LifeSpan Fitness C2 Upright Bike

Comment: This is a very solid, well-constructed bike that is virtually silent when in use. That being said, the assembly instructions are one of the worst I've seen for any product I've ever put together. Fortunately the assembly is not very complicated, and can be easily figured out along the way, but steps are missing in the instructions. Be warned that if you just follow the steps as written, you'll probably end up having to take some things apart.

This is a very basic exercise bike. It has no programs, and the resistance is controlled by a dial on the handlebar support. Essentially, you get on the bike, hit a reset button to zero out the time, and start pedaling - This starts the timer, speed, distance, and calorie counters. There is also a pulse monitor on the handlebars that is activated by grabbing on to it. The timer and pulse monitor are accurate, but the speed, distance, and calorie counters are meaningless: I generally pedal at a rate of 100 - 110 RPM and at that rate it showed a speed of 3 MPH. 3 MPH is the average walking speed of a person.

In this price range I had expected more features. At minimum, an RPM counter, and the ability to set a workout time length would have been nice. If I had to do it over again I'd probably pass on this bike and spend more money for a model with more features and better accuracy.

Comment: Once we got the bike together we liked it, but getting it assembled was a nightmare. My husband and I are both educated people, but these directions (loosely translated by the Chinese) are HORRIBLE. There are diagrams, but they barely look like the parts you have in front of you so are basically useless. The worst part is there are no instructions on how to install the tensioner. They totally omitted that part from the instructions. We are in the process of contacting the company about this serious issue; as the bike sits now you can only pedal at one speed and are unable to adjust the tension. I certainly don't expect this when I spend the money I did (over $500) on a piece of equipment. Another negative is the digital control panel. It's about as low budget as they come; looks impressive, but is all but useless except for the clock. Overall, - very, very dissatisfied with the instructions and certain components, but the bike is nice and sturdy (its ONLY saving grace). If we can get the tensioner issue straightened out I'll return to this review, revise it, and give the bike 4 stars.....but even as I'm writing this I'm thinking "we shouldn't have to go through all this trouble when we spent that kind of money"....
UPDATE: We contacted the LifeSpan dealer regarding the instruction issue. They were very helpful & responded to us quickly. One of the reps talked us through the missing part of the instructions and the tensioner is now installed correctly. The rep stated they are trying to get the instructions updated because they know they are terrible. Hopefully that happens soon. Anyhow, I'm very satisfied with the customer service and have revised my review to give the bike four stars.

Comment: We bought this bike about a month ago. The delivery was early and in good condition. The bike was a little heavy but I had the delivery person put the box where we wanted to set it up. Assembly was a 4 step process - some assembly instructions were shown in the picture but not written out - but were moderately easy to figure out. I think having the written instructions would have taken out the guess work. The bike is very sturdy and we use it all the time. The display is very simple but has all the needed parameters.

Comment: The bike is very stable and quiet. Assembly was very easy. The bike has nice adjustments for the seat and handlebars. There was some damage to the box but no damage to the product when I unpackaged and assembled the bike. I would recommend this bike.

Comment: Solidly built but heavy. Reasonably comfortable, not too hard to assemble, though the instruction diagrams aren't the best. Seems like it will last a long time. Fairly quiet. Good choice for the larger person.