Flexispot Cycle Desk Bike V9 Pro REVIEW

*Flexispot Cycle Desk Bike V9 Pro gifted for review

Can you exercise and work at the same time? I was keen to find out when I recently tested the Cycle Desk Bike V9 Pro from Flexispot – a desk and fitness bike in one.

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My working from home arrangements

It’s fair to say that my working arrangements have changed fairly significantly since the pandemic. Previously working in an office 3 days a week, I used to get a fair amount of exercise in the form of my daily commute – a 15 minutes walk each way at the start and end of the day, as well as a stroll around my local shopping centre during my lunch break.

I now work from home (in a garden office) 4 days a week and the commute? Well, unless you can count the 15 steps to and from the end of my garden, it’s pretty much non-existent. Whilst there have been a HUGE number of positives about working from home, the lack of exercise is certainly not one of them. Working 30 hours a week, running a business and parenting two young children means my opportunities for exercise are somewhat limited and trying to find a child-free portion of my day to look after my mind and body is much harder than it sounds.

What is the Cycle Desk Bike V9 Pro Flexispot?

A potential solution to the sedentary home office lifestyle, the Cycle Desk Bike V9 Pro Flexispot is an exercise bike and a desk in one. A fully functional exercise bike with an integrated desktop means that you can quite literally, exercise whilst you work.

Coming in a choice of black and white to suit most interior and home office environments, the Flexispot comes with a full LCD digital display allowing you to track distance cycled, calories burned and time, as well as a fully adjustable tabletop big enough to hold both your laptop and a note pad.

Easily portable, the Flexispot comes with lockable caster wheels, making it ideal for storing in the corner of a room when not in use, then pulled out as required.

What are the key features of the Flexispot Cycle Desk Bike V9 Pro?

A large comfortable seat with a pneumatic adjustment lever to adjust for user height
Integrated digital display – showing workout time, speed, distance and calories burned
8 resistance levels to easily alternate between gentle and more strenuous exercise.
Lockable caster wheels for portability.
Spacious adjustable desktop with forward, backwards, up and down adjustments for sitting and standing positions.
Comfortable PU cushion for wrist support.
Easy assembly
Whisper quiet peddle motion
Foldable space saving feet which can be stashed away for compact storage when not in use.

First impressions of the Flexispot Cycle Desk Bike V9 Pro

The Flexispot Cycle Desk Bike V9 Pro comes in two colours – black and white and in hindsight, the white may have blended in a little better with my office surroundings. That said, the black is less likely to show marks – and with two young children in the house who were VERY keen to have a go, this was probably a blessing!

Normally when a large box of furniture arrives I have a slight panic and have to drag Mike in to help, so I was very pleased that the Flexispot cycle desk came mostly pre-assembled and required virtually no tools or equipment to put together.

Whilst relatively ‘no frills’ to look at, its minimalist design and compact sizing mean that it will generally fit in even the smallest of office spaces.

I was impressed with the size of the desktop and the addition of the ergonomic risk support and the seat looked large and comfortable.

How to assemble to Flexispot Cycle Desk Bike V9 Pro

The Flexispot cycle desk comes in two boxes – the desktop in one, and the preassembled cycle in the other. The bike itself requires virtually no assembly, simply pulling out the caster legs and locking them into place, and then fixing the table into place using a small Allen key. Other than inserting two batteries for the digital display, there was no other assembly or pre set up required. This was a big plus point for me.

The one thing I will point out is that there is a LOT of packaging, including large squares of polystyrene that have since been worn by the kids as Minecraft helmets. This can take quite a while to pack away, and I found it easier to cut open the cycle box so that I didn’t have to lift it out. The bike itself isn’t particularly heavy but would be quite bulky to unpack on your own.

My experience of the Flexispot Cycle Desk Bike V9 Pro

I have had the Flexispot for a few weeks now and it’s a great addition to our home office.

Whilst I do have a large desk and traditional office chair, I have been using the Flexispot for a few 30-minute sessions during the day, jumping on to cycle whilst I send emails, write blog posts or update documents on my laptop. The desktop space is really good. I use a laptop riser, and there was plenty of room for this as well as a notepad and pen. I am not sure whether there would be quite enough space for a separate mouse, however, I don’t use one so this wasn’t an issue for me. The cushioned edge for your arms to rest on was a real positive, and I found the desk height really easy to adjust using the handle underneath. The height can be adjusted quite significantly, and you can also stand on the other side and use the desk as a standing desk if this appeals to you.

The resistance of the cycle is very straightforward to adjust between modes 1-8, with the lowest setting being a very gentle and easy cycle and the 8 being quite challenging (for me anyway). The digital display allows you to track how long you’ve been cycling for, the distance you have covered and the calories burned and it’s actually quite surprising how far you can go without really trying. I love the fact that this is calories burned when I would otherwise have been completely sedentary, so it feels like a relatively easy way to incorporate some movement into your day. Due to the location of the display, I wasn’t able to see it whilst cycling without leaning backwards, but actually, I quite liked this. I am one of those people who sit and constantly watches the numbers change, so not being able to see it meant that I focused more on the task at hand, at times forgetting that I was exercising at all.

The seat is relatively comfortable, but after a long cycle, I did notice it started to feel a little sore. This is most likely due to the fact I am completely out of practice on a cycle and maybe that other more experienced bikers wouldn’t notice this. For that reason, however, I wouldn’t want to sit on this alone for an entire day, but more so move between this and a traditional desk as the mood takes you.

The noise of the cycle is very quiet, meaning it is entirely practical to cycle silently during meetings. Whilst changing the digital display between views makes quite a loud beep noise, the pedalling itself is really very very quiet, so I am not sure anyone would notice. You could easily cycle during a Teams call without drawing attention, however, depending on the speed you may look a little strange wobbling from side to side. I found the desktop stable, but during faster cycles, I did experience a bit of minor movement.

I have room in my office to leave the cycle in situ, but I think the space-saving option of being able to fold away the legs is great. The wheels were also a great addition, as it meant I could easily move the bike to a different location or into the centre of the room if that felt more comfortable.

Pros of the Flexispot Cycle Desk

Very easy way to incorporate some exercise into an otherwise sedentary office job.
Overall quite a comfortable seat for shorter bursts
Easy to adjust height and resistance settings.
Display to show calories burned and distance covered.
Decent desktop space
Super quiet peddling
Compact space-saving for smaller home office locations.

Cons of the Flexispot Cycle Desk

For faster riders, it’s almost impossible to cycle without rocking to and fro, so there is every chance that your colleagues will think you are having some kind of seizure mid Teams call.
You can’t see the digital display and cycle at the same time, which some may find frustrating.
Some of the ‘finish’ of the bike could be better e.g. stickers peeling off the base
This one is probably quite personal, but I don’t normally wear shoes in my home office and the pedals are a little uncomfortable without. I would therefore recommend wearing hard soled slippers if you want to cycle in full comfort!

Overall Thoughts

Overall my experience of the Flexispot Cycle Desk Bike V9 Pro is really positive. I am definitely going to make a concise effort to sit on the bike for two 30 minute sessions each day, and so far I can certainly feel that I have been using it – increasing my heart rate and working my muscles as well as my brain! The longer I work from home the more important it is for me to find that balance and being able to work and exercise simultaneously is a big plus point.

The Flexispot isn’t cheap at £399, however, if you are limited on space and want something that is compact and practical whilst offering multipurpose usage, then this desk is a great option. It also helps you squeeze a workout into your day even when you are really limited on time.

From the 11th – 28th February Flexispot are running a ‘Say Goodbye to a Sedentary Life’ promotion where you can use the code JAV9 for a £40 saving on the RRP.

You can learn more about the Flexispot and its range of standing desks at Flexispot.co.uk