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Almost all exercise bikes use adjustable friction pads to vary the resistance. Consider designing a bike with a generator. Resistance can be adjusted by adjusting the charging current to a storage battery. Bonus: the user gets some stored power forthe effort put in.
What I mean is that if the bike is linked to a generator it can generate power, which will be available for other purposes. However, an exercise bike should have a variable resistance so that the user can adjust the effort. What has to be designed is the power train linking the bike to the generator so that at a higher setting more power will be generated. I think that a commercially available variable gear for bikes may be sufficient.
At higher setting a larger charging current will be available.