Customer Reviews

ProForm 450 UR Upright Exercise Bike

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

So you know where I'm coming from I'll tell you up front I am a male in the baby boomer generation. In the summer time I enjoy riding my bike around the neighborhood at least a couple times a week. My bike is in the genre called a comfort bike, and I'm comfortable with about 10 miles per ride, though my goal is to get back up to the 16 or more that I used to do before I took a couple year hiatus. I also bought my wife a bike for neighborhood rides this year, but she has not ridden for quite a while and so has a long way to go to get up to even get to be able to do a 10 miler.

We bought the Pro-Form 450 UR so we could stay on it through the cold snowy winter months and be ready for next spring. We bought it from someone who had owned it for a while but never even broke the seal on the box. Our bike was built in December 2006, and assembled and used for the first time in November 2008.

As of this writing, we've only had it for a few days, and only put a few miles on it. I'm sure you know that one of the features of this bike is that it has games on it. For me the games are a good diversion even though they are very rudimentary. I played the "Tetris" style game and the "Destroyer" game years ago, but even then I was playing them in color, where as this display is an extremely low resolution monochrome. I don't know how the younger generation would be attracted to these games when they are used to what they have now. Maybe they'd stick to the blackjack and Texas hold-em card games. The obvious point of the games, and as I said above, it worked for me, is to keep your mind off the exercise routine. Of course you could always watch TV or a movie. The machine is very quiet and I found I do not have to increase the TV volume at all to hear well.

The other features seem to be fairly comprehensive, though I have not owned another exercise bike, so I have nothing to compare it to. It uses the SMR (Silent Magnetic Resistance), which I like much better than cranking some dial to cause friction, and it seems to work very well with 16 resistance levels. By the time you get to level 16 you are climbing one heck of a hill, at least for a baby boomer. It has 10 built in programs which I have not tried, only looked at. There appears to be a good variety keeping in mind that I have no comparison. The readouts are large and easily readable for speed distance, time and heart rate. I'm having to assume they are fairly accurate, I have no way of checking.

The bike is very solid. Heavy, strong metal is used, and it gives you a feeling of stability. The seat post and glide are very substantial. The seat is large and soft, though I have thought of wearing my padded biker shorts anyway with my bony [...]. It's even quite a good looking machine in case you have it where others might see it. Speaking of the seat, it can be adjusted a great distance in height and some in horizontal. My wife is about 5'8" and she has to set it almost to the bottom setting, so I wonder about a short person. Maybe by bringing the seat forward they would be okay. On the other hand, I think a person of 6' 6" or even taller could use it comfortably with the maximum height.

All in all I would say it is a good investment. However, there is one major flaw that you should know about before you make a purchase. If you want to use an exercise program on the machine you cannot also play a game while you go through it. The instant you start a program or switch to a game or vice versa you start fresh. Even if you go from one game to another, or you've been in manual mode and you decide to play a game, you start all over. All the time info, miles, calories burned, starts from scratch. So, if you do want to keep track of any of that information you better not make any changes once you've started. Or, if you want to switch around, then just forget the calorie, or distance count and look at a clock or set a manual timer.

I purchased a Proform bike because I had such good luck with my proform treadmill, which lasted me 16 years! The bike is another story. It did not operate correctly from day one. I finally contacted profom, who sent out a tech. He fixed the problem. Not three weeks later, I heard weird noises, and the bike just stopped working. Proform said it was out of warranty....which, I might add, was only 90 days. I think if you have confidence in your products, you would at least offer 1 year! But, they don't. I privately contacted a tech, who came out and said it was a broken belt. In fact, the belt had not been properly installed from the factory! I notified proform, and told them what the tech said, they offered to sell me an "extended protection plan".....I told them what they could do with their extended warranty, and expected that they would offer me SOMETHING since I paid out of pocket to have their mistake fixed. I have not heard from them since. They are unresponsive, don't care about their consumers, and have no product confidence.

Oh, by the way, now something else is wrong with the buttons on the game console. I can't afford to have someone come look at it AGAIN. My recommendation: BUY ANOTHER BRAND!

The bike is great and is pretty quiet. I can't seem to find a comfortable spot to put the seat in. The seat came backwards, but we just turned the bracket around. The games keep you busy, and they help pass the time. The heart monitor seems pretty uselessinaccurate, but the bike helps to work up a sweat and burn some calories. Just consider what you're really looking for, and you won't be too disappointed.

I bought the bike via ShopNBC, but from Amazon since the shipping charge was 6.95 as opposed to 99.95 if bought directly from Shop NBC. The box was not in "new" condition. The parts were all wrapped and all seemed to be new. I put it together and it really didint' work properly. You were unable to peddle and I contacted the mfg and was told that the magnetic brakes seem to be locked. I also told them that the side hubs could not be locked in. I would have had to pay for the shipping and done the work myself, so I opted to buy a 4 year warranty for 79.95. The bike now works, but the parts they sent for the hubs were wrong, so I am waitng for them. The clamps on the hubs were broken. So was this actually new or jsut a bike with problems? I don't know. Now that it works, I have to tell you that it is an excellent machine and I would recomned it highly. It has 16 resistance levels, 10 programs, and 4 games. It is solid and I had a very good workout today.

bike is very steady. has 10 good programs. you can even play games on it. for the price and free shipping it couldn't be beat when compared to others in it's class. pulse isn't always right but I can live with that all the other gauges are good.

Easy to assemble and of sturdy construction. Zero problems so far. I would purchase again.

I bought this exercise bike approximately two years ago and I still love using it.
It was very easy to put the bike together by myself. Additionally, it's quiet, so I can watch TV or carry on a conversation while I'm working out. The bike has 10 different exercise programs that vary in length and intensity of workout. However, a "manual" setting allows the user to simply push a button to adjust the intensity his/herself. The display is big enough to easily read time, calories burned, distance, and speed.
The programmed games are fun and "keep you going" because the games can only be played while pedaling. However, I don't play the games very often; usually when there's nothing interesting on TV or I'm by myself.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this exercise bike.

The directions to put this together were very simple and user friendly. I put it together in just a matter of an hour and had it up and running with no problems. (and I'm no techinical genius)

There were some drawbacks I encountered however. For one, the seat is very hard so it really is not very condusive to staying on it very long unless you add additional padding. Secondly, maybe because I don't have the upper arm strength needed to tighten it up fully (at the base) the handle bars are flimsy and move when I hold onto them. This means I cannot safely get up onto the bike and have to use something more sturdy to steady myself with until I am sitting on it. It seems I am going to have to get someone stronger than myself to tighten it all up a bit more. And although the item does have games on it, the main timer will reset so you either have to keep track of distance/time yourself or else stay on one single (very simple) games the entire time.

I like the product but it was damaged in shipment. It had been dropped and I had to straighten out one of the tubes on the frame. It is a great work out bike.

Shipping was a little delayed, but again it was Christmas time. Was worth the wait and worth the money paid for item. It was easy to put together. I did it myself. And the whole family is enjoying it (all 4 of us). Thanks.