Customer Reviews

Stamina 7250 Magnetic Fusion Recumbent Exercise Bike

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

 

 

I was surprised there were no existing reviews for this bike, and in fact I was reluctant to purchase it for that reason, but I'm so glad I did! It's exactly what I was looking for. I'll break down the details in depth for anyone considering this bike:

Delivery - The package did arrive a bit banged up, but all the parts were there and nothing was damaged. It is heavy though... my dad brought it over for me and it took both him and another man to get it up the stairs to my apartment on a dolly.

Assembly - My dad (a mechanical engineer) assembled it for me and it did take about two hours. Mind you this was at a leisurely pace while simultaneously watching a movie. It wasn't terribly complicated, just time consuming. The parts all seem to be of high quality and heavy weight.

Appearance - I love the way this bike looks! It has a more sleek design than most. It fits perfectly in my small apartment living room and isn't even an eye-sore. Technically you need about 4.5' (length of base) x 2.5' (width of widest point, the lower handlebars) of floor space. I also love the walk-thru design, it makes getting on and off less cumbersome.

Functionality - It has plenty of variety in it's programs. I especially like that it has two programs which automatically adjust resistance based on your heart rate (the heart-rate monitors are located in the handlebars). The monitor is bright, easy to use, and has all the features you would want to monitor your progress. I also like that it shows which stage of the program you are in. The column flashes depending on which stage of resistance you are at and you can see how many more columns of resistance levels are left to go. This helps keep you motivated; kind of like seeing the hills and valleys approach as you ride a normal bike. You can also manually adjust the pre-programed workouts to suit your needs. The seat is comfortable; not sitting-in-a-recliner comfy, but certainly adequate for a bike. I'm 5'8" and this bike adjusts to fit me perfectly, with room to spare in either direction for other height ranges. The bike seems very stable, has a water bottle holder (w/ bottle) and weighted peddles with optional straps. Also, this bike is partially recumbent which I find way more comfortable than either an upright or a fully recumbent bike.

The Workout - The best part... this bike is virtually SILENT! I am amazed at how quite it is! I don't think someone in another room could hear it, let alone my scary, hearing-sensitive downstairs neighbors (big plus!). If you're concerned about noise than this bike is for you! I can watch my tv at the same volume I would if I were just sitting on the couch. I worked out for 30 minutes today on the "Interval" setting and was able to work up a good sweat, felt the burn, and my bum and back stayed comfy the whole time. Its great to peddle away, watch your favorite show, and before you know it your workout is done!

All in all - LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!

Putting together the 7250 was a workout by itself. I did it by myself except for the 2 times I asked my girlfriend to hold this or hold that. I have a bad back so some of the kneeling and getting up was tough sometimes. Took me about 3 hours. I am very happy with my purchase. Using the bike is very simple. Comfort wise it is very nice. With my back the way it is I went with the recumbent. Its perfect I dont have any back pain using it at all. Performance wise it is just as good as the ones I used at the Y a few years ago. It will definately give you a workout. Its so quiet I have it right in the living room so I can watch TV while using it. I cant tell you the long term quality as I have only had it for a month or so. It is nice and solid though. I am 6' 270lbs and it doesn't seem to be stressed by me at all.

Arrived with a chip in the plastic, luckily it was a part that is on the bottom and faces the ground.
The main frame didn't fit together right and I had to spend a very long time banging on it w/ a hammer to assemble it.
Once together I found that the pulse sensors didn't work at all. I actually wrestled with it to take it apart and inspect the places where the wire plugs meet.
One of the points where the plugs come together had opposite colored wires lined up; i.e., the black wire was meeting the red and vice versa. My best guess is that at the factory one of the plugs was assembled backwards.
Aside from the disappointing assembly snafu and non-functional pulse sensors and programs, the bike is really well made and has plenty of options to shock your muscles and keep the routines fresher.
I use it regularly and it seems as though it should hold up to my punishment, I weigh nearly 190 lbs. and work out w/ dumbells while cycling so I am definitely not taking it easy on the bike.
The intensity level changes are smooth and it is rather quiet for an exercise bike.
I am happy with the purchase and would recommend it if you don't want to spend twice as much for a gym quality bike.

Don't buy online! I am on my 3rd frame generator and 3rd computer panel. It took over 60 day to get the correct parts which put me past the Amazon 60 day warranty. If I had bought it at a walk in store, I would have gotten my money back and bought a quality exercise bike. My experience with Stamina service was excellent. They replaced the most expensive parts of the bike, generator with its attached mechanisms and frame and the computer panel twice without a question. I bought my first recumbent exercise bike, Vision Fitness, 15 years and over 50,000 mile ago before it started having problems. At the time there weren't very many recumbent exercise bikes available. Therefore I mistakenly assume the "Product/Demand" principle had finally brought the price to a more affordable level and the quality was still there but cheaper. WRONG.

