Treadmill Review Guru is blown away by the Lit Bike's amazing features!

Why You Should Trust Our Review Of The Freebeat Lit Bike

Our team consists of indoor cycling instructors and fitness enthusiasts who spend countless miles in the saddle testing exercise bikes. We know what makes a great exercise bike and subscription content. We know that when a bike has an attached touchscreen, it most likely will require a monthly fee to access the content, and the content is what contributes to the overall experience on the bike. The subscription can make or break a good exercise bike. You can trust that we’ve put in the time on every bike we test in order to bring you thorough reviews like this one.

When we hopped on the Freebeat Lit Bike, we compared it to other popular, comparable models like the NordicTrack S22i, Peloton Bike+, and the MYX II.

 Pros

• The studio classes are engaging and are structured around riding to the beat of the music and pace of the class.
• The bike is surprisingly comfortable and sturdy to ride.
• The resistance has an auto feature to adjust your resistance for you to match the instructor’s cues.
• Each class is gamified to earn points and compete on a leaderboard.
• There are sensors in the seat to track your movement and help you earn more points.
• The bike’s frame comes in multiple color options.

Cons

• Your distance and watt output isn’t tracked or displayed during class, it’s only shown in the Just Ride mode. Classes are cadence focused.
• The handles don’t have a horizontal crossbar for added grip options.
• The off-the-bike classes are limited.

Features

• 21.5” Touch Screen tilts and pivots 180 degrees side to side for training on and off the bike
• Auto Resistance System sets resistance to one of 100 resistance levels based on the instructor’s cues
• Indoor Studio Classes with a subscription fee of $39 per month
• 45-Day Free Membership Trial
• Smart Saddle Detection senses in and out of saddle riding
• Personal Trainer Algorithm to evaluate your performance and adjust accordingly
• Compete on the leaderboard against other members
• Bluetooth Connectivity to headphones
• 2 Cupholders
• USB Port

Specifications

• 21.5” HD touch screen
• Footprint: 49.3” L x 22.6” W x 58.8” H
• Welded Steel Construction
• Weight Capacity: 300 lbs
• Bike Weight: 113.3 lbs
• Flywheel Weight: 28.6 lbs
• Height Range: 4’11” – 6’4”
• 3 Adjustment Points
• Toe-caged Pedals
• Weight Cages (weights sold separately)
• Warranty: 10-years for the frame, 2 years for bike components, 12 months for the touch screen

In-depth Review of the Freebeat Lit Bike

Subscription Content

Anytime you see a large screen attached to a piece of exercise equipment, you should expect that it requires a monthly subscription to access all the content on the screen. The Freebeat Lit Bike has a large touch screen that is enabled with subscription content that requires – you guessed it – a monthly fee.

The classes are on-demand and either 15 or 30 minutes long, in indoor cycling and off-the-bike workouts such as sculpting and stretching. The classes are led by instructors and filmed in an indoor studio environment. All of this is pretty standard when it comes to subscription fitness content. However, when using the Freebeat Lit Bike, I quickly learned that this content has a fun twist.

While you do follow along with an instructor as they guide you through class by providing cues and motivation, the class is also gamified. As you pedal, you earn points for pedaling at a specific cadence that fits the beat of the music playing.

One big aspect of studio indoor cycling classes is the music. Platforms like Peloton utilize music by creating curated playlists for every class. Freebeat does the same. For every song, the cadence goal changes so when you hit the targets, you’re riding to the beat. There is an easy target and a hard target for you to ride to. If you pedal somewhere in the middle of these ranges, you won’t get combo points, and trust me– you want combo points. You must pedal within a pretty close range of either of the cadence targets to earn points.

What does earning points get you? A higher rank on the leaderboard, of course! You also get the satisfaction of watching your score increase.

This one can be swiped away, but it’s fun to see your ranking on the screen – at least to me it is but I’m a bit competitive. I do think even if you aren’t the most competitive of person, you’ll like having a target and collecting points. I found this incentive alone made it impossible for me to not finish every ride I started. So, yeah it’s very motivating and highly effective. Point for Freebeat.

When you’re taking a class, a time remaining bar displays at the top of the screen, and your metrics are at the bottom. This is essentially a line with breaks in it that reflects the format of the class and the change of songs. The metrics below are calories, cadence (with the easy and hard targets to hit), your on-beat percentage (how well you’re riding to either cadence target), and your score. Directly in front of the instructor’s bike on the screen, your combo points accumulated in real time are displayed (when riding to the beat). The word “miss” appears if you’re not within close range of the cadence targets. Small arrows pointing up or down appear next to your cadence to help encourage you to increase or decrease your pace.

