Product Description
The ultimate indoor cycle. A solid foundation, Heavy duty components and premium construction will meet the demands of any rider for years to come. Designed to closely mimic a real road bike experience. Quality you can feel, An incredible, perfectly balanced 40-pound flywheel and Kevlar belt system provide a smooth ride. Engineered for the way you move, Highly adjustable seat and handlebars, with limitless combinations, ensure a comfortable riding position.
| List Price: | $1,999.00 |
| Price: |
$969.98 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details |
| as of Mon, 11 Mar 2013 05:09:35 GMT ***Remember, deals price on this item for sale just for limited time*** | |
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #14770 in Sports & Outdoors
- Brand: Livestrong Fitness
- Model: ZMD4000625
- Released on: 2012-08-01
Features
- Indoor exercise cycle made designed to mimic real road bike experience
- 40-pound flywheel and Kevlar belt system combine to produce smooth ride
- Air-fit, road-style saddle adjusts both vertically and horizontally
- Console's 3 LED windows track rpm, time, distance, and KCal
- Dual-sided aluminum pedals and cages; 1-year warranty, 290 pounds user capacity
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful.
By Jabari Adisa
This is a great bike! I'm extremely happy with it.
QUALITY:
This is a very high quality machine. The drivetrain is finely tuned and is virtually silent. The engineering is sound and it looks like they had real riders contribute to the design. The hand controls are, likewise, of fine quality. It would be great if the bars also had drops, like the S-series bikes, but I'm okay without them.
I doubt that this machine would withstand commercial gym-level, 24-hour, multi-rider abuse, but it's perfect for a home gym and will serve the needs of riders of any skill level. Rest assured, you won't be outgrowing this bike anytime soon.
PRICE:
This bike was already a standout in its class. The recent 50% price drop makes this bike a no-brainer for those who are in the market for a spin bike.
DOCUMENTATION:
The packing list assures the customer that everything is included, but the parts aren't labelled so there are a couple of items - namely the stabilizing gaskets - that one might not understand at first glance.
The assembly instructions provide very basic guidance and, in the very minor case of connecting the data cables, appears to refer to a different model than the one I purchased. As always, read the instructions all the way through before attempting assembly.
The owner's manual doesn't give any information on the best usage of the computer. Livestrong clearly assumes that the interface will explain itself. IMO, that's a faulty assumption.
ASSEMBLY (approx 30 minutes):
This would be easiest with two people but I had no difficulty assembling the bike without assistance. For the most part, the bike arrives assembled, in a single box. There's a lot of styrofoam, which was a bit of a downer. I don't like contributing that stuff to my local landfill.
The customer's job is simply to:
1. AFFIX THE TWO STABILIZER BARS. You'll need two wrenches. One should be a 17mm open end wrench, for securing the bolt under the stabilizer bars. You have more freedom with the top bolt. A 17mm socket or an adjustable wrench will do the trick. I recommend the socket. The stabilizer bars only go on one way. You can't screw this up.
2. ASSEMBLE THE SEAT APPARATUS. You'll need two wrenches for the 13mm bolts on either side of the seat clamp. This is super simple but, I regretfully concede, the bracket looks cheap and I'm a little doubtful of its strength.
The saddle bracket/seat clamp is the sole weak link in an otherwise impressive package. Livestrong chose to use old-school seat clamps that appear to have been salvaged from a Schwinn Stingray junkyard. I'm kidding, of course, but I suspect the clamp selection was driven by cost cutters. A design using a modern seat post would result in a superior package. Of all the places where costs can be cut, why do it in the part that suffers the most stress and is the most likely to fail?
It's worth nothing that the bike can support the saddle of your choice... as long as you don't mind wrangling with that cheap, old-school seat clamp. Though it feels strong, I am hoping this clamp doesn't fail me like the one on my old Huffy would. A stripped seat post pretty much ruined a ride.
3. INSTALL THE BARS. You'll need an 8mm allen wrench for the support bolts. The end result is a solid-feeling front end.
4. MOUNT THE COMPUTER. My bike included two Energizer AA batteries. This was a pleasant surprise as I've come to expect very cheap batteries when they are included in the original packaging. You'll plug in two connectors that, unfortunately, don't seat themselves as securely as I'd like. Fortunately, this is a part that won't move frequently, so the connectors should be a non-issue.
The plastic bracket that's used to mount the computer didn't fit well around the bar so I broke out the Dremel and ground approximately 1.5mm (~1/16") off the inner lip of the clamp (where it should close to form a secure loop). That did the trick and, after buffing it smooth with the Dremel, the clamp now fits flush with the bar - as it should have from the factory. Admittedly, this is just an example of me being a stickler for fit and finish. Most customers will be just fine without the Dremel tricks.
You'll need a Phillips screwdriver (medium size) to complete this part of the job.
5. INSTALL THE PEDALS. As one would expect, the included pedals are very, very cheap. I suspect they are included merely as a formality. The intended customer for this kind of bike is likely well-versed in their preferred pedal platform. Toss the OEM pedals in an a dark corner and forget about them. I installed my preferred clipless pedals without any problem.
6. ADJUST. Fit the bike to your preference. Once you get it dialed in write your settings down. This is especially important if you share the bike.
7. RIDE! Upon flywheel movement the computer comes to life and starts doing its thing. Again, the computer-related documentation is absent so hopefully the readout is meaningful to you.
