JTX Cyclo-5R Recumbent Exercise Bike. FREE Polar Heart Rate Chest Strap.

The wife and I both have joint problems this bike is a great low impact way of exercising. It also as a large range of tensioning to satisfy the most enthusiastic exercisers

You need a tool kit and several hours to build this to find you have to phone them and the parts that are missing. So it only looks like the picture once you have built it over several weeks along with deliveries of missing parts. broke one screw head so part of it is loose. Not impressed. Imagine buying a car to find you have to build it first.

I was after a cheap, but solid, quality exercise bike that could fit in a small flat, be compatible to gym bikes, yet be strong and large enough to accommodate my large frame - I'm a 19 stone 6 foot 6 male, I have arthritic knees, so needed a low impact machine to build up the muscle in my thighs, and also improve my poor fitness level. The idea was to use it while watching TV in the evenings. That was a tall order (sorry for the pun), but this bike fits the bill. I got it on sale - £350 on amazon, a short time deal including delivery, and for that price its an absolute bargain. Its certainly solid, takes my weight ok, and it fits the space I had reserved for it. I'm well impressed There are a few negatives though. Firstly, it took a week and a half to deliver. Thats ok, I could wait, but that might be a problem for some. Second, it needs some assembly. While the flywheel section is in one large piece, it still took me a good 2 hours to assemble the bike. And I was left wondering at the logic of the design. Some screws/bolts/nuts were delivered seperately in their own container - others were assembled into the components - but you had to remove them to fit the bike together. Fine, but why some were separate doesnt make sense - it confused me. You will need your own tools - they supply a basic tool plus allen keys, but to be frank, they arent up to it. The metal frame of the bike is really strong, but the plastic covers arent great. I couldnt fit the screws properly into the plastic on some of the panels. The instructions are poor - a couple of printed sheets stapled together, and hard to follow. I was left with bleeding fingers, and exhausted by the end. The control panel is a bit cheap looking. There's a battery compartment on the back - a warning here, mine was hot glued in, and I removed it before I realised its just a cover. ie, you cant use batteries, you must use the supplied transformer to power the panel. While I'm on that, the power cable is way too short - the lead is 2 meters long - about the length of the bike. So if you are not near a power point, you may need an extension cable. The seat moves backward and forward to adjust the distance to the pedals - its a very nice mechanism actually. A quick release job, so you can put it EXACTLY where you need it. I'm a big man - every car I drive I put the seat back as far as it goes to fit - yet this is the first seat I've used in anything that I dont need to do that - putting it all the way back I cant reach the pedal fully depressed! So extra points for that! Unfortunately the back rest is NOT adjustable. Its at a fixed distance to the seat, which is too deep (!) for me. I use the bike with a pillow at my back so my legs dont rub on the seat edge while peddling. I dont know how short people would manage - so points off for that! One more thing - I didnt get a chest strap with mine. If you buy the bike direct from JTX, you get one free. I would have liked one, but the bike has heart monitor panels in the front handlebars, so its not an essential. I've only just got the bike, so I havent used it extensively yet, but it seems pretty good. The programs are similar to gym machines I've used, so if you use a gym bike, you'll be able to work this one out too. There's 2 hooks on the control panel, I presume for hanging a drink bottle, but I would have preferred a proper cup holder instead - but I guess thats a personal thing. There's a place to put your ipod/phone, and an audio cable to plug it in - but dont be fooled - its just a basic unpowered speaker. It does sound ok though. All in all, its a good bike. Maybe not quite gym quality, but good enough. And for the price I paid, I dont think you'll find better.

I was looking for a recumbent exercise bike for my wife as she has a back problem, but didn’t want to pay a very high price so I decided to go for this one. The bike has a solid chassis and looks quite durable and sturdy. It requires self assembly which took a couple of hours but being a bit of a handy man it wasn’t over cumbersome. The assembly manual is a little awkward to understand but you get there in the end. Some of the add on parts which require screws to join together are a bit tacky. The adjustable seat is very smooth and easy to adjust. I like the options of setting the programme you want depending on your fitness level. I am not particulary impressed with the power cable as it is not quite long enough and I think too flimsy for a bike like this, you need to be careful. Overall I think the bike is quite solid minus some of the niggles I have mentioned and the for the price I paid I am quite happy with this purchase. Not a bad buy if you are looking for a bike to sit back and let your legs do the action.

My family and I are very pleased with this exercise bike. The quality is good, very robust. The only thing I am slightly worried about is the power cable connection. Although it seems absolutely fine at the moment, it looks a little delicate like it might break with continued use or rough plugging in and out. We will have to make sure we treat it carefully.