BallBike: Dumber Than the Sum of Its Parts
April 26th, 2011 by Paul Lucas
The BallBike might not be as absurd as the Hawaii Chair, but it’s close. Somebody thought, “Stationary bikes are popular. Fitness balls are popular. Let’s combine the two!”
This attempt to be the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups of exercise equipment is a less felicitous combination than chocolate and peanut butter. (“You’ve got your fitness ball in my exercise bike!” “You’ve got your exercise bike on my fitness ball.”)
This commercial does get into Hawaii Chair territory when they tout “Active Sitting” and show a woman on the Ball Bike “recline and watch TV.”
Well at least they don’t present people using it while trying to work in an office…until they tell us that we can turn the Ball Bike into a “Ball Chair” and then show a woman sitting on a fitness ball while working at her computer…
…which is literally what Dwight Schrute did on an episode of The Office (though Dwight called his a “Fitness Orb”):
…and the line between infomercial and satire grows fainter still.
They should combine the Hawaii Chair with the Ballbike. The Ball would move in a circular motion like the Hawaii chair and you can pedal at the same time! It’s a million dollar idea!
Comment by Anne Packrat — May 1st, 2011 at 11:10 am
It “makes ordinary excercises obsolete” because if you would use this you’d be to straight-jacketed to excercise.
Comment by Al Frank — May 5th, 2011 at 4:22 pm
What the hell is the guy saying at :53? I’m hearing “wippa!”
Comment by Canaduck — May 29th, 2011 at 4:48 pm
I got one for my mother. I’m under no illusion that this is some miracle machine for weight loss, but that’s not what I got it for. My mother had some recent medical issues and it’s left her weak and unbalanced. The doctor said she needs to get some exercise to combat muscle atrophy and build up her heart activity. Because she is weak & unbalanced, using a treadmill is not an option. Neither is yoga, tai chi, or many other activities that have you primarily standing or bending. Also, because of other medical issues, sitting on the hard seat of a conventional bike machine is out of the question. So enter the ball bike. As long as she gets her legs moving and her heart pumping, it is doing the job for which I paid a lot of money for…and it is worth every penny. She even likes to just sit on it, as it relieves the pressure put on her by normal chairs.
To conclude, do I think this will help people lose weight? Do I think it will improve someone’s core muscles? I don’t know and I don’t really care. But do I think it’ll improve my mom’s health for the better? Your damn skippy I think it will!
Comment by Dan Manzano — July 24th, 2011 at 1:31 pm
I made a homemade version of this. Having had many upright and recumbent bikes over the years, this design is the best I have tried. The only thing I did not like was the price of the ballbike, about 700 dollars. It is a cheap construction of welded conduit-type tubing. I suspect the construction lags way behind the top makers like Precor. My homemade model uses a Precor bike and adds the ball. Not for everyone, but if you need to reliably lose weight, without hard intense workouts, like me at age 65, then this is something you might want to try, even with the high price. good luck
Comment by bob luhrs — July 26th, 2011 at 12:07 am
Have you seen their new bike? I love the concept but their new commercial bike looks stronger and pretty hard-core! http://www.ballbike.com
Comment by Sally Freed — February 1st, 2012 at 1:58 pm
My friend bought one of these and had some issues with the bars but the company fixed it and he has lost over 25lbs. I think he rides it everyday. He loves it and I’m thinking of buying one myself! I have a steel plate in my leg and this may be good for me.
Comment by Susan McGill — February 3rd, 2012 at 8:26 am