Echelon Smart Fitness Bike

This is a fantastic bike for the money! Set up was super easy, took me about 30 mins total including unboxing. The ride is incredibly smooth and totally silent. It’s got a small footprint which is really great if you are in an apartment or have limited space. All the tools are included and there are very few parts in the assembly. I’ve not set up the app yet, but will give the free trial a try. One thing to note, this bike comes standard with a racing seat. Racing seats are not designed for comfort, so if you’re not used to them you have a couple options- swap out the seat, or get cycling shorts which have padding in the butt. I am not a fan of the squishy seats, as they are wide so if you stand up for climbing, stick with the seat this comes with and do yourself a favor and invest in a good pair of cycling shorts. You should also note that everything is adjustable - take some time to try different riding positions before you judge this bike as it can make a difference. I’m 5’ 8” and it’s perfect for me, and I could see this working for anyone between 5’ and up to 6’4” which is a pretty big range for a bike. This replaces an old chain spin bike that I’ve had for a decade and wow, what an upgrade. It’s everything I’d hoped for at a quarter of the price of the fancy bigger name spin bikes. Echelon makes other fitness equipment including workout mirrors, so it is not some fly-by-night company. I’ve been looking for a solid bike for about 6 months and did a lot of research befor investing; I’ve shifted from running to cycling to save my knees and so definitely wanted something high quality. The build feels super solid and as I said, the ride is smooth and comfortable. Can’t wait to add this to my daily workout routine. Excellent value and special thanks to the Amazon delivery person who brought this up to the 2nd floor to my apartment door- thank you for going above and beyond!

I’ll first start off with saying this bike is my first venture into cycling. I went with the EX-5 here on Amazon and saved a couple hundred over the Echelon website. From what I’ve seen, the 5 has beneficial upgrades over the 3 that I see some complaining about. The only difference between the EX-5 and EX-5S (for $500 more) is the large screen which I really didn’t see necessary. I first started using my 2020 iPad Pro for a screen but soon wanted a more permanent solution. I ordered a Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 for the bike for under $200 bucks and I still saved several hundred over the 5S. If the large screen is important to you, then why not splurge for the larger screen! Install was easy - but the directions were a bit vague. Most installation instruction manuals call out the screws / bolts by name, size, and sometimes photos. This isn’t the case with Echelon. To know which bolt is which, you must look in its table of contents breakdown and that is where it calls out each hardware piece. It’s OK, I just wish they were called out in the step by steps. There isn’t very much hardware to install so it makes it almost a non issue. The bike itself is very sturdy and it’s awkward shape makes it very heavy to move, especially while in the box so make sure you’ve got some help to move it. I’d also suggest do not put the bike together until it’s in it’s permanent location. This makes moving the smaller parts around easier. The bike functions well. Connected to both my iPad and Galaxy tab without issues. The on screen leaderboards and data output are really neat. The bike has quite a bit of adjustment for riders of many heights. I’m 6’ and fit comfortably. I find the seat stiff, but not uncomfortable. The classes are really fun and seemingly make time go by rather quickly. The live leaderboards give you something to work towards. You can certainly use other apps / subscriptions on this bike if you want to, but in my findings the app needs to be at least connected to adjust resistance. Great bike - I’m pleased with my purchase.

This is my first stationary bike, so I have no experience to compare to. The bike was fairly simple to put together. Everything lined up and went together as it should. I have now had this bike for around 100 days; and with near daily riding, I have probably about 50 hours on it so far. I didn't sign up for the subscription, so I just use the free ride on my phone to keep track of the time/calories. The bike itself is pretty good; not perfect, but I'm happy. The build is very solid. The seat is not the most comfortable, but looking at the other bikes on the market, none of them look all that comfy. The bike is quiet so far. The resistance feature seems good. I don't know how hard it should be, but I ride with it about halfway. My only real complaint is the handle bars. They have a textured coating which looks like powder coating, but does seem to possibly be rubber-like, as it doesn't seem entirely hard. That said, I have found I have to periodically change my grip. If I don't the circulation in my hands gets cut off, and they go numb because the bars are so hard.

