Myx II Exercise Bike Review

About the Myx II Exercise Bike

The Myx II is a connected exercise bike that allows you to stream live and pre-recorded classes with a paid subscription. It’s the second iteration of Myx and comes with some major upgrades to the first version—namely more classes, better sensors, and improved audio quality. Some of the Myx II’s more notable features include its adjustable handlebars that can be altered by height and distance from the seat (the latter Peloton doesn’t do), pedals that can be used with SPD clip-in shoes or sneakers, a swiveling 21.5-inch touchscreen tablet that streams the workout classes (with improved audio quality over the first Myx), and a 350-pound weight limit (which bests Peloton’s by 50 pounds). It’s slightly smaller than other exercise bikes and about 8 inches shorter and 5 inches narrower than Peloton’s, which makes it better for tight spaces.

Users can choose from a wide variety of classes, ranging in type of ride, experience level, and duration, and new sessions are added weekly. For those who want to exercise at their own pace, scenic rides or news coverage from Newsy may also be streamed. Myx doesn’t use a competitive leaderboard, in which you see how you rate against other users, like some other cycling programs. This isn’t a good or a bad thing, but is something to keep in mind if you know you love or hate competition during workout classes.

Instead, Myx focuses on heart rate training. The bike comes with a heart rate monitor, the Polar OH1, and can also be paired with an Apple Watch, should you want to use your own device. When first setting up the bike, you take a “calibration ride” to determine the three target heart rate zones that Myx uses in its workouts. This 20-minute ride begins with a two-minute meditation session to get as close to your resting heart rate as possible, and you then give light, medium, and maximum effort as instructed. Myx encourages users to take this calibration ride every six weeks—more specifically, on a morning when you feel rested, before any food or caffeine—to keep your zones accurate as your body adapts to cycling and you get more aerobically fit.

Myx’s subscription allows up to five users to build profiles and take cycling and other workout classes. However, not all workout classes are offered directly through Myx. In early 2021 Myx merged with Beachbody, a well-known fitness company, and also partnered with Openfit, a workout app we’ve tested (and also owned by Beachbody), to bring subscribers more content. (It's worth noting that Beachbody uses multi-level marketing tactics to promote some of its companies, though not Openfit nor Myx.)

Users with a Myx subscription have access to prerecorded off-bike Openfit classes on the Myx tablet, but can also access live Openfit classes on the web or their phone with the Openfit app included with the $29 a month subscription. Myx users can also get access to live cycling classes from Beachbody on Demand's platform, BODi, available for an additional $19.95 a month plus Beachbody on Demand's $99 annual fee.

If the off-bike workout classes sound appealing and you don't have weights and other gear, you can alternatively purchase the “Myx II Plus” package for $1,599, which includes three pairs of dumbbells, a kettlebell, a resistance band, a mat, and foam roller along with the bike. You can choose from light, medium, or heavy resistance. The light weight option includes 3-, 6-, and 9-pound dumbbells and a 15-pound kettlebell. The medium weight option includes 6-, 9-, and 12-pound dumbbells and a 20-pound kettlebell. The heavy weight option includes 9-, 12-, and 15-pound dumbbells and a 25-pound kettlebell. Finally, Myx offers 48-month payment plans for just the bike for about $29 per month or the Plus package for about $33 per month, plus the $29-per-month membership.

What we like about the Myx II exercise bike

The instructors and classes are high quality

You can find a good mix of on-demand HIIT, steady-state endurance, and recovery rides on Myx’s platform. The instructors are fun and upbeat, and I enjoyed all the classes I took. I found the HIIT rides particularly motivating, as they best jived with Myx’s training method. The heart rate focus shined during these classes, as instructors encouraged cyclists to ride up into the max-effort "orange" zone and then come back down to the recovery "blue" zone.

With the availability of Myx's own content plus the Openfit and Beachbody programs, there’s no shortage of classes to take. I mainly focused on the cycling classes during testing, but you can find live and pre-recorded strength training, pilates, barre classes, and more. I tried one Openfit strength training class after a cycling session and was impressed with how easy it was to transition from cycling to strength training. I swiveled the screen around so it was parallel with the bike and selected a class that caught my eye. I thought the instructor was cheerful and motivating and I got a great workout, though I used 15- and 20-pound dumbbells I already owned, as the weight set I had from Myx felt too light for certain exercises.

It has a quiet and smooth ride

The bike itself felt amazing during my sessions. Though I haven’t tested any other home exercise bikes, I've taken cycling classes at SoulCycle and CycleBar and felt the Myx II lived up to the studio bikes I’ve used in the past. (It's made by Star Trac, a professional-grade brand that sells its bikes to gyms, so this is no surprise.) The seat and handlebars were comfortable to use during most of my rides, though the seat felt noticeably rigid during longer seated sessions.

