Commissioned by OSIM, a health and well-being company based in Singapore, the iBike Xplorer exercise bike created by designer Piers Christian Storey is a new kind of health and wellness machine that allows people living in the city to experience a simulation that takes them through various chosen landscapes like beaches, garden and country roads etc, to help them de-stress while getting the necessary exercise. The iBike is a fresh new take on regular stationary exercise bike though it is aimed at promoting wellbeing through relaxation and not the spirit of competition and peer pressure that you’d find at a spin class at a gym.
The cycling simulator comes with a regular exercise bike mounted on elastomer pivots that allows user to engage core muscles the upper body while leaning into curves and steering the bike as they would in real life. As opposed to stationary exercise bikes, the iBike provides a richer and more realistic cycling experience. To simulate the stabilizing effect of a real bicycle wheel and its gyroscopic movement, the iBike comes fitted with a large central fly wheel.
Users can modify the bike to their needs by using a spring loaded pin to adjust the handlebar. The majority of the components on the bike are created using dye casting, injection molding or extrusion molding methods which make them easy to maintain. Thanks to an active resistance unit consisting of silicon fluid which adjusts itself to the course of the virtual landscape the user has chosen.
The cycling simulator is fronted by a 10″ touch screen computer monitor that is completely splash proof and boasts of a dynamic interface that changes with the virtual landscape chosen by the user. This feature allows the user to take in the vistas of places like the Alps, a country road, the beach or even a velodrome.
The integrated computer system of the iBike Xplorer also helps users advance their fitness level by allows them to save their progress and analyze it for a more comprehensive report of your progress. The system allows users to compete against a ‘ghost’ of their own prior performances of even other online users. What makes the iBike Xplorer even more practical for the average user is the fact that it can fold into a very small unit that makes it suitable for both home users as well as gyms and exercise rooms in offices and schools.
Source: Piers Storey