Schwinn A10 Upright Exercise Bike Review
Schwinn A10 Overview
Cheaper pieces of exercise equipment are always tempting. Nobody ever really wants to be dropping hundreds or thousands of dollars on exercise bikes or other equipment. But sometimes, to get the best, you have to. When you are looking for the good cheaper upright exercise bikes, sometimes you might need assistance separating them from all the garbage out here. That’s where we come in. We’re going to look at the Schwinn A10 upright bike and see if its low price is worth seriously looking at. We’ll check out all the various features that it has, the warranties it comes with and compare it all to the normal price. Then we’ll give our final thoughts on whether or not it is worth it. So with all of that out of the way, let’s hop right into our review of the Schwinn A10 upright bike!
We’ve mentioned price many times by this point, so it only makes sense to start with that piece of the puzzle. The Schwinn A10 cardio bike can generally be found for around $230, which is a pretty cheap price for any Schwinn product. This price cut does come at the cost of some of the warranties that come with the bike. You will only find a 3 year warranty on the frame of the bike, a 1 year warranty on the electrical parts, a 1 year warranty on the mechanical parts and a 60 day warranty on the labour. Compared to the normal warranty on all the other Schwinn upright bikes (10 years on the frame, 2 years on mechanical parts and 90 day labour), these are fairly significant cuts. And we never like to see the warranties go down. But at least they are still there in some form. The shipping of the Schwinn A10 should come in about 1-2 weeks. This can depend on outside factors like human error, weather and the occasional pandemic. Upon arrival, you shouldn’t find that it is too hard of an assembly process thanks to the straightforward manual provided to you. Even if you aren’ particularly skilled at such things, it shouldn’t take too long or cause too many headaches.
One of the main elements that make up modern upright exercise bikes of any type is the monitor that comes with them. These can take a regular experience and turn it into an amazing one. However, you won’t be finding that on the Schwinn A10 stationary bike. While more advanced than some other monitors out there, it still has significantly less features than the other Schwinn monitors on the market. The LCD screen is not backlit, but it is large enough to display the statistics all in one go. It will show your time, speed, RPM, distance, heart rate and calories burned. A nice little element is that you can track these statistics in both metric and English measurements. You will also be able to see one of the 7 preset workout programs available on the monitor. While this isn’t too bad compared to other bikes on the market, it is rather sad compared to the various workout programs available on the other Schwinn upright exercise bikes. Similarly, there are no Bluetooth connections, unlike on other Schwinn stationary bikes. The Schwinn A10 upright bike’s monitor is powered by 4 D size batteries, which are included. However, these can only keep the monitor going for about 10 hours. The more you use the bike and the more the monitor is on, the more expensive it gets to replace these batteries.
The other main element that people want from their home exercise bike is the resistance. Without a good challenge, any price paid for one of these exercise bikes is a price wasted. Fortunately, the resistance of the A10 is still quality. It has a magnetic resistance with 8 different levels of resistance. While the resistance still offers a good amount of challenge, you will find that it offers less customization in your workouts than some of the other Schwinn indoor bikes that have 16 or 25 levels. The belt drivetrain of the A10 mixes nicely with the magnetic resistance to make a smooth and quiet experience. The flywheel of the Schwinn A10 weighs right around 10 lbs (4.5 kg). Some people might not like this light of a flywheel, but it should most certainly do the job for the majority of people. The crank of the Schwinn A10 seems to be a 1-piece crank, which is unfortunate. Such cranks are little more than a bar welding the pedals together. This makes them have a higher risk of something going wrong on one side and breaking absolutely everything. An element that we don’t know the specifics of is the Q-Factor of the A10 cardio bike. The Q-Factor, for those who are unaware, is the distance between the pedals. If it is too wide, you can get quite uncomfortable during the workout. If it is too narrow, you run the same risk and could even face some potential injury.
People with smaller homes will be quite pleased with the Schwinn A10 upright bike, as it really does not take up that much room. Despite this, it actually weighs more than the Schwinn 170 and Schwinn 130. Specifically, it measures out to be 27 in (67 cm) long, 19 in (48 cm) wide and 50 in (126 cm) tall. Meanwhile it weighs 62.7 lbs (28.4 kg) and can hold a smaller maximum weight of 275 lbs (124.7 kg). All the others can hold a maximum weight of 300 lbs (136 kg). It has a pretty standard steel frame that you’ll find on all of these Schwinn exercise bikes. The stabilizers on the rear of the Schwinn A10 cardio bike are… there. It is basically just a bar. So don’t expect a bike that won’t move at all. On the front of the bike is another bar, which sort of serves as transport wheels? But not really. So while it has a small footprint, it isn’t the easiest to move around the home.
We’ll round out the examination of the Schwinn A10 upright bike with the rest of the physical elements that make it up, starting with the handlebars. They are multi-grip and offer different angles to hold onto. These angles are adjustable, but the handlebars themselves are not adjustable otherwise. There are heart rate monitors on these handlebars, which gives you the stats on the monitor. They are covered in a thick foam padding for comfort. The saddle of the A10 cardio bike is vertically adjustable, but that’s about it. It would be ideal if it could be adjusted horizontally as well, but alas, it is not to be. It can go through about 10 positions and generally fit people who measure between 5’0” (153 cm) to those up to 6’5” (196 cm). One of the biggest complaints about the A10’s saddle is that it is not comfortable. You could fix this with a seat cover, but it would be ideal if you didn’t have to do that. The saddle tube that holds you up is also pretty thin, which means you might get some wobbling on the more intense workouts. This isn’t helped by the nearly non-existent stabilizers. One of the areas that pretty much all of the Schwinn upright bikes all are similar is the pedals. They are all pretty basic, with only adjustable straps to keep your feet secure. The same is true here. As for any bonus features that come with the Schwinn A10 upright bike, you shall find that they are fairly good. You get a water bottle holder under the main console. Said console also allows you to stick a phone or tablet over the monitor for some entertainment purposes. There are also nice little MP3 speakers that you can plug into.
Schwinn A10 Upright Bike Pros:
- Magnetic resistance and belt drivetrain makes for a smooth and quiet experience
- Extremely small footprint, which is good for small homes
- Monitor is fairly advanced for this price
- Water bottle holder and speakers are always nice bonuses
- Monitor stats can be displayed in both English and metric measurements
- Extremely cheap price compared to other Schwinn upright bikes
Schwinn A10 Upright Cons:
- The monitor is not backlit
- The monitor’s batteries can become expensive over time
- No transport wheels
- Uncomfortable seat that is only vertically adjustable
- 1-piece crank system
- Warranties are significantly shorter than normal Schwinn ones
Final Verdict
The Schwinn A10 upright bike is a bit of a strange one. It is quite a cheap bike that offers a lot of what other bikes in its price range do not. However, when you compare it to other Schwinn upright bikes, it starts to look extremely inferior. It has extremely solid resistance and a monitor that blasts many others (at this price range) out of the water. However, it still faces some of the issues that low-price bikes like these do: shorter warranties, uncomfortable seating and lacking features like transport wheels. If you have your heart set on this price, the Schwinn A10 is a quite good option. However, if you could find room to go a little bit higher in price, you might want to investigate that as well.