TOOLS NEEDED:
13mm combination wrench (1)
13mm socket (1)
17mm open end wrench (1)
17mm socket (1)
8mm Allen wrench (1)
Phillips screwdriver (1) medium size
NOTE:
a) If possible, I recommend substituting ratcheting combination wrenches for the 13mm and 17mm wrenches. Thank me later.
b) A medium adjustable wrench could supplant the need for the 13mm and 17mm sockets, but the job won't go as quickly, IMO. Invest in a metric tool kit. You'll need it to perform regular bike maintenance.
c) Depending on your pedal selection, you may need additional tools.
POTENTIAL IMPROVEMENTS:
- Better documentation for the computer.
- Ability to output ride/performance data to fitness software. For some, this might be a deal breaker.
- Modern seat supports.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
By William L
Wanted a spin bike to stay in shape during the winter. Didn't want to break the bank, but didn't want to buy a cheap bike that would be unstable and have to be replaced in a couple of years.
I am extremely happy with this purchase. The bike is built like a tank, very stable, and very smooth/easy to ride. I would have given it five stars, but for the following small, nitpick-y items (most of which were fixable with some add-ons I purchased seperately).
1) The bike doesn't come with pedals with clips. The manufacturer doesn't sell these seperately, and "doesn't reccomend" using anything but the pedals it comes with. Good news is that the cranks are standard size, so I bought a basic set of pedals with clips and popped them on.
2) The saddle sucks - it's like a brick. Again, easy to fix with either a new saddle or a cover, but still an added expense that would be an easy fix for the manufacturer.
3)The handle bars have (essentially) ZERO padding, and hurt your hands while riding. I bought some padded gel-tape and wrapped the bars, and problem solved.
4) The handlebar computer is great, but there is no backlight - this may be a unique problem for my situation, but bike is in our bedroom and I like to ride early in the AM before the wife is up, and in the darkness you can't see your stats (on the flip side, the fact that I can ride in the room without disturbing her is a testiment to how whisper quiet the bike is).
5) If you buy from the manufacturer, don't pay-up for the "white glove" service where they deliver the bike and put it together for you. This thing was a snap to set up - took me less than an hour, and the directions were crystal clear.
Again, all of the above are small, nit-picky things. Overall the bike is fantastic, and I would totally buy again.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
By Soilworker
My background: I'm a 39 year-old, male runner (6'2", 180 lbs) who can't really run everyday, so I just wanted to do something with less pounding. I'm not a cyclist and generally don't like cycling and I've had the bike only a few days.
In a nutshell - this seems like a solid bike and I am glad I bought it, and I am putting lots of miles on it. However, if you are tall, then the seat really may be too short, although you may be able to fix that yourself. I paid $800 Canadian plus tax on sale from another dealer.
First of all... I'm 6'2" with long legs. I heard the seat post was a little short, so at the store, I put it up as high as it can go, and it WAS a little short. I decided though that it was close enough, so I bought it. It felt ok for the first day, but then my knee started aching a bit because it was not extending quite enough. I thought about drilling another hole in the seat post, which seems like a viable option, but I don't have tools for that, so I actually took some plastic grocery bags out of the drawer and stuffed them down where the seat post goes and stuffed the seat post down on top of that. I just kept adding plastic bags until the seat was high enough. Maybe not the best solution, but it works for me.
The seat is relatively comfortable for a bike seat, but I sort of have a fat ass, which probably helps me, so I don't really need a gel seat.
I agree that the bike is very quiet. Someone said you could have the TV on at normal volume and hear it just fine. I found this as well, except that I get so hot riding, that I put a couple of fans on me to cool off and of course they make quite a bit of noise.
The pedal straps are sort of weird. I can't seem to tighten them or loosen them very easily. I can't quite figure it out. In the manual, it had a special page for "Adjusting Pedal Straps" which says absolutely nothing about adjusting pedal straps!
Also confusing is that it says to lubricate the brake pad with WD-40 or some other "solvent-free lubricant". As far as I know WD-40 IS a solvent-based lubricant, and for the life of me, I couldn't find a lubricant that is advertised as "solvent-free" so I really don't know what that means. I just used WD-40 like they said.
The display is fine but I can't see it in the dark. I wouldn't want it to be backlit all of the time, but it would be nice if it had a button to push to backlight it for five seconds, like TIMEX INDIGLO. I like how the display gives you RPM, time, distance in miles or km, and calories. I wouldn't mind however, if the display was able to show miles per hour as well.
The heart rate monitor is really neat. You just put your hands on the silver tabs on the handle bars and within five seconds your heart rate comes up (if your hands are reasonably dry). However, when I was riding, I quickly found myself stressing out about my RPM dropping or my heart rate dropping, so I covered that stuff up with some paper so that I can only see the distance. I decided I wanted this to be more of a somewhat-relaxed-watch-TV kind of thing. I don't want to go in bike races and stuff, so I just give myself a distance goal and work on that.
I don't like that the display resets the parameters (mileage and time) automatically after a period of time, because I would rather reset it myself when I'm ready. For instance, maybe I want to bike 50 miles for the day, so I might bike 12.8 miles in the morning, and when I come back a few hours later I want the display to read 12.8 so that I don't have to write it down or try to remember. Then at the end of the day when I'm done, I can reset it myself. Unfortunately this isn't how it works.
I should mention, I was originally going to buy the LIVESTRONG LS5.0U bike. The seat on that bike actually did go high enough for me, and I like the idea of magnetic resistance, rather than friction. However, when I tried it out it just didn't feel like I was riding a bike. It felt like a piece of exercise equipment, where you happen to be pedalling. I guess it was just the positioning of the seat and handlebars in relation to the pedals. I know those can be adjusted somewhat, but I didn't see how it was going to work for me. Plus the seat is so wide, I kind of felt like I was "waddling". It was OK, but not a good bike simulator. The LS9.9IC is a pretty good simulator.
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