ElliptiGO 8C - The World's First Outdoor Elliptical Bike and Your Best Indoor Elliptical Trainer

I've owned and ridden the Elliptigo 8C for about 3 months now. I use the bike for my daily commute in the Bay Area. As of now, I rate this product 4 1/2 stars, but I'm giving the Elliptigo 8C the benefit of the doubt here and giving it the full 5. I believe the higher model (the 11R) probably rates a genuine 5 stars. I'm going to break this review down into the topics that I cared about when I purchased the Elliptigo.KNEES & LOWER BACK - Compared to a bicycle, the Elliptigo is most definitely easier on the knees and lower back. In fact, preserving my joint health is/was the primary reason for buying this bike. So, I was happy to learn that the Elliptigo's claims are true on this point, at least for me.OVERALL WORKOUT - I was pleasantly surprised to notice that the Elliptigo gives a fairly decent workout for your core muscles. A normal bike only works out your legs and arms. You get the benefit of running without the wear, tear, and impact of running on a hard surface. I feel myself gradually becoming more slender and toned as the weeks pass.SPEED - Speed is a bit disappointing due to the Elliptigo's small wheels. On a flat surface, the 8C is slower than an average biker on a medium gear casually pedaling. You'll have to pedal fairly hard to keep up with normal bicycles. If the 8C had faster gears for a flat surface, it would be my perfect ride and shave off around 5 minutes from my commute. For this reason, I stated that the higher-end 11R is probably the Elliptigo with the genuine 5 star rating. The Elliptigo has another downside when it comes to speed. Headwind can be your archenemy. Because you're standing up, your body is basically acting like a sail, and adverse winds can make pedaling harder than on a normal bike. This isn't a big deal on most days, it just makes for a better workout. On rare days with high winds, it can feel brutal.BALANCE & MANEUVERABILITY - As mentioned by other reviewers, maintaining balance on the Elliptigo is an adjustment. Normal bikes feel more stable because the seat gives you an extra point of contact with the bike frame in which to keep balance. But, maintaining balance on the Elliptigo isn't difficult. You get used to it fairly quickly. But riding with only one hand can be tricky (making signaling difficult) and riding with no hands feels impossible. And even after 3 months, sharp turns still feel precarious. Is the Elliptigo balance dangerous? Hard to tell. Probably not. The Elliptigo's different balance is the reason for it delivering a better workout than a normal bike. Your head is certainly much higher on the Elliptigo than a normal bicycle (my height is 5' 11" so I occasionally have to duck tree branches and low street signs while riding an Elliptigo). And in the beginning, the extra head height does honestly make you feel more vulnerable. It's one of the first things you notice while riding this bike. You should most definitely wear a helmet on an Elliptigo. Because of your dramatically-increased head height, if you take a hard fall, it could be dangerous (helmet or not). At the same time, your butt is not stuck to a seat, and your legs don't straddle anything. In the event of a crash, you could theoretically leap off and roll... or otherwise save yourself. The Elliptigo is most certainly not designed to go off-road, ride on wet surfaces, or navigate anything remotely challenging. This was no surprise to me because the makers themselves warn against using the Ellipigo on anything but dry, smooth roads. On challenging surfaces, the Elliptigo loses much of its stability. I would definitely hesitate to ride this bike after a rainfall, but that consideration would be the same on a normal bike, just less urgent. Transitioning from street to smooth dirt to street again is often enough to throw me off-balance. Riding off a sidewalk curb is a no-no because of the Elliptigo's low-sitting pedal board. The 8C is a heavy machine, and this gives it a sense of stability, but small things (rocks, branches, small sidewalk crevices) tend to jolt the frame in dramatic ways if your tires hit them wrong. Definitely, you should watch where you're riding.PUBLIC ATTENTION - No, I didn't buy an Elliptigo to be noticed, but people will notice you. As you ride by, adults will often stare. Children are delighted. And for some reason, many small dogs often consider the Elliptigo a mortal threat.CONCLUSION - The 8C admirably serves all the purposes for which I bought it (joint health, workout, commute). I consider the potential negatives listed above to be acceptable or able to be adapted around. I think if I could make this purchase over again, I'd buy the higher model, the 11R, for the sake of increased speed on a flat surface.

The learning curve might be steep but will only take two rides before you feel very confident on this thing. Just remember to put all your weight on when leg when mounting or dismounting that is what helped me. This thing is brutal! You really get a good workout! But then again the gearing is very nice and there's nowhere you can't go. I am in moderately good shape and I go for a few minutes and then let it Coast for a minute or two to catch my breath and I can go quite far that way.

I've ridden an ElliptiGO exclusively since April 2013, and over several thousand miles have found it to be big fun, an excellent workout, and a great way to get some miles in without the impact of running - it's the next best thing to running if you're injured. I prefer it to a traditional bike because there's no discomfort in all the classic sore spots for biking - butt, neck, arms, hands - and because you get a great view when standing upright, rather than looking at the pavement. It's easy to get used to because you're standing up, and we all know how to balance standing better than sitting anyway.It's about 30% harder (and thus slower) than biking due to the weight and lack of aerodynamic position, but that just makes it a better workout, and I can still maintain about 15 mph on the flats if I work at it (I did a 100 mile ride averaging 14.8 mph with little difficulty). With the 8-speed hub, I've been able to get up even the steepest hills - after all, what do you do on a bike to climb a steep hill? You stand up, but you're already standing on an ElliptiGO. You can't go downhill as fast as biker can, due to the extra wind resistance, but I've still hit 40 mph coasting down on really steep hills - luckily, the brakes are strong.Downsides? There's no place to attach panniers, so you can't carry as much as on a bike. And you'll need a special rack to put it on your car (or you'll have to put it inside, which is doable but fussy). You can't take an ElliptiGO on trails, and you won't want to ride much on dirt roads, since getting a tiny pebble in the tracks makes bad noises. You must have one hand on the handlebars at all times - no riding hands-free. And of course, you have to be willing to explain all about the ElliptiGO to every biker you meet because everyone asks the same questions (most of which I'm answering here). Oh, and you can't draft off bikers, but they can draft off you.Nearly anything that could go wrong mechanically is based on standard bike parts, so there's no trouble getting the ElliptiGO serviced at your local bike shop, and the support people at ElliptiGO are also top-notch and willing to help you with any problems you may have over email or the phone.There's no question you'll stand out on an ElliptiGO, but unless you're horribly shy, that's a plus too, since cars pay more attention to you. Oddly, llamas I've passed also seem to notice the ElliptiGO more than bikers or runners. And everyone likes llamas.