Crank Upper East Side

As spin fanatics, we were eager to add a new studio into our rotation. Unfortunately, we don’t see Crank becoming a spot we’ll frequent anytime soon. In NYC, where spin studios can be found almost as easily as Starbucks, there are so many strong options and Crank just wasn’t our cup of tea. Here’s the good and the bad from our time at Crank UES.

Shoes are complimentary with class, which is always a great perk, but the ones we stepped into were wet and heavily worn in. We sought out staff members to help out with bike set-up-as this was a new bike for us, but didn’t find a lot of clearly identifiable and easily accessible people on hand in the studio to do this. However, the Crank employees that we did locate were very friendly and warm. Noticing one of the shoes was too loose in the bike clips, we asked for a staff member to help check this out. Normally in this situation, the studio can easily screw the pedal clip/check the shoe to tighten the screw but instead they suggested a bike switch … We came to find the next bike also had the same problem. Needless to say the loose footing was an unwanted distraction and made it hard to really get in the zone.

RUNDOWN

WORKOUT

Jordyn Hamilton taught the 45 minute ‘Exhilarate’ class, which is one of the class formats Crank has to offer. As the description promised, it was a choreographed, musically driven cardio ride. Jordyn lead us through moves very commonly found in a SoulCycle class, ie. crunches, push-ups, and tap backs, and we were definitely sweating by the end. There was also a weighted arms section towards the end of class that broke up the ride a bit and had our arms really feeling toned by the end.

INSTRUCTOR

Jordyn gave us a lot of cues as to what was coming next, was easily heard and led us through a variety of different moves that kept the class dynamic. She challenged everyone to push themselves but we did not find her to be overly motivating throughout class.

SPACE

Crank has a room full of lockers that come with keys to take with you on the bike. There are men’s and women’s changing rooms, bathrooms, and showers for riders. The space in between the lockers and class door was larger than a lot of other NYC studios, and for anyone who’s tried to gather their belongings after a sweaty class knows, space is a huge commodity!