ProForm Recumbent Bike C10R Review: pros, cons, cost, and more

When choosing a ProFrom Recumbent Bike, you’re basically getting a machine from the guys over at Icon fitness. Icon Fitness are a company that owns NordicTrack, ProForm, and iFit. Over the years, I’ve reviewed most of their fitness equipment, and to be honest, there isn’t much difference between NordicTrack and Proform.

With ProForm, you get slightly larger touchscreens for the money, and with NordicTrack, their builds are a little more heavy-duty.

But thankfully, it’s not just the touchscreen that impresses about the new ProForm Recumbent Bike. There’s more to this bike than just the tech. I love that it’s surprisingly heavy for a recumbent bike in this price range. It’s a solid machine.

Also, they got the design right with its walk-thru frame and a seat that adjusts vertically; great if you’ve got bad knees, you don’t have to bend so far to sit on it. ProForm has thought about the design of this bike, and it shows. And today, I want to take a look at everything the C10R has to offer, including any drawbacks.

First, let’s check out the ProForm C10R Recumbent bike’s product specs!

Why Do We Like The ProForm Recumbent Bike C10R?

When you buy a recumbent bike, what you need to think about most, especially if you have arthritis or you’re recovering from an op, is accessibility. Is it easy to get on and off the bike? Also, you need to think about the height of the seat. Is it too low?

The walk-thru frame is what sells most recumbent bikes; you need a walk-through frame because it makes getting on and off of the bike so much easier than an exercise bike with a horizontal bar to step over.

Not all recumbent bikes get rid of that awkward horizontal bar, but the ProForm C10R does, so access to the seat is very easy.

Vertical and Horizontal Seat Adjustment

Another thing I love about this bike is the seat. You can actually adjust it vertically as well as horizontally, something you don’t usually find in the price bracket.

Adjusting the seat vertically is a handy feature for those with bad knees who find it painful to bend down. You can raise the height of the seat to suit your needs.

Wide Padded Seat

You will spend a lot of time sitting on your recumbent bike, so choosing one with a padded seat is essential. The ProForm C10R comes with a nice wide padded seat, it’s not a high-density foam seat as you find on more expensive machines, but it’s good enough, plus it’s slightly contoured for stability.

The seat has ten horizontal adjustment positions, giving the bike a height range of 5’2″ to 6’2″, which is what I usually expect to find on most recumbent bikes. And as I just mentioned, it also adjusts vertically.

The only downside to the seats of recumbent bikes that cost under $1000 is that you won’t find one with an adjustable backrest, which can be an issue for people with bad backs, as you can’t adjust it to suit.

Check current price of the C10R Recumbent Bike on Walmart

How Smooth Does The Pedaling Motion Feel?

Generally speaking, with indoor upright bikes, ellipticals, and recumbents, it’s the weight of the flywheel that really affects how smooth your machine feels.

When buying a recumbent bike, you want to avoid budget bikes that have flywheel weights of 10lb or less. A flywheel this light can result in a jerky pedaling motion.

The ProForm recumbent bike comes with a 20lb flywheel, which is excellent for the price point; there’s more than enough weight to keep everything smooth and, importantly, the resistance in the upper levels strong.

Frictionless Resistance System 

Something else that affects the smoothness of the pedaling motion is the resistance system. You need a frictionless resistance system just like the magnetic resistance system used on the ProForm C10R recumbent bike. The magnets of the resistance system never have to make contact with the flywheel; thus, it’s smooth and, best of all, quiet.

You get 25 levels of resistance with the Proform recumbent bike, suitable for most fitness levels, and because that flywheel is fairly heavy, the resistance in the upper levels, as I mentioned, will be strong, so you shouldn’t grow out this bike any time soon.

Easy To Use Monitor With Large Touchscreen

10″ HD color touchscreen, large one-touch buttons, and iFit what more can you ask for from a recumbent that costs under $800? It really is an impressive monitor. Still, there is a problem, what if you don’t want to subscribe to iFit?

Yes, that lovely touchscreen becomes useless because you can’t use it with any other app, and what’s even more disappointing is that there are no built-in workout programs, so unless you subscribe to iFit, this monitor is pretty limited.

What I always say about ProForm and NordicTrack is only to buy their fitness gear if you love subscription fitness apps like iFit, and this is because their equipment is designed around the app.

I still feel it’s an excellent recumbent bike even without iFit, but it’s a shame to waste that impressive touchscreen.

iFit – 1000’s of Workouts To Stream

iFit is one of the best subscription fitness apps n the market. There are 1000s of workouts, global routes, and studio classes, you’ll never get bored, and it’s great for challenging you and helping you reach your goals, but it’s a bit pricey.

