With Lance Armstrong back in Tour de France, one might as well channel those dreams of cycling glory to the conquest of exercise bikes. At the very least you would gain an awesome body, and unlike riding the usual bicycle, there is no risk of falling and embarrassing yourself in public. Unless of course you’re too dumb to stay atop a stationary two-wheeled saddle.

Exercise bikes obviously got their origins from that bi-pedal machine first developed by a German named Baron von Drais. The bicycle itself has undergone numerous modifications to reach its current look. First fashioned as a walking contraption, it has become an instrument to convey its passenger through longer distances in shorter periods. The standard of not having to fall flat on your face while in your best suit took some time though. The expression “taking a header” actually came from the spectacle of a rider being thrown off his big-wheeled bike. Thankfully, technology and serious brand competition have made such incidents obsolete, nearly at least.

Although initially designed to facilitate transport, the bicycle has transformed into an exercise equipment. But unlike its predecessor, exercise bikes do not require an immense land area to operate; just a wee bit of space in your cozy apartment will do. We are fast losing our vast spaces anyway, so these apparatuses do come in handy. They can stand in their corner and you can sweat those excess pounds away by hitting on those pedals. A daily 15-minute cycling will do the job, but more serious training requires at least thirty minutes of physical exertion.

Exercise bikes provide total body workout without straining the muscles and joints. As a cardiovascular activity, pushing on those pedals can make you lose weight faster than the usual aerobic exercise: exerting pressure on a resistive force increases the work you do. As opposed to the treadmill, another popular exercise equipment, exercise bikes go easy on the knee and ankle joints. The low impact work out these training devices afford do not jar the knees nor ankles. In addition, specially designed exercise bikes incorporate upper body workout for that complete body toning. With a taut and toned physique, you can give Jessica Alba a run for her money.

Manufacturers have even made exercise bikes more appealing by fitting them with screens for viewing one’s favorite shows. Who says working out alone or at home has to be boring? Furthermore, you can program your cycling gear to suit your personal work out regimen: you can put more friction, alter the steepness of your virtual terrain, or even put obstacles on your path. Evidently, the more high-end your equipment is, the greater the variations you can have.

The tremendous advantages of the exercise bikes make them ideal exercise equipment. With such remarkable features, it would be no wonder if these become part of Oprah’s Favorite Things.