A street bike is any bike used or designed for use on paved roads. A stationary bike, used indoors, stays in one place and typically has a much heavier and solid design that would be unusable if converted for road use. You must plug most modern stationary bikes into a power outlet to use anything but the most basic features.
Features
Stationary and street bikes have wheels, handlebars, saddles and frames, but stationary bikes don't have and don't need brakes, which are a crucial component of any street bike. The front wheel of street bikes rotates via the handlebars. Street bikes have spoked wheels, while stationary bikes have solid wheels. Stationary bikes have a variety of training programs featuring various pedaling difficulties to mimic the hill climbing, downhills and straightaways of street bike riding.
Uses
You can use different types of street bikes for transportation, trick riding, recreational road riding and mountain biking. When you purchase a trainer or rollers for your street bike, you can convert it to a stationary bike for indoor riding. In contrast, stationary bikes are useful only for a limited range of aerobic or cardiovascular workouts. Use a stationary bike in bad weather, as part of a gym workout or for physical therapy or other low-impact exercise.
Effects
Stationary bikes are meant to mimic the experience of riding outdoors but cannot compensate for the high variability of terrain or alertness required of street riding. The bumpiness you experience even on relatively smooth roads is absent from stationary bike riding. Budget Travel advises any prospective bicycle tour vacationers to prepare for their rides by road riding.
Benefits
You can ride a stationary bike indoors no matter the weather and stationary bikes can be programmed to give exactly the type of workout you're looking for. You don't have to take pains to find the perfect road for the workout you want to have that day.
Expert Insight
If you use a trainer indoors with your street bike, Cycling Performance Tips advises you to ensure that it's properly balanced and not tilted up or down, for safety and an optimal workout. You can purchase a cycle computer to log your distance, revolutions per minute and other data on a street bike, whether you use it indoors or outdoors.
Member Comments