dr mja Say: proform 290 spx bike lowest price
perfect excpet for the painful bone-chilling sqeaking brake, 2011-01-30
This review is for: proform 290 spx bike lowest price
the price and performance are perfect and i say this as an indoor cycling instructor who has owned the $1500 version of these bikes BUT....after a few weeks of riding the brake pads begin humming against the fly wheel and then sqeaking and then driving one mad...when ever the resistance is increased toward heavy (to simulate a hill). i paid a repairman 3 times to fix this and there was no fixing it. i called to request new brake pads and they are out of stock but they promised to send new ones when they are back in stock. my 3 friends who I encouraged to also buy this bike are having the same issue. this is not a mild soft hum this is painful bone-chilling sqeaking. so you end up decreasing the resistance which is not the point of having a trainer, right? ultimately i have to say unless the company figures out how to fix this, you should look for another bike.

Ken I Say: proform 290 spx bike lowest price
Great trainer for a great price, 2010-11-29
This review is for: proform 290 spx bike lowest price
After reading the reviews on Amazon.. I decided to order this spin trainer for my in home workouts. I've used the spin bikes and classes at Golds Gyms for over 10 years but wanted something at the house so when I don't have time to drive to the gym, I can have a quick spin at home.. I could save over an hour of my busy schedule if I could do this.

free shipping from amazon took about a week. had a day extra because of thanksgiving. but I was emailed stating the shipping delay. the package came when scheduled and was pretty happy with time it took to ship.

box arrived a little dented up and had extra packing tape on box.
let me tell you.. this box is heavy.. thus the reason for the dented box.. I'm use the UPS guys bitched and cussed loading and unloading this item from the warehouse all the way to my house :) so for the weight of the box.. I'd say the box was pretty typical of other shipments of this size and weight.

un packing and assembly. strongly suggest a box knife for opening the box.. I cut off all the seam tape and the non stapled sides of the box. I made sure I didn't damage the box incase I needed to return. no problem. unfolded the box and pulled out the nicely insulated packaging around the bike. no damage was found and everything look good for assembly.

assembly took no time at all.. Maybe 15 minutes. the bike comes with assembly tools but they are cheap and flimsy.. I used my own tools so that I could do a decent job with tightening the bolts. one issue I found was the handlebar stem still had some side to side movement after it was completely tightened. the bike has a plastic bushing to snug the stem into the frame but there is a slight gap. I solved this my using a slim piece of aluminum as a shim to tighten it up. there are other ways to reduce the gap but this was quick and easy. you could also take a hammer and "shape" the side of the frame for the stem fit tighter... but.. I didn't want to do that just yet.

set up. bike set up pretty easy and the numbering and adjustment holes are pretty close to the same numbered adjustments I use on the bikes at Golds Gym.
though I think if you are under 5'2" you might be too small for this bike. at 5'11" the adjustments are right in the middle so this bike should fit a large range of peoples size.

Operation: bike is new so the adjustments are a little tight. and the adjustment knob is a little hard to turn.. I'll see how it is after I put a few hours on the bike to see if things loosen up a little.

Seat: what stock bike seat is comfortable?? I found this seat on the bike about even with the seats at the gym.. I'll probably get a gel seat cover so I don't have to wear my bike shorts to spin.. but overall. it was as expected.

spinning was good. push and pull spinning is pretty smooth and nothing that felt funny. standing was no problem after getting the bar stem gap fixed. bike feels really stable when cranking hard.

Pedals and straps are OK.. fit my size 11 mens shoe fine. but just at the edge of fitment being too short.. this is not really a problem as I prefer the clip pedals and will change the stock pedals out to the ones I like.

Overall.. I give this a good buy.. sub $300 shipped spin bike. close to gym quality build. I think if you are an average person to maybe a experienced bike rider.. this would work great..

RM Say: proform 290 spx bike lowest price
Exactly what I was looking for, 2010-11-04
This review is for: proform 290 spx bike lowest price
I generally don't enjoy cardio exercises, so I was looking for something that I could fit in my apartment that isn't an eyesore, doesn't have to be folded or stored away, quiet (I live on the 2nd floor), and fun to use. I love the compact size of this bike because it fits in the corner of the living room. It is very quiet and extremely easy to get a good cardio workout on. I purchased a gel seat, a heart rate monitor, the digifit connect (which is also excellent) for iphone, along with the ispin app for iphone. With this set-up, I can create my own workouts, or use the ispin program guide. The bike was easy to put together, feels really solid, and is very well designed. I can get a serious cardio workout in my living room while watching tv or blasting music. I really love this bike and have finally found a cardio exercise that I enjoy.