There are challenges you can participate in to receive prizes if you want even more incentive to work out. Some of the rewards for the challenges are gift cards to Amazon, Starbucks, and one even had a $30 Spotify gift card. You of course have to be at the top of the leaderboard to win these.

The classes offered are primarily for cycling. There are hundreds to choose from and the library is growing regularly. I was surprised by the large amount. The sculpting and stretching classes are a lot more limited in the amount offered though. These classes are nice to have, but they don’t offer the chance to earn points or feature a leaderboard. The sculpting classes are strength-based but require very light weights from what I’ve seen. Personally, I would use another subscription platform, or none at all, for cross-training. However, even if you were to only use the subscription for cycling, it is worth it.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a mobile option for the Freebeat app, so you can only access the subscription content on Freebeat’s bikes. This means that you can’t take classes on the go.

If you don’t want to follow along with an instructor for every ride, there is a Just Ride mode. This is where you can do your own thing and see metrics like your cadence, watt output, distance, speed, and resistance level. These rides aren’t scored and you can’t collect points, but more metrics are tracked than during the trainer-led rides. I wish that metrics like distance and watt output were shown during class. There are scenic rides coming soon, so I’m excited to see what those are like.

Console

The Freebeat Lit Bike has a 21.5” touch screen. This is comparable to the NordicTrack S22i and the MYX II bike. The screen is where you access the content and see your metrics and resistance level. Like these bikes, and the Peloton Bike+, the screen can be tilted up and down and pivoted to either side.

The screen is clear, and well within reach for my short frame of 5’1”. It’s also slim, streamlined, and pretty light. I didn’t experience any shaking or movement of the screen while riding as I do on a couple of other models. There are just two short cables in the back that stay out of the way when adjusting the screen in any direction.

The screen is easy to navigate. There is a navigation bar on the left side of the screen and at the top. The left side is where you can go to the home screen, arena (this is where you’ll find the challenges), classes, profile, and settings (screen brightness, wifi, etc). The navigation bar at the top of the screen is where you can apply filters to find certain classes. You can filter by the instructor, duration, progress, and more.

As far as storage, there are two cupholders between the screen and the handlebars. These are plastic but hold a water bottle just fine. There isn’t a designated space to place your phone, like on the S22i, but I could set mine in one of the cupholders while riding.

Construction Quality & Durability

Sure, the subscription content is cool, but what about the bike itself? Well, it has a unique look, comes in multiple colors, and is stable to use. The colors available are pink, white, black, and beige. We found the Freebeat Lit Bike to be sturdy and comfortable to ride. It can handle users up to 300 lbs. This is on par with the Peloton Bike+. 350 lbs is usually the highest weight capacity that we see on bikes. The MYX II and NordicTrack S22i have this weight limit.

Frame

It feels like other comparable exercise bikes like the Peloton Bike+, but it’s more affordable. With the overall design and color options, it should look nice in any home. The two stabilizers have adjustable leveling feet to plant the bike to the floor. Our team didn’t experience any movement of the bike when riding. The front-mounted transport wheels let you move the bike when needed, too.

I will say, I’m surprised at how lightweight, yet sturdy the Lit Bike feels. It only weighs 113 lbs. Comparatively, the MYX II weighs 150 lbs and the Peloton Bike+ weighs 140 lbs. We expect exercise bikes with attached touchscreens to be heavier, so I’m glad the Freebeat is light while still being stable.

Freebeat claims that users ranging from 4’11” up to 6’4” can use the Lit Bike. We agree. Our team ranges from 5’1” (me) up to 6’5”. I could get a good bike fit and had some range to work with when adjusting. Our 6’5” reviewer, Matthew, wished there was another notch or two to raise the seat up higher. The Freebeat Lit Bike has three adjustment points. The handles adjust up and down, and the saddle adjusts up/down, and forward/back. Most exercise bikes with screens adjust this way.

I also did some measuring to give you a better idea of how much adjustability the Freebeat Bike has. I measured the reach, which is the distance from the nose of the saddle to the base of the handles. With the saddle all the way forward, this measured 17”, and with the saddle all the back, this measured 21”. It isn’t the largest range we’ve seen, but it offers plenty of room to work with. The leg span (distance from the top of the saddle to the top of the lowest pedal) measured 27” to 36”. This was when the saddle was at the lowest and highest settings. The leg span is your inseam length.

FlyWheel

In addition to the frame and materials of the bike, the weight of the flywheel is another factor we consider when reviewing exercise bikes. Flywheels can be heavy (we like to see over 20 lbs) or lightweight (usually under 10 lbs). How the bike is engineered determines what kind of flywheel it should have. We expected (and hoped) the Freebeat Lit Bike to have a heavy flywheel considering its price point, and it does! It is 28 lbs. This helps add to the overall quality, sturdiness, and durability of the bike.

