Hop on and get moving
Forget the axiom “no pain, no gain.” Whether you’re school-age or middle-aged, fitness can be fun. When you mate wheels and a unique take on forward motion, as do the four innovative products reviewed below, the good times roll for all.
-- Roy M. Wallack
Stepper on wheels
Pumgo Scooter: Three-wheel scooter propelled with stair-stepper-like pedals.
Likes: It works! Fun, unique and fairly fast, with no learning curve or balance issues. This half-bike/half-scooter with two 10-inch rear wheels and an 8-inch front wheel feels like a rolling stair climber. Your feet never touch the ground. Weight capacity of 180 pounds handles adults. It keeps kids, its main target, quite busy. My 14-year-old son and his neighborhood friends used it for hours and proclaimed it great exercise.
Dislikes: After about 12 mph, you top out and your foot-pumping action feels too choppy. I wish it had wider handlebars (they’re just 16 inches) and could be switched into a higher gear, which would make it more comfortable, more efficient at higher speeds and longer distances, and more practical as a true fitness item with real 30-minute aerobic workout potential. Also, it can’t roll backward and does not fold up.
Price: $299. (770) 984-9025; www.pumgo.com
Rock ‘n’ roll scooter
NextSport Fuzion NX Ultimate Scooter: Marriage of a deep-carving, four-wheel skateboard and a handle.
Likes: This steel board with wide polyurethane tires has a unique pivoting design that lets you take turns at a road-hugging, almost-horizontal angle. Adults and kids enjoyed the Fuzion’s combination of four-wheel stability and extreme maneuverability, with the kids giving it the thumbs up on jumps and curbs. The folding, telescoping handle rises from 29 to 36 inches high.
Dislikes: None.
Price: $119. (800) 727-0331; www.nextsport.com
Carve your way to fitness
Trikke T78 Convertible: Newest version of sleek three-wheel vehicle propelled by the standing rider’s side-to-side carving motion.
Likes: Trikkes, invented five years ago, are comfortable, fun, easy to master and a great adult workout due to an elegantly smooth, refined, all-body motion that delivers speeds up to 15 mph. It has good control on downhills and a unique long-distance potential. (I did a marathon on one; several years ago, someone rode a Trikke coast to coast). The T78 design features bicycle-style riser handlebars, hand brakes and two large, rear in-line-skate-style polyurethane wheels and a larger rubber air-filled tire up front. It’s a “convertible” because the rear wheels can be upgraded to grippier air tires. It folds up for easy storage.
Dislikes: Cyclists will complain that the carving motion takes up too much space on the bike path.
Price: $249. (877) 487-4553; www.trikke.com
Temporary tandem
X2Cycle Tandem Rack: Telescoping connecting-bar system that links two separate bikes in a train.
Likes: It allows riders of different abilities -- two adults or an adult and a kid -- to ride together at the same pace. The free-floating tow bar, attached to a dedicated rack on the front bike and to a ball joint on the head-tube of the rear bike, links the bikes in seconds. It is particularly valuable on a hill, where stronger riders often get far ahead of weaker riders. It allows some movement between the bikes, but for safety will fall off when the rear rider deviates too much from the front bike’s path.
Dislikes: Independent-minded riders may chafe at the need to stay in sync. My son, a tandem veteran who grew up linked to my bike via a similar product, felt that the Tandem Rack cramped his style, forcing him to pay too much attention and detracting from the free-form cycling experience he enjoys. But he liked me pulling him up the hills.
Price: $120. (866) 219-0852; www.x2cycle.com
--
Wallack is the author of “Run for Life: The Anti-Aging, Anti-Injury, Super-Fitness Plan to Keep You Running to 100.”