What I recommend is to choose the subscription option for one person, don’t choose the family membership.

The single membership is half the price of the family memberships and costs just 50c a day, which is a good price for an app that includes so much. The bike comes with a 1-month free trial of iFit, so you can test it out to see if you like it.

If you want to know more about iFit, you can check out our review of the fitness app: iFit Review Pros and Cons

Another feature I was happy to see is wireless heart rate monitoring. Wireless heart rate monitoring is a much more accurate way to monitor your heart rate than the built-in handlebars pulse sensors. However, the bike doesn’t come with an HR chest strap or wrist strap. You need to buy that separately. It’s compatible with all the Polar Chest and Wrist Straps

Overall an excellent monitor; you won’t find better in this price range; just a shame there’s no built-in workout programs for those of you who do not want to subscribe to iFit

Sturdy Machine, 109lb Build

You’d be surprised how important the weight of a recumbent bike is. The weight is a telling sign of the quality of materials used in the build, and with recumbent bikes and most fitness gear, the heavier, the better. You don’t want a cheaply made lightweight recumbent, they are unstable, and durability is always an issue.

You need something with a bit of weight to it. Still you’re not going to find heavy-duty commercial machines in this price range. Anything over 70lb is great for a recumbent costing under $800.

The ProForm C10R weighs 109lb assembled which is impressive. There’s easily enough weight to keep the bike planted to the floor. It’s a study machine, and that’s exactly what you want.

It also has a low center of gravity which will help to aid stability and wide front and rear stabilizers.

And lastly, you have the adjustable levelers built into the rear stabilizer bar, which you can independently adjust to keep the bike stable on uneven floors.

Overall a solid, well-made machine for the price.

2 Hour Assembly

Recumbent bikes aren’t too tricky to assemble as all the complicated stuff, like the drive and resistance systems, come pre-assembled. You’ll just have to attach the mast for the monitor, the handlebars, the stabilizers, and the monitor. Still, it’s a heavy machine, so asking a friend or family member to help you get the box in place might be a good idea.

I always set an afternoon aside for the assembly of fitness equipment, as you don’t want to rush it. You need to get it right. All the tools for the job and illustrated instructions are included. Average build time is two hours.

Alternative

Nautilus R618 Recumbent Bike

Nautilus are a company that also owns Scwhinn, so you’ll find their recumbent bikes are very similar. Still, Nautilus likes to update its own brand of recumbent bikes more often, which is why I’d always choose a Nautilus bike over a Schwinn one.

The reason I’m recommending the R618 as a good alternative to the ProForm recumbent bikes is that it’s another well-made heavy machine. It weighs over 100lb, it’s solid. Also, it has a walk thru frame design, a comfy wide padded seat, a decent flywheel, and uses magnetic resistance and a belt drive system. In other words, it’s a recumbent bike that has got all the essentials right.

Another reason this recumbent is a great alternative to the ProForm is that you don’t have to subscribe to iFit to make the most out of the monitor. The Nautilus R618 monitor is equipped with 29 built-in workouts programs and free access to their Explore the world, which allows you to download all your workout stats, their app is in no way as impressive as iFit, but it’s free, plus there is an option to buy extra global routes for your tablet a $1.50 each.

The R618 monitor is one of my favorite monitors in this price bracket. It’s a dual-screen monitor, so if you’re watching your favorite Netflix show on your tablet, you can still view all your workout stats on the smaller second screen. It’s a handy feature.

Sometimes you can get a deal on Amazon for the R618 recumbent bike; I’ve seen it priced at $899, which is a bargain for such a well-made and well-equipped recumbent bike. And I’ve also seen it on Amazon for $1200, which is over priced. If you get it for under $1000, that’s a good deal.

To Sum Up

Im impressed with ProForm’s new low-cost recumbent bike. It’s heavy, which means it’s stable and well-made. And the design is excellent. I love to see a vertically adjustable seat in this price range. It’s a feature that can be so useful for people who find it painful to bend.

The monitor is always a selling point for ProForm, and you won’t find better on any other recumbent bike in this price range. The 10″ touchscreen is crisp and looks great, it’s this bike’s most impressive feature.

Overall it’s one of the best recumbent bikes I’ve reviewed for a long time for under $800, it’s certainly a bike worthy to be at the top of your list. The only drawback is you need to subscribe to iFit to make the most of your ProForm Recumbent Bike. Still, iFit is an excellent app, and if you go with the single option, which costs just 50c a day, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.