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UREVO Kardio T1 Exercise Bike Review Score
generalize
The UREVO Kardio T1 is a great option for those looking for an affordable indoor bike with some smart features to take the boredom out of indoor cycling.
advantage
- Good specs for the money
- Compatibility of Zwift and Virtual Coach
- well built/stable
shortcoming
- Seats could be made higher
- limited resistance
- Zwift power measurement is very inaccurate
Demand for home gym equipment has skyrocketed during lockdown, and finding a quality indoor spinning bike is like gold dust. Now that the dust has settled, many are still reluctant to go back to the gym as the coronavirus is still causing global problems.
Home gym equipment is a great way to keep fit, but it’s often boring to use. Staring at the garage wall makes things more difficult when I’m on the treadmill.
i’ve been riding a bike Tacx Flux S Now working at Zwift for a few years, I’ve been working hard to keep me awake and healthy during lockdown.I recently upgraded to amazing Tacx Neo Bike Smart Bike. However, for nearly £2000, it has niche appeal and is only available to the most dedicated (or wealthy) cyclists.
UREVO is one of many brands selling affordable home gym equipment on Amazon, and they have two spin bikes worth considering, the Kardio E1 and T1.
UREVO Spinning Bike Models and Specifications
The E1 is priced at just £259.99 and features a 10KG flywheel with mechanical wool resistance.
The UREVO Kardio T1 I’ve already reviewed is more interesting. It’s priced at £299.99, but Amazon currently has a £15 off coupon.
It has a 15KG magnetic flywheel and it also has bluetooth which allows you to pair with the app
set up
It was super easy to build this bike and easier to handle than my Tacx Neo.I think I did it all in about 20 minutes
Each foot has 2 bolts to screw in, followed by 4 bolts for the handlebar and 4 screws for the digital display.
The pedals are easy to access. I’ve had some bad luck with pedals in the past, breaking threads. I find it’s best to do it by hand, so you know it’s screwed in without resistance, and then tighten with a wrench.
Pair with Zwift
In default mode, the bike displays all information on the digital display. However, if you hold down the reset button, it will go into Bluetooth pairing mode. In this mode, Zwift will use the device name URSB002 to detect power, control and cadence.
Comfort/Fit
I’m 6’1″ or 185cm and come from a road cycling background and the overall fit was not ideal for me. The bike felt small, and my knees flexed noticeably at full extension.
Moving the seat back as far as possible and sitting straighter does provide a slightly more comfortable riding position for low-impact rides. Then you can obviously get up from your seat for any HIIT burst.
Ride and Power Accuracy in Zwift
As with most spinning bikes, resistance is manually controlled via a dial. It has magnetic resistance to more naturally feel the mechanical resistance found on many other bikes.
Unfortunately, magnets don’t offer much resistance or range or resistance. I found that to get any reasonable resistance I had to turn the dial all the way up until the magnet was very close to the wheel, but not close enough for the felt plug to touch it.
Subjectively, this could double the workload. It basically went from having no resistance to some slight resistance, with little perceptible difference between the two.
While that doesn’t sound too positive, I doubt anyone would buy it thinking it’s aimed at users with high fitness levels. This should be more than enough for most people who want to do low-intensity cardio or have a relatively low fitness level.
I thought it would be possible to fit my power pedals on these to compare power accuracy, but it doesn’t seem worth it. It’s probably not surprising that this bike has poor power accuracy.
Power readings have a tendency to bounce back a lot. I think it’s calculated in cadence; adding resistance while maintaining rhythm does little to increase power. Conversely, at the lowest setting, I can easily exceed 300W if my legs are fast enough. I don’t think my legs can move fast enough to hit 400W or more.
This may or may not be a problem for you. I thought someone buying a £300 spinning bike wouldn’t care as much about accuracy as someone like me who uses £400 Favero Assioma UNO power meter pedals (which are cheap).
You’re unlikely to win any Zwift races because of this, but being able to ride in a virtual world does help relieve boredom. Even if it’s not very accurate. The caveat here is that Zwift will cost you £13 per centimeter after the free trial, which can be quite expensive if you only paid £300 for a spinning bike.
There are cheaper alternatives to Zwift and I hope they will work. RGT Cycling has a free option and the premium option is only £7 pcm
Price and Alternatives
Normally £300, the UREVO Kardio T1 is currently £15 off on Amazon.
The Kardio E1 has lower specs and no bluetooth, but is only £25-40 cheaper, so I think the T1 is a better option.
There are dozens of spinning bikes on Amazon at different prices. The vast majority lack smart features.
The Nero Sports bike is cheaper at £220 and is Zwift compatible but has a lighter flywheel at 12kg.
The RENPHO AI Smart Exercise Bike is much more expensive at £699 (£599 off coupon), but it appears to be a proper smart bike with a magnetic brushless servo motor that provides self- and self-adjusting resistance. I think it works fine with Zwift by automatically adjusting the resistors.
The OVICX exercise bike is more expensive at £370 and it has a similar flywheel but they also have their own app on top of the Zwift functionality.
The JLL Velox 2 is much more expensive at £530 and only has a 9kg cassette, but it has a digital gearing system to more accurately replicate the ride.
The Bluefin Fitness TOUR SP Bike is £360 more expensive again, but they claim to have a huge 25kg flywheel.
comprehensive
The UREVO Kardio T1 is a great option for those looking for an affordable indoor bike with some smart features to take the boredom out of indoor cycling.
As a tall guy and an avid cyclist, I didn’t find the fit ideal for me. Not enough range of motion for my liking. This might not be a big deal for low-intensity rides, but for harder rides, it’s not very effective and doesn’t fit your knees.
Looking at other markets, there doesn’t seem to be many, if any, competing products with comparable price specs. So, the UREVO Kardio T1 seems worth the money.
Last updated on Jan 10, 2022 / Affiliate Links / Image from Amazon Product Advertising API
