Marcy Air-Resistance Exercise Fan Bike With Dual Acction Handlebars

The bike arrived 5 days after my order was placed, well packed and with good instructions. A large scary label fell out of the instructions that said "This product contains chemical known to the state of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. This Product is not a toy and it's not designed/intended to be used by children 12 years of age or younger." This prompts me to want to call the manufacturer to find out which part(s) they are talking about. I took off a star because of this and the noise coming from under the shroud covering the main mechanism. Not the best way to find this information out after the product has been delivered and unpacked. I hope I don't have to return it. (UPDATE: I called IMPEX and they said the seat material is the culprit if it is eaten. They are required to make the statement by law). I expect many modern devices have similar cautionary notes, most in very small print. IMPEX sent me a copy of the Prop 65 explanation. It would probably be better if they included this notice with the instructions, it takes away any concerns that people might have.INSTALLATIONAfter unpacking the parts I assembled the bike myself in 35 minutes. Everything was obvious and well labeled. I got on the bike and was surprised to hear a metallic noise (sounded like a chain and cog although it uses a belt) coming from the main chassis. I thought all I would hear would be fan noise. I think it must be coming from the mechanism inside the cowl. (Update: IMPEX told me to unscrew the cowls or shrouds as they call them, so I did. I found a chain connecting the pedals to the Crank Wheel sprocket which is where the noise is coming from. The sprocket seems to be mis-aligned and the chain is very tight). There's no way for a consumer to get the shrouds completely off and even then the fix is not an easy one and there are belt adjustments that need to be done (rubber belt and chain). I may have to send this back unfortunately. I'm not having much luck with these machines. I've waited two months to get something. (The IMPEX person was willing to help for sure and I am not unwilling to do minor repair work but this is not minor). BTW, there are 7 screws attaching the left shroud to the bike and 3 screws attaching the right shroud to the bike. The Crank Wheel has a warp in it, as does the fan. The fan is not touching the wire cage however, which is good. The warp in the Crank Wheel causes the belt to move from side to side although it has ribs which prevent lateral movement on the Crank Wheel which is also ribbed). The ribs should prevent the belt from ever slipping off the crank wheel. Since the cog is on the same shaft as the ribbed wheel, adjusting the chain tension affects the belt alignment. Out of interest, the sensor for the electronics is attached to the frame and a magnet is attached to the large cogged wheel holding the chain. I'll update this review after hearing from the suppliers/manufacturers.UPDATE: IMPEX were very responsive as were Plumstruck. They both offered to help. The next day IMPEX called me to say that they had shipped a new base unit to my house. I got it today (Thursday night). I set it up and everything is much better, no warped wheels and the noise is lower and sounds more normal. I am very satisfied and can't wait to get going again.THINGS I LIKEThe seat is reasonably comfortable (I will not be taking a bite out of it) and has a nice soft feel. The display came with batteries although the description said it didn't. I like the large display very much and I don't mind the lack of a heart monitor because I have the Timex heart monitor that includes a strap that goes around my chest and a watch that shows my pulse. Built in monitors are included in more expensive machines and I'd rather use my own. I also like being able to park my feet on the footrests while I use the handles instead of the pedals. I wanted to choose between feet and hands or both. The foot straps were hard to get installed but that may mean they are hard to dislocate (They stay on very well). The transport wheels are very nice to have and they are configured close together so it should make moving very easy when necessary. It's too bad that the sprocket is giving me problems but I would rather not deal with a broken chain sometime in the not-too-distant future, I'm sure the bike would be out of commission for quite a while if the chain broke. UPDATE: IMPEX shipped a new unit so I don't have this problem anymore, full marks to them.I've seen comments about seats but I think that any discomfort goes away after the derriere gets accustomed to the machine, much like riding a horse or a regular bike. Consider the pressure that you feel on your butt was on your knees before and be happy. UPDATE: When you sit back on the seat there's plenty of give and no discomfort.THINGS I'VE NOTICEDThe speed readout displays TWO parameters, speed and RPM. The text is difficult to read but of course once you know what the readings are it's no big deal.SUMMARYA good product for a good price, sturdy and comes with excellent customer service if needed. Assembly is very easy and even pleasurable. No flimsy components. I recommend it. After a few months I can say that I am really enjoying this machine. I am doing Tabata training on it and it's perfect. I wouldn't change a thing about it. After using the bike for a number of months now I updated my star rating to 5, I am very satisfied with the bike and very satisfied with the price.UPDATE: January 2018My wife and I still use this product every day and it performs flawlessly. I've changed the display batteries once since I bought it. Great value. I know it's easy to get out of the habit of exercising but even 6 minutes of Tabata training a day will make a difference given the intensity. I plan to buy a reliable heartbeat monitor to make sure I'm not overdoing things. Still very happy with the product after five years or so of use.UPDATE: March 28, 2019My wife and I have been putting 11 combined miles a day on the bike since January 7th, 2019 and the chain gave way yesterday. I am ordering a replacement chain today. Otherwise everything is good. IMPEX had the chain in stock and are sending the replacement. Very reasonable price and shipping. About 7-10 days. I still have not replaced the batteries for the display.

I have had this bike a little under two weeks, and am delighted with it. First of all, the box it came in was quite damaged, but the bike was completely untouched, even though parts of it were showing through the damaged box. Second, assembly was a snap. I had no issues at all with assembly, except that I did need my own wrench for a couple parts...the wrench provided is marginal. As I was putting it together, I was blown away by how solid it was feeling each step of the way. Now, having ridden on it for probably about 100 minutes total, I am more pleased than I ever expected to be. Granted, the seat does angle down a bit much, and is not the most comfortable bike seat as a result (at least for my anatomy), but it's do-able; I just have to adjust myself back on the seat after a few minutes of riding. I have also ridden a pro-grade Schwinn Airdyne at the PT's office, and this is actually every bit as solid, or more so. It doesn't do any of the clanking the Schwinn does. The breeze from it onto my body isn't as much as I had hoped it would be (much of the breeze blows out the sides of the fan cage), but otherwise, it is perfect. A great workout, solid build, economical. I would buy it again; I recommend it; and am sure I'll get several years of good exercise out of it.

At first I really wanted to purchase an upright bike and I may still in the future if needed. But after doing ALOT of research in my price range, there wasn't an upright bike that I wanted due to reviews and inventory available under $350. I searched on Amazon and some sporting goods store sites as well (even the manufacturers), but felt I would have to increase my price range to get the kind of upright bike I wanted. So I next researched fan bikes to see if reviewers thought they could be as good a workout over the long haul as the automatic resistance bikes are. I've never used a fan bike before and my gym (PF) didn’t have one either, but I was curious to see how you can use them to workout. So I checked out a bunch of youtube videos and reviews of various brands/models on Amazon, and decided originally that I wanted a variation of the Schwinn Airdyne Exercise bike. I was interested in the fact that you can get a great workout for not only your legs but your arms as well, and that the resistance is up to you. I also liked the idea of doing sprint workouts with the bike as well. So since the Airdyne bikes are between $625-$900 depending on the bike, I found this comparable bike on here in December. It only cost me $268 with free shipping (used Prime during my free trial).So far, it's a fantastic bike. It was very easy to put together with two people as they suggest. My brother and I put it together in 30 min and that’s because the base is already put together for you. The bike comes with all the tools needed to put it together including an odd shaped phillips screwdriver. It's very sturdy and in my opinion, can probably even be used efficiently by people over the suggested maximum weight. The bike is not loud at all especially compared to the youtube videos I've seen. I can watch tv or listen to music while doing fast sprints on the bike and still hear everything very well. It is a good workout for the arms like I hoped it would be as well as the legs. I sometimes weight train and then use the bike and my arms start to really burn after a while. The only thing I may eventually change is the seat. They provide you with a wide seat which is not very comfortable at all at first. I'm hoping I'll get used to it like I did while using the spin bikes at my gym. But if not, I’ll buy a seat cover for it or just replace the seat altogether. I can only stay on the bike for at most 30 min because the seat becomes unbearable after that. But I’ve recently been using it for 15-20 min sprints, spinning for 30 seconds as fast as I can either every time there’s a chorus on a song or every few min, which seems to be working well. I’ve already lost 7 lbs in a few weeks of using it and changing my eating habits. Otherwise, I'm very happy with my purchase, it's very sturdy and works well, is pretty quiet for a fan bike and can be more exhausting to use than upright bikes because your arms eventually get tired. Overall, I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a good inexpensive exercise bike. Although, I now see the price recently went up again, so you may want to wait until another sale come up like I did. I would have given it 5 stars except I HAD to deduct for the seat. Just being honest!