1. Delivery: Delivered by Amazon and carried up 32 steps by the delivery person! I was very impressed and thankful, as my back is not as tolerant as it once was. Packaging was well done and there were no scrapes/dings/damage to bike. It took around 30 minutes to unpack. 2. Assembly: Instructions were detailed and easy to follow. My mechanical skills are somewhat south of neanderthal, but I had it together by myself in about 90 minutes, including bathroom breaks. Two people might have made it easier, but certainly pretty basic assembly, as the major parts - flywheel and frame, came as one piece. All needed tools were included, as were some extra screws and bolts. Parts were all machined to a high degree and holes were all aligned perfectly. This is not a cheap product - it feels and looks very well made. 3. Function: Very quiet and smooth. Quite sturdy - not perhaps as much as the $2000 brand name models, but certainly fine for most home users. We have used it on a tiled floor and on a pile carpet. It is more sturdy on the hard floor. As others have noted, the handles are designed to be loose, to allow for ease of access. One criticism I have is the lack of a backlit screen on the display. My wife has vision problems and cannot make out the screen at all. My vision is fine and I can barely see the numbers. We have to use a flashlight to see the screen. Given the advances in technology today, I do not think it is too much to ask for a better lit screen. I bet some 17 year old genius could design an inexpensive battery that would power a backlight and could be recharged from the action of the flywheel - never have to replace the batteries! In fact, you could adapt a charging mechanism similar to the hand-crank chargers available on the internet. That way, you could charge your iPhone/iPad while you work out! 4. Health objective: This product will not turn you into a triathlete, but it will fulfill the objective of a non-impact exercise that will give a cardiovascular benefit and burn some calories. Both my wife and I are in our 70’s and have back issues. The recumbent position takes a significant amount of strain off your lower back, that even walking can cause. My back bothered me too much to walk today, but I did just fine on this recumbent bike. Plus, its raining outside and having this bike inside my home is wonderful. Read more
This appears to be a very well constructed machine, solid and well designed. Assembly is straightforward, with excellent instructions and well labeled parts and tools to do the job. I have mobility issues, but was able to put it together in about 2-3 hours. It was extremely well packed, and about 1 of those hours was just unpacking, which requires a knife to cut all the tape holding pieces in the packing supports. When exercising it is completely quiet and stable. A normal person would be able to move it around for location using the rear handle and front rollers, but with my mobility issues I needed someone to help me. A lot of reviewers had issues with the display, but I found it easy to read and adjust, with clear directions for setting up provided. As with a lot of these displays, I cannot vouch for the accuracy, but I only use if for a comparison of each workout with the others, not for a true measure of heartbeat rate, distance or calories. I highly recommend it, especially considering the attractive price. Read more
I bought this make and model of exercise bike because it isn't a 'smart' bike. You don't need WiFi or a subscription program to use it. It doesn't even need a wall outlet. The only powered thing on the bike is a small electronic monitor, which requires two AAA batteries. It has a very simple interface. Putting it together is mostly uncomplicated. There is a lot of tape holding the packing materials together, so keep a box cutter handy. It's also heavy to slide out of the box. I ended up cutting the whole side of the box open to slide it out upright. It comes with all the tools you need to put it together. When assembling the bike, my biggest challenge was putting the seat mount onto the base of the bike. The instruction manual indicates the seat saddle should be fixed to the seat mount before you install the mount onto the bike base. I found this almost impossible to do with the seat installed. I could not get the two bolts all the way through the frame straight. I tried doing this while holding the frame at an angle to see/feel what I was doing. I also tried it while lying on the floor. I eventually had to take the screws back out of the seat saddle and remove it from the seat mount to get the bolts all the way through the frame and nested correctly. You can only feed them through in one direction. One side of the frame rail has squared holes, while the other side is rounded. It is important to feed the bolts through from the squared side. The rounded side is for the nylock nuts to lock down on. Except for that hiccup, the rest of the setup made sense. If you get confused by the instructions, there is also an instructional video you can find on YouTube which shows the bike being put together. You can find it by searching, "Nice Day Recumbent Bike Installation." You'll see what I mean about the seat mount, though. It's easier to put it on the base if you leave the seat off until after the seat mount is attached the the base of the bike. One thing I find quirky about the finished bike is the large handlebar under the seat mount isn't fixed to one position. It can be rolled up and backward. This may be intentional to help someone with mobility limitations to slide onto the seat. When riding the bike, the handlebar floats as you grip the pulse sensor. Again, I do not know if that's a bug or a feature, but it doesn't impede the overall function of the bike. The seat provides plenty of stability whether or not you hang onto the handlebar. If the wiggling/floating bugs you, you could lay some felt between the handle bar and the mounting bracket that holds it to the seat base. The handle bar mounted under the electronic monitor is firmly fixed to its mount when the bike is assembled. The seat position is easily adjusted to the distance you need from the pedals for healthy body mechanics. You can't adjust the angle of the seat back. The bike is very quiet in use. It's easy to watch TV or listen to your phone or tablet while riding. My only complaint is that this saddle is like sitting on a high school bleacher. It needs more padding. You can find padded cushions for this type of saddle on Amazon. I'm going to try a silicone gel cushion with mine. In review videos, users have mentioned the tension range provides strong resistance. When I have it cranked all the way up, I call that 'moderate.' You can't simulate pedaling through tar or wet sand with it. That's still okay for a beginner who is just getting into fitness, or for someone who simply wants to maintain health and cardio. There are plenty of free exercise videos on YouTube that show how to incorporate your bike into a challenging workout. I won't call this an exercise bike you'd use to train for sustained uphill mountain riding. Persons looking for something like that aren't shopping in this price range. Read more
