Customer Reviews

Schwinn 212 Recumbent Exercise Bike

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I sampled the bike in Sears and was impressed, and then bought it at Amazon, it arrived 2 day later. You can't beat that. The bike is quite stable, the pedal movement is very smooth. Consumer reports rated it almost as good as the pro brand that is 4 times the cost. Schwinn made a good product here. The instructions were one of the best I have ever seen, everyone should copy Schwinn on this, only a few typos.

The bike is quite sturdy and easy to set up. The gradations in the difficulty levels are pretty tight so you don't get the problems I've been reading about with other bikes where "level 4 is too easy, but level 5 is too hard". I've only been using it two weeks now, so the 5th star is waiting to see how reliable it is after a year or so.

Most importantly, customer service with both Schwinn and Amazon has been fantastic. This bike is around 120 pounds, so shipping to my door is a big benefit. The first bike arrived TRASHED: the box was torn apart and UPS had obviously shoved pieces back in and held it together with packing tape (I don't know why UPS even tried to leave it with me). After my call, Amazon immediately arranged the return with UPS and the next day it was gone. Amazon rushed the replacement which arrived within two days; all this at no extra cost.
The second bike had one minor problem (a crushed heart monitor sensor), for which Schwinn is mailing me a free replacement, no questions asked.

So, you clearly take a risk having something this heavy and intricate being shipped to your door, but I was very pleased with the support of both Amazon and Schwinn.

This is a very high quality exercise and extremely simple to assemble. All of the bolts and washers are in shrink wrap packing and labeled with their appropriate Step number. I am not too mechanically inclined and I assembled this entire bike myself. Really the only complaint I have regarding this bike is that the shipping box is inadequate for the weight of this bike. The box should really have a rigid bottom to support the weight. Other then that I am very pleased with this bike.

This is actually a very nice machine, but it is a little noisy at it's very lowest speed/program. There are a lot of different programs to ride in, and the quick start program means you are up and riding without reading instructions. As for putting it together, the directions are fairly clear, and all the pieces are separated and labeled in their packaging. However, it could take two people to put together for several steps. Also, the box it comes in weights about 120 pounds, so you might need help to get it in and set up. I read some of the other customer reviews before buying, and I do agree with the one thing they all said, Fed Ex really destroyed the box, and tried to tape it together rather haphazardly. All the parts were there, but there were a couple of dings on the bike, but nothing worth sending it back for. All in all, I am happy with this product.

Excellent recumbent bike - beyond quiet (silent really), great seating position/angle, very comfortable, heavy and very stable, good electronics and nice gradual resistance grading. I found the bike to be so terrific and such a great value that I bought 2 - one for home and another for the office. Easy assembly but must be gentle in attaching electronics as cords/plugs at the connection points are fragile. Also, shipping box was too flimsy for a bike this big and heavy. I did have a mechanical problem that was well handled by Amazon from a customer service standpoint. The local Schwinn tech came to my home and resolved the problem. Buy it, put it near a TV and get peddling.

I'm very satisfied with my recent purchase of a schwinn 212
recumbent. Very quiet...very good programs...and very well
put together, considering it's price.

As stated in other reviews, the packaging is terrible and
the assembly instructions can be a bit tricky.

Overall a great product.

I just bought this through Amazon and then put it together pretty quickly. Packaging was lousy, as others have already mentioned, and 3 pieces were either missing or broken, so I had to call for them. First customer service rep was ok, but the next day I found the pedal crank making a sound, and called back, but the next rep claimed that I put the pedals on wrong and refused to exchange the main part containing the gears. I held up the phone to the machine so he could hear it, and he acknowledged hearing the noise, but said I would have to open up the unit and identify the broken or loose piece on my own. The unit came w/ that part already sealed, so I don't know how they can expect me to spend my time playing maintenance technician on their product. Although the product appears to be engineered well, any company that's not willing to correct their mistakes deserves a negative rating.

Well, I expected to have to get new pieces based on the reviews and I was right. I put it all together, but many parts were dinged up a bit - not horrible, but not what I want for brand new. As others have said, Schwinn (Nautilus) was great about sending replacements quickly. However, the sensor in the main housing was not working so the computer shuts off every minute or so because it did not sense cadence at all. Frustratingly, I couldn't call and my husband wasn't as emphatic as I would have been. So, they kept sending new things and we kept trying them until we almost had a totally new bike. Finally, they agreed that it was something in the housing (duh - this isn't rocket science and if you ride a regular bike with fancy sensors aftermarket, you know how they work) - and finally they sent us the new wire with instructions on opening the housing.

I did not pay this much money to have to make all those calls plus put the bike together several times.

All told, it took about two months until we could finally use the bike with it sensing everything correctly. It's a great bike - I'm happy with it, but I don't know what they do at factory or in shipping - they may as well ship you two complete bikes every time so you can get one bike that works.....

4 stars because I like it fine. You have to decide if it's worth the price.

I bought this bike about 7 months ago - my wife and I use it about 4 times a week and couldn't be happier. I wouldn't say either of us are power users - we just want a quick and easy workout.

Setup: It is very heavy - but not a problem to just unpack it on the doorstep and take the parts to the setup location one at a time. If you can handle a screwdriver and color inside the lines, you can set it up. I feel the construction is excellent for a home-use machine. Very stable and mostly steel parts. Minor complaint is that the seat wobbles slightly - doesn't bother me though.

Features: I haven't really delved into the features other than I like the programs - some robust options for me and "Ride in the Park" which my wife likes. The heart monitor works well and ensures I am working hard enough.

Con: My wife is petite and complains that the back of the seat is uncomfortable, but a towel fixed that. I think the seat is comfortable and provides good support. About the third week I noticed a loud clacking as I peddled under peak resistance - this concerned me. However, it went away after 1-2 weeks and has been fine since then.

Great price - convenient shipping - saves me two gym memberships - $70/month!

Very solid construction, feels like something you would find in a top gym. Great variation in resistances, I have yet to manage anything more than half way up the scale. Built in heart rate monitor works great and a fairly good variety of preset programs to chose from.

If you are looking for a robust system you should definitely consider this bike.

It is pretty heavy so moving it around especially on carpet is not that easy even though there are wheels built into one end.