This weight is comparable to the Peloton Bike+ and NordicTrack S22i. The Freebeat Lit Bike, however, has a wooden panel over the flywheel, which creates a more unique aesthetic. I like it and think that it adds a little flair to the appearance of the bike.

The Lit Bike uses adjustable magnetic resistance. When you’re riding, the resistance level is shown at the bottom, center of the screen. There are 100 resistance levels offered. This is the same as bikes from Bowflex and Peloton. We found that the resistance is plenty for users of all abilities.

An impressive feature that the Freebeat Bike has is automatic resistance. When using this feature, the bike adjusts the resistance based on the instructor’s cues during class. The bike also factors in your performance during previous rides to determine the resistance levels. NordicTrack and ProForm equipment offer this feature through iFit, and this is one of my favorite features of iFit, so I’m thrilled Freebeat offers it too.

Like on the Peloton Bike+, you can hear the resistance as it’s being adjusted. It isn’t noisy by any means, but the bike makes a low humming noise.

This can be bypassed and you can adjust the resistance yourself via the resistance knob below the handles.

Considering how high-end Freebeat’s adjustment knobs are, I would like to see the construction of the resistance knob improved to have the same level of quality as those. The resistance knob is also a brake that you can push down to stop the flywheel.

Drive System

The Freebeat Lit Bike has a belt drive that connects the flywheel to the pedals. This makes for a smooth, quiet experience. The pedals are toe cages so you can ride wearing any type of athletic shoe. These cages feel plenty deep for various shoe sizes, especially compared to the toe cages on the Peloton Bike+ which are pretty shallow.

Unfortunately, these pedals don’t offer clip-ins for cycling shoes. Exercise bikes like the NordicTrack S22i have hybrid pedals that offer both options.

Handlebars

For basic riding hand positions, this bike allows for positions 1, 2, and 3. I would like to see a horizontal bar added in the middle for more options. From a comfort standpoint, these handles are nice. From a functional standpoint though, they offer the bare minimum.

Performance & Functionality

All in all, when testing fitness equipment with attached touchscreens, we expect subscription fitness content to contribute to the overall experience. Freebeat’s membership definitely does, and it exceeded our expectations when riding. The concept of having users ride to the beat of the music playing and earning points for it is smart and fun. This is essentially the goal of any spin instructor teaching an indoor cycling ride. I know when I’m teaching a class, I always try to pick music with a good beat and encourage my clients to ride to it.

I will say that when taking one of Freebeat’s cycling classes, there is a lot going on, on the screen. I found it to be more attention-grabbing than over-stimulating, but know there is a lot displayed. The camera points at the instructor the entire time and switches to different angles occasionally, which is typical for streaming studio fitness classes. The background is lit up with different colors and sometimes graphics to coordinate with the theme of the ride. The background sometimes changes throughout the class, too. What might be a bit much for some, is all of the information at the bottom of the screen. Between your score and combos flashing as they accumulate, the flashing box around your cadence and the arrows encouraging you to speed up or slow down, not to mention the leaderboard, might be overwhelming for some.

I found this to be attention-grabbing, although I’m a bit competitive, remember?

There is a sensor in the saddle that detects your movement in and out of the saddle. Cool, right? Riding out of the saddle definitely requires more balance and is typically more challenging than riding in the saddle. This feature certainly helps you add more intensity to your rides, at least I know it did for me!

It’s narrow too, making it perfect for spending a lot of time in the saddle. Overall, the Freebeat Lit Bike is comfortable to use. I love how stable and quiet it is. It’s really appropriate to use in any home space without worrying about disrupting your housemates or neighbors. Although, the speakers do go pretty loud so you might want to connect your Bluetooth headphones.

We highly recommend checking out the LIT Bike if you love taking indoor cycling classes, and riding to upbeat current music. This bike is appropriate for all fitness levels and will really speak to those who are competitive and like playing games.

Warranty

Freebeat includes a 10-year warranty for the frame, a 24-month warranty for bike components, and a 12-month warranty for the touch screen when you purchase the LIT Bike. The bike is pretty straightforward to assemble and Freebeat includes a manual with the bike and an instructional video on their website to help with assembly.

Bottom Line Review: Freebeat Lit Bike

If you’re looking for a fun twist to indoor cycling, then check out the Freebeat Lit Bike. The subscription cycling classes are led by instructors and the content encourages you to ride to the beat of the music. Every class feels like a game as you earn points by staying at a specific cadence and riding in and out of the saddle. There’s even a leaderboard for those who are competitive. The Lit Bike itself is comfortable, quiet, and stable to ride. We love that it comes in multiple colors, too. The Freebeat Lit Bike is definitely one to consider if you’re looking to have some fun while you sweat.