Schwinn Airdyne Bike Series

I have been a serious bicyclist for 40 years. I enjoy riding one of my six bicycles outside when the weather permits. But as I have gotten older, my enthusiasm for exercise riding outside in 45 degree rain has dropped. This describes the typical weather in Seattle for about five months of the year. So as to maintain my cycling fitness, I had put one of my surplus mountain bikes on rollers, next to my Concept C rower, and used that for my indoor bicycling exercise. I was never that happy with the roller, since it was not as fluid nor offered as much resistance as riding outside. For quite a few years I had used a Precor recumbent exercise bicycle but gave it away since I felt the recumbent position did not prepare me well for riding my upright road/mountain bicycles outside.I had used a Schwinn Airdyne at the Y occasionally and always liked it. I had looked for one on our local Craigslist and never saw anything I wanted. So when this came up on the Deal of the Day, I did some quick online research and snapped it up immediately. The shipping box was somewhat beat up and had a puncture in it, and it does weigh around 120 pounds in the box, so get some help bringing it into the house if you cannot handle that weight safely by yourself. I opened the box and inspected and laid out all the parts downstairs and brought them upstairs to my exercise room for assembly. The frame assembly is the largest and heaviest piece, weighing around 80 pounds or so. I thought the assembly instructions were simple and the assembly hardware and tools secured to a card was a great idea. It took me about 30 minutes to assemble, but then again, I do all of my own bicycle mechanic work. I do recommend taking the bicycle saddle clamp mechanism out of the saddle and putting the saddle post bracket separately onto the knurled saddle post. I used a small hammer to tap it down so that it was fully seated onto the knurled saddle post. I could not get the saddle fully seated while trying to mount the saddle with the clamp still on the saddle. The saddle does not slip once the bracket is fully mounted and the screw and bolt is tightened.The electronic monitor did get somewhat crushed during shipping and did not work. I have been waiting a little over a week and have not yet heard from Schwinn regarding a replacement. All other parts arrived in perfect condition.The Airdyne AD6 is a joy to use. It is built like a tank, is quiet and is rock solid during use. I use a Polar heart rate monitor and have no problem in getting my heart rate into the target zone. From an exercise standpoint, it is a bonus to be able to work your upper body with the handlebars which helps with my Tabata intervals. This feature was why I bought the Airdyne over a spinning bicycle. It would be great if there was a way to mount one of my road saddles on the Airdyne.I think the Airdyne AD6 will meet my requirements for cardio and general fitness, and will keep my legs in reasonable bicycling shape during the winter months. I would recommend this model.Edit on 1/19/13: I had to call Schwinn about the damaged electronic monitor since they were not returning my additional emails asking about the monitor replacement. It turns out that for warranty support, you have to first register your bike with them. Completing the electronic registration process online is insufficient. They also require a copy of your receipt or invoice. The website does not mention this nor did their initial email to me. I took a screenshot of my Amazon invoice and emailed it to them. This satisfied them, but if I had not called to ask why my emails were not being returned, I would have waited forever, apparently.Also, the Serfas bicycle saddle pad (exerciser), sold elsewhere on this site, does fit the Airdyne AD6 saddle.Finally, the bike continues to be a joy to use and is as solid as a rock

The bike was well packaged and the box was in perfect condition upon arrival. Assembly was very straightforward. I did have an issue with one of the cables that connect the display panel falling inside the frame. This was a real pain in the butt and almost ended with the bike being returned but I was able to fish it out of the frame and complete the assembly. Once assembled I was very impressed with the build quality. Very solid, doesn't move around at all, even with me going as hard as I can. I'm a big guy and I can honestly say this thing is a solid as my commercial Lifefitness bike and my Stairmaster freeclimber. Kudos to Schwinn for creating a serious bike that will hold up under intense use.That being said, it is extremely smooth in use. The belt drive is very direct with no driveline lash or noise. The handlebar arms are made of heavy gauge steel and are very solid with no free play or slop at all. The display is very intuitive and easy to use, with all information available at a glance. I really like the speedometer setup as it's easy to read and leaves a hash mark at the highest recorded speed which is very helpful. I only wish the display was backlit. It would make those early morning sessions a little more convenient if I didn't have to turn on all the lights on order to read the display. This seems to be a common thread with all of these type of books. One other thing to note, the heart rate monitor will not work with a coded chest strap. I have a Polar H10 which will not connect to the bike telemetry. I ended up purchasing a Polar T34 which is non coded and works perfectly. Also of note, the seat isn't great but it's not terrible. I may replace it in the future. The rubber coating on the handlebar arms is heavy duty and feels nice in hand. There's plenty of seat adjustment range both vertical and fore and aft. Honestly, just very satisfied with this bike and I find it to be a worthwhile purchase that I will get a lot of use out of. Speaking of use, this thing absolutely provides a killer cardio workout. I've been using the 20/10 interval training routine that is one of the presets and it absolutely kicks butt. I'm able to burn as many calories on this in 15 minutes as I can on my lifecycle in a half hour. It gets my heart rate up in a hurry and keeps it there.Bottom line, if your looking for a quality airdyne style bike for HIIT training, look no further. This thing is the real deal.Update: After a couple months with this machine I really love it. It's gotten me in better shape than I've been in for a very long time. It's very well built, quiet, smooth due to the belt drive system and enjoyable to use. The only negatives iare the stock seat isn't comfortable at all which I promptly replaced with a Velmia memory foam touring seat which I purchased on Amazon (awesome seat byw, made a huge difference) and the heart rate monitor is very inconsistent. It works when it feels like it. It cuts out during workouts or sometimes won't work at all. It also reads about 10 bpm high at all times. I called Schwinn and they promptly sent out a replacement console but to no avail. same issue. tried multiple heart rate straps, all uncoded with the same result. Just to be certain, I tried them on other machines and they all worked perfectly. I just use the polar app on my phone. kind of a pain but it works. not a deal breaker. bottom line, Great machine with a coupe flaws. I'd buy it again in a second.