Schwinn 240 Recumbent Exercise Bike

Schwinn Recumbent Bike
I love my Schwinn recumbent bike. It is easy to use while giving a good workout.

Very nice
I've been using the bike for 4 months now. I use it almost daily. This bike is very well-built and easy to put together. It is also very comfortable. As someone who can easily jog 10+ miles and is very active, this bike should have enough power for anyone. There are plenty of nice features. The price is great. I can burn 500+ calories in a workout and be totally comfortable. The seat is great.

Schwinn 240
I had two different experiences with the Schwinn 240, the initial and later. The initial experience involved a lot of frustration with the poor assembly manual (pictures with little explanation). What should have taken about 1 1/2 hours took more than twice that amount of time to put the bike together. Then it didn't work properly. The resistance wouldn't change no matter what I did. Two separate shipments of parts and one tech visit later, it was working. The console apparently had a bad connector and once that was changed out, everything worked fine. One note: the wiring harness for this bike seems cheap and flimsy. I hope I don't encounter additional problems in the future. Now the bike works as it should and it is everything I hoped it would be. The ride is quiet and smooth and the available resistance adjustments are more than enough to challenge most riders. There is one other thing that might help you in putting the bike together. They assume you will know that to install the seat frame assembly that you will have to take the seat rail off (7 bolts) but no where is that made clear until you figure it out realizing there is no way to do it any other way.

Great Bike - Schwinn 240 - Wonderful
Review by wife:

We decided we wanted a recumbent bike to start getting in better shape. After reading about and searching for reviews, we decided on this one. A few minor things people discussed in previous reviews were the shipping (box comes banged up, pieces broken or missing parts) and the computer. I did read throughout many reviews that the manuals available on the website were better than the ones printed out. I figured I could work around those and decided to give it a go. Ordered the bike on Wednesday morning 449.99 - 50.00 (instant savings) = 399.99. No shipping and no sales tax. I have seen it around for up to 200.00 more. We were offered 2 day shipping with amazon prime for 0.00 or 1 day delivery for an extra 3.99.

We received the bike on Friday afternoon (this was considered one day delivery - with one day for processing). If you already have Amazon Prime, like we do, might as well take adavantage of it. Box was in PERFECT shape. We put it together later in the day (I had the manuals up on my laptop during the process, just in case they were needed-NOT REALLY). The manual that was provided in the box was plenty (even though it was missing the last couple of pages - (how to install foot pedals, straps and overall check to make sure things were tight). IF it took 45 minutes, I would really be surprised (including unpacking the box and going through everything), I think that hardest part about it was getting rid of all the styrofoam and cutting up the cardboard. We have put a few things together in our time..

Minor issues of other reviewers: We pulled the cords through and held them in place while putting the handle on the bike. Had to take part of the bike apart to attach the seat and then put back together, the numbers/letters of the bolts/nuts do not correspond properly. These issues we worked through very easily. If you know about them ahead of time, it makes things a little easier. I am sure the tools provided would have been sufficient but we used our own tools.

The computer, hubby programmed it (might have taken me a bit longer to figure things out), YES-THEY COULD HAVE MADE IT EASIER-but, its not that hard to operate...Have used it for the first 2 courses and it is very QUIET and very STABLE. It fits everyone in our family hubby-(5'11"), wife-(5'5") and 13 year old daughter-(5'9").

Would purchase again in a heartbeat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some strengths, some weaknesses
If you're not handy, don't buy it. The instructions for putting together are terrible. They are printed on regular sized paper folded in half and the images are too small to understand. In addition, to identify the screws shown in the diagram, you must turn back and forth to a conversion table in front of the manual. It's extremely amateur. In fact, on mine, some of the pages were printed upside down. I doubt if they spent more than a quarter printing it.

The console instructions are equally bad. They are unclear. For instance, you can set up a personal program, but the instructions don't tell you how to access it except to view it, edit it, or delete it. I still can't figure out how to make the personal program record my workouts, and I'm a highly technical person. Those instructions are a disgrace.

I bought the bike because my other one was getting too noisy. This one is very quiet and works well except at the easiest levels. If you plan to use the easiest levels, the seat rocks and the bike makes quite a bit of noise.

On the bright side, it's quite comfortable and sturdy.

I think Schwinn should be embarrassed by their documentation.