Tunturi Platinum Recumbent Exercise Bike Review

The Tunturi Platinum Recumbent exercise bike has been designed with all the features you need to have an effective and enjoyable workout each time you train.

The large 7 inch display screen makes scrolling through and selecting menu options exceptionally clear and easy to understand, while the fully adjustable seat ensures this bike suits a wide range of heights and body types.

The following product article looks at all of these features in more detail, as well as the quality of assembly instructions, workout programs available and the Tunturi fitness test.

Design features

One of the most important design features to look for when deciding which new exercise bike to buy is how easily you can adjust the bike to fit your natural cycling position.

The Tunturi Platinum Recumbent bike achieves this by using a seat design that lets you lift up a lever and slide the seat along the main metal track. You can then lock this in place by releasing the same lever at one of the preset position options.

The extra thick padded seat and padded mesh back rest ensure you are in complete comfort while you workout, with storage sections built into each side to let you store your water, reading material or MP3 player.

The mesh design of the back rest also allows air to permeate through to keep you cooler during workouts.

The handles have been ergonomically designed at an angle that makes it easier for you to hold them for longer periods of time, such as for measuring your heart rate during the fitness test.

The low instep and low impact nature of the exercise enables you to mount the bike in comfort and makes this bike well suited to both cardio and rehabilitation workouts.

With the Tunturi Platinum Recumbent bike being powered using a built-in generator this means you aren’t limited to positioning the bike near a power socket.

Ease of assembly

While the Tunturi Platinum recumbent bike is actually one of the smallest exercise machines in the Platinum range, there are still quite a few parts that need to be put together once you get it out of the packaging.

The main housing for the large 14kg flywheel and base frame comes pre-assembled, leaving the seat, handlebar section and base supports to be attached.

The manual supplied with the bike breaks this remaining assembly into 3 steps which are well documented with exploded drawings, lists of required parts and written instructions.

Tunturi Platinum Recumbent Exercise Bike – Features Summary

Flywheel: 14 kg / 30 Lbs
Resistance Levels: 40
Power Supply: Self Generating
Brake: Induction Brake
Ergometer: Yes
7″ Full colour Monitor Readout: Time, Distance, Speed, RPM, LAP, Target Heart Rate, Energy Consumption, Heart Rate, Resistance Levels
Programmes: QuickStart, Manual, HRC, Hill Program, Cardio Program, Fatburn Program, Interval Program, Fitness Test, 5 KM Track, T-Scale
Seat Adjustment: Horizontal + Angle
Ergonomics: Mesh back Seat, Comfort Slide Handle

Display console design

Similar in design to the display on the Platinum upright bike, the Tunturi Platinum recumbent bike uses a simplified button layout and jogwheel to let you scroll through the various menu options.

The jogwheel has been developed to navigate through various menu options that appear on the full colour screen as well as adjusting user profile and workout settings.

By simply rotating the dial this makes it much quicker to setup your workout programs and prevents the need for a complicated button layout.

Workout programmes

Despite the low impact nature and simplicity of using a recumbent exercise bike, it is still possible to have a variety of workout programs to choose from with the higher quality models.

The Tunturi Platinum Recumbent bike provides you with a choice of 9 preset training profiles, each designed with a specific purpose.

Workout programs such as ‘Interval’ will have you cycling through periods of lower intensity and resistance, interspersed with short periods of much higher intensity.

This would be an excellent program to use if you were looking to improve your endurance, while the ‘Cardio’ program focuses much more on increasing your Cardiovascular functions and lung capacity.

After you select a workout program, in most cases you can set a target time or distance using the jogwheel. The only exception is with the ‘5 K’ workout program which lets you cycle at your own pace and resistance level until you reach a distance of 5km.

The Tunturi fitness test

The fitness test that comes with the Tunturi Platinum Recumbent bike is based around the YMCA protocol. This is a simple test which will start you at a low level of intensity and gradually increase until you reach 85% of your maximum heart rate.

The test will usually take between 6 and 15 minutes, after which it will display your training results, including an overall fitness grade. This is measured against your age to provide you with your fitness level.

It can often be difficult to measure progress over a period of time when it comes to cardio workouts.

Having a built in fitness test provides you with a clear and measurable grade relating to your maximum oxygen uptake capacity and heart rate which can be used in setting goals and measuring how much you have improved.

Being based around your heart rate, this test does require you to either hold the heart rate hand sensors or wear a heart rate chest belt.

Tunturi Platinum Recumbent

The Tunturi Platinum Recumbent Exercise Bike successfully meets many of the requirements of anyone looking to buy a new exercise bike of this type.

One of the usual reasons for choosing a recumbent bike over an upright model is due to the lower impact form of exercise.

The low instep helps make it as easy as possible to get into the seat, while the seat itself is well padded and fully adjustable to ensure your cycling motion is kept as natural as possible.

The workout programs available also help to add variety to your training and with the wide range of possible resistance levels, makes this ideal for all levels of fitness and training experience.

Product weight: 78kg
Product dimensions: 144cm (L) x 74cm (W) x 128cm (H)
User weight limit: 150kg