—– This post is from about-bicycles.com blog reader mfsmith —–

I read reviews and most were positive.  I waited patiently for our new Spinner TV bike and when it arrived I quickly assembled it for my first ride.  This is were the dissatisfaction began.  The bike does not adjust to a 6’2′ rider as the seat accommodated my height but not the handlebar.  Then when you put the handlebar to the highest setting, it rocks back and forth.  Even more disappointing,  I had a LOUD clanking within the chain housing cover.  After removing the cover and determining that there were no loose parts, I determined the chain had to much play and was striking the plastic housing.  For now, I removed the outer piece of the housing cover to minimize the noise.  The worst was yet to come.  I called Customer Service and they said my issues were Technical Support matters and they gave me the phone number.  I called and asked to be put on hold…for 30 minutes when I finally hung up and called back.  This time I agreed to leave a voicemail mesaage and left my issues and contact number.  I left another message the next day and got a callback but to the number I called from which is not the number I left in the voicemail.  I called back several more times with no response and then went back to Customer Service.  I shared my frustration and they said Upper Mgt would call me back in 48 hours…that was 4 days ago.

The bike has potential to be a quality product but the customer service is nonexistent.

I just updated the prices for all of the exercise bikes available online at this site and also did some offline research yesterday.

I visited one of the Sports Authority stores by us (Chicago suburbs) and spent quite a bit of time reviewing the exercise bikes that they had on display and also talked to a pretty knowledgeable sales guy (you don’t always get good people to talk to at SA).

First, here is a summary and comparison of the latest prices, of some popular models, that were available at the Sports Authority store and that are available online.

Uprights:

• Schwinn 120 – SA Price: $300 – Online Price (Amazon) $278.54 ***
• Proform 290SPX (spinner style (I still really like this bike)) – SA Price: $300 – Online Price (Wal-Mart and Proform) $300

Recumbents:

• Schwinn 220 – SA Price $350 – Online Price (Amazon) $349.99

See the About-Bicycles Exercise Bikes pages for quick and easy links to these models.

The local Sports Authority also carried their own Bodyfit brand bikes and Healthrider bikes. I was not impressed with the SA Bodyfit brand but the Healthrider bikes were very nice. Healthrider is an Icon Fitness brand.

The sales guy that I mentioned above had also visited the Icon fitness plant in Utah and was very impressed with their products (They sell a lot of other fitness equipment in addition to exercise bikes).

So to sum up this latest review and the comparisons, I see that the Schwinn models (120 upright and 220 bent) are still very popular and still a good choice if you are looking for a good solid magnetic resistance bike with a nice electronic monitor to track your stats and workout. The Schwinn 120 has a better price online but the Schwinn 220 price is the same (online and brick and mortar (I just had to use that term again! 🙂 ) .

The Proform 290SPX  remains an excellent low priced spinner bike and the online prices are about the same as offline at this time.

Most online sites offer free shipping (to your home or to a store (if they have one)) so you can compare the online and offline prices pretty easily.

And finally, just as a refresher, here’s a brief summary of some of the benefits and trade-offs of the various styles of exercise bikes.

• Upright Spinner Style Bikes (like the Proform SPX) – Most like a regular road bike, very durable, easy to set caliper brake style resistance, very little if any electronics. The sales guy said that most serious cyclists usually prefer this style of bike (I would tend to agree with that).
• Upright Magnetic Resistence Bikes– Still very similar to a regular outdoor road bike, but usually have more comfortable seats, need to be plugged in to set resistance and for monitoring stats, many models come with heart-rate monitors (usually built into the handlebars), most have electronic displays for speed, distance, workout time, etc.
• Recumbent Exercise Bikes(magnetic resistance) – The biggest advantage here is comfort, need to be plugged in to set resistance and for monitoring stats, if you ride an outdoor recumbent bike then this style will compliment your outdoor riding workout also,  most models come with heart rate monitors (usually built into the handlebars), most have electronic displays for speed, distance, workout time, etc.

Other Exercise Bikes and Bike Trainers (stands for your outdoor bike) – Well there are still quite a few other styles of exercise bikes out there (fan style, dual resistance bikes, trainers, etc) but I’m just going to limit the review here to the major types of exercise bikes described above.

As additional note on spinner bikes (or indoor cycles), as I mentioned above, most of these bikes have little or no electronics which is good in some ways but personally, I prefer tracking my workout stats so I do prefer having an electronic console. This is one of the reasons that we list the Livestrong LS9.9IC Indoor Cycle on our Best Buy Exercise Bikes page. All of the current Livestrong bikes have electronic consoles, are very durable and well built and I love that these purchases will ensure ensure a contribution to the LIVESTRONG® Foundation for the fight against cancer.

See the About-Bicycles Exercise Bikes pages for more information on most exercise bike types, lots of reviews and quick and easy links to many popular models.

Later, Rob.

I just completed some major updates to the exercise bike pages on this site (even though it is kind of the off season for fitness equipment) including a new “Best Buy” Exercise Bike page.

In the process of reviewing the exercise bike pages on this site, I have discovered that many of these bikes have really come down in price from the late fall early spring time frame.

Of course, this makes sense, since we are all getting outside now with the weather getting much better but if you are considering one of these machines, it really makes sense to get them this time of year.

Well, I hope that you like all of the additional exercise bike information that is out there now, the new format and the “Best Buy” page.

As for me, it is a BEAUTIFUL DAY right now (here in Chicagoland) and I need to get out on my regular outdoor bike for a ride!

I’m also in the market for some major outdoor bike accessories so stay tuned for more on that soon.

Later, Rob

Here’s the latest updates on the About-Bicycles Exercise Bike pages. The weather has taken a turn for the worse here in Chicagoland and since I haven’t been able to get out a ride the trails today, I’ve been doing some really good work on the Exercise Bike pages on this site.

I am actually planning on doing many more significant updates to the exercise bike pages and this is really just the first step to putting the new format into place.

Although cyclists do have and use exercise bikes and trainers (bike stands for your regular outdoor bike),  many of the visitors to this site are primarily interested in exercise bikes (as fitness equipment) and are not really interested in all of the other bike pages, bike accessory pages and bike trails articles on this site.

Therefore, the most significant change that I have made is to use a different web page template for the Exercise Bike page on this site so if you are browsing the site for exercise bikes, you will have all of the exercise bike links easily accessible (and always in the same position) on the side bars.

In addition the the new template, I have also reviewed the existing exercise bikes and trainers that we currently recommend and validated the current prices for these bikes at the merchants that we recommend.

Although the exercise bikes that we recommend are excellent choices, unfortunately, there are currently not a large number of exercise bikes listed on the site for comparison. We do intend to be upgrading the exercise bike section of this site quite extensively in the next few months (in addition to the regular bike, bike product and bike trails information on this site) so if you are looking for fitness equipment (exercise bikes, trainers, etc.) stay tuned and check back soon.