I wanted a magnetic exercise bike that was excellent quality, provided me a smooth, trackable ride and didn’t break the bank. Prior to purchasing, I watched tons of YouTube videos i.e., comparison, quality, price, magnetic vs. old school. Videos pretty much on every decent brand of magnetic bike Peloton, Schwann, Joroto, Sunny, Proform, Echelon and many more. Even the different styles for each brand name. There truly are so many different bikes. I went with the Echelon EX-15 and I got it in the mail today!!!! I couldn’t have been more excited!! Amazon delivered it right to my living room floor. I did NOT purchase the Amazon assembly, just the $9.99 delivery fee to get it inside the house. I literally set it up in less than 30 minutes, it’s so freaking easy and the directions are perfection, exact step-by-step instructions are provided. SO EASY!!! You really don’t need to pay the extra $80 for assembly. While I was putting it together I noticed how superior quality this bike actually is. It’s so nice! Once put together, I plugged in my bike, added my iPad, opened the echelon app and took my first ride on it! Wowza, it’s freaking amazing! So smooth, and literally makes no sound at all! I can’t believe I got this bike for a mere $399!!!!!!! Even more so, I can’t believe people pay $1400-$2800 for other high end brands. Seriously people, if you’re considering a magnetic bike you will be so happy with this bike!!! Don’t waste all the extra money on a name. The higher priced ones simply have a screen. If you already have an iPad use it and get this bike. Additionally, I find the echelon app for instructor led classes monthly fee to be quite high ($40 per month)! You don’t need the membership. Download the app to your phone, set up an account, go to other, select free ride and you can operate and track your workout on your phone. For actual instructor led classes, I signed up for the Peloton classes which are only $12.99 per month!!!! So, download Peloton app on your iPad and whooop there ya go! You’re ready to take Peloton classes on your iPad and your phone will monitor everything else on you echelon app. It’s pretty amazing! And all this for $399 and a $12.99 monthly fee from Peloton. So happy and thankful to everyone who posted YouTube videos and allowed/helped me in making such a great, cost effective purchase! Hoping to pass this info and purchase success on to everyone!

We had the Eschelon Smart Connect bike for over two years now. Here is my review: Pros: -Mechanically the bike is built soundly and runs beautifully. -Very quiet -Fits both me (6'4") and my wife (5'6") relatively comfortably. Cons: -Seat was uncomfortable and we did end up switching it out. Not a deal breaker though. -Bluetooth failed and has no remedy to fix. (Will touch on this later). -Customer Service has been severely lacking. At first, we loved this bike. Both my wife and I use this frequently. We especially liked the connectivity since we track our fitness metrics through different apps. As I said mechanically speaking it is a sound bike, but this cannot be called a "Smart bike" if the Bluetooth fails after only two years. The connectivity was a major reason why we purchased this bike and the nice price point in comparison versus more expensive brands. I have been severely disappointed by the lack of responses from the company. I have sent multiple inquiries on how to correct the Bluetooth issue and a replacement part. At first their answer was to get 15% off on a new bike. This was not a great solution after spending $500 on the original only a few years ago. Then the customer service has said it is checking with other departments since the part is not available. I have to repeatedly send inquires to get any updates at all. This has been going on for close to a month and am very doubtful we will ever get a remedy at this point. Products fail, that is life. No product has perfect quality, but the customer service is what makes or breaks supporting a company and buying a product. I cannot support this product or company going forward. Sometimes it is worth paying extra to know a product will continue to function as expected or at the very least be taken care of if it doesn't.

I've been using an old friction resistance spin bike for years now, and appreciated it's sturdiness and ease of maintenance at the tradeoff of limited tracking capabilities, but finally opted for one of these as an upgrade. So far, very pleased with the quality construction and functionality. I suspect these models have likely been sitting in a warehouse for some time, so keep in mind you'll have to ensure the firmware on both your bike and display will have to be up to date when you set it up. And at the ~120lbs, it's a robust enough frame that my 6'2 210lb can push it hard without worrying about tipping the thing over (lol), which is something you legitimately have to worry about with some of the cheaper magnetic resistance bikes out there. As a comparison, I had bought a DMASUN magnetic resistance bike back in June, only to soon discover that it's very lightweight construction (barely 60lbs) rendered it quite useless for me. You get what you pay for, and i'd consider this bike model to be on par with a Peloton. We'll see how it holds up after everyday use for the next few months. Oh, and if the subscription thing is not in the budget for you, the freestyle mode works fine and provides you all of the realtime tracking and resistance control functions, so you can do your own workout and have no problem with this bike. Edit: I think the low ratings here are mostly a product of people's assessment based on buying the bike at a much higher price. At its sub $400 price currently, it's ridiculously low. Any concerns about the pedals can be resolved by applying a thread locker. I've done so with mine and have experienced no loosening since. It's an excellent bike at its current price and I'm certain you won't find a better equipped one anywhere near this price.

Extremely savvy consumer here, this is exactly the bike I wanted, Peleton quality or better, but not at Peleton prices, and I knew all of that going in. I bought this bike from Amazon instead of their website b/c on their website they force you to buy an expensive monthly membership. I went pure apple fitness from day one, and that's why I wanted this specific bike. There are some things you need to know purchasing this bike. 1. Echelon expects you to buy a membership, like they're going to look at you with two heads if you don't. As well they try to sell you those big TV's on the bikes to make the membership seem more appealing, but we already have a TV, and an apple TV connected to it. To us the additional screen wasn't worth it, and neither was the membership. 2. If you have an apple watch and apple fitness already, and if you have either an ipad or an iphone, this is the definitely the bike you want. My watch connects bluetooth to my apple TV for my all my apple fitness workouts, and I have either an ipad or my iphone connected via bluetooth directly to the bike using a third party app called qdomyos-zwift. This app connects to many smart bikes including this one, and shows things like time on bike, resistance, calories burned, distance, RPM, etc. 3. When you get it home and assembled, you'll think the tension nob is broken. It isn't, don't freak out like I did. Just get the app above, unplug/replug the bike and it'll show up on the app. You'll see the tension nob and flywheel are not broken. Or obviously, if you get the membership app on your phone or ipad you'll see it works fine there as well. 4. I tried the 90 day membership, I prefer all the additional benefits of Apple Fitness over their program. The membership thing is good, they have good videos, but it doesn't outweigh all the new apple fitness features. 5. There's a youtube video on how to assemble this bike. Youtube search for "Professional Assembly Of Echelon Connect Bikes Ex-5 Ex-3 Ex-4." The directions that come with the bike are OK, but this guy nails it. Would have probably saved me an hour in assembly time. Either way, this is a really nice bike. Amazon must sell a lot of these to the local gyms, mine was delivered in one day. Feel safe with the purchase, get the membership if you want it.

I used to have a peloton - ride it for three years very happily. I sold it to a friend because I got really into running. I had to stop running for all the reasons they share you should not run. I decided to buy a new bike but did not want to spend $2500 for a Peloton. So I found this. I just finished my first ride and it basically felt like I was on my old Peloton. Quality, speed, quiet and smooth ride were basically indistinguishable. I saved $2100 with this purchase vs rebuying my peloton. Some considerations: - I still use my peloton app to do rides (I love Ally love). I don’t mind not having a cadence counter because I use the music to adjust my speed. It would be a plus if this bike had one but not something that is really important to me. - set up was super easy - took me 30 min. I did need my husband to help me carry the box up to my office. I did not need his help to move it once it was put together. - something anyone can use - the peloton was only able to be used by my husband if he bought the shoes. I like that this one doesn’t need the shoes so he has one less excuse for why he isn’t working out more often 😂.