5 Responses to “Nautilus U514 Upright Exercise Bike”

  1. Bhodi Li says:

    We bought this bike in June 2010 for $449, so we haven’t had it very long. We had researched a large number of bikes in the same class and choose this one because it seemed to best meet the needs of the whole family. My wife and I are both fairly athletic and wanted something that would enable us to get a good workout while at the same time not taking up a lot of space. We wanted something we could ride while watching television, so that we wouldn’t be just sitting on the couch. This bike met or exceeded all of our expectations.

    The Nautilus U514 exercise bike is a great looking bike with a compact footprint and a sturdy design. It has a nice display and is EXTREMELY QUIET! The inluded polar monitor is accurate and the computer’s user interface is well done. There are larger and nicer user interfaces on more expensive machines, but the one on the U514 gets the job done.

    Assembly is not too tough, my wife and I completed assembly in about 30 minutes. Some things were not exceptionally well explained, like the wiring connections of the computer through the mast… but overall the directions are decent, if a little terse. No tools are needed other than what comes in the package.

    Some have expressed concerns about the ergonomics of this bike for tall people. I am 5′11″ 205lbs and I have no problems. The bike is highly configurable, with adjustments in three axes on the seat and the handle bars “do adjust” in a diagonal plane toward or away from the user. I did not detect any odors and the packaging was well executed.

    Bottom line, this bike appears to be a solid piece of exercise equipment with a quality design, and a very nice price. Check it out for yourself.

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  2. Geoff Iida says:

    I bought this bike in February 2010 for $449.

    PROS: good looking; compact; max difficulty level is all you could want (I do triathlons); screen is easy to read in bright light and angle adjusts; very quiet (I ride it while watching TV and I don’t even change the volume (resistance is magnetic, so it is extremely quiet; I usually only hear my shoelaces clicking against my shoes and nothing else); nice front rolling wheels, so it is easy to move around; the included Polar chest strap is great (very accurate), and I was surprised to see the heart rate hand grips were very accurate, too.

    CONS: You have to plug it in to an electrical outlet (I guess that’s how the magnetic resistance works); at 5′9″, my knees are clear of the handle bars, but I bet anyone 5′11″ or taller would have to move the seat back a little to avoid your knees hitting (that’s no big deal, though, because even with the seat back, it is still very comfortable; the handlebar assembly is not adjustible (I’m not sure if any stationary bikes have such a feature, but if the bars could be raised vertically a little, it would be nice); this con is a little weird, but the bike emits a strange odor when first used–probably the first 5 times I used it, it smelled slightly like burnt rubber or a hot electrical circuit–I know this wasn’t actually going on (I’m skilled in electronics, and the bike works perfectly fine even after several months’ use, and the smell is now gone)–I’m just describing the smell, not that there actually was something mechanically wrong with the bike; it’s not uncommon for new equipment to emit odors, and this bike is one of them; it was due to the parts breaking in and no big deal; finally, a con is the fact that I can’t seem to silence the display from beeping–although the bike is quiet enough to ride while others nearby are sleeping, the display beeps when you set up your program (with each button press) and beeps at the end of your workout, which disturbs those around me.
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  3. Really does give you a good workout. Sooooo quiet it doesn’t disturb anyone else in the house with noise. Smooth peddle action, very attractive look and I love the built in fan too! I would have given 5 stars but the seat is a bit uncomfortable, well made but a bit hard. But a lot of upright bikes are hard to sit on so it’s not exclusive to this bike I suppose. I would definitely recommend this bike.
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  4. Hugh Watkins says:

    This is the latest addition to the home gym, living next to the Elliptical and Treadmill. I mostly got the upright bike to cross train, since my primary indoor exercise (until it gets back warm) is the treadmill. It’s hard to improve if you are working the same muscles everytime, so that’s where the bike comes in.

    My first one came damaged, I usually ship stuff like this FedEx because UPS is too rough, but didn’t. Anyways it’s Amazon so they sent a replacement right away, I have never had a bad customer experience with Amazon. The replacement came FedEx and was in perfect shape.

    Setup took a couple of hours, didn’t really track exactly bus basically a Saturday morning. The directions are not great, but there is only one tricky piece which is the handlebar column and the electronics.

    There are a couple other reviews about only working for people 5 foot 10, I am 5 foot 11, but there should be no problem for people much taller. I don’t think they realize that there are 3 different adjustments, the front handlebar moves forward, the seat moves back and the seat moves up. The only obvious one is the seat moving up, so my guess is they had the other two in the default position. I think you could make the correct adjustments based on your physique to easily accommodate someone over 6 feet.

    The workout is good, there are several different programs. I usually do more manual mode stuff so I can’t comment to much on the programs. There is one that tries to keep a certain heartrate and adjusts resistance based on that which is nice. I will probably try the hill next to see how that does. The resistance levels are very good, I’ve never had a problem getting a hard workout.

    I’m happy with this machine, the only con was I really could have gone with the higher end Schwinn which is made by the same company and save a little money, but Amazon was out of stock and I didn’t want to wait. Overall very happy with the machine and the cross training it provides.
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  5. After reviewing a number of upright exercise bikes (Schwinn Active 10, 120, 140 Upright Series Upright Exercise Bikes)both on Amazon and at my local sporting good stores (Dick’s, and Sears), I chose this bike for the following reasons:

    - # of pre-loaded workout programs (11+ the ability to create custom ones),

    - the look and feel,

    - the display offered the ability to track time, interval time, RPM, watts, distance, pulse, speed, calories, resistance,

    - the brand, and

    - the Polar heart rate program.

    The unit arrived quickly to my home and I was able to assemble it easily within 2 hours. The instructions were easy to read and had a reasonable level of detail. In all, not a bad experience with setting up the unit.

    My wife, daughter and I have spent the past three days exercising on the unit and have found it satisfactory for someone no taller than 5′9″. My wife’s reaction was that the unit was smaller than she had anticipated, but found nonetheless, performed greater than expected. The unit gives one the ability to set up user profiles and I did find that this part of the documentation was not as detailed as it should be especially in terms of setting up custom workout programs. However, my daughter – 14 years old was able to within five minutes, navigate the menus to quickly start a work out.

    At this point, I would recommend this product to a friend or colleague.
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