The company’s customers call it the “movie-star effect,” because of all the stares it draws.
Is it a bike? Is it an elliptical? Has a piece of workout equipment suddenly become sentient and made a jailbreak from a local gym?
What the heck is that thing?
That thing is called an ElliptiGO, and you might have seen one rolling around the city, especially in Central or Prospect parks. It’s a bike-elliptical hybrid that first hit the road three years ago but is starting to show up more frequently around Gotham.
You can even rent one, for $20 an hour or $69 a day, at various Bike and Roll locations, including near Tavern on the Green and Pier 84 at 43rd Street.
The ElliptiGO World Championships 2012.
“The one problem we were trying to solve with it was, how do you let someone who’s injured run again?” says Bryan Pate, ElliptiGO’s co-founder and co-president.
Pate, 40, is a San Diego-based former Marine and Iron Man triathlete who, eight years ago, found he could no longer run due to wear and tear on his knees. He went in search of a machine that combined the low-impact workout of an elliptical with the mobility of a bike. When he couldn’t find such a device, he set out to build one.
He and his partner, Brent Teal, 39, worked for three years, building two prototypes and licensing design elements from Larry Miller, the inventor of the elliptical machine.
The first ElliptiGO was sold in February 2010 to an elderly bike rider who could no longer run, due to injury.
Now the machine is available across the country, and the company has sold some 8,500 since the launch. The ElliptiGO comes in three models with three, eight and 11 speeds at the very steep prices of $1,799, $2,499 and $3,499.
“One of our biggest issues is price,” Pate admits.
“But we had a vision that we wanted the product to deliver, and it was really expensive to manufacture that product.”
Not that the money is a barrier for everyone.
Upper West Sider Michael Gostigian, a personal trainer and former Olympic pentathlete, owns four ElliptiGOs. He goes for a ride most days in Central Park and also trains clients on them.
Phil rides his StreetStrider on TV’s “Modern Family.”
“I swear by it,” Gostigian says. “I rode 62 miles on it the very first day I got it. I woke up the next day with zero soreness.”
In June, he also cycled all the way to Montauk and back — 150 miles.
Another local fan is John Honerkamp, manager of runner products and services for New York Road Runners. He’s been testing an ElliptiGO for two months, and has recommended it to club members with bum knees.
“I like that you can be cross-training and not stuck looking in the mirror [like at a gym],” he says. “It’s the closest thing to running in the cross-training realm.”
Mary Wittenberg, CEO of NYRR, is also a fan, using the machine to get exercise after foot surgery. In August, she tweeted, “I am loving the ElliptiGO — 7 weeks no running, 4 weeks on it. Thankful for it!”
Not that the product is without its downsides — beyond the price.
For many living in tiny New York apartments, storage could be a problem. Gostigian chains his bikes outside his apartment and hasn’t yet had a problem with theft or vandalism.
Then there’s the attention factor. If you’re looking to work out anonymously and blend into the background, a product that reminds people of Ty Burrell’s Phil Dunphy from “Modern Family” on his StreetStrider probably isn’t the one for you.
Pate often spots people taking photos or video of him while he’s riding his ElliptiGO. Cars will pull up, and the driver will ask where to get one. Honerkamp has had people yell, “Run, Forrest, run!”
One ElliptiGO rider at whom no one is laughing is Dave Cornthwaite. The Brit recently traveled around the world — some 17,000 miles — on 25 forms of non-motorized transportation. He used the ElliptiGO to traverse Western Europe.
You might want to start more modestly, say by circumnavigating your block.
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