Loading page
About this tool
Calories burned on an exercise bike from watts, or from resistance level and cadence, using the ACSM cycling equation.
This calculator converts an exercise bike session into calories using the ACSM leg-cycle-ergometry equation, VO2 (mL/kg/min) = (10.8 × watts) / body mass in kg + 7, with oxygen uptake priced at 5 kcal per litre. If your console shows watts, that is the accurate route. If it only shows a resistance level, power is approximated from flywheel physics — braking torque times angular velocity — which is transparent about being an estimate rather than pretending a dial number is a wattage. Gross and net calories, METs, mechanical work in kilojoules and gross efficiency are all reported.
Open Stationary Bike Calorie Calculator on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Enter the values you already know.
Fine-tune the options to match your scenario.
Read the result and use it in your planning or reporting.
Power is the one input that makes cycling energy cost genuinely calculable rather than guessed.
The dial estimate is derived from torque × angular velocity and is clearly flagged as an approximation.
Shows the mechanical work done and the gross efficiency, which normally lands near the expected 20-24%.
For a 70 kg rider holding 150 W, the ACSM equation gives about 475 kcal gross and about 420 kcal net of resting metabolism over 45 minutes. At 100 W the same rider is closer to 345 kcal gross. Power, not time alone, drives the number.
There is no universal conversion — manufacturers do not calibrate dials to a common scale. A physics estimate treats braking torque as rising with the setting and multiplies by pedal angular velocity, so roughly half resistance at 80 rpm on a 20-level bike lands near 150 W. Treat that as an approximation and prefer a watts readout or a power meter.
Not the same, but conveniently close in practice. A kilojoule of mechanical work costs roughly 1 kcal of metabolic energy because human cycling efficiency sits near 24%, and 1 kcal = 4.184 kJ. That is why many cyclists treat the kJ figure on a power meter as approximately the calorie figure.
Console readouts usually assume a default body weight, report gross rather than net calories, and sometimes apply an optimistic conversion. Lighter riders in particular tend to see inflated numbers. These figures are informational estimates — consult a dietitian or doctor before planning an energy deficit around them.
Add the Stationary Bike Calorie Calculatorwidget to your blog or website — free, responsive, no signup. Just keep the “Widget by AltFTool” credit link visible.
<iframe src="https://www.altftool.com/embed/widget/stationary-bike-calorie-calculator"
title="Stationary Bike Calorie Calculator — free AltFTool widget"
width="100%" height="640" style="border:0;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden"
loading="lazy" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade"></iframe>
<p style="font-size:12px;margin:4px 0 0">Widget by <a href="https://www.altftool.com/tools/all/stationary-bike-calorie-calculator?utm_source=embed&utm_medium=widget">AltFTool — free online tools</a></p>