Stamina 15-0120 InStride Cycle XL

I bought the InStride Cycle XL for my 80 year old mother who has undergone two knee replacements - this particular unit was highly recommended by her physical therapist - he was right - it is exactly what she needs to keep up with daily exercise and it is well made, easily moved from place to place and easy to store - - not too expensive either - -- I recommend it to anyone who needs this type of leg exercise.

I had high hopes for this cycle even though I had read other reviews. Let me just say they were all completely correct! This product may be fine if you are going through physical therapy or are just beginning to move, but this is NOT a replacement for regular exercise. When I try to pedal faster, the feet raise up off the floor! This is also not that great for under the desk unless you are shorter than 4'10". Your knees will hit the desk. I did not use it for arm exercise, so maybe this is a better purpose for the product. The bars get very hot after 10 minutes of work to the point that I have burned my skin...through pants. I may not be the intended consumer of this product, but I can tell if something is of good quality, this is not. I ended up buying a regular old recumbent bike for in front of the t.v.

I bought one of these from my local Joe's sports center. It does assemble easily and is very light.

I am not complaining about the jerky range of motion / the difficulty of setting resistance (as one other reviewer put it, frictionless or impossible), because these are usual characteristics of friction resistant cycles. The cycle aspect is not bad.

What makes this machine a bad choice for casual under-desk use is the gripping feet-- or lack thereof. The black rubber pads on each leg are not secured in any way; I'd use it for about five-ten minutes, and then suddenly one would spin, I'd lose friction, and the whole thing would slide forward. The constant having to adjust the gripping feet and jury rig the whole system (I tried putting 12lb handweights on the front legs, and that did help a bit) meant that it was frustrating to use. A steady pace would always be interrupted by the spin-and-slide.

If you have a frustrating piece of gym equipment, you aren't going to use it. It's ineffectual and high maintenance.

This could be a good purchase for you if you know what to expect from a friction resistance cycle and have a way to secure it, or if you plan to use it on top of a desk for arm work only. DO NOT BUY for casual, under-desk use.

The cycle broke within a few minutes of my using it. I will be contacting the company for a replacement part because packing it and returning it is a cumbersome task.

This is a durable pedal exerciser. I had bought another that was mad of thinner metal tubing and the gear case melted and broke off. Amazing. It peeled off like clay. This model is much stronger.