I’ve started watching my local Craigslist and Facebook listings for good deals on an air bike or rower.
Any brands in particular folks have liked I should watch for? I know the c2’s reputation as a quality rower, unfortunately that’s out of my current price range. I’m looking for a steal but don’t want something too junky that’s overly wobbly to use effectively.
Interested in anyone’s experience/opinion in this area to help me judge when I should jump on something.
Thanks in advance!
For an Air Bike…look for an old Schwinn. Generally pretty solid. Brandon Campbell has a youtube video on his channel about an old one he got for $100.
For a rower…I don’t have as much experience outside of Concept 2. I’d look for an old Concept 2. Apparently, they pretty much last forever. Having said that, I’d recommend saving up a little longer and trying to at least buy a newer (used) Concept 2 rower. I bought mine for $650-700 when it was only 2 months old. It will likely last forever. They are that good.
Thanks for the info. I’ve seen some bikes with handles that have the back and forth motion and there with fixed handles, is this a personal preference or one better than the other?
This is only my opinion, but if the game is conditioning…get the arms that move. The more moving parts the better.
I got a Schwinn AD2 Air Bike. Only had it 3 weeks so far, but it’s sturdy and seems well manufactured, has moveable arms (you can peddle with just your arms if you wanted) and gives a great workout. I’m very happy with the purchase so far. I believe it’s around ~300 USD new, so it’s a good deal especially if you can find a used one. Only con is its pretty noisy, lots of air blowing around, so you need headphones if you wanna listen to music/podcasts. There’s also no heart rate monitor, if that’s important to you.
I second the old Schwinn Airdyne. I got a copper-colored one with the analog ergometer on Craigslist for $75. It’s loud but works great.
I bought a Schwinn AD2. Perfect for home use.
I have Rogue Echo. It’s a tank and works just fine.
I’ve got one being delivered on Friday. Pretty pumped.
I wanted to get the Echo, but there are LOTS of users reporting issues on it being too big and not suitable for folks of smaller stature. Supposedly the issues start becoming more pronounced with anyone under about 5’6", to folks closer to 5’ saying it is downright unusable for them. That ruled it out for my wife. Just FYI in case someone here reads this and considers it.
My wife is 5’1" so I didn’t want to chance it but it looks very nice.
This is interesting. My wife is about 5’5" and can ride it OK. I’m guessing shorter than that and the adjustability of the seat is not good enough.
That’s what I read. Depends on the length of the person’s legs, but as folks got closer to 5’3" and below, the worse it seemed to get. The bike is definitely huge even by Assault Bike standards.
I’ll weigh in in a few days. It sure seems like the seat adjustment would be fine. Maybe the shorter arm length could be an issue for someone smaller in stature?
I have an old Schwinn that had one of the arm bolts shear off. I’m trying to fix it but so far I’ve snapped a drill bit and the battery on my drill died. I almost ordered a new Schwinn during Amazon day but some of the more recent reviews made me hold off and look elsewhere. I was reading about some arm issues on the Echo that Rogue is having and it’s not something I want to deal with on a bike that will cost me $1K+ (Canadian).
Just curious, how are you guys finding the Schwinn AD2 and the Rogue Echo so far?
I’m VERY happy with my AD2 and even happier I didn’t get the Echo bike. I’ve saved money for now, and if it breaks in a couple years I won’t mind ordering another one since my wife, son and I regularly log time on it.