The Renpho A.I. Smart Bike is geared towards people who just want to work out in peace and quiet, maybe while watching a Netflix show, and definitely without peer pressure. It offers great value for casual users and those who want to avoid monthly gym or app subscriptions.
- Brand: Renpho
- Size: 49 x 20 x 40 Inch
- Display Included: No
- Subscription Required: No
- Connectivity: Bluetooth
- Supported Apps: AI Gym App, Peloton (iOS only), Kinomap, Zwift, FulGaz, Rouvy, XERT, The Sufferest via BLE
- Resistance Type: Smart Motor Damping, automatic and manual
- Gears: 80
- Metrics: Real-time RPM, Power, Cadence, Resistance, Calories
- No subscription required
- AI Gym app features 70+ courses and workout options
- Daily and weekly tracking
- Easy to set up and get started with
- Intuitive for beginners
- AI Gym app supports Apple Watch and ANT+ heart rate monitors
- Heavy and hard to move
- Not incredibly interactive or smart
The Renpho A.I. Smart Bike is a stationary exercise bike, not unlike the Peloton. You can use it as a standalone "dumb" exercise bike, but it comes into its own when paired with a mobile device and the AI Gym app. The app features smart workouts and tracking that adapt to your fitness level and goals.
The Renpho A.I. Smart Bike itself is reasonably priced and the AI Gym app is completely free. If you want to join more competitive environments, you can pair the bike with subscription-based apps like Zwift or even Peloton itself (iOS only).
Is this a worthwhile investment for you? We'll help you find out.
Why Can You Trust This Review
Though you wouldn't suspect it at first glance, this author isn't a stranger to working out. I've been through thorough physical education, worked out at a few gyms (hated all of them), tried a bunch of individual and team sports, including ballet, skiing, soccer, badminton, and tennis. What stuck with me was walking, hiking, and riding a bike, mostly because these activities are flexible and happen outdoors.
While I prefer the outdoors, hiking or biking in the rain is no fun. In the Pacific Northwest, it rains nearly 70% of the time. That's where indoor exercise gear comes in. Can a stationary exercise bike fill the gap?
I've tested the Renpho A.I. Smart Bike for nearly a month. Although the test phase fell into a good weather period, I found myself using the bike regularly. Every time I used it, I enjoyed it a little more. Eventually, I even started looking forward to hopping on the exercise bike for half an hour.
What's in The Box
Unlike the Peloton, the Renpho A.I. Smart Bike doesn't include many bells and whistles. It neither comes with a setup service nor do you need any accessories to get the most out of it. The 50-pound box was unceremoniously dropped off at our porch. For lack of a better alternative, we rolled the entire box up the stairs and into our bedroom. The bike was surprisingly easy to unpack, and here's what came with it:
- The Renpho A.I. Smart Bike main body
- Two stabilizers (the "feet")
- Two pedals
- A tablet holder, attached to the handlebars
- A set of wrenches and screws
- Power adapter
- A user manual, quick start guide, and quality certificate
You'll have to provide your own smartphone or tablet to access the app and smart features.
How to Set Up the Renpho A.I. Smart Bike
The quick start guide includes clear drawings and written instructions for each step of the installation process. After glancing through the instructions and laying out all the parts and tools, it took us just over seven minutes to set up our bike.
First, you add the front and back stabilizer, then you connect the power plug that connects the console with the main body, followed by mounting the handlebars, next you add the pedal straps to the pedals, install both pedals, and finally you adjust the seat to your height. You can also adjust the height of the handlebars to your preference and move the seat forward or back to achieve a healthy knee-over-foot position while pedaling. If the bike wobbles, you can adjust four feet, one on each end of the stabilizers.
Once you connect the bike to a power outlet and flip the power switch, you could start biking right away. The control button between the handlebars (the console) lets you control the bike's resistance, and that's really all you need to get a good exercise. But you'd be missing out on all its smart features. Besides, it's so much more fun with the app.
The AI Gym App
To use the Renpho A.I. smart bike to its full potential, you'll need to supply an Android or iOS device with the AI Gym app or any of the other supported apps installed. The Renpho AI Gym app is completely free and comes with many great features.
Take the Cycling Power Test to Determine Your FTP
Once you've set up an account and paired the app with your bike (the quick start guide will take you through this process step-by-step), we recommend that you run the Cycling Power Test; it's available from the app's home screen. This will determine your functional threshold power (FTP), or the maximum average power that you can produce over the course of 1-hour continuous pedaling. The AI Gym app uses your FTP to adjust the difficulty of its pre-installed workouts.
Try a Free Cycle Session
If you just want to get started working out on your own terms, use the Free Cycle option. It's a no-fuss mode with optional sound that lets you cycle however fast you want, at any resistance you choose (via the console), and it tracks your workout, meaning it counts towards your weekly goals. We used this to pedal while watching TV.
To exit a Free Cycle session, tap the screen and follow the on-screen instructions to end the session. Next, the app will give you an exercise report. If you had a specific goal, such as to bike for a minimum amount of time, you'll get some feedback and encouragement, too.
Set Your Weekly and Per-Session Goals
You can set goals manually, but a quick questionnaire-based assessment can help you set weekly goals for the total minutes and number of days you aim to exercise. When you find that you're consistently working out more or more often than your weekly goals, you can run a re-assessment or adjust your goals manually.
