Body Rider BRF700 Air Bike Review
There are certain times when a really inexpensive piece of exercise equipment looks super appealing. You would get the benefits of various workouts and not even have to pay a lot of money for it. However, sometimes you’ve got to be wary of these budget bikes. They can be great, but they can also be pieces of junk. What we’re here to do is figure out which exercise bikes are which. Today we’ll be seeing where the Body Rider BRF700 falls on that “gem-junk” spectrum. We’ll be checking out the various features that the BRF700 offers like the resistance, monitor and more. Then we will compare it to the price that the air bike typically comes with and determine whether or not it would make for a good purchase. So with all of that out of the way, let’s hop right into our review of the Body Rider BRF700 Air Bike.
Since it is one of the core elements that we’re going to be looking at for this review, it makes sense that we check out the prices and the warranties that are typically attached to the Body Rider BRF700. The good news is that the BRF700 is pretty much dirt cheap. It will only cost you around $170, which is a ridiculously small price. Such a benefit comes with another cost, in the form of the warranties attached to the bike. You get a 1 year warranty on the frame of the bike, 90 days on the belt and 90 days for the rest of the parts. You won’t find any labour warranty here. Even for a cheap bike, this is a pretty horrific warranty set that nobody really prefers. Assuming nothing goes wrong with the frame, you only have 90 days to figure out if any parts are going to break. It’s really bad. But before we rant too much about the warranties, we’ll continue with the rest of the review. The shipping of the BRF700 shouldn’t take more than 1-2 weeks, although this can be influenced by other factors like weather and human error. The assembly process should not be too difficult, even if you aren’t used to doing such things. The instructions are fairly straightforward and you get the tools necessary to put the pieces where they should go.
The second feature of the Body Rider BRF700 is one of the parts that plays a crucial part in the success of modern air exercise bikes. We’re now going to be looking at the monitor that comes with the BRF700. So many monitors these days can perform crazy tricks like playing Netflix and connecting to smart TVs. You won’t find anything even close to that here. This is one of the most basic monitors you could possibly fathom. The non-backlit LCD monitor is extremely small, only displaying 1 statistic at a time. It can scan through your time, speed, distance, and calories burned to show you all of them, but that is it. There are no preset workouts available or anything like that. You can’t connect via Bluetooth or ANT+ to your phone or any other apps to track your statistics over a longer duration. You wouldn’t really expect a whole lot more from a monitor on a bike that costs this little, but it would still be nice to see some sort of extra element thrown in. But as it is, you get to see one statistic at a time and that’s about it.
With a cheaper bike like the Body Rider BRF700, the crucial element really appears when you look at what the resistance offers. Unfortunately, you won’t find that the BRF700 offers the best resistance you can find (or even close). You don’t get the dynamic air resistance that is so great for high intensity interval training (HIIT) on other bikes. Instead, the BRF700 has a system that you would expect more in a magnetic bike than an air one. The air resistance is controlled by a knob that you can change to go higher or lower, depending on what sort of workout you are going for. This is not great, as it just isn’t what you are generally expecting when buying an air bike. This process is more like a magnetic bike with a fan. The drivetrain of the BRF700 is made of a belt, which is good. It means that the entire process is quieter and requires less maintenance. The crank of the bike appears to be 1-piece, which is not that great. It just means that there is one piece of metal welded together holding all the pedals, rather than 3 independent pieces that can be more stable and durable. We don’t know what the Q-Factor of the BRF700 is, which is unfortunate. For those who are unaware, the Q-Factor is the distance between pedals. If the distance is too wide, then you will find yourself quite uncomfortable during the workout. If it is too narrow, then your legs become inverted and can become uncomfortable or even get injured. However, it doesn’t seem that the Q-Factor is a common complaint amidst user and official reviews, which is a positive. In general, the resistance of the BRF700 leaves much to be desired.
Most people generally want to know what sort of space their air bike would be taking up should they purchase it. This is perfectly reasonable and now we’re going to look at the footprint that the BRF700 takes up. It is slightly smaller than its more expensive sibling, the Body Rider BRF650, although it weighs the same. Specifically, it measures out to be 41.75 inches (106 cm) long, 22 inches (56 cm) wide and 46.5 inches (118 cm) tall. Meanwhile it officially weighs 47 lbs (21 kg) and can hold a maximum user weight of 250 lbs (113 kg). The floor stabilizers are basically just bars, so you really might find yourself rocking back and forth on the more intense workouts. The frame is made out of a standard steel tubing. If you were hoping that the low weight meant that extra attention was paid to the mobility of the bike, prepare to be disappointed. You won’t find any sort of wheels or anything here. If you want to move it around, get ready to pick the whole thing up.
We’re going to finish out our investigation with the rest of the physical elements that make up the BRF700, starting with the handlebars. You’ll find that the handlebars are not adjustable, but they are dual action. This means that they move as the pedals do. This makes for good whole body workouts, but it could even be better if the BRF700 had footrests. If it did, you could even specialize and get exclusively upper body workouts in. The saddle of the BRF700 is only vertically adjustable, which is definitely a strike against it. You would generally expect the seat to at least be 4-way adjustable so that more people could fit comfortably on it. You won’t even find that the seat itself is all that comfortable, so you might want to think about getting a replacement or cover. Almost every user out there complains about the comfort of this seat, which is most certainly not a good sign. The saddle tub underneath isn’t much better. It’s extremely thin and you would likely be rocking back and forth on the more intense workouts, especially without better floor stabilizers. The pedals of the BRF700 are one of the more solid elements, being non-slip and coming with straps to keep your feet in place. Extremely simple? Yes. After many other disappointments with this bike, will that do? Also yes.
Body Rider BRF700 Air Bike Pros:
- An extremely cheap price is always appealing
- Fairly small footprint and extremely lightweight
- Simple and straightforward assembly process
- Pedals are non-slip and will keep your feet in place
- Handlebars are dual action and offer total body workout
Body Rider BRF700 Air Bike Cons:
- Terrible warranties make you hesitate at the durability of the bike
- The resistance is not dynamic air like you might have been expecting
- No footrests at all
- The seat is only vertically adjustable
- The seat is widely considered extremely uncomfortable
- No transport wheels
- The monitor has no preset workouts
- The monitor is not backlit, making it hard to see in darker areas
- The monitor lacks and heart rate or Bluetooth connections
- 1-piece crank is the inferior type.
Conclusion
The Body Rider air bikes might be a cheap options, but they are also pretty poor air bikes. Almost all of the core elements that you would want a bike like this to excel at (resistance, monitor and comfort), it fails to deliver. The air resistance is not dynamic, the monitor is extremely basic and the parts that you would want to assist with your comfort simply do not. That’s not even mentioning the awful warranties that the BRF700 comes with. You might have to pay more for a different bike, but you would do quite well with just about any other option.
Sayed Hosseiny
Hi there, I'm Sayed Hamed Hosseiny, the founder and one of the authors at yourexercisebike.com (YEB). I am a former indoor cycling instructor and personal trainer with nearly 20 years of experience. With a passion for indoor cycling, I have spent years designing cycling parts, repairing, and importing exercise bikes. All the articles, tips, guides, reviews, and comparisons on YourExerciseBike.com (YEB) reflect my personal opinion and expertise in the field. I'm excited to share my knowledge with fellow exercise bike enthusiasts and help people find reliable indoor cycling information and the best exercise bike for their needs.