Problems experienced:
- 1st shipment of bike (which took 3 weeks): Shipping carton was banged up, but no punctures. But inside the box there was broken Styrofoam. Shipping carton was poorly designed for such heavy parts. This resulted in broken bike side panels. The generator wouldn't produce a load. If this was caused be shipping or poor quality control I don't know. I called Stamina service and they recommended a new computer panel also along with the broken parts.

- 2nd shipment (which took over a month): The bike parts were basically tossed into a box with chunks of Styrofoam and empty boxes. The plastic panels were used (not new)and a it also had a broken screw standoff, load generator produced only one very high load. Called Stamina service and they said they would send me another generator and computer panel. I didn't mention the side panels problem as I can live with it.
-3rd shipment (approximately 2 weeks): Same shipping experience as the 2nd. Bike seems to work OK. Either the mileage or speed is slightly off as I can peddle at near a constant 20 MPH but after 3 minutes the distance is about .9 miles (should be exactly 1.0 miles). A low batter indicator occasionally lights up, but I don't know what that mean as there isn't an obvious place to put a battery. Could be an on-board battery for the memory. Today I had to tighten a crank arm that came loose. I ride 60 minutes per session and I find the seat starts hurting my bum. The old bike didn't.

Bottom line ... I wouldn't recommend buying a large product like this on line unless you are going through the manufacture directly as returning things through a 2nd or 3rd party can be a hassle. Stamina quality, for this bike, is at best poor and I feel they know it or they wouldn't have been so quick to send new parts. I expect this bike to last about 1 to 2 years and then I will spend the big bucks and buy a quality bike, which in the long run will be be cheaper than the Stamina.

I ranked this as a '2 star' because, after 2 days, I have not been able to assemble it.

One of the directions called for a bolt that measures 53mm. There IS no bolt in the package that measure 53 mm, so I went with the one that measures 60mm. THere is no bolt listed on the parts that measures 60mm.... This was guesswork in the second step.

The plastic frame is junk. I can overlook that as long as it works, but, as stated, that remains to be seen.

Presently, the step I am on calls for a 200mm bolt (have those), a curved washer and a lock washer. The curved washer is too small that is provided, and the lock washers are the same way.

The thing is HEAVY, and it requires being turned upside down to get some of the screws in place, or sitting on the floor to get it done. I purchased the darn thing because of mobility problems.... getting on the floor isn't exactly good.

I would strongly recommend getting a stationary recombent bike from Exercise and Leisure where they will assemble it, deliver it and make sure it is working properly for a bit of extra money. It would have been well worth it!

I purchased the Stamina 7250 as it did receive good reviews. It arrived with the standard broken plastic chip near the electrical plugin at the front foot bottom. This has happened to others I hear. It is a bear to put it together, but the instructions and parts are good quality, and it is overall made of good quality parts. However be careful assembling the front and back as the pulse monitor wires could be torn (they run along the bottom frame that you connect). And speaking of the pulse monitor, its not working. I did nick the wires a bit putting it together so I went back and cut and rejoined the area of concern. The pulse is detected but in no way is it accurate. Also I have detected failures in the monitor speed recording. It is recording twice the mph as it should. I have to reset the panel by unplugging the electrical source to get a clean read. I am in the process of calling the company on this, and I will say they are very responsive. But its very quiet, the parts are good quality (except I am concerned about the computer programming in the console). So I have purchased my own heart monitor and I am getting a good workout. The bike operates very well as far as pedaling and resistance, and again very comfortable seat.

I researched recumbent bikes in the $500 or less price range and decided on this one for a few reasons. It was quiet, I like the handlebars on the side, the features, and the seat looked every comfortable.

I actually ended up assembling this bike TWICE. The first time it arrived, the tension would not work. You could hear the little motor turn but nothing happened. So I contacted Amazon and arranged to exchange it. The second bike arrived 2 days later and after assembling it, the second bike worked perfectly.

This is my primary cardio workout and I have it in my living room where I can watch TV. It is a very quiet bike. I can workout early in the morning and not wake anyone up.

The only negative is I could come up with (besides the hassle of the exchange) is the monitor does not track WATTS which is the latest thing in biking nor does it calculate your calories burned based on your weight. It is a generic burn counter so if you are overweight, you will want to track your calories using another method.

Functionally, the bike is comfortable, quiet, the resistance works great, the monitor is easy to use so all in all - a great investment for my budget.

