Best Air Bikes in South Africa for HIIT and CrossFit
The best air bikes in South Africa are the Professional Air Bike at R13 388 for value, the Force Fitness HIIT Air Bike at R17 411 for home gyms, and the Maverick Commercial Air Bike at R25 441 for boxes and studios. Prices run R13 388 to R25 441.
Air bikes have a reputation, and it is deserved. There is no other piece of cardio equipment that so reliably produces the feeling of having made a serious mistake about ninety seconds in. That is precisely why conditioning coaches keep buying them.
This guide covers every air bike in our range, what separates them, and — honestly — who should buy something else instead.
What is an air bike and why is it so hard?
Ab9 Air Bike Pro, R19 601.
A bike with a large fan instead of a flywheel, and moving arm handles. Resistance comes from air, so it rises sharply the faster you go. Push twice as hard and the bike pushes back considerably more than twice as hard.
That relationship is the whole story. On a normal bike you can settle into a gear and coast within it. On an air bike there is no ceiling and no coasting — whatever effort you produce, the machine matches it. You cannot go easy by accident and you cannot cheat a maximal effort.
The arm handles are the second half. Because you are driving with legs and arms together, a much larger share of your muscle mass is working, which is why heart rate climbs so much faster than on a spin bike.
How much does an air bike cost in South Africa?
R13 388 to R25 441 for a standalone machine. There is no cheap tier, because the fan, bearings and frame all have to survive maximal efforts from people who are not being gentle.
| Machine | Price | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Professional Air Bike | R13 388 | Entry point, home gyms |
| Vanguard Commercial Airbike | R13 596 | Value commercial |
| Rebel Cyclone Airbike | R14 058 | Home and light studio |
| Athletic 500BA | R16 065 | Studios |
| Force Fitness HIIT Air Bike | R17 411 | The all-round pick |
| Impulse Hi-Ultra HB005 | R19 272 | Commercial floors |
| Ab9 Air Bike Pro | R19 601 | Boxes and serious use |
| Maverick Commercial Air Bike | R25 441 | Heavy commercial traffic |
Prices are correct at the time of writing and include free delivery nationwide.
Which air bike is best for a home gym?
Rebel Cyclone Airbike, R14 058.
The Force Fitness HIIT Air Bike at R17 411. It is the point where frame rigidity stops being a limitation, and a rigid frame is what makes a maximal effort feel safe rather than alarming.
On a tighter budget, the Professional Air Bike at R13 388 and the Rebel Cyclone at R14 058 both do the job for home use, where the machine sees one or two users rather than forty.
Before buying, be honest with yourself about whether you enjoy this kind of training. Air bikes are the most abandoned piece of home cardio equipment we know of, and a Yesoul C1a spin bike at R5 966 that gets used four times a week is worth more than an air bike used twice.
Which is best for a CrossFit box or conditioning studio?
Maverick Commercial Air Bike, R25 441 — built for a class timetable.
The Maverick Commercial Air Bike at R25 441, or the Ab9 Air Bike Pro at R19 601 if you need several units. Commercial air bikes take a beating that home machines are not built for.
The difference shows up in bearings and chain or belt drive. In a box, an air bike is ridden at maximal effort by different people all day, often with poor technique and always without sympathy. Frame welds and bearing quality are what decide whether it is still square in three years.
The Impulse Hi-Ultra HB005 at R19 272 is the choice if your floor is standardised on Impulse Fitness, and the Force Fitness range is the deeper conditioning line.
What air bike workouts actually work?
Short intervals with full recovery, or calorie-target sprints. Common formats are 10 to 20 seconds maximal with 40 to 60 seconds easy, repeated eight to twelve times, or a set number of calories as fast as possible.
- Tabata style: 20 seconds hard, 10 easy, eight rounds. Four minutes, and genuinely enough.
- Calorie sprints: 10 calories as fast as possible, rest two minutes, repeat five times.
- Long intervals: 60 seconds hard, 60 easy, ten rounds. Harder than it sounds.
- Circuit station: 45 seconds on the bike between strength sets.
The mistake almost everyone makes is going too hard in round one. Air bike resistance scales so steeply that an all-out first effort leaves nothing for rounds two through eight. Start at an effort you think is slightly too easy.
If you are new to this kind of training, build up gradually and stop if something hurts rather than burns. Maximal interval work is demanding on the cardiovascular system, and anyone with a heart condition or who has been inactive should speak to a doctor before starting it.
How loud are air bikes?
Loud. The fan is the resistance mechanism, so noise scales with effort, and a maximal effort is genuinely disruptive in a shared home. This is the most common complaint from people who buy one for an apartment.
There is no quiet air bike, and any that claims to be is not really an air bike. If noise is a constraint, a magnetic spin bike from the spinning bikes range is the alternative, and a magnetic rower is quieter still.
Gym flooring or an exercise mat underneath reduces transmitted vibration into the floor below, which helps in a flat, but does nothing about the fan noise itself.
Air bike, rower or curved treadmill?
Air Bike + Rower package, R33 434 — two stations, one order.
Air bike for pure intensity per rand, rower for technique and a more complete movement, curved treadmill if running specificity matters. All three do interval work well; they load the body differently.
A rower like the Ar9 Air Rower at R14 996 is cheaper than most air bikes and quieter, and it trains a pulling pattern that nothing else in a cardio range covers. See rowing machines.
A curved treadmill like the HIIT Runner at R41 997 is the option when your athletes need to run. Our post on curved treadmills for HIIT and sprint training covers when that premium is justified.
For two stations at once, the Air Bike + Rower Essential HIIT package at R33 434 is better value than buying separately.
What should you check before buying?
Frame rigidity, bearing quality, seat adjustability and the console. Frame flex under a maximal effort is the clearest signal of an under-built machine, and it is the thing you cannot fix later.
Seat adjustment
Check that the seat moves forward and back as well as up and down. Height-only adjustment is common at the budget end and makes the machine awkward for both short and tall riders.
Console
You want calories, time, distance and interval timing. Anything beyond that is decoration on a machine you will be looking at through a haze of effort.
Space
Allow about 1.3m by 0.7m plus working space. Air bikes do not fold and are awkward to move, so decide where it lives before it arrives.
Choosing the right one
Tell us whether it is for a home, a studio or a box, and how many people will use it, and we will give you a straight answer — including when a rower or a spin bike is the better buy. We would rather talk you into the cheaper machine than process a return.
We ship free anywhere in South Africa from Gqeberha. Air bikes are worth trying before buying if you can — look for a fitness showroom in your city; for buying online, reach out to us and we will help you choose.
Browse exercise bikes, HIIT equipment, rowing machines, functional trainers or the wider cardio range. See also the best exercise bikes in South Africa.