Precor RBK 815 Recumbent Exercise Bike Review

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The Precor RBK 815 Recumbent Bike features in the company’s Experience Series 810 Line, alongside the UBK 815, EFX 815, and AMT 813, amongst others.

Being the earliest recumbent bike in the Experience Series and the next bike up from the RBK 615 of the Assurance Series, means that you can enjoy many of the unique design features of the RBK 835 and 885 models, but at a lower price.

In this review we take a look at these features in more detail, to help you decide on the best choice of recumbent bike for your own home workouts.

Two-stage drive system for a smoother cycle

Although the two bikes may look very similar, there’s at least one very important difference between the design of the RBK 615 and the RBK 815.

This difference lies in the type of drive system that’s contained within the front crank arm casing at the front of the base frame.

While the single stage drive system of the 615 still offers progressive resistance and a smooth cycling experience, the two-stage drive system of the 815 takes this a step further. The result is even quieter operation, with a lower level of start-up resistance, and a more consistent resistance progression as you move through the 25 different levels.

Both bikes actually use the same eddy current resistance system, but it’s this more advanced drive system that results in a wider watts range, measuring 18-750 watts compared to the 22-500 watts of the RBK 615.

Another subtle difference in design can be found with the pedals, which are now dual-sided instead of single-sided. This allows you to choose between cycling with or without the integrated pedal straps, with extra-wide support for a wide variety of foot sizes.

Designed with efficient cycling biomechanics

When Precor started developing their RBK and UBK exercise bike collections, they wanted to find a way to reduce shear force on the knee at the same time as increasing cycling efficiency.

This has been achieved through the RBK range through careful positioning of the seat rail (15 degree angle) and offset from the crank axle (also known as Knee Over Pedal Spindle, or KOPS).

With your knee over the ball of your foot when the crank arms are approaching parallel, this creates the most efficient angle for transferring the driving force from your knees and feet through to the pedals.

This type of attention to detail with the positioning of the seat is often even more important with recumbent bikes, where you’re at a reclined angle due to the low-impact, non weight bearing nature of the exercise.

To provide maximum freedom of motion in your legs without compromising on comfort, Precor have contoured the padded seat to taper where your legs point towards the pedals. The 15 degree angle of the rail is also carried through to the seat, enhancing lower back protection and support.

Step-through design and seat adjustment

A key feature of any high quality recumbent bike is a low-profile base frame and wide step-through design. The Precor RBK 815 manages to achieve both, with a step-over height of just 4 inches, and space between the pedal crank casing and seat rail of 14 inches.

This is one of the largest walk-through spaces of any recumbent bike in the industry, and is a significant improvement over lower priced designs like the Schwinn A20, and even the popular Sole Fitness LCR.

Adjustment of the seat is possible with just one hand, from both seated and standing positions. Seated adjustment is often considerably easier when you’re looking to achieve the most efficient cycling position, where your legs maintain a slight bend when the pedals are furthest from you.

The patented air flex seat and thick cushioning also help you to maintain a comfortable cycling posture during longer workouts.

P10 stream-lined LED display console

Despite differences between the P10 Console (RBK 815) and their standard console (RBK 615), the workout feedback, button functions, and optional entertainment upgrades are identical.

Although you’re missing any form of historical workout tracking, you can still keep track of progress through your current workout via 5 LED screens. This includes your calories burned, heart rate, resistance level, and speed.

Quick Select workout buttons let you choose from any one of the 6 preset workout programs, with one available in each of the 6 categories.

Unfortunately you can’t create user profiles to store personal information against for each use, which may not be an issue if you aren’t using the heart rate program or tracking calories burned. However, it’s worth bearing in mind that you will need to enter at least your age each time you use the program to increase the accuracy of the heart rate feedback.

Providing this information is made easier thanks to the numeric keypad, with quick start and stop buttons also provided if you don’t want to follow any of the preset workouts.

In terms of entertainment options, you might have noticed that Precor aren’t a company that tend to place much focus on cooling fans and speakers.

On other bikes these are often the features that receive the most negative feedback in reviews, due mainly to their poor quality. By not including them as features on Precor’s consoles, it also allows for a much more streamlined and aesthetically attractive interface.

But that’s not to say you can’t add optional entertainment features if you wanted to. The P10 console supports Precor’s full range of entertainment options, including their Personal Viewing Screen (PVS), Personal Entertainment Player (PEP), and Entertainment Cap.

6 Preset workout programs

Unless you have the space and budget for different types of cardio equipment, such as an elliptical and exercise bike, then you’re probably looking to get the widest variety of workout programs from your recumbent bike.

This is one of the areas that we feel Precor could improve upon, and is partly why we haven’t given this bike our full 5 star rating. However, this tends to be a fairly common limitation with recumbent bikes, and there are few designs that offer more than 10 programs.

However, it’s not just the number of programs we’ve taken into account when calculating our rating, but also the number of custom programs and whether or not user profiles can be created.

For example, Precor’s RBK 835 provides you with 12 programs, but these are all preset. In comparison, the LCR from Sole Fitness only offers 10 programs, but two of these are programs you can create yourself (custom). In this instance we would likely apply the same rating to both the RBK 835 and LCR bikes.

Back to the RBK 815, and because it uses Precor’s P10 console, this means you have 6 different programs to choose from, from 6 unique categories. If you feel like switching between programs mid-workout, your stats will actually be carried across to the new program and continue where you left off. The only exceptions to this are the Weight Loss and Heart Rate programs.

6 workout programs in 6 categories

Ease of assembly / Maintenance required

Before buying any new piece of fitness equipment, particularly one in this price range, it’s important to take into account the assembly process and level of maintenance required to keep the warranty coverage valid.

Although Precor have one of the highest levels of warranty coverage in the industry, they also include a recommendation in their user manuals to follow a basic maintenance routine.

Most of the steps are very basic, such as the wiping down of the console and outer covers after each workout, and the cleaning of the internal resistance system every few months.

This last step is made easier by the RBK 815 having a removable shroud covering the pedal crank system, which can quickly be clipped on or taken off when you need to clean inside.

Being a recumbent bike also means you don’t have to worry about checking slipping belts or wear on the running deck the same way you would with a treadmill, or check slipping internal belts the way you would with an elliptical trainer or AMT.

Being self-powered also means you don’t have to worry about positioning the bike near a power outlet, or checking for frayed power cords.

Recommended cleaning solutions

Assembly process
With such a similar frame design, we expected the step-by-step assembly instructions to be similar throughout the RBK 800 series. We found this to be the case when comparing the RBK 815 with the earlier RBK 615 model, with the majority of instructions related to cable connections.

This particular step can be quite time consuming due to the threading of the cables through the frame of the base unit, but the base unit itself actually arrives already pre-assembled. This includes the seat rail, pedal crank arms, and internal belt drive system.

Despite having a total weight in excess of 200 lbs, once you have the base stabilizers in place it’s really just a case of attaching the seat, upright console support, and main display console.

The entire process shouldn’t take longer than 45 minutes, with detailed steps in the user manual walking you through everything from the parts in the hardware kit to verifying the heart rate display.

What’s covered by the warranty?

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