ASSAULT FITNESS Assault Air Bike Classic, Black Review

Commercial Quality with just a couple of CONS
I purchased the Assault Bike about a month ago – I wanted to try for 30 days before I wrote a review. This review is divided into three sections: Pros, Cons, and Assembly tips.PROS:Commercial quality. Well-made and thus far durable. Heavy gauge steel where required. It’s heavy.Simple to use display that can be programed/customized for your workout. Just bike, time, distance, intervals, etc. It even has a small shelf built in for an IPad, Kindle, or Phone.Yes, it will give you a workout like you read about. The harder you peddle or row, the harder it gets. You can put your feet up on the pegs and only use your arms.Would I buy it again? Absolutely!!!CONS:Since it is either commercial quality or nearly so, the most comfortable seat position (up & down) may challenging to achieve. The distance between the seat adjustment settings is about an inch. So, if you’re used to a mountain/road bike seat post, you may not get the position you are completely comfortable with. The seat does forward and backward like a normal bicycle.No place for a water bottle attachment unless you have a back-of-the-seat bottle attachment from a road bike.No air damper capability like a Concept 2 rower. The resistance fan is simply caged. Yep, it’s a bit loud and as others have said, the air does blow back into your face. However, at about the three minute mark you’re glad it is because you’ll start peeling off layers.The pedals are standard bike. Not really a CON but something you need to know. However, the pedals (like the seat) are standardized so you can swap them out. I mounted a pair of SPD pedals to use with my bike shoes.Because of the bike movement arms, you won’t be getting standing out of the saddle like a normal bike trainer. The movement arms will either knock you back or draped over the front you go. There is also no gearing – just a resistance fan. Again, it’s not a bike trainer but a full body trainer.The CONS are minor and don’t detract from getting out what you put into it.ASSEMBLY TIPS:The bike came extremely well packaged. Ensure you check all of the packaging for assembly materials.If you’re assembling this by yourself (I did), you’ll need the following: 1) Two pads or blankets to assemble the bike on (the base is not attached and it will scratch a floor or snag a carpet). 2) A socket set and separate open-faced 11-13mm crescent wrenches (or an adjustable crescent) makes assembly easier. 3) As mentioned in previous reviews — liquid thread lockers to keep the nuts/bolts in place. 4) A box cutter or knife to remove the packing tape. 5) Needle-nosed pliers. 6) Philips head screw driver – small.Place a work pad on the floor. Place the bike box on its side and open the bottom of the box and peel back the cardboard flaps. Set the box back up on one of the pads – the bottom cardboard flaps should be open like a flower. Open the top of the box and remove the assembly instructions. With the top open simply pull the box up and away (watch the stapes in the box bottom/top).Cut away the tape and packing material. Place the movement arms, seat, peddles, etc on the second pad. When ready, remove the orange/red shipping stabilizer from the front of the bike. Remove the screw and washers from both the front and rear stabilizers. Attach both stabilizes loosely to the frame. Once both have been attached, insert the bolts lightly (with or without liquid lock) then tighten down all bolts.When installing the console mast base, use the needle-nosed pliers to lightly grasp the console cable and pull through. Once the base has been firmly attached, put the batteries (provided) into the console and then attach the unit to the base. Put the top two screws lightly in first and then the bottom two with either the provided tool or with your own philips head. Tighten down all screws. Since you’re going into plastic beware that if you tighten too hard, you may strip out the threads.When putting the handle bars on, be prepared for them to slip away from you and fall to the floor. It’s a trade-off, I assembled the lower pivot first so I could have a little bit more space to work and then attached the attached upper pivot to the main frame.The seat assembles just like a normal bicycle seat as do the pedals. As to the seat, a closed faced crescent wrench or a socket set works best. I put my seat at a slightly upward tilt – much like a road bike. It took a couple of on-off workouts to get the seat right both front to back and up and down.I hope the above helps. The bike is exactly what I wanted. I follow the maintenance plan in the manual and so far I have had no problems.Yes, I would buy it again.