5 Responses to “Schwinn Airdyne Evo Comp Exercise Bike”

  1. After seeing this bicycle in Paragon Sports in Manhattan, I knew I had to purchase it. The solid construction and compact design demonstrated a leap forward from the original Schwinn Airdyne. At approximately 95lbs, it was solid enough for a health club/rehabilitation center setting but light enough for a consumer. While I have multiple gym memberships, I thought this would be a good item to have at my parents’ house both for their use and when I visit. Unfortunately, the purchase turned out to be mistake due to the incredible hassles created by Schwinn Fitness’ poor quality control.

    Basically, what Schwinn Fitness (i.e Nautilus) has done is improve the time-tested air-resistance concept. The original Airdyne, which is 20+ years old uses a large 30″ diameter fan with flat blades. The Airdyne Evolution Comp uses a much smaller fan that is wider and has contoured blades, which increases resistance. This leads to smoother operation with less vibration. Combining traditional bicycle pedaling with an arm swinging movement, it allows for a great cardio workout – with some limitations.

    My one gripe with the fundamental design is that it lacks variable resistance and only one gear ratio. In an object moving through air, the resistance increases exponentially with velocity. So, instead of increasing the level of resistance electronically as you would on a multi-thousand dollar Life Fitness exercise bicycle, you merely need to pedal slightly faster to get a big jump in overall energy expenditure. Hence, all of the resistance comes from air movement affected solely from the velocity and not from friction or magnetism. This leads to a tradeoff between simplicity and flexibility.

    While the design and construction are very solid, it appears that Schwinn/Nautilus needs to carefully oversee their Chinese fabrication facilities. Basically, the internal mechanisms have not been fully tightened down. This has led problem with the bottom bracket, which requires special bicycle tools unavailable at the local hardware store. In my case, after about three hours of use, the bike became useless as both rings in bottom bracket unscrewed. This is a major aggravation because to correct the problem, two special bicycle tools are needed: 1) crank puller and 2) Shimano bottom bracket tool. These are only available online or at very well stocked bicycle stores.

    After several exchanges with both Schwinn Fitness and the distributor, I learned that there were known problems with the bottom bracket. I was told to use Loctite when reassembling it. Perhaps they should explain why this wasn’t done in the first place. As a former engineer and bicycle enthusiast, I was reasonably well equipped to deal with such problems. I can’t imagine how someone without a large set of tools or any mechanical ability would correct the problem. Moreover, sending a 100 lb package back to the manufacture would be a hassle in itself. In the end, I fixed the problem. Given the aggravation tracking down the tools, I can say it simply was a bad decision to purchase.

    Pros

    Solid construction

    Innovative design

    Low center of gravity

    Cons

    Major quality control problems

    Cheap pedals (need purchase aftermarket pedals with toe clips)

    Computer lacks data to properly calculate calories such as weight, age, gender, body type

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  2. Jeff Stevens says:

    Don’t buy this bike. The Airdyne was recommended to me by a friend, and boy was that a mistake. The instructions for assembly are a joke, and it will take a good 2-3 hours even if you are fast at putting stuff together.

    Once I got it together, then of course, the computer display didn’t work (exercise timer would abrubtly freeze). Called Schwinn, and they sent another (that still didn’t work). I am sending this thing back.

    Cross this one off of your list!
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  3. Anonymous says:

    Well made, but imposible to figure out the monitor. Seat extremely hard on my bunds.
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  4. Dr. Bob says:

    I received my Schwinn Airdyne Evo Comp Exercise Bike promptly by two day prime shipment. A Fed Ex driver delivered it a long distance through deep snow by hand truck. When ordering,I did not receive the extra $100.00 off at check-out, but this was remedied by a brief email. When I opened the carton, I was impressed by the quality of the product. Based upon other reviews I expected the assembly instructions to be very poor. What I did not expect was the complete lack of any instructions. On February 10, 2010, I emailed Amazon and Schwinn about the problem and requested instructions. Today is February 18, 2010, I have not heard a word from either company. As a customer who has spent many thousands of dollars with Amazon over the last several years, I am very unhappy. I will thing twice before ordering again
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  5. Tzvi says:

    I had my first experience with the Schwinn Airdyne Evolution Comp Exercise Bike during a 12 week/3 session a week program of cardio exercise at my local hospital. It was the most comfortable and enjoyable piece of exercise equipment that I used during that period. Instead of signing up at a gym after my program was completed, I purchased the Schwinn bike from Amazon.com. When I began using it at home, I found it very hard to pedal and noticed that the belt was scraping against the sidewall of the safety cage around the fan and leaving a black powder on the floor.

    I called their customer service number in my owner’s manual and was immediately connected to a friendly knowledgable representative who told me that she would order a new belt immediately and notify their service technician in my area to call me and make an appointment to install the new belt.

    Four days later, the belt arrived via FedEx and two days later the tech was at my home, replaced the belt, adjusted my bike and now I’m speeding along on my new Schwinn bike. My treatment by their customer service folks couldn’t have been better!

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