Thank you to Amazon for making the exchange process a breeeeeeeze!

When the bike arrived it was barely holding onto life. The box was all but beat to death and the only reason it had not spilt all its contents while in transit was the plastic straps.

Opening and sorting the parts was really easy, it comes in two major pieces. The instructions were relatively easy to follow using just the illustrations. The problems start to come when it's time to fasten the two pieces together (front and back). If you're not perfectly careful you will rip, break and strip the wires that go from the rear handlebar to the front control unit. As careful as I was (had read other reviews saying the same thing) the wires still stripped and broke, leaving me to jerry rig the wires by re stripping and taping them back together then hoping it would not happen again. The next major issue is the bolting of the center beam into the rear part of the bike. The faring has enough space between the actual holes that the bolt goes in that if you don't perfectly align and insert the bolt on the first try, the bolt and 2 washers fall into the bike and the only way you can get them out is to take off the entire faring which is a major pain and I ended up stripping two screws in the process. If you can get past this it's pretty much a cruise to the finish line except some small confusing issues with attaching the front handlebar assembly. Total time investing assembling = 2 hours.

The bike itself is very nice if it is not destroyed during shipping and survives the assembly process. It is sturdy, comfortable and quiet. The oversize lcd display is colorful and easy to read. I only wish they would have put the power plug on the rear of the bike instead of the front, but that would probably open a new can of worms trying to put it together including the risk of electric shock if the frayed wire came in contact with the frame!

All together very pleased with its performance and look. I am 6'5" tall and nearly 280 pounds. On the max seat adjustment in height I over extend my knees so I keep it one notch lower and it's perfect. I'd give this 5 stars but the assembly was so bad I had to give it 4.

I received the Stamina 7250 in a timely manner and began the assembly process which took approximately 3 hours. The instructions were what one would expect, not good but okay to help with the assembly process. During the assembly process, I found several parts did not line up very well, which created difficulties during the assembly. After getting the bike assembled, I tries the electronics and they seemed work okay. When I got on the bike to attempt peddling and using the bike that is were the problems began. The Magnetic unit was installed improperly and parts were missing, which made the bike defective. I contacted the Stamina hot line and they were helpful. After working with them, it was determined the bike could not be fixed on location, so that said pack it up and send it back. If there would have been a reasonable quality control process, this type of problem could have been caught and corrected. The lesson I learned from this, was to buy local for large item, so that it is easy to return to the local supplier if it is defective. These days, with most things being made out of country, defects are a common problem. Yes this was made in China. By the way, I did buy a bike locally and it was not a Stamina bike.

I've previously assembled two exercise bikes and an elliptical exerciser by myself with little trouble, so I assumed I would be capable of assembling this, but this was too difficult. In addition, there were problems with the bike.

One of the electrical wires arrived with a nick in it. I called customer service. They quickly sent a replacement wire and explained how to replace it. However, I had to hire someone to replace the wire and finish assembling the bike. It was simply too difficult to do by myself.

After replacing the wire, the tension still did not work at all. The computer turned on, but increasing the tension on the computer had zero effect on the bike. Also, the Pulse monitor did not work and the computer displayed a Low Battery message.

Once again, customer service was happy to help. They promptly sent a replacement computer, which was easy for me to replace.

After replacing the computer, the tension and pulse monitor both work. However, the new computer is also displaying a Low Battery message. I've emailed customer service to find out if the battery charges while the bike is plugged in, or if that needs to be replaced too.

In spite of the low battery message, I have now tried out the bike for the first time. The seat and back rest are more comfortable than my previous exercise bike, which was fully recumbent. The seat, however, is not "deep" enough - front to back, for my oversized personal bottom. I'm sure a little cushion of some sort will help.

I like the programs and the pulse monitor feature. Pulse is monitored conveniently from the handlebars at the sides of the seat and the pulse display is useful for helping me stay on target while exercising.

While pedaling, the bike is very quiet! So quiet that I almost forgot to mention it. No noise caught my attention.

The computer partially obstructs my tv view, but I might overcome that by repositioning the bike in the room.

Overall, it seems sturdy and it's not bad looking. Aside from the problems I had assembling it and getting it to work at first, I think I will like it enough to use it, and that's what's important to me. Now that it's working, I have revised my rating from one star to three. Without the initial wire and computer problems, I would have given it four stars. I would still have withheld the fifth star because of the difficult assembly and the little issue I have with the seat.

In all fairness, I must say that the Stamina Products customer service rep I've spoken to twice has been pleasant and helpful and I'm glad I didn't have to return it.