18 July,2021 05:28 AM IST | Mumbai | Jaison Lewis
The box this bike comes in weighs in at around 35 kilos
It should surprise no one by now that someone has gone ahead and put a Bluetooth controller in an exercise bike. The purpose of this is to connect to a tablet or phone. This is used to give the user an immersive experience that they would have to either go outdoors for or to an exercise studio to enjoy. Both of which are not great options right now.
The box this bike comes in is massive and it weighs in at around 35 kg. Just pushing this box up a flight of stairs is a big workout. So, whenever it is delivered, make sure you get it placed around the spot you plan to use it. In the box, you get a bunch of documentation, some tools, the main unit of the Flexbike, a seat, a handle, two pedals and a tablet/phone stand. The unit has a very useful video on YouTube that makes assembling very easy. Once assembled, there is another video that tells you how to accurately adjust your bike to fit your body. I followed all the instructions and the result was a bike that was perfect for my height. I wish all online bought cycles came with such detailed instructions. Once that was done, I activated the Bluetooth on the bike by pulling out the strip under the battery and it was ready to use.
The Flexbike is built like a tank. It is super sturdy and metal all over. The bike pedals are well designed and built for shoes; that said don't use this barefoot or you will injure yourself. The bike has everything within reach including the tablet holder, the resistance knob and the water bottle holder. The Flexbike also looks good I like the all-black design with orange accents.
After the bike is set up, the next step is to get the Flexnest app. You have to download it from the iOS store or Google Play Store, register and then enter your details. While the registration process was overall smooth, the app did not let me enter my weight and instead wanted me to get the Flexscale device. I understand Flexnest would like to push their products but not letting me enter my weight on a health device is a little ridiculous. I hope they fix this and not force-feed their patrons another device just to track their weight. Connecting with the bike was easy, you have to ride the bike and it shows up on the app. You need to then select it, which is not mentioned anywhere, plus there is no indication that it needs to be selected, which got me peddling for longer than I needed to. Once selected the bike is connected to your phone or tablet.
I would recommend using a tablet with the bike though, as it is more immersive when you do. On the Ride section of the app, there are various options. You can go for a quick ride, where there are no goals or anything; on this mode, the app tracks resistance, speed and distance travelled. It a great option if you want to ride with no agenda. The next option is Virtual Rides, this is the option that I enjoyed the most. It lets you ride through a huge selection of places complete with the sounds and people walking around. You have to download each video and the bike tracks the metrics for each ride. This is great for beginners as there are rides that start from 20 minutes.
While this mode was my favourite, I did have some issues with it. The first is the video moves at its own pace regardless of how hard you peddle. The second is the ride is just plain with no resistance or anything else coming into play to enhance the experience of riding outside. Even saying something like increase resistance by X per cent to experience the incline on the road would have sold this to me completely.
The third option on the app is the guided classes. These come with instructors that tell you what to do and when to do it. It is a full class experience with music included. There is something for everyone here, except for beginners. The shortest ride here is 20 minutes, but the ride is intense and there is no introductory video that can get you started as a beginner.
There are new classes added to the app, so there is always something interesting to try out. The instructors across the board are very good at motivating you to push your limits.
The Flexnest Flexbike is not cheap at Rs 29,999, but it is very effective as a workout tool. The bike is built well and the complimentary application does a lot of things well. However, as mentioned the guided workouts can be a little intimidating for beginners and there are a few places where the app can push the immersive experience a little further. For the price, I think it is a pretty good investment and a device with lots of potential.
To celebrate the launch of the Indian version of PUBG, known as Battlegrounds Mobile India, Krafton has announced a R1 crore e-sports competition. The battle will have a top prize of R50,00,000 for the winning squad. The series will be exclusively run in India and registrations will open soon. You will need to register your team and participate in matches to enter the first round of qualifiers. The first round of qualifiers will take place between August 2 and August 8, with the finale scheduled for October this year. Last month, Krafton also invested in an Indian mobile game streaming platform called Loco as part of its investment in the Indian gaming industry.
Valve announced that they will be selling their rumoured handheld PC called Steamdeck by December this year. Steamdeck will have a custom AMD processor, a 7-inch touchscreen, 16 GB DDR5 RAM, 64 to 512 GB storage options and an assortment of controls. The 40 Whr battery on the device will give the device up to eight hours of continuous playtime on a single charge. When not in use as the gaming device it can run Windows 10 off Steamdeck and use the dock accessory to instantly connect to any peripherals like screen, keyboard and mouse. The device will start at $399 for the base version, going all the way up to $649.
