I’ve finished a book at 11:15 p.m. and shopped/downloaded and started readying again by midnight. It is the BEST when traveling, I’ve downloaded a book on the New Jersey turnpike during summer travels. I’ve played Scrabble and Every Word (Kindle word games) while waiting for appointments or on long car rides. If you are a lover of words and stories…you have to get one!
Schwinn Miramar Women s

The light blue one (smooth lines, #S2753) is more like a size LARGE with frame size 19″ (seat tube length 19″, horizontal top tube is approx. 22 1/2″). Surprisingly it has the same geometry as the male version (also 19″). An average man is taller than an average woman – thus the men’s bike should be bigger, right?

The silver/purple bike (sharp lines, #S2699) is a MEDIUM size with 17″ frame (seat tube length 17″, horizontal top tube is also approx. 22 1/2″ but because of the head angle the wheels itself are about 1″ closer to each other than wheels of the light blue model – beware if you have long feet). The male version of this model has 18″ frame.

As for my best judgement – I would recommend the light blue bike to a woman 5′3″ to 5′11″ tall with inseam 28-32″ and the silver/purple bike to a woman 5′0″ to 5′8″tall with 26-30″ inseam.
I am 5′9 1/2″ tall and the light blue model fits me great.

A note how to measure your INSEAM: Stand barefoot upright and measure the distance between your crotch and floor between your legs. Do not use your pant’s inseam measurement since different pant styles may result in different measurements.

I hope this helps. It is really confusing to have reviews of two different bikes mixed together without knowing which refers to which.
Schwinn Ridge AL Women

When I was assembling the bike I found the positioning of the shifters to be inconvenient, they just take up too much room on the handlebars and would require a whole body straightening movement to get to them from the normal riding position. The shifters are attractive with there thumb up and down plastic control switches; they also shift smoothly; these are not the worst Shimano have to offer. The aluminum band that ties them on to the handlebars looks cheap. The other cheap looking parts of the bike are the pedals and the seat is cheap. It has little to offer in padding and I will upgrade that this month.

For now the Schwinn is the most reasonable bike on the market. In a year or two if I get into road biking more I could see myself upgrading because there is a noticeable weight difference between this bike at 25lbs and a $700 Trek 1000 which I just know by lifting it is lighter. However, this bike is 3 times cheaper and all I need to get myself fit.

schwinn prelude: decent bike – stellar price. First off I do not give this bike a 5 star rating based on how wonderful it is. You need to spend Several thousand dollars for that bike. This gets a 5 star rating because it is not several thousand dollars yet it is an acceptable entry level road bike.

At just under 28 pounds it is 10 pounds heavier than a $4000 bike. Of course it is only a pound or 2 heavier than a $500 bike. And I argue that anyone riding an entry level bike has that on their own midsection anyway. If you are new to cycling you can get this and ride for a year before investing the big bucks while you decide if you like cycling and what you like and don’t like about a bike.

I bought mine directly from Target (on sale!) so I could get an idea of the size rather than buy on line. I noticed another reviewer said a person 5′ 10 – 6′2″ would be comfortable. I somewhat agree with the top end but I am 5′ 7 3/4″ and am comfortable on it. The seat post could still be dropped an other inch and a half but I would say that I am about as short as you could be to have the right body to bike geometry. Someone 5′6″ could ride it but I would not recommend it. I would say the same for someone 6′2″.

I have put 300 HARD miles on it. I bought it to train for my come back into triathlons (My last tri was in ‘87) but I have wound up using it as my daily driver pulling my 2 daughters in the bike trailer 280 of the 300 miles.

I store it the garage but it has been aloud to get wet frequently on rides. The dérailleurs have begun to rust as a result of wet conditions.

It has only had one problem since I bought it – the crank bearings began to click. This probably is a result of pulling 100 pounds regularly.

These bikes have a LIFETIME warrantee on parts!!! – I called the 800 number in the owners manual. They sent me a new bearing set and I installed them. The down side of this is that if you don’t have the tools you are in need of paying upwards to $50 for this repair.

If I continue to ride it next year I would upgrade the apt yet clunky bottom of the line shimano derailleurs. I would probably also get a lighter seat and possibly seat post or pedals.

EDIT

I have had it a year and 4 months now. I have decided that though it is rideable at 5′8″ it is too big for me. I also have become too competitive in triathlons to ride a low end bike. I have upgraded to the Schwinn Prologue (about 4 times as much $$$). The Prelude has given me no mechanical problems after releasing it from trailer pulling duty. It has a little less than 1000 miles on it. I did 2 triathlons on it 13th overall / 190 in my first and 2nd overall / 104 and in the next -both were age group wins. So you do not need a $4000 bike to compete.

EDIT 2 I have had this for 1 year and 11 months. Because I bought the new bike I haven’t put a lot more miles on this, but it has continued to do well with no further problems. I also realized the stem has a height adjustment. After moving the handlebars down and moving the seat forward this thing really fits my 5′8″ frame well. I put some new tires on it because I was upgrading my other bikes. The 700×23 schwalbe tires are a big improvement. I also replaced the rim strips with cloth because the cheap rubber protectors were shot allowing the rim to puncture the under side of the tubes.

Just get it. Aight. Here’s the deal. Greatest bike you could ever get for this price. Very fast. Awesome looking. Smooth ride and smooth gears. The brakes will give you a little trouble trying to figure them out… Fiddle with it a bit, bike stops on a dime. First time riding it, did a good 40 mph smooth as butter, no shakes. People say they popped the tires cause they hit a pothole… How bout this.. don’t hit a pothole. I hope when you buy a bike you plan on being able to see where your going. If not, then you probably shouldn’t be riding. Tires and rims are excellent in my opinion… So don’t listen to the people who probably didn’t even inflate them… Yeah so, all in all, great bike, quality of something you’d pay [...] bucks for. So just buy it. You won’t regret it.

Related reviews :
Read about Mens Schwinn Road Prelude Bike now

First, the machine was shipped promptly and arrived on time. The package was somewhat damaged, but all the bike parts arrived in good condition. It appears to me that the Chinese manufacturer packaged the bike for containerized shipment, and not for individual transport. Nevertheless, all was okay.

Assembly is straight-forward. I was interrupted (neighbor’s horses got out), but total assembly time was probably about one hour, working alone. Note that I’m an experienced assembler, having put together many wagons, carts, bikes, trikes, etc. in the wee hours of Christmas morning. Also note that Step 5 (page 11) calls for REMOVING the seat rail bracket; the bracket on my bike WAS NOT already installed, and, not reading the instruction, I installed the bracket, as that’s what the diagram suggested. No big deal, but you’ll have to remove it later. Other than that glitch, all went smoothly. By the way, all the tools that you will need are included in the package – nice touch.

With only one week’s use, the machine has been absolutely silent in operation; I certainly hope that continues. By default, the bike starts at intensity level 3. Stepping up to level 4 is detectable but not severe. Further steps seem to increase resistance at a higher level.

I cannot grasp the front handle bars while sitting with my back against the backrest; in fact I can barely touch them with my finger tips. To grasp the handles I must lean forward. Not a biggie, but I would prefer them to be located in front of the electronic display, rather than behind it.

As to the electronic panel, it appears to me that the MPH shown is high; at 80 RPMs it registers 16 miles per hour, while my old bike showed 13 MPH. The display registers about 25 calories per mile at resistance level 4. The heart rate monitor shows about 5 beats per minute higher than my Polar unit, but I can’t say for sure which one is closer.

I do not like the way the “time” feature changes between “elapsed time” and a one-minute countdown display at 6-second intervals – I would prefer it to stay on the elapsed time screen. If there is a way to reset this feature I haven’t been able to find it.

Also, my old bike stopped the elapsed-time clock whenever I quit pedaling, but this one continues to run – a stop to answer the doorbell reflected 5 minutes of exercise time while I was away.

I have not used any of the programmed workout programs, because I exercise at 78-82 RPMs for 30 minutes, varying pedal resistance during the workout (I’m a 70-year-old male, and I’m not trying to build endurance.)

The “magazine rack” is merely a small ledge. It will hold a magazine, I suppose, but I place my very small MP3 player on it. I don’t believe that some of the larger players would stay on the ledge.

I knew this before I ordered the bike, so I can’t really complain, but I would much prefer the display unit to be powered by a battery, as my old bike was. The Schwinn 220 must be plugged into an AC outlet – without electricity you don’t get any readouts, and can’t vary resistance.

The Schwinn 220 seems to be pretty stout, and my overall impression, at this point, is favorable. If it continues to function like it does now, I’ll be pleased with my purchase. Time will tell

Hallmark. Generally meets expectations. No problems with assembly. Was hoping for a smoother movement at low speed such as I had gotten at the fitness center on similar equipment. At low speed and low resistance, fly wheel does not seem smooth, causing a jerky motion. This goes away at higher speed/resistance, but as I am a cardio patient, I need to keep the exercise light. Otherwise, everything seems to be satisfactory.

We really like it so far. We just rec’d the exercise bike today. My 2 son’s put it together in about 1 hour.

We are enjoying the product so far. It is very quiet! I’m 4ft 11 inches and I can reach the pedals. I have knee problems and so far have been able to exercise without any aches or pains. It seems to be less stressful on my knees then walking.

After having tried other brands I settled on this one due to how well Schwinn 240 Recumbent Exercise Bike is constructed, ease of use etc.

I gave it 4 out of 5 stars because the instructions as to how to use it to get the most out of it SUCK! I wrote the company concerning this. It was *kind of* easy to initially set it up. (Don’t set it up for Guest if you are the primary user or it won’t save your workouts.) It is alot of guess work for me to go from going to my name then getting to the actual workout screen.

I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually but, why should I have to? That should be Schwinn’s responsibility to have already figured it out for me to make my life a little more simpler!

Also, all the parts to put it together come on two pieces of card board with plastic over them to keep them in place. There are numbers etc. under each nut and bolt but none of these letters and numbers match up with the book to put the machine together. You have to figure that out for yourself by looking at the pictures in the book. Another Schwinn blunder. They could very easily have put a number under each nut and put that **same** number in the book.

Other than these blunders, I really love the machine and am getting lots of use from it! I hope to have it many years and extend my quality of life for many years to come.

Schwinn, get a clue. We don’t want to learn this machine by trial and error. Put together a better manual on how to use this machine. Don’t make me have to put one together for you!

Awesome Bike. I have been a runner for over 20 years and a recent ankle injury has me on bike exercise only. After spending the first week of my new exercise instructions on a Precor recumbent bike at my hotel (While on vacation), I was really worried about coming down from the $3,000 price range bike I became spoiled using. I researched bikes online for hours and thought the Schwinn 200 series bikes appeared to be the most quiet, well built, highly recommended and reasonably priced of all the brands I looked at. After having this bike (Schwinn 240) just over 2 weeks, and logging in more than 200 miles using most of the preset programs, I could not be more satisfied with my purchase. This bike rivals the workout of the Precor and is actually more quiet. Obviously the Precor is a larger machine and the sheer mass of the Precor will make it more solid, but I have to admit that the Schwinn gives it a run … and for the price difference … the Schwinn blows it away!

Assembly was not that difficult, but I agree with the previous reviews that the written instructions could have been more detailed. I wish that the manual would explain each workout a little so that I would have had a better idea of what each workout would be like … but it was kind of interesting trying each one out not knowing what to expect.

Amazon did great shipping this product. I was actually pleasantly surprised as to how quickly something this large ended up at my doorstep. The trucking company that Amazon used was extremely courteous and very accommodating.

While I am really missing my running, I have to admit that I love this bike. I also own an Octane Fitness Elliptical Machine that is health club quality ($3,000), but doctor orders keep me off that machine too. This bike gives a different workout when compared to running and the elliptical machine, but I still feel like I am getting an excellent workout with the bike. I would highly recommend the Schwinn 240 to anyone looking for a very good recumbent exercise bike!

Really good, quiet machine. It is easy to assemble and very quiet, making it easy to watch TV or hear what’s going on.