231 Recumbent Bike Review

Schwinn 231 Recumbent Bike Review
Schwinn 231 Recumbent Bike Rating: 5 Stars out of 5 for offering high end features for less than $600
Price: $549.00
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Hello Readers!

I just finished up a very relaxing weekend in anticipation of the very busy Smash Bros. Brawl Release wiikend I have planned. People will come over, there will be plenty of beer, and it will end with many hours of Smash Bros. Brawling! I better stop day dreaming and get down to my review of the Schwinn 231 Elliptical Trainer.

It’s no secret that Schwinn Fitness is one if my favorite brands of fitness equipment. (Spirit and Horizon Fitness are a couple others.) When you Schwinns’ history, it’s no wonder why. Schwinn has been in the cycling business since 1895 and remains one of the top fitness equipment companies in the world. With their large pool of resources and decades of experience designing and manufacturing fitness equipment, Schwinn has produced some of the best recumbent bikes in the world.

The 230 Recumbent Bike lives up to Schwinn’s long track record of quality and value. The drive system is extremely smooth, and by smooth I mean baby bottom smooth. I’ve had problems with poorly built recumbent bikes in the past that scrape and scream out a piercing “chhhhrrrrr” noise every revolution the pedals make at medium to high speeds or higher resistance levels. Scraping, screeching recumbent bikes make for a very unpleasant exercise experience and difficult to listen to my ipod or watch TV. The Smooth design of the Schwinn 231 Recumbent Bike adds longevity to your machine. The scraping will wear the finish off of internal parts and likely lead to rusting.

The Schwinn 231 Recumbent Bike comes with built in heart rate control. Heart Rate Control enables users to target and stay within a specific heart rate by forcing the user to pedal harder or easier. It’s great for people who have a specific goal such as weight loss because the human body can better burn fat within a certain heart rate range. I’m also extremely pleased to finally see heart rate control on an exercise bike. I can’t figure out why manufacturers aren’t offering heart rate control on at least a few of their models as standard practice. This is one of the most unique features of the Schwinn 231 Recumbent Bike and one of the reasons why I’m rating it so high.

There’s a couple more things I want to mention. The Schwinn 231 Recumbent Bike includes a cooling fan. I really like this add in because this feature is generally peculiar to treadmills and ellipticals. The built in cooling fans are definitely a people pleaser and has definitely pleased this recumbent bike reviewer. There’s 10 fitness programs that help users target cardiovascular endurance and weight loss; great for people who don’t know where to start or how to train. Just get your diet together and you should reach your fitness goals in no time flat.

Price wise, $549 is more than justified. Most recumbent exercise bikes in this price range offer similar or inferior performance and features while lacking heart rate control. Heart rate control definitely puts the Schwinn 231 Recumbent Bike far ahead of the exercise bike pack. This is one of the best recumbent bikes on the market and we highly and enthusiastically recommend the Schwinn 231 Recumbent Bike.