UK'S Trixter X-Bike Ignites US Fitness Market

San Francisco, May 3 - Trixter North America announces the official launch of the Total-Body X-Bike 600 to the US marketplace. Endorsed by the UCI (world governing body of cycling); the Youth Sport Trust of the UK; multiple world champion and Olympic athletes; and, renowned trainers, Trixter's Total Body X-Bike is changing the way people think about exercise. With obesity continuing to increase exponentially worldwide and the majority of the adult population in the United States considered, at least, overweight, educational systems are now moving away from promoting competitive team sports and teaching children about achieving lifetime fitness. The Trixter Total Body X-Bike, a staple in UK physical education classes and universities, provides a fully immersive, highly efficient and engaging exercise experience leaving children and adults, from all demographics and psychographics, hollering for more. Here's how it all started.

Disillusioned by traditional lifecycles and spin bikes, Trixter founder, Michael Rice, took to the tool shed behind his house in the UK to create a piece of exercise equipment to help combat his ongoing weight control challenges and time management issues. Rice, a hard working, family man with athletic weekend warrior tendencies needed something to allow him to become (and remain) fully fit with minimum time output. Following his internal mantra - FITTER, FUNNER, FASTER - the innovative accountant redefined the indoor cycling workout by inventing an indoor bike that engaged the upper body and core musculature while the legs did the pedaling. He realized that the natural movements and rhythm of outdoor cycling could legitimately be brought indoors.

"I've been fighting with personal weight control issues all my life so I know how it can feel when the more out of shape you are, the harder it become to address it," said Rice. I hope people will find the X-Bike to be an inviting launch ramp to boost them off the couch and into shape."

The X-Bike's patented design dramatically enhances the efficacy and realism of indoor workouts so that people who ride it look and feel better, almost immediately. "The unique mechanism on the front of the bike that moves from side to side against adjustable resistance creates a feel that can't be replicated by any other exercise bike," said Judy Griffin, Sales and Marketing Director for Superior Fitness Systems serving the fitness market in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. "Avid or neophyte exercisers, indoor and outdoor focused alike, can get an awesome workout riding the X-Bike!"

"I have never worked harder in such a short amount of time than with riding the X-Bike," said Brian Rowe, X-Biking enthusiast from Sacramento, California. "I dropped from 275 to 245 lbs. in three months. And that's not all that happened. I actually started to gain weight again but I went from a size XXL shirt to just a XL and from a 48 inch waist to a 38 inch waist. The use of the handlebars on the X-Bike (which I try to keep moving during the entire class) actually firmed up my chest along with my biceps and triceps."

The phenomenon of X-Biking has taken off all across the USA with over 100 fitness clubs filling their group cycling studios with Total Body X-Bikes and with Trixter certified X-Biking instructors presenting as many as 5 classes a day. A full range of X-Biking DVD's allow X-Biking enthusiasts to workout on their own time schedule in the privacy of their homes.

"The X-Bike is the ultimate interval trainer that enhances your cardio-respiratory endurance in half the time it takes than a typical spinning class while developing true core fitness and functional capabilities, said Joseph Gonzalez, Regional Store Manager, Hest Fitness in Southern, Texas. "I was personally into spinning bikes for exercise but once I tried a 20-minute, interval session on the X-Bike I was totally hooked. I have been in the fitness industry for 16 years and can without a doubt state there is no other piece of cardio equipment that can hit so many aspects of overall fitness than the X Bike."

To best way to explain the X-Biking experience in words is to have you imagine combining your favorite lower-body cardio machine with your favorite upper body strength training methods, then add in some serious core stability and lower back strengthening exercises and what you'd get is something almost as cool as the X-Bike. If you were to take the X-Bike for a ride what you'll experience is the ultimate in total-body, low impact exercise with movement so natural and immersive you'll genuinely enjoy the effort. You might even forget you're actually exercising.

"X-Biking gives people a challenge they've never experienced before," says Lauri Page, X-Biking Expert Category Instructor from Illinois. "It's completely different from anything they've ever tried. The rider receives a physical benefit that's not provided with other workouts, and mentally, they are constantly reaching for another goal so they never get bored. My clients can't get enough."

The X-Bike is considered the safest studio cycle available because riders can fully control every aspect of how the X-Bike rides. In addition to the free wheel drive, the bike's shifting mechanism is located on the X-Bars so there is no interruption in movement. These safety features make it an ideal choice for the often overlooked de-conditioned, older and injury rehabilitation groups as well as children, families, and serious outdoor sports enthusiasts.

"It is so much different from Spinning, safer and much more dynamic," says Diaz, "To start with, you can simply slow down or totally stop the pedals at any time in a very safe manner. Then, an unmatched upper body workout is made possible through the use of the X-Bars which allows the rider to laterally move the handlebar side to side."

With nearly one third of active Americans seeking fitness equipment for their home in the next year, "the Trixter X-Bike is great to have in our product mix because it is so unique," said Griffin. "The specialty fitness dealer down the street doesn't have anything that even comes close to it. When folks take an X-Biking class at a club, they immediately start looking for a home version."

This is where the X-Bike 600 shines. It's affordable, $1,195 retail; mobile (stores and travels easily); and, utilizes the best quality manufacturing and components so it's extremely durable.

"The X-Bike 600 is a revolutionary total body indoor bike that is specifically designed for the home market," said Patrick Murray, Managing Director of the Trixter Group. "It is the baby brother of the X-Bike 1000, the indoor bike currently taking the indoor cycling world, grabbing it by the scruff of the neck, giving it a good shake and then leaving it with a huge smile on it's face and crying out for more! Now you don't need a lot of money or a gym for X-Biking, just pop in a DVD and away you go!"

The X-Bike is the only indoor cycle that allows the rider to functionally engage their upper body and core musculature while the legs do the pedaling. The exercise offers enhanced total body fitness benefits while brining the natural movements of outdoors cycling indoors.

About Trixter Group:
Founded in 2000 by Michael Rice, Trixter Group designs, manufactures, and markets indoor cycling equipment and programs built to energize people of all ages to enhance their health and fitness. Trixter Group is a public quoted company based in Wiltshire, England and serves as the company's corporate and new product development headquarters.

Trixter North America, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Trixter Group and serves as the global marketing and North and South American sales headquarters. All American inquiries please call 650-364-7525 and email usasales@trixter.net. All Euro-Asian inquires please call +44 1249 700604 and email europeansales@trixter.net. The X-Bike and X-Biking are registered trademarks of the Trixter Group For additional information visit www.x-biking.com

Editor's note: Interviews, photo's, and video available.

Media contact: Pamela Heisey, 415.299.0898

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