Rowbike - Cool or Weird?

by Bev Sklar (Subscribe to Bev Sklar's posts)
Nov 17th 2008 4:00PM

Imagine rowing off into the sunset on two wheels. You can do it with the Rowbike. This cool/weird contraption was invented by a guy named Scott Olson, more famous for sticking rollerskate wheels on his hockey boots in 1979 to spark the rollerblade craze. In the mid-1990s, Olsen came up with Act II -- the Rowbike.

This recumbent rower on wheels is not like riding a bike. According to Outside magazine's Lab Rat's Nick Heil, it's a good workout if you can survive the weird stares. Rising above the odd-factor, rowbiking delivers a killer ab workout and burns more calories than jogging, without the joint stress. Rowbike's popular 720 Sport (pictured) sells for $1,190. If you can't ride a bike, no excuses -- try the 4-Wheel Crewzer ($1,999).

Check out the Lab Rat's 2:00 video on the rowbike, and learn more about the product here. About 6,000 have been sold over the years, but I've never seen one. What do you think -- cool, weird or both?

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

rowbiker 11-18-2008 @ 12:06PM

It's not either/or - as a Rowbike owner, I can confirm that it's both cool and weird. I use it on my daily commute (4 miles each way), and I love the upper-body workout I'm getting, as opposed to the only-lower-body workout that my regular bike gave me.