IRONMAN Triathlon X-Class 410 Recumbent Bike Review

The IRONMAN Triathlon X-Class 410 Recumbent Bike has a name that makes you think of grueling endurance and toughness .

This bike certainly looks the part but while being tough it can cater for those who need to take things at a gentler pace too.

It has a great looking chair with what looks like a well padded seat and backrest.

It has a large console with dual display, speakers and fan to provide more convenience and motivation to help to keep you on track.

Along with that comes 32 levels of magnetic resistance and 12 profile programs, heart rate control programs that all help you to get the type of workout that is gentle on the joints but at the level you want.

All this does come at a price so it is important it adds value to justify that.

In this review I look at how well this recumbent exercise bike does actually live up to the name of providing demanding workouts.

But also how well it does for those wanting a low impact cardio workout for those just starting out and those wanting a more moderate level of workout that meets their needs

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Sturdiness

This bike looks solid and lives up to this.

It weighs 122 lbs with steel frame and stabilizer bars that do hold you steady no matter how hard you are pedaling. It stays quiet and firm.

You can just get on it and (enjoy your) workout without the bike annoying you.

There are levelers under the end caps on the stabilizer bars that can balance out the bike if the floor is uneven to stop any sideways rocking or squeaking.

It has a good lifetime warranty on the frame, 2 years on wearable parts and electronics, and 5 years on labor and other parts. This is a good length of warranty compared to many other bikes.

The company says that it has been tested for durability, performance and endurance which is good to hear but at the moment there isn’t much feedback as to how it is getting along in real life due to it being around for only a few months.

Customers do seem to be impressed so far by the quality of its build (apart from one or two issues that were quickly rectified when customer informed the supplier).

Adjustability

The company guidance says that the bike can be adjusted to comfortably fit people between the heights of 5 ft 2 ins and 6 ft 4 ins. (People with a 29 inch inseam have found it fits them.)

You can make adjustments to the seat’s position in relation to the pedals while in the seat. There is lever on the right of the seat that you push forward to release the seat so you can move it back and forward along the aluminum slider till you get it in the right position. You then push the lever back to lock in position.

It is easy to do and only takes seconds. This makes it very convenient for many people to use as you can be up and going very quickly.

The backrest horizontal position moves with the seat.

The slider does angle up as you go back to keep it in the same angle in relation to the pedals and also put it at a more comfortable height in relation to the user’s height.

You can also change the backrest angle to get the most comfortable and supportive angle for your back. It has 3 pre-set position from slightly angled backwards to almost fully reclined.

To make this backrest adjustment is also quick and easy to do.

To change this you need to be off the bike and go behind the bike. You pull a knob behind the back rest and move it to the position you want and then release knob when in the position you want.

If you are under the minimum height you are going to be forced to stretch to reach the pedals as they go round the cycle or you may be able to reach them properly if you sit forward on the seat. Neither is good for you or that comfortable. If you are sitting forward a cushion behind you can help and using the handlebars at the front of the bike may help you make do.

And over 6 ft 4 ins you aren’t going to get the proper extension of the leg as you cycle to give the full range of motion in the knee (should be slightly bent at full extension) and feel cramped.

Resistance

The bike’s 32 levels of magnetic resistance are controlled through the console.

It goes from very easy to difficult incrementally. It moves up and down smoothly with no sudden jumps between levels.

The resistance level can be changed manually by using the up/down buttons on the console. The pre-set workout programs change the level automatically as you move through the program but you can change it if you find it too easy or hard by using the up/down buttons.

There are no quick jump buttons on the console to allow you to jump from one level to the next – you have to push the up/down button to go through the levels to the one you want.

The transition between the resistance levels are smooth.

The lowest levels of resistance can be used by those just getting started and those looking to rehab (if doctor advises). There is little resistance. At the top end should satisfy those looking for tough hill type workouts.

Drive Type

The bike’s belt drive and flywheel provide a smooth and quiet pedaling motion. It should also not require any maintenance. You shouldn’t experience any choppiness so you get minimal impact on your joints.

This is all enclosed in a shroud which helps to protect you, kids and pets from injury as well as the drive from damage.

