ProForm Le Tour De France (2012 Model)

The customer support is terrible, my machine has been broken for 6 weeks, the support to fix it is non existent. They send the wrong parts, the reps don''t have the right tools. Finally a mechanic showed up today, the parts sent by pro form were wrong so now I have to wait another 2 weeks for the parts to ship and arrive. I have had to replace the computer once already, I have hadthe bike less than 6 months and have been able to use it for less than 4. Not worth the investment. I m very frustrated by their lack of desire to support.

19 January, 2013 Update...

The bike itself is still solid BUT if you are considering this bike primarily for all the "great" iFit integrations (like the rest of us) be sure to check out iFit on Facebook/Twitter before you buy to see all the customer complaints launched since they upgraded their platform...hard to believe that they''re even still in business at this point.

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Original 2012 Review...

Ordered the new ProForm TdF 2012 (Gen2) bike on Saturday morning from the beach via iPhone app. An additional $3.99 for next day Amazon Prime shipping and the bike delivered to my home via UPS at 10am Monday morning! Signature was required at delivery due to price. Large box, very sturdy packaging. Weighed in at approximately 160lbs so my UPS guy was happy to see I took the morning off of work to help him carry it up to my third floor walk-up.

Assembly was fairly straight forward. Attach stand/stabilizers, handlebars, console, bottle holder, seat post, seat, pedals...done. All hardware and corresponding hex key was included in box. Additional tools needed were a phillips head screwdriver and a ratchet for a bolt on the seat. Two people would greatly ease assembly but I was able to do alone. I''m 6''-2", 200lbs and once assembled the bike felt well put together and very sturdy. No initial concerns with overall build.

Powered bike on, iFit console went through booting process and bike through incline/decline test. All checked out. Easily connected to my home wifi network. Checked for firmware update and already had current version. Next I logged into my new iFit account. No problem there. Was able to download my next scheduled workout and was off and riding.

I''m still tweaking seat post, seat and handlebar positions trying to find a sweet spot but during the ride, again, bike felt very sturdy. The gear paddle shifters are a very nice feature but can be non-responsive at times, get stuck at times, and I do have some worry that they could fail/break easily. Incline/decline worked without issue and was a pretty neat feature.

The console itself, with tiny 3.5" iFit screen, stodgy buttons and the loaded software is underwhelming. The concept, with the maps integration, is a great idea but for the overall price and the current state of tablet/touch technology it feels like a swing and a miss. What will be key here is the iFit LIVE feature to project street view rides onto your iPad or Internet enabled TV. I''m currently using Satechi SCH-121 Cup Holder Mount to mount my iPad in the cup holder. Don''t love the fit and miss my water bottle but it will do for now. When testing with the iPad 1, Safari constantly crashed during the ride. iPad 3 works much better with minimal crashing. When it works this is a pretty cool feature...I''ve biked stages in the Champs, Central Park, Chicago Lakefront, Monterrey Coast and the National Mall in DC already.

Another issue experienced is that every now and then my iFit login credentials are dropped from memory. Thanks to a tip from David in my comments, I''ve lowered the time and frustration to fix this but still a pain when you''re ready to ride and have to wait! The bike really needs a firmware update.

In sum, like others have said...when it works as planned it is a great concept, a great bike thus far BUT for a 2nd generation and the money spent there should not be some of these issues/bugs. Online support and knowledgebase resources are pretty thin too.

UPDATED: 3 August, 2012

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I purchased this bike for my wife for Christmas, along with the in home installation and 3 year service warranty in total close to $2000. We received the bike 1 week later, and the installers had it setup in a few minutes. Wow! We were excited! I was happy to see the bike connect to my secured WiFi network (given the comments I''d read about this issue), and completed the firmware update. I then started the incline calibration. The bike moved to complete incline position, stopped, and then started moving to complete decline position. When it reached this position, there was a loud pop (like an electronic component exploding) and a large spark shot out the side of the unit. It has been in the full decline position since, and does not work. Customer support was responsive, and offered to send replacement parts (which currently are, and have been, out of stock). Given that we spent close to $2000 on this product, and the nature of the problem, we asked for a replacement bike. But, that''s not ProForm''s policy. Now we have to wait for the replacement parts and a service call to see if this bike actually works as advertised. Unfortunately, this will be well past the 30-day warranty. It''s unfortunate that a company is comfortable putting their customers in this position. We''ll see what happens.

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Since I pulled it out of the box the speed, cadence and watts have been way off. For example, it says that I can do 19 mph for 1.00 hour on a 14% incline with my average watts at 950. Or I can do 10 miles in under 15 minutes. Every ride shows all of critical training indicators way off so it renders my training on the bike useless because I can''t get real reads on my efforts. I called support and at first they were very responsive agreeing it was a problem and sending me parts to replace. I replaced them and the problem persisted. I contacted support again and their tone had changed to "there''s nothing wrong with the bike, they''ve never heard of this out of all the thousands of bikes sold and I must be reading it wrong and there''s nothing they can do." Reading it wrong??!!! This came from a manger and the decision was final.

So now I''m stuck with what I thought was going to be a real training machine for a serious cyclist but turns out to be something that works for people who don''t care about accurate cadence, speed, or watts.

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UPDATE: The part was received and installed. The bike is functioning like it did out of the box.

When this thing works, I love it. This bike is an excellent replacement for the road. Great workout.

I am hopeful that my defective part was an anomaly. I am appreciative for the replacement part.

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I provide a single star because the first seven rides were everything that was promised. When the bike works, it is great; however, ...

After seven rides, the mechanism that adjusts the incline failed. I contacted Proform. They agreed the mechanism was faulty, and they placed the part on order. After 4 weeks, I inquired as to the status. I was told the part was still unavailable, but the representative would make a request to disassemble an existing bike to provide the part. Two weeks later I have heard nothing.

Proform''s email customer service is responsive within 2 days; however, the phone customer service has been completely unavailable and unsatisfactory.

What to do? I have a $1,000 bike that cannot be used. I bought the bike to rehab from ACL surgery, but now I am returning to my trainer and actual road work.

Very, very disappointed.

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