ASSAULTFITNESS Assault AirBike Classic

Handle bars give off nasty rubber-like smell. I have used no odor rubber grips on other fitness products. Such things do exist. For the price point, I should not smell like I handled a tire after use of handlebars. Also, chain lubricant smells bad. Burns my sinuses. Family member had lung issues just from breathing the air while bike was in use. Wait for new smell to go away? For this much money, try a no VOC non toxic chain lubricant. It should not irritate sinus passages or lung tissues of people with asthma or who are sensitive to such odors. So, no, I refused to get sick while trying to air this bike out and returned it. For usability, I liked being able to move seat forward and back. I am 6 '3" and did not use the highest seat setting so tall people ought to be fine with this bike for height. Assembly is fairly easy. Frame feels solid. Unfortunately, seat can move. Lock it down all you like, won't make a difference. The silver shaft that slides into the bike frame holds into place vertically due to the locking screw / knob. However, it has horizontal movement of a millimeter or so. Get going on the bike and it may rock the seat left and right. I kept thinking the seat was coming loose until I just put my hand on the silver shaft and found out it could move horizontally left and right no matter how tight the lock knob was set. Onboard computer was annoying for me. Start to pedal, LOUD beep. It's like a playstation 3, just louder. I need this when it first comes on? Why? I want to put in ear plugs. Then, a little while later, it beeps again. Maybe you need this audible notification for programs like intervals. To just pedal at your own speed and track time, the beep is an audible nuisance. My box came damaged with a puncture hole. Packaging not very good. There is no protection for bottom of bike. The frame rests on the cardboard at the contact points. Staples may look nice to hold box together but they ended up being useless for my box. They were all so loose that once straps removed, box opened on its own. The staples held nothing. The bolts are pre-attached by factory. So if you're looking for all your parts as you check off the parts list, look at the bike parts like the bottom support frame pieces. Each one has the bolt and two washers already screwed into the corresponding hole. Remove them and you'll get a surprise. Red, stinky stuff on each bolt. Dropped out on my floor. Took me a minute to wipe it off. Smells awful! With a locking washer, we need this red gunk? Each bolt with a washer has this red gunk. Smells awful. Burns sinuses. Unpleasant. The four screws for the console are also attached by factory. No locking washers. The console comes in bubble wrap sealed in a box so the screws cannot go far if they do detach. No red gunk on these. As far as smooth, one must define smooth. The old Schwinn AirDyne has a click-click-click vibration as chain goes over the axle wheels. I didn't like that so I thought this assault air bike would be "smooth." It has the same vibration. Every chain link that goes over the fan wheel axle cog sends a vibration through the chain. This makes it all the way to the pedals. From there, the vibration goes out like a shockwave through the bike frame, handle bars, and the seat itself. My mom described it like having her foot tickled. It doesn't hurt in the sense of being painful. But this is not my definition of "smooth." If it is yours, you will be fine with this thing. If you're like me and think smooth means actually smooth, then you may be disappointed with the vibrations. Also, as others have noticed, the bike does make a click-click-click noise. Comes from the fan wheel axle cog. As chain goes over cog, you hear it (and feel it as noted above). Lifecore reports this is normal. You hear the chain go around the cog. Well, question then. Why is bottom cog silent? Why does top cog have to make any noise? I don't know. If you go fast enough, the fan noise from moving air will drown out the cog noise. For the price, windscreen should be included. Lifecore reports this is made of metal, not plastic. I do not understand why that little screen is $40 on the assault air fitness bike website. I do not see it offered on Amazon at this time. $40 for that seems very over-priced. For all the hype about making this bike better than the Schwinn AirDyne ... has the same click-click-click vibrations in pedals, but now you feel it throughout entire bike. Schwinn did not give my family sinus irritation or lung irritation. This does. Schwinn was a lot less money even though bought it over 10 years ago. My dad is giving me his Schwinn AirDyne to use since this Lifecore turned out so badly for us. Bottom line ... responsive customer service by e-mail. Over-priced knock off of a Schwinn AirDyne. God only knows why Schwinn puts a plastic fan in their current air bike models. Allergy issues too severe. Bike should not use materials that irritate respiratory tissues. I don't accept 'new smell goes away with use' idea. New smell, fine. When it burns respiratory tissues, I don't want it there at all!! Use safer materials. Handle bar grips should not smell like that. Neither should chain lubricant. Don't know why stinky red gunk in bolts with locking washers. They don't make nontoxic, no VOC, no odor products for these purposes? Oh, wait, I found a bunch in under 60 seconds on an Amazon search and even more on the internet. Strip bike down to its parts and apply them? Packing this bike up took me over 90 minutes. I'll spend a week recovering from how bad my sinuses feel. I'll be glad when it's gone. PS: My box went through such a ride, I had 15mm of play in the chain. According to Lifecore's chain tension PDF, should be 3 mm. I tightened up the chain tension as instructed by PDF and it would not get to within 3 mm. I had to adjust the chain tension screw on the fan wheel axle as well. Got it to 3 mm and the vibration is very noticeable with pedal movement. So much, I don't like it at all. If the chain tension is lower, then you can have a lower vibration ride (and easier to pedal) but who knows if the chain may just pop off or what. Put it at 3mm and it's a tougher push for the pedals and handle bars. Feel every vibration. Didn't like it at all. My dad's Schwinn vibrates less, but it's noisier. Maybe a zero odor lubricant would knock down the noise on the Schwinn. But it looks like for an air resistance fitness bike, you're stuck with vibration from chain going over cog. If you like that, great. If you don't, you may want to look at different resistance methods for fitness bikes. For the price point of this Lifecore, very disappointed with odors and vibrations. The paint on the bolts is a joke. Minute you adjust chain tension bolts with instructed wrench sizes, the paint comes off. It looks like you scratched it. The paint on the fan shield is also a joke. Drops and pools in places so it's not smooth everywhere. But who runs their hand over it? Me, I guess. For this price point, shouldn't have rough spots from paint drops on the fan wheel guard (the spiral thing you see on the side view photos). Oh, and the wheels to move it around also stink like old rubber toys from when I was a kid (30+ years ago). My mom thinks the smell goes away. I don't remember a single item smelling like that where the smell went away. This bike isn't for people with allergies or respiratory issues. Not in my opinion as an allergy sufferer of over 30 years. Anyway, I think I got it all in there for why I do not like this fitness bike.