Tuesday, 18 February 2025

Exercise Bikes

Schwinn A20 Recumbent Exercise Bike Review

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As the recumbent equivalent of the Schwinn A10 Upright Bike, the Schwinn A20 Recumbent Bike provides a lower impact form of exercise that better supports your lower back.

It’s design features like these that we wanted to take a look at in more detail throughout our review, as well as the workout programs, customer reviews, and display console functions.

Design features

Schwinn A20 Recumbent Bike

If you’re considering buying a new recumbent bike for cardio workouts at home, the Schwinn A20 is currently one of the most popular and competitively priced models available.

The main goal behind the design of the A20 is to provide extra support for your lower back while cycling, which is something you just don’t get from the upright designs.

The extra wide, padded seat and back support create a comfortable position for a low impact workout, that reduces the stress placed on your knee and hip joints.

Using a simple hand wheel adjustment system under the seat, you can also adjust your distance from the pedals, making the A20 suitable for a wide range of user heights.

Taking a look at the handles on either side of the seat, you’ll notice that they have heart rate hand sensors built in.

Although this does allow for a basic level of heart rate pulse tracking, it’s important to note that lower priced machines do tend to provide less accurate feedback than their higher priced counterparts.

Resistance settings and stable workouts

In terms of the resistance options, there are 8 different settings to choose from, with the A20 using what’s referred to as a computer-controlled eddy current resistance system.

One final feature worth mentioning is the design of the base stabilizers.

If you’ve ever attempted a workout on a piece of exercise equipment that didn’t have a stable base, you’ll know how frustrating and off-putting it can be.

That’s why the Schwinn A20 uses polygonal end caps on the rear stabilizer bar, to allow you to counteract any slightly uneven flooring that you may need to rest the bike on.

Despite what you may read in some reviews, unfortunately there aren’t any transport wheels attached to this bike. But at 60 lbs, it’s still not the heaviest of bikes to have to move around if needed.

Schwinn A20 Recumbent Bike

Schwinn A20 Recumbent Bike – Features Summary

  • Easy to read large LCD window tracks your speed, time, distance, calories and more
  • 7 workout programs to keep you challenged
  • 8 levels of magnetic resistance
  • Grip heart rate monitor
  • Speakers
  • Grip heart rate monitor

Display console design

Schwinn A20 Recumbent Bike

With a similar design to its partner A10 upright bike, the Schwinn A20 display console provides you with many of the same features, just without the handles to grip on either side.

Unlike many recumbent bikes in this price range, the size of the display console is actually quite large, making the large buttons easier to use and workout feedback easier to read.

With information such as calories burned, distance, time, and current workout program all displayed at the same time, this also saves you having to wait for the console to scroll through one metric at a time.

Although you don’t have access to a storage shelf, or cooling fan, these tend to be features that you’ll only find on recumbent bikes closer to $450.

You do however have MP3 connectivity and a built-in speaker system, allowing you to listen to your favourite motivational music while you workout.

Workout programs

Schwinn A20 Recumbent Bike

You may already have come across some of the bestselling recumbent bikes from Exerpeutic, which have certainly dominated the market in the sub $200 price range.

But there’s something important that both of those designs are missing. Preset workout programs.

If you enjoy being able to press a button and follow an effective training plan specifically designed to help you achieve certain fitness goals, preset workout programs are a must have.

The Schwinn A20 is actually one of the lowest priced recumbent bikes available that offers this feature, and has 6 pre-programmed workouts to choose from.

Depending on your personal fitness goals, you can choose from one of the following categories (2 workout programs per category):

Course – Frequently varies the resistance level with a gradual transition between periods of high and low intensity cycling.

Pursuit – Designed to emulate cycling uphill, the Pursuit workout programs constantly increase the resistance throughout your workout to help boost your endurance.

Circuit – Based around the classic style of interval training, the Circuit workouts are similar to the