Frequently Asked Questions
What is unique about the exercise bike for an office environment?
The Active Office exercise bikes are designed specifically for the office with an objective of helping you stay active throughout the entire work day. Knowing that riders won’t ride during the entire day, the bikes include ways to rest your feet between riding sessions. The console is tethered to the bike with a 7 foot long control cord so it can be placed in a convenient place on your desk and the small footprint of the console takes up minimal space on your desk. The bikes use magnetic field resistance so they do not disturb others working near you. They bikes take up minimal floor space and their attractive design compliments any office.
Active Office exercise bikes require a standing desk that will be purchased separately from the bike. The exercise bikes are not practical with a regular sitting desk because they require more height and the ability to be adjusted. There are many standing desk options on the market today and our web site points you to a wonderful variety of manufacturers that provide “starter” and “executive level” products.
What body heights will the bike accommodate?
The bikes and desks have numerous adjustment levels and can easily accommodate people from 4 foot - 8 inches to 6 foot – 8 inches.
What is the maximum rider weight the bikes can hold?
The bikes are designed to support riders up to 265 pounds.
Is it necessary to buy the desk and the bike at the same time?
It’s not required but it is highly recommended. If you are considering buying one or the other, purchase your stand-up desk first. If you’re going to buy the exercise bike first, you should either have a stand up desk or you will need to buy or build one. There is no requirement to buy your stand-up desk from Active Office and we provide links to several desk manufacturers via our web site. The exercise bikes will not work with a traditional sit down desk. To encourage you to purchase both at the same time, Active Office provides a bundled price on our bikes and exercise desks. We include 2 or 3 fans with each of our desks purchased with a bike, and there are cost savings in the shipping charges.
Are fans included with the desk?
All Active Offices desks purchased with an exercise desk include fans. Large and small desks all come with a large fan mounted underneath the desk to move cool air toward your core. The large desks include two additional fans (for a total of 3 fans) that can be placed on your desk top surface anywhere you’d like. The small desks include one additional fan (for a total of 2 fans). All fans are connected to a separate power circuit with a switch that is conveniently mounted to the front of the desk. It is very easy to turn the fans on and off as required.
How low and how high can the desk be adjusted?
The desks have a very wide range of adjustment with the ability to drop as low as 25 inches above the floor and as high as 55 inches above the floor. The combined flexibility makes it possible to fit everyone comfortably.
Can specific desk heights be pre-programmed?
Yes, Active Office desks can be pre-programmed to three different settings and desks can be adjusted at any time between their minimum and maximum heights with the push of a button.
How much weight can the desk hold?
The desks are designed to hold 125 pounds.
How are the desks and bikes shipped?
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For bikes purchased alone: Bikes can be shipped via FedEx and UPS. They arrive in a single box and assembly is required.
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For desks purchased alone: Desks arrive in multiple boxes and are shipped via a freight forwarder.
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For bikes and desks purchased together: Our white-glove service delivers your desk and bike almost completely assembled and they arrive at your location ready to plug in and use within minutes. Our factory assembles the desk and bike to order, we package them onto a custom built pallet, and we ship the pallet via a freight forwarder. Because of the weight and dimensions, it’s not feasible to ship via FedEx or UPS. You will receive e-mail notification when the product is shipped and the delivery company will contact you ahead of time to schedule a convenient delivery time. Instructions are attached to the crate that guide you through the un-crating process, and show you how to complete 2 or 3 very simple final assembly steps. You will receive tips on how to adjust the desk and bike to fit you and you’ll be ready to ride within minutes.
What are the warranties on the desk and the bike?
The bike and desk both come with a full one-year warranty against manufacturing defects.
How are the products supported if repairs need to be made?
Replacement parts will be shipped at no charge should anything need to be repaired / replaced. Anything not classified as a simple fix may need to be shipped back to our factory for repair or replacement. Responses to e-mail and phone support requests will be responded to within 24 to 48 hours.
Are the desk or bike noisy?
Both are very quiet. The bikes are lifted with an electric motor located underneath the work surface and it makes a gentle “whirring” sound. The bike’s resistance is provided via electromagnetic field so there is no friction involved. The pedals and flywheel are very well designed and are very quiet.
Will I sweat?
It is easy to sweat while using the exercise desk, but it can be avoided as well. I work from a home office except when I travel so perspiration is not a concern for me. I prefer to push myself while I’m using the exercise desk, but my “push” is more about the number of hours I ride during a given day than it is about how hard or fast I ride. Since I cannot predict when the phone will ring, I leave my resistance setting at a reasonable level that allows me to catch my breath and begin breathing fairly normally within 2 rings. I try to use the exercise desk for as many hours during the day as possible. When I’m not riding, I can prop my feet on the footrests or I can push the exercise bike to the side and stand while I work.
To elevate my heart rate, I will often take 3 to 5 minutes after a conference call, or before taking a bio break or going to lunch and I will significantly pick up the pace. This can obviously be done any time throughout the day that I choose to ramp up my pedaling speed.
