Schwinn Fitness Indoor Cycling Exercise Bike Series

Eu havia pesquisado bastante uma bike de Spinning . E essa marca foi eleita a melhor no quesito qualidade, ergonomia etc. Eu queria comprar a IC4 pela conectividade. Mas pensei melhor e resolvi investir na IC3 que é tão boa quanto e tem poucas diferenças que pra mim, valeu mais a pena pegar a ic3. Estava muito ansiosa e chegou antes do prazo. Faço questão de deixar meu depoimento aqui, estou muito satisfeita. Meu marido montou no mesmo dia em menos de uma hora e já usamos, nossaaa perfeita. Até o banco achei confortável em comparação a tantas bikes que já pedalei. Mas comprei uma capa acolchoada. Realmente a melhor bike ergonometrica. Eu sou alta 1,73 e amei. O preço é alto mas considere um investimento. Bem melhor que pagar barato em uma bike sem qualidade … E ficar frustrado depois. O que me ajudou bastante foi os comentários positivos dessa bike. E foi realmente a melhor escolha!

Es una bicicleta profesional. muy cómoda , con mucha estabilidad, suave al pedaleo., muy fácil de armar., estoy empezando a hacer spinnig y por lo pronto estoy de feliz con ella . Es lo mejor que he tenido en casa

This is an update after 3 1/2 months and over 50 hours of online spinning type classes.

I am an outdoor cyclist and figure this bike has now seen the equivalent of around 800 miles on a road bike. I have been reading reviews and it seems that there is some quality inconsistency — mine is great; other folk have problems. I find the bike to be sturdy and reliable. I ride pretty hard both in and out of the saddle (that’s what spinning classes do) and use a variety of resistances from easy (high pedal rate/”flat road) to low pedal rate, high resistance simulating hill climbing.

I have had one significant issue so far — The display stopped working after only a couple of weeks. Schwinn support was good except they mis-diagnosed the problem. They felt is was a faulty sensor and sent a new one. Since the display began to work again a few days later I diagnosed it as sweat getting into the connector (I sweat profusely during the ride and the display and wiring get soaked). So I used duct tape to protect the vulnerable area and that worked. I never did swap out the sensor. More on the display later.

I also developed a small noise in the pedals after about 30 hours. I tightened them up and was good-to-go again. I think it is good to check and tighten moving parts periodically to prevent problems. For those who are concerned about all of the complaints about pedal problems you should note that so many of them are concerning the left pedal. I think some people do not realize that the left pedal is threaded opposite direction. Screwing it in clockwise (normal direction) will result in cross threading and early failure!

Now, back to the display. The electronic display would be much more useful if the cadence information was not alternating with the speed data. The only two true pieces of data are the cadence and heart rate — they should both be in their own area on the display. The speed, distance and calories are not at all accurate since they do not take into account the resistance of the felt brake pad. More brake pressure simulates a higher gear and, therefore, would result in a higher speed for the same cadence. Similarly, calories burned are a function of both cadence and resistance so are therefore not accurate (resistance not taken into account). My suggestion is to move the speed information to alternate with the distance information.

Since the heart rate on the display only recognizes a limited number of HR monitors (and not mine) I devised another solution. I removed the display and for about $10 got the same bracket I use on my road bicycle to hold my iPhone (it clamps onto the handlebars). I now can use my heart rate monitor and my cadence monitor from my bike for an accurate display (my phone). AND it then gives me a record of the workout by time including calories burned. Using an app like Strava I can now keep track of my workouts in a way that I can see progress (or lack thereof).

Another minor issue is that if you sweat a lot, the front fender needs to be a bit longer to prevent sweat from dripping onto the flywheel’s circumference. When sweat from my head drips onto the flywheel it changes the resistance generated by the felt braking mechanism. I made an extension using part of a Weber BBQ drip pan attached by duct tape.

Read my “first impressions” review below for the multiple user issue I discuss — not a problem for me but might be for some!

Bottom line: Great bike at a fraction of the price of the well known “professional” bikes. I have gotten used to changing the resistance using the knob and find it easy to follow online spinning classes and get great workouts. I have had good experience with response to questions, etc. from Nautilus (Schwinn) customer service. Had to wait on hold for longer than I would have liked but I understand this problem since sales have been so strong that the customer service lines are swamped. Exercise equipment became the new “toilet paper” due to Covid-19. The warranty on this bike is great and I am thankful that I found a way to exercise vigorously to keep my sanity until this Covid-19 thing is over!
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This is a “first impressions” review. The bike arrived on time, well packaged and in good condition. Assembly was straightforward (took 1 hour for me to assemble alone). There are two points in assembly where a second person would have been helpful — getting the stuff out of the box (without destroying the box), and attaching the front and rear stabilizers (requires elevating the attach points). Both difficulties are because the bike is heavy with heavy flywheel and those become pluses for the riding experience.
I have ridden it one time so far and the bike is extremely stable, smooth and quiet. It feels like the bikes in spinning class.
One big drawback: If you plan to share this bike with another person (or several) it will be difficult for each to consistently set it the same way each time. There are four adjustments: seat height and fore-aft position; handlebar height and fore-aft position. Only the seat height can be consistently set (pin into holes). The other three settings have no specific position markings and the only way to re-set to the same position after they have been changed would be with a ruler or tape measure. Additionally, these three adjustments are secured by screwing in adjustment handles which cause pins to bear on the corresponding post. They have to be torqued down pretty hard to avoid wobble and, I believe, repetitive re-setting positions will cause failure to lock in the positions without wobble.

After reading dozens of reviews of the IC4 spinbike, I ordered one about a month ago. It was delivered by two guys (flatpacked) who brought the box into my home. Assembly was easy, took me maybe a half-hour (and that was taking my time).

NOTE: I’m absolutely convinced that everyone having trouble with pedals coming loose on this bike doesn’t understand that the LEFT PEDAL SCREWS ON COUNTER-CLOCKWISE. I’m a lifelong cyclist so this was obvious to me—but clearly it isn’t to many people. If you try screwing the left pedal in clockwise, you’ll probably succeed—and strip the thread in the process! (Leading to the pedal coming out pretty quickly.) I screwed mine in correctly, going slow to be sure it was threaded properly, and have had ZERO issues with either pedal coming loose.

My only very minor complaint with the bike was that the plastic guard covering the drivetrain creaked a bit…but a simple 1″ square of cardboard shoved between the plastic guard and the frame fixed that for good. Otherwise, the bike has been flawless. So has the heartrate monitor—worked perfectly the first time and has worked perfectly ever since.

For the cost, the IC4 is a VASTLY better value than a Peloton bike or other more expensive spinbikes. I have no use for Peloton classes, so couldn’t possibly care less about how well it works for those (but I hear it works fairly well if you want to do that).

For my workouts, I’ve been using the app called “Kinetic” on my iPad—this app syncs perfectly with both the heartrate monitor and the cadence sensor on the IC4. (So all I use the bike’s computer for is to monitor my power setting). The magnetic resistance on the IC4 is silky-smooth and feels great. The bike is quiet as a mouse.

Finally, I was not a fan of the seat that comes with the IC4. It’s a well-made seat but too wide (in my opinion) if you’re a cyclist accustomed to narrower road bike seats (like me). Non-cyclists may not think so, but the narrower your seat, the more comfortable it is (I know, it’s counter-intuitive, but trust me on this!) This was an easy fix for me—I just replaced the seat with a narrower one I picked up at my local bike shop, easy-peasy.

So if you’re considering a spinbike, I would absolutely NOT hesitate to buy the IC4 (and yes, it is definitely worth it to spend the extra few hundred bucks for the IC4’s magnetic resistance over the IC3’s felt pad resistance).