The bike and its screen remained stable, with no wobbling or shaking whatsoever. And it was a near-silent ride, even when I was “sprinting” (e.g., pedaling fast) or getting up and down out of the saddle. Changing the friction-based resistance was simple—turning clockwise toward the plus sign increases it, and turning counterclockwise toward the minus sign decreases it—and the transition from higher to lower resistance felt smooth.

What we don’t like about the Myx II

Accessing some classes can be inconvenient—and an unexpected cost

While Myx users have plenty of exercise classes at their disposal, accessing some is much too complicated and needs to be streamlined. Currently, Myx subscribers can take prerecorded Myx cycling classes and Openfit off-bike workout classes via the bike’s tablet. However, live Openfit classes can only be accessed from the web or the Openfit app—not on the bike's tablet. Additionally, users can only take live cycling classes from Beachbody on Demand’s connected fitness platform, BODi. But BODi access costs a lot extra (adding $20 a month plus a $100 annual access fee) and involves signing in and out of your Myxfitness and Beachbody accounts on the bike’s tablet. Even if you love BODi's live classes, it will just about double your monthly membership fee. All this makes taking classes inconvenient and potentially more expensive than other brands, like Peloton, that offer all the live and prerecorded classes on one platform with one subscription.

It forgoes other data points to focus on heart rate

Heart rate training is an effective and easy-to-understand way to challenge yourself during workouts. I liked being able to seamlessly track my heart rate during Myx classes, but I didn’t like how it was typically the only focus during class.

During endurance rides, when you’re not frequently getting in and out of high and low heart rate zones, it felt like there wasn’t much direction from instructors on how hard I should be pushing myself. In other brands’ cycling classes, instructors state what cadence (that is, rotations per minute or RPM of the flywheel) and/or resistance level students should be aiming for. The Peloton Bike+ even has an “Auto Follow” setting that automatically changes your bike’s resistance to match the instructor’s calls. Without this sense of direction, at times I felt I wasn’t getting the most out of my workout. What's more, the Myx II adds a sensor to measure RPM that the original Myx didn't have, so it wouldn't be hard to offer that additional direction (whether the instructors will do so going forward remains to be seen).

Additionally, because instructors don’t rely on cadence or have a set playlist during class, there were a few instances where my music didn’t feel as connected to the workout as it could have. Typically, spin instructors select songs specifically for the goals they have for a class and coach participants to ride with the beat of the music. For most classes, however, Myx prompts users to select a genre of music they want to listen to and generates a random playlist. This allows for some musical personalization of Myx’s classes, and in some rides, you can even skip songs you don’t like. However, this means your music won't always be totally in sync with the instructor’s cues, and workouts can feel awkward for those who are used to mimicking a trainer’s cadence in class. Though I was generally on-beat with the instructor, push periods that were supposed to be timed with the beat drops in songs were sometimes off by 5 or 10 seconds.

The feet straps flop around

I don’t own cycling shoes, and while it's nice that I didn’t need to make an extra purchase to use the Myx II, I found the ends of straps that hold your feet to the pedals to be a nuisance during my rides. In order to get the toe cages snug enough around my sneakers, I had to pull them quite tight. The excess strap material flapped around while I pedaled despite my efforts to tuck them away, and would hit the frame of the bike, making an incredibly annoying slapping noise that was loud enough to be heard over the instructor and music and disruptive to my workout. The straps, fortunately, never got stuck in the bike, but that was a concern. You may be able to cut off the excess length, but I'd worry it could fray and cause another headache down the line.

What is the Myx II’s warranty?

The bike comes with a 12-month warranty for any accessories purchased from Myx, the firmware, the tablet’s touchscreen, the pedals, and all original parts of the bike such as the flywheel, belt, and handlebars. You can purchase an additional year or two of coverage for $99 or $149, respectively. The bike’s structural frame has a longer warranty of five years. Myx’s policy is comparable to the warranties of other brands we tested like Peloton and SoulCycle—not the best out there.

Should you buy the Myx II?

Yes, the Myx II is an incredible value

The Myx II offers a wide variety of cycling sessions and workout classes, all easily accessible for a lower price than many of Myx’s competitors. By way of comparison, the first-year cost of Myx II including bike and app membership is $1,747, as compared to the Peloton Bike+'s $2,963—and after that, Myx's membership costs $10 less per month, which adds up quickly. The bike feels extremely sturdy and durable, and made for a smooth and near-silent ride. That said, the instruction can feel lacking at times, due to Myx’s sole focus on heart rate instead of other metrics like cadence or resistance, and the lack of leaderboard might be disappointing if competition is what drives you during workouts.

Overall, the Myx II is a great option for a connected exercise bike and all-around fitness offering for a home gym. It’s a good fit for anyone looking for a fun cycling experience, and if you’re all about heart rate or want to get all your workouts in one place, the Myx II is the bike for you.