There are times when I want to get some motion in my work day but I don’t want to break a sweat. For those times I simply pedal more slowly and I use my fans. All desks purchased with an exercise bike come with fans and a switch to control them as a group. A larger fan is mounted underneath the desk to keep air circulating on your core. Depending on the size of the desk, one (for small desks) or two (for large desks) fans are included and you can locate them on your desk top anywhere you would like.
Since I focus more on the number of hours I can ride during a given day, I’m not concerned about my average miles per hour, and the number of calories I burn is only moderately important to me. I track hours ridden, miles ridden and calories burned. It’s very easy to log 15 to 20 miles during the busiest day but I typically log 25 to 40 miles when I’m in my office for a full day. The most I have ridden in one day is 102 miles which was done during mandatory video training --- and yes, I broke a sweat that day.
How many miles, and how long are most people able to ride during a typical work day? Initially, most people will want to keep their mileage below 12 to 20 miles per day but that will also depend on their personal health factors, clothing, location, exercise routine and what they believe they are capable of. Within a few weeks, most people are very pleased with the amount of time they are able to ride during the workday, and how many miles they are accumulating.
How many calories are typically burned during a given number of miles ridden? This is a function of speed, weight and pedal resistance but a safe estimate is 21 to 25 calories per mile.
What information is tracked by the bike computer console? Tracking data incudes:
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Number of minutes ridden
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Miles
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Calories burned
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Heartbeats per minute, when using the heart monitor bar
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Watts generated
Can the console be connected to my smart phone?
Yes, consoles are compatible with Apple and Andriod operating systems and work with a variety of smart phones and tablets.
How can my riding history data be tracked and recorded? Active Office provides:
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An Excel spreadsheet that can be downloaded from our website for you to log your riding data over a long period of time. I have more than 3.5 years of riding data saved on my Excel spreadsheets. If you do not sync your console with a smart phone or table, this is currently the best way to save your riding data.
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If you sync your smart phone or tablet to the console every time you ride, the phone / table will take control of the exercise bike and it will store your data on the phone or tablet.
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In the future, Active Office will implement a cloud based infrastructure that will allow you to store your riding data in the cloud as if it was stored in an Excel file, but the data for a given 24 hour day will be entered automatically via the console each time you ride.
How much floor space is required for the standing desk and for the combination of the standing desk and the exercise bike?
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The large standing desks are basically 5 feet wide so that is the minimum requirement. You will want clearance around the desk to ensure that nothing interferes with the desk’s ability to move up and down. You will also likely want to be able to move around the desk yourself to install computers, install monitors, make adjustments, etc. so 7 feet is recommended.
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The desks are 2.5 feet deep and you need space to stand in front of it so the minimum front-to-back dimension is approximately 5 feet.
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When placing the exercise bike in front of the desk and allocating room to move it as required to sit, stand and ride as you choose, it’s best to have 7 feet of front-to-back space.
Are most people keeping their “sitting” desks when they buy the exercise desk or are they transferring completely to the exercise desk? This is really a personal preference. If you need additional work space, or perhaps you like the desk drawers that are available on your traditional desk, etc. you should consider having both desks. I like having the extra work space but it does make my home office a bit tight.
How much weight can I expect to lose by using an exercise desk? This is a simple question that requires a complicated answer. It is really a function of several things including:
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How many hours are you able to ride and calories do you burn while riding each day.
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How frequently are you able to ride?
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How disciplined are you with your diet?
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Some people who do not necessarily need to lose weight, ride their exercise desks for other benefits, including having the ability to eat and drink whatever they want. The exercise desk basically becomes a weight management tool, or a way to burn calories that would otherwise cause weight gain.
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Some people use the exercise desks to lose weight but they should also make it part of a more comprehensive program including dieting, weight monitoring / logging and caloric intake monitoring as required.
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In addition to weight loss, what are other reasons to use an exercise desk?
Benefits of using the exercise desk as part of your daily work routine are identical to other forms of increased motion an exercise, and they include:
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Stress reduction
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Better sleep
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Better digestion
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Reduced blood pressure
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Reduced cholesterol
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Feeling better about overall health and well-being
Is it difficult to perform most desk work tasks while riding the exercise bike? It takes surprisingly little time to adjust to the new working environment. In my own case, I was able to type at basically the same speed and accuracy level with very little adjustment, and I have become very accustomed to the lower part of my body pedaling away while the upper part of my body performs all desk functions in a normal fashion. I find that my mental acuity is sharper while I ride, until I get to the point where I need to eat. I have found that my mental acuity drops more rapidly if I am riding the exercise bike and need to eat something than it does when I need to eat but have not been riding the bike. I keep peanuts at my desk.
Frequently Asked Questions
Bryan Wassom, Developer of the Active Office Exercise Desk
(800) 555-1234
(800) 555-1234