Rather than starting a Free Cycle ride, you can also enter a Time, Distance, or Calorie goal, which will start the same interface, except now you're working towards a specific goal.
Try Power and Video Courses or Take a Scenic Ride
If you're up for a more fancy experience, switch from the Home to the Discovery tab and choose a Power Course, Video Course, or Challenge. Within the Power Course category, you'll find a number of courses suitable for Beginners, Fat Burning, Endurance, or Strength. The Video Courses will give you a Peloton-like experience, though they're pre-recorded, meaning you won't get any personal encouragement from your instructor. Finally, the Challenge category holds a selection of currently 11 scenic rides from around the world. Whether you want to bike through a city like Paris, along the water, like Lake Garda in Italy, or up the mountains, for example in the French Alps, you'll find a matching route.
Review Your Weekly Reports
It's easy to lose track of how far you've come in your exercise routine. The app's home screen will remind you how far you've literally cycled on your smart bike. Furthermore, the weekly reports can help you see your progress over many weeks or months. You'll find a detailed record of your workout times, by how much you exceeded (or missed) your goals, what exactly your motivation was, and how many calories you burned.
What's It Like to Use the Renpho A.I. Smart Bike?
The Renpho A.I. Smart Bike is a no-fuss stationary exercise bike that's easy to set up, works well, and is reasonably quiet. The app is intuitive and provides a good selection of workouts. We didn't get much out of the courses, nor did we enjoy watching a scenic ride on a tiny smartphone screen. We could, however, see the appeal if the rides were available in Virtual Reality. Overall, we enjoyed using it more than we expected, and it really got us sweating.
How Easy Is It to Move It Around?
Not too hard, but not easy, either. We tried not to move it around too much because it's awkward. The wheels in the front help, but the back has to come up quite a bit until the weight rests on those wheels, so you can wheel the bike around. We're only 5'5" and had to use some arm grease to lift the back up high enough. Even then, the bike didn't glide, it was more of a push-and-shove to get it where we wanted it.
How Comfortable Is It?
You can adjust it to be as comfortable as you need it to be. It's important that you find the right height for the seat and handlebars, as per the quick start guide's instructions. You can also adjust the seat's horizontal position and tighten the pedal straps to secure your feet. You can replace the standard pedal mounts with toe cages or Look Deltas.
The seat is reasonably comfortable, though it might take a few rides to get used to it. If you can't stand it at all, it's theoretically possible to switch it out, but it doesn't just slide off and we haven't tried disassembling it.
Is your phone or tablet battery running low? You can charge it while working out, using the built-in USB charging port at the bottom front of the handlebar. A charging cable is not included though.
How Smart Is It?
The Renpho A.I. Smart Bike is not particularly smart. Many of its features rely on your manual input.
While the assessment adapts your in-app goals to your training goals, we felt way under-challenged by our first set of goals. Maybe we just expected to suffer a lot more. We manually increased our goals and repeated the Cycling Power Test. Turns out, our FTP had increased by 16 points in less than two weeks; maybe we were just lazy during the first test.
You have to manually change the resistance using the console during Free Cycle rides, and there's no one telling you to work harder or go faster. However, if you're aware of your FTP-based power zone, you'll know which zone (percentage of your FTP) to cycle at to warm up, burn fat, and work out harder. During Challenges (i.e. scenic rides), the resistance changes automatically, but you can adjust the gear to make it easier or harder. Both these modes are more-or-less self-directed.
If you need someone to light a fire under your ass, the closest you can get to a real spin class is to complete a Power or Video Course. You can choose from different lengths and intensities. The difference is that Power Courses use the introvert-friendly Free Cycle interface, while Video Courses feature pre-recorded drills with a human instructor.
The smart thing about this bike is that every goal, course, and challenge adapts to your FTP.
How Interactive Is It?
The Renpho A.I. Smart Bike and its AI Gym app feature little built-in functionality that encourages you to train more or harder. That's not necessarily a criticism, it's a question of personal preference.
Do you want or need an aggressive app that guilt-trips you with workout reminders? Or do you want an instructor yelling out your name in a (virtual) group of people to praise you for an achievement? If you do, you don't actually need to buy a Peloton. You can use one of many other community-based bike workout apps, including Peloton (iOS only) and Zwift. You will, however, have to pay a subscription fee for these apps.
We didn't test the optional heart rate monitor, but note that the AI Gym app is compatible with the Apple Watch and ANT+ heart rate monitors.
Is the Renpho A.I. Smart Bike Right for You?
The Renpho A.I. Smart Bike is an entry-level stationary exercise bike that's perfect for people who don't want to head to the gym, nor splurge on a Peloton, but do want to work out regularly. It's a low commitment because once you own it, you can use it for free; no subscription is required. If you do find you enjoy working out and feel you could benefit from virtually joining a group of people, you can subscribe to optional apps and get a Peloton-like experience.
Apart from the courses and tracking provided by the app, this bike isn't too different from "dumb" exercise bikes. Technically, you don't even need the app. Neither do you need any fancy accessories, like cleats (click-in bike shoes). This makes it accessible to any member of your household.
If you crave hardcore workouts, are happy to spend top dollar on state-of-the-art exercise equipment, and want to virtually compete with fellow enthusiasts, however, you will probably get more out of the Peloton. The Renpho is perfect for the rest of us.
