Marcy Cardio Mini Cycle

I bought this unit because i like the fully enclosed units. I was disappointed the blonde in the pictures doesn''t come with it, but that''s no fault of the product.

Assembly is quick; you screw the legs on with 4 screws, 2 each leg. You screw the pedals on and you are done. you can use the supplied 2 in 1 tool to accomplish the assembly task. I would recommend you use a bit of threadlocker on the screws of the legs so you will never worry about it getting loose.

The digital counter is a fun addition, it can count the number of rotations, or estimate calories burned.

The resistance knob works on my unit.

Protip: use this cycle on a carpeted area to keep it from sliding out of reach.

Just received it. Solid machine. Easy to put together. The tension knob doesn''t seem to be working. I wrote customer service to see if there is a trick to it. If there is I will post. Until then I will give a 3. If a resolution is provided I will raise the rating. Added comments I called the company to advise when I turned the tension knob something snapped so the tension would not change. Their very unhelpful suggestion was to take the unit apart to determine if I could see what snapped. I, instead, returned the unit. Giving the benefit of the doubt I asked for a replacement which I just received. There was no snap when I turned the tension knob but turning it either way did not change anything. Whatever the tension is is what it will be. In my case, practically nothing. This machine is good for anyone just wanting to increase circulation not for actual exercise. Because there is no tension you will have to triple (at least) the time you planned to spend on it. To be fair, while looking into which mini cycle I would buy comments about tension problems were noted for many of them. It seems to be a common problem. For the solid design, ease of putting together and the fact it doesn''t move across the floor when pedaling, I will keep the rating at a 3.

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So, this item is what it says .... no more, no less. The real issue is that it "crawls" while you are using it. Because it is so light, it moves while you are pedalling which is extrememly annoying. Other than that, it is OK for the price.

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As the other reviews mentioned, I found the unit tended to creep while I used it. I also had trouble with the tension knob and heard something snap the first time I tightened it. I have no idea if the knob works now or not--I can''t feel a difference when I turn it.

The unit comes with no instructions, so I guess what the display means. Additionally, the same numbers re-appear on the display after I''ve cleared it, so it''s probably broken.

The main flaw I found is the design of the peddles: the bolt through each peddle turns independently, so they''re a pain to screw in. And the wafer-thin "wrench" included is no help at all. As I got the peddle bolts nearly tightened, the "wrench"gaped and wouldn''t hold tight to the bolts. The space between the shaft and the peddle is skinny, so using a regular crescent wrench is also a no-go.

One peddle loosened and came out after moderate use, stripping the threads on the shaft and making it impossible to replace the peddle. So now I have to buy an entire new unit and scrap this one.

I''m not impressed with this brand.

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We bought this with a 78 year old in mind. We haven''t set it up for her yet, so we don''t know how practical it will be yet.

We did find that the resistance varied quite a bit within each turn of the crank. With the way the load varied, one leg (or arm) would have gotten much more resistance than the other. I found it very annoying to try and use the cycle with such a large change in load. It felt like I was trying to pedal a bicycle with one foot.

Rather than return it, we took it apart to see if the problem could be corrected easily. The resistance mechanism consists of a belt wrapped around a flywheel. The knob adjusts the tension on the belt to vary the resistance. The resistance was varying because the flywheel was not rotating about its center. Which basically means the belt would tighten and loosen with each rotation of the wheel. If the manufacturer were using properly designed tooling to locate the mounting holes at the center of the flywheel, this could easily have been prevented.

We removed the flywheel, drilled out the mounting holes on the crank, reinstalled the flywheel and then manually centered the flywheel on the crank. Now the cycle has a constant resistance and feels much better.

I''m not sure I really expected more for the price, but I am disappointed to see this sort of a problem that probably would have cost less than a penny per unit to prevent.

Now for the next step....

Hopefully our 78 year old will be comfortable using it while watching TV.

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