Livestrong LS5.0U Upright Bike

I spent a lot of time reading reviews on exercise bikes, but ultimately decided on this...I''m glad I did! This bike is solidly built and offers some features that the pricier bikes, like the Sole Fitness B94 Exercise Bike don''t, as that was the other bike I considered. I found a store to try out the Sole B94 in person and was not impressed, especially with it being priced at $250 more. Livestrong is made by Johnson, which is great manufacturer of fitness equipment. Unlike Schwinn fitness bikes, this one is stable and intelligently designed. The water bottle holder is out of the way, the handlebars are sturdy and can handle spirited riding, there is a spot for your iPod to rest, a magazine/book rest, and a display that shows everything you need. One note, they used to include a USB stick to upload your workout data and I thought it was missing from my box. When I called customer support she informed me that even though it clearly states in the manual that a USB stick is included, they have stopped doing that. That was a little disappointing, but she offered to send me one free of charge. You can use any USB stick with it...doesn''t have to be just theirs, but it is nice to have a dedicated one for the bike. Enjoy your workout!

The box arrived looking like it had been drop-shipped. The box had obviously been torn open and retaped. Luckily, all the parts were there and none damaged. It was easy to assemble although the allen wrench provided did not fit some of the bolts well, so I had to improvise a little. Great instructions and the most organized set of hardware I have ever seen. I have had it for about a month, and it works well. It is very solid and heavy. It has very smooth pedaling, and is pretty comfortable to ride. The heart monitor works great so far. It has a variety of "courses" although I have mainly used the manual course.

The only minor inconveniences I''ve observed include the following: there is no "off" switch you either leave it on with the computer screen doing wild patterns (and wasting energy) or you unplug it. That might not be a problem if you have it plugged into an easily-accessible place, but the disconnect from the bike itself is at the floor on one side. This could have been better designed. Also, the inside of my heels hit the pedal pivot-point sometimes. I have to stay conscious of my foot position to keep this from happening, but that may just take some getting used to. While the display offers a lot of information, pedal RPMs is not one of them, and that is what I''ve been used to on every other bike I''ve ridden. I found a pace that probably is equivalent, but it seems that should have been included. Finally, the seat is adjustable, but it is a little hard to move so that my wife has some difficulty if I don''t reset it for her.

So, great performance in the areas that count with a few minor inconveniences that will just take some getting used to.

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Looked forward to receiving the bike and was excited to receive it. However, after assembling the bike I discovered that the power cord on the bike was broken.

I first contacted Livestrong and then, thinking they would tell me it was a shipping problem, I contacted Amazon.

Amazon offered to ship a new bike to me and allow me to return the defective bike after I received the new one. I liked this option as it would not require me to totally disassemble the previous bike.

However, after I made these arrangements, I was contacted by Livestrong who said they would ship the broken part and arrange to have a technician come to my house to repair the bike, free of charge.

I contacted Amazon, canceled the new order, and waited for the repair. Which did happen, all within five days of my contacting Livestrong.

I was extremely happy with the result as well as the service I received from both Livestrong and Amazon.

The bike is now up and running and is great. Definitely a workout and it is extremely quiet, almost eerily so. After using exercise equipment at gyms for so long, it takes some getting used to not hearing machines clanging, people grunting and talking. Very enjoyable.

Will the bike make me lose pounds and inches? That is probably more up to me than the bike but I like the future!

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I shopped around, both locally and on-line, for several models of bikes; I wanted an upright as it is the most similar experience to riding a real bike. This model seemed to get consistently positive ratings, both on Amazon and on several other exercise sites....and they we not wrong.

Set up took about 90 minutes, nothing complicated, and easy to do with the tools they provided, I also used an electric screwdriver to help speed up the process.

I''ve had it about three weeks, have ridden 5 to 6 days per week and the 5.0u has been a pleasure to ride. It''s very quiet, and sometimes silent if you pace your rotation correctly, and nothing like the old(!) manual treadmill it replaced.

The seat is comfortable on its own, but I can see where a gel seat might make it more ride-able and I''ll probably get one eventually. IMPORTANT: Don''t buy the Mongoose seat cover Amazon recommends as part of the package. It''s a nice seat cover,( http://www.amazon.com/Mongoose-Gel-Bicycle-Seat-Cover/dp/B001QXBNNS/ref=pd_bxgy_sg_img_z ) but, it does NOT fit the seat on the 5.0u. The floor mat however is very nice and fits the bike well without taking up too much floor space around the bike.

Difficulty settings are well defined and you can actually feel the change in effort required at even the lowest settings. There are multiple pre-loaded programs that I have not used as yet. The manual settings are also broad enough to offer a challenge to those who already regularly ride. If you want to stand, the settings will let you do that.

I pretty much stick to the Manual setting and increase my workout as my fitness level increases. (And, yes, in three weeks of eating right and getting daily exercise, I can see a difference, -8 pounds so far.)

The electronics tells you all about the workout, your pace, speed, watts, distance, time, and heart rate; and, you can compare, and even download, your last 5 workouts. Work out duration can be programmed by the user; the default is 30 minutes.

Overall, I am extremely(!!) pleased with the Live Strong 5.0u and would strongly recommend it to both those just starting an exercise program and those looking to ride when the weather is not cooperative.

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I have had this bike now for almost two months now. I have no regrets on this purchase. I ride this bike a few times a week to change up my workouts.

If you''re in the market to buy an exercise machine, I would recommend this bike. I love it!