I recently injured my knee, and was told I would be on crutches for 6 weeks. I normally use a Deskcycle for exercise, but with my injury that is out of the question for a while. I have been quite happy with this arm bike. It's not perfect in every way, but I still think it rates 5 stars.
I like it because I am able to keep exercising while my knee heals, it feels like am doing a worthwhile exercise (you can definitely break a sweat using this), and when I'm done it folds up very quickly and easily. You can pedal backwards (working on different muscles) and the counter counts both directions (some don't). I have back problems and my one big concern was that an arm bike would be jarring for my back, or would require bending forward in a way that my back wouldn't like - I am happy to say that using this arm bike has not bothered my back at all - there is no over-reaching or jarring motion. I can settle in to my desk chair with my back fully supported and pedal away. If I tighten the tension knob a lot, making it harder to pedal it does stress my back a bit, so I only tighten it some and focus on pedaling longer instead of harder. Even after I no longer need the crutches I will probably keep using this for my arms, it's easy to do and it's a good way to increase arm strength without compromising my back.
Why isn't this bike perfect? At first, right out of the box I couldn't get the display to work. I opened up the panel thinking maybe it had a bad battery, but the battery had just slipped out a bit in shipping. I re-centered it, and the display works perfectly now. The feet aren't super grippy on my slick wood desk, it slides a bit, but it's no big deal. The metal part of the pedals gets pretty warm after pedaling for 30 minutes or so, but I just don't touch the metal bits when I'm done. My hands are already a bit tender from the crutches, so the pedals are a bit too hard for comfort during a 30 minute session - I just added some wrist sweatbands to pad them a bit.
Word of advice - if you have a Fitbit, be sure you take it off before using the arm bike or it will seriously mess up your steps for the day. Ooops! I have a sticky note on my arm bike so I remember to take it off before starting. You can log your arm bike exercise as a Custom Activity on your Fitbit dashboard, and the readout on this arm bike gives you time and calories so you have everything you need to properly log it. I checked around on the web for calories used on an arm bike and this bike's count seems to come in at the correct range.
| Brand | Drive Medical |
|---|---|
| Special Feature | Distance Travelled Monitor, Foldable |
| Color | Black |
| Power Source | Battery Powered |
| Recommended Uses For Product | Indoor |
| Item Weight | 5 Pounds |
| Material | Plastic |
| Product Dimensions | 15"D x 16.5"W x 17"H |
| Maximum Weight Recommendation | 350 Pounds |
| Model Name | RTL10273 |
| Maximum Height | 12.5 Inches |
| Minimum Height | 17 Inches |
| Item Package Dimensions L x W x H | 15.3 x 15 x 7.1 inches |
| Package Weight | 3.11 Kilograms |
| Item Dimensions LxWxH | 15 x 6.5 x 17 inches |
| Brand Name | Drive Medical |
| Warranty Description | Limited Lifetime Warranty |
| Suggested Users | Exercise |
| Number of Items | 1 |
| Manufacturer | Drive Medical |
| Part Number | RTL10273 |
| Size | Universal |