Pedals

The pedals are textured and have a strap that can be adjusted to fit your feet properly.

This helps to keep your feet properly positioned and stop them from slipping off as you pedal.

It has a 3 piece crank which should provide a good sturdy platform for pushing against without any flexing or maintenance issues.

The strap is easy to use and is adjusted using a friction buckle to hold them in place. You can get the strap to just the right length for your foot.

Comfort

Seat. The seat is a large and padded with an “Airsoft” pad which helps to support and distribute weight to provide a comfortable seat so you don’t have to stop pedaling due to sore sit bones.

It is also breathable allowing the air to flow through to take away heat to help you not get sweaty and there shouldn’t be any slipping forward on it.

Most people are likely to find this a comfortable seat.

Having said that you may still find it uncomfortable due to the nature of exercise and back seats and it being very much down to personal preference. If you do have some discomfort most people find on these seats that a small cushion or folded up towel is enough to ensure they can sit on it for as long as they want to exercise without too much numbness or pain.

The backrest has an air cushion in the lower part of it to provide support to lower back to reduce stress and strain.

The bike has a step through design so there is no need to lift you foot over the frame to get in position to sit on the seat as you do a chair.

Handlebars. There are 2 sets of handlebars – one set at the front and the other by the seat. Both sets are covered to make them easier to grip when your hands get sweaty.

The set at the front are on both sides of the console can be used to help when getting in and out of the seat. Or you can use them for a change of position by sitting upright in the seat you can use them for support and leverage when pushing hard against the resistance.

The set by the seat are angled from the back and rise slightly which does put them at a good height to help with support. Toward the end of them are the hand pulse sensors for use with the heart rate monitor on the console.

They shouldn’t get in the way of anyone sitting in the seat or prevent people sliding into the seat from the side too much.

Noise. This is a very quiet bike that you can use while watching TV or listening to music without having to turn up the volume to hear. If there are others in the room with you they won’t be disturbed. It is possible to workout while others are sleeping without waking them up (unless they are exceptionally light sleepers).

If you are in an apartment you neighbors are unlikely to know you are exercising and if you are concerned about those living beneath you the included exercise mat should prevent any slight noise or vibration from being noticed.

Cleaning. The bike itself won’t cause there to be a mess to clean up after it. However, you may find that it needs to be wiped down from sweat depending on how hard people push themselves when using the bike (I know sweat’s a problem for me after pushing hard on a bike). Sweat is corrosive so it needs to be wiped off the bike to stop its corrosive effects starting to rust the bike over time. Also, the sweat can drop on the floor and the included exercise mat will prevent the floor from being damaged by it.

Storage

The bike has a footprint of 66 by 21.5 ins so is unlikely to fit in most closets so if you can’t keep it in place will be best in a garage or alongside a wall. It’s not a bad looking piece of equipment so it shouldn’t be something that will hurt your eyes when not in use. Also, if its kept out it won’t be forgotten – it can serve as a gentle reminder!

When you do want to move it has good sized transport wheel on the front stabilizer bar that hold most of bikes 122 lbs. They should work well on surfaces as well as most carpets due to their size meaning they don’t get jammed up.

As they are wide apart on the stabilizer bar they provide a fairly stable platform so it isn’t likely to fall over as you move it – but some care does need to be exercised all the same.

To use the wheels you lift the back of the bike using the handle on the back stabilizer. This is fairly easy as most of the weight is at the front of the bike. This continues to be the case as you move it so you’re not struggling with the weight of the bike as you navigate around your home.

If you plan on moving it across a wood floor you may want to test it out first to check if the wheels scratch to dent it.

Assembly

The bike is delivered in two boxes it is part completed. To finish this it is likely to take between 1 and 2 hours but you may be able to do this quicker if you are good at this type of thing – it’s not going to be as hard as putting together as a piece of IKEA furniture can be.

There is an overview drawing before you get to the assembly instructions which you can ignore for assembling purposes – it’s no way near as complicated as that drawing might have you believe.

The most involved part of the assembly has already been completed when it’s delivered.

You are adding pieces to the main frame and drive. The pieces are the stabilizer bars, handlebars, seat, backrest, pedals, front post water bottle holder and console.

One person can manage to do this on their own but it is better if there is 2 of you, due to the weight and to hold pieces in place while they are bolted together.

The instructions and diagrams take you through the process clearly and step by step. You don’t need your own tool for this as the tools required are included. If you do have your own socket set and/or wrenches you may find that it goes a little easier and quicker.

IRONMAN Triathlon X-Class 410 Recumbent Bike Console

The console provides you with ability to measure and help track fitness for up to 4 people as well as a fan, media shelf and speakers.

It has bluetooth to use with a Fitness App to manage and track your workouts through your tablet or smartphone. You don’t have to use this to use the bike or to use the console.

It has a dual display so if you place a tablet in the personal electronics tray which covers up the upper display you can still see your measures on the lower display – if you’re watching a movie and not using the free fitness App.

If you are following a workout profile program the upper displays shows that with a number of columns across the screen with the height of column indicating the amount of resistance you’ll be experiencing.

The lower display shows you distance, time, RPM, calories burned, watts, speed and heart rate (when the hand pulse sensors are being gripped).

You can see the measures in all light conditions as the displays are backlit To make it easier to read the display the console angle can be changed to set it at the angle that is best for you to avoid straining your neck or eyes.

If you want you can plug in the bike, press quick start button get started pedaling and change resistance as you go without entering any other information.

If you want you can set time, distance, calories or heart rate targets where the measures will then countdown or it heart rate it will beep when you exceed.

To help you in tracking your own personal progress you can enter your gender, age, height and weight which directly be used with the heart rate programs and also for tracking weight over time when using the fitness App.

The console includes 12 pre-set programs. 4 user programs, 4 heart rate control programs and a recovery test. This gives you a good amount of variety to keep you interested and motivated. It helps to stop it getting stale.

The 12 profile programs allow you to chose different hill terrain type workouts for you to exercise through. The resistance is changed automatically as you move through the workout but you can change the level as you go if it isn’t right for you – up or down. You select a target time to set length of workout.

The 4 user programs allow each user to set up their own workout program selecting the resistance used at each interval and length of workout. The default time is 20 minutes.

The heart rate control programs allow you to choose to exercise at 55%, 75, 90% and your own selected %. The resistance will change up and down to keep you at or below the target as you train. You can set a time or Watt target. To use this you do need to be gripping the hand pulse sensors.

The recovery program is tracks your heart rate over 6 minutes at the end of the workout to give you a score on how quickly your heart rate returns to normal. It gives you a score of between F1 and F6 with F1 being the quickest.

The bluetooth and Fitness App works with iOS 6.0 and above and Android 2.2 and above. There isn’t much feedback on the App stores but it is mixed the little there is. It won’t work with other fitness products or allow you to export it to other fitness accounts.

At present there is no mention that it provides you with additional workouts.

You can use you mobile device to control your workout in place of the console. It will also automatically record your workout to your personal Fitness Account.

The Fitness Account allows you to track activity from other sources, your weight and produce reports for you – but any other activity or information needs to be input manually – it won’t work with your Garmin or Fitbit etc.

If you want you can share your workout results on Facebook.

When you want to monitor your heart rate you need to grip the hand pulse sensors in the handlebars at the side of the bike. These type of sensors can be unreliable with many people not able to get a consistent or reasonable reading of their heart rate – it would in my opinion have been better if they’d included a heart rate strap. It can make it difficult to use the Heart Rate programs and recovery program if you can’t get a good reading from the sensors.

To power the console the bike needs to be plugged into the house supply using the supplied cable and adapter. To have the bike where you want you may need to have an extension cord.

If you have a power outage you can’t use the bike properly as the resistance is controlled through the console and it won’t work.

Dimensions

The dimensions and weight of the bike are:

Height 46 ins
Width 21.5 ins
Length 66 ins

Bike Weight 122 lbs
Max User Weight 350 lbs

Accessories

The bikes comes with a number of accessories for a more comfortable and convenient workout:

There is a water bottle holder on the front support below the console. You do need to lean forward a little to reach it and need to take a little care to get the bottle back in when finished with it.

The exercise mat that comes with the bike is 79 ins by 35.4 ins and .24 ins can help to protect the floor, reduce noise and vibration, and can help prevent rocking on uneven floors (although the levelers should be more than enough to sort this). The mat is plenty big enough to make it easy to fit the bike on it.

The fan at the center bottom of the console is operated by the button above it. It is more like a cooling light breeze than something that is going to blow you away – you may find it too light to be effective.

The two speakers can be used by plugging your media into the console using the audio cable supplied. The volume and track selection is controlled by your device.

You can place your personal electronic devices on the media shelf below the upper display (it will cover up the display). But there isn’t anywhere to plug the device in to charge the battery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDJ-qESpUnU

Pros

• Can accommodate people up to 350 lbs (most bikes only go up to 300 lbs)
• Quick and simple to adjust seat to accommodate people from 5ft 2 ins to 6ft 4 ins
• Comes with and exercise mat to put bike on
• Padded seat for comfort and also to help in keeping you cool allowing air to flow
• The backrest angle can be adjusted for 3 different angles
• Displays are backlit allowing you to see the measure in all light conditions
• The angle of computer can be changed so you can see it easily from your seat whatever height you are
• The bike operates quietly so can exercise without disturbing others and watch TV without having to turn up the volume to hear it
• Includes a water bottle holder, speakers, fan and media tray
• Has 4 user profiles that can help you to have more personalized measures and tracking
• Has 22 different workout programs to give you plenty of variety to your workouts to help to keep you motivated

Cons

• When there is a power outage the bike can’t be used as it plugs into the power supply
• It can be expensive when I checked
• Can only track up to 4 separate profiles which should be fine for most families
• Isn’t compatible with heart rate strap for monitoring heart rate
• Fan only blows a light breeze
• Doesn’t charge your mobile devices while on the media shelf
• The water bottle holder can be a little difficult to get your water bottle in and out of

IRONMAN Triathlon X-Class 410 Recumbent Bike Consumer Ratings

A combination of price and it being a relatively new bike on the market means there isn’t many customer reviews to look through.

It seems from the reviews that it gives a good comfortable fit, easy to assemble and is something the customers use every day.

One reviewer says they don’t think that it may not fit people 6ft 2 ins and above. One had problem with their monitor but didn’t contact supplier to resolve the issue.

A positive review that had a problem with their machine due to a weld sent it back and the replacement sent they are pleased with and had no problems

So on this small sample it seems people on the whole say they made a good choice and they can get a good comfortable low impact cardio workout when they want it.

IRONMAN Triathlon X-Class 410 Recumbent Bike Price

This is not a cheap bike, but you do get a number of good features included in the price that you don’t get with lower pried recumbent exercise bikes. You get an adjustable backrest, pre-set workout programs, bluetooth compatibility and a fitness App for tracking and managing your workouts and easy seat adjustments.

It is possible to get much of that with bikes costing less (except for the adjustable backrest or workable App) it just isn’t as well done. So, you may want to check out the Schwinn 270 or Nautilus R616 as a lower priced alternatives. You can also use a heart rate strap with these (needs to be bought separately) that you can’t with the X-Class 410

When I checked at Amazon it can qualify for free shipping if available.

Click here to check latest pricing and availability
Ironman Triathlon X-Class 410 Recumbent Bike

Summary

The range of resistance from easy to hard means the bike is suitable for all levels of fitness from beginners to advanced users looking for tough challenges.

You get plenty of help to stay motivated and on track with the console including 22 different programs to provide the guidance and variety needed to keep you interested.

The seat is well designed for comfort and the backrest adjustment will help to get it just right. It provides good support for the lower back with included cushion and the three different angle settings to get it closer to the optimum for your needs.

The bikes operation is very quiet and smooth at all levels of resistance and intensity.

This is a bike that provides an excellent low impact cardio workout for all those who want to achieve their fitness goals in comfort. It makes for a bike that you’ll use regularly as there is no excuse not to.