To this day the Schwinn Airdyne remains a unique concept, though others have tried to imitate but haven’t really succeeded in doing. The Airdyne bike by Schwinn does have some features that are nice but it also lacks some that many would want in an exercise bike in this price range. It’s a good piece of equipment but it’s not going to be for everyone.

The first thing you’ll notice about the Schwinn Airdyne is the way it looks; with its large wheel it’s not like any other exercise bike you’ve seen before, and you won’t have seen the two independent arms either. It really does look like some archaic Victorian contraption. But, looks can be deceiving and one should never judge by first appearances.

The Airdyne exercise bike has been designed to work both the upper and lower body. Obviously, you work the lower part by cycling, but it also works on your upper body, as the independent handle bars move back and forth, just like the way an elliptical trainer would do. Another feature that is fairly unique is the use of air resistance. On cheap machines the resistance is set by manually adjusting a belt, whereas on more expensive models you get magnetic resistance that can be altered at the push of a button. However, on this Schwinn exercise bike, the air resistance means that the faster you pedal the more resistance you get; the slower you pedal the less resistance.

This bike, although good, isn’t going to appeal to everyone. For starters, there’s no heart rate monitor - for many this is a vital feature of a bike. Also, the LCD display is rudimentary. The readouts are Time, Distance, Calories, Calories per Hour, RPM, and Workload. Many first-time users might want more motivational output and many experienced cyclists would want a more feature rich LCD display. Having said that, many beginners would also like the simple and straightforward way in which the bike can be used; you just hop on and start pedaling.

The machine also lacks any preset workout programs. These are pretty much standard with exercise bikes in this price range; the cost of the Schwinn Airdyne bike is around $500. Again, those who have used mid-range bikes before would find this a major drawback.

One final negative point is that it’s quite noisy. The air resistance feature is superb and I really like it but the huge fan wheel is right in front of you and it is very noisy. You’d probably want to set your mp3 player on loud when using the bike.

But this Schwinn exercise bike is a great piece of kit. It’s popular in many rehab institutions because it’s considered to have a low impact design and it really is the only model that let’s you work both upper and lower body at the same time; you can just work one part at a time though.

It’s a good bike and is a nice alternative to the more usual designs, be they upright or recumbent exercise bikes that form part of the stable of Schwinn exercise bikes.