state if you go with the Echo, and you aren't giving up HIIT if you go with the BikeErg, and both machines are exceptional biking platforms.

The big difference I found between the machines was in the computers. The Echo bike 'has' a computer, but it doesn't connect to anything, which was just unbelievable to me in 2019. You can apparently buy a special heart-rate monitor that connects to it, but that would just allow you to see your heart rate on the Echo monitor, which is wiped out when it powers down, along with your distance and power data. The PM5 on the BikeErg on the other hand has Ant+ and Bluetooth connections, so I can directly connect to my Garmin heartrate monitor as well as my Garmin 945 watch, and additionally at the same time I can connect to ErgData, and Zwift. The difference in smart capabilities couldn't be more stark, the Echo Bike is a dumb machine, the Echo bike provides access to all of the training tools, apps, and logs you could ever ask for. This ended up being the most important thing for me so I am going to probably end up selling my Echo bike. Having the rower, the SkiErg, and the BikeErg, being part of the C2 ecosystem with the online log actually adds a lot to my motivation as I try to hit all of the ranked distances on all of the machines. The online log has tables and charts that are just a lot of fun from a data nerd perspective, I put in a lot more kilometers on all of the machines than otherwise would because of the rankings and challenges (I was happy to find for example that the Holiday challenge continues beyond 200 kilometers so need to keep going to get that charitable contribution up!)

Those are my impressions based on my experience with both machines, BikeErg wins hands down for me, but both are great!

Thanks jaradgiese! It is not so often that you get feedback from users that have both. I would have both machines if my wife wasn’t wary of me turning the basement into a gym.

I found the BikeErg the modality that best lends itself to longer pieces for me (20k plus). The Erg seems to work best for me for 5k. I thought the Echo might be good for Tabatas or alternating with sets of deadlifts or barbell work to up the workout density. But I am happy to hear that it is more versatile than that. I realize the I don’t avail myself of the PM5 connectivity so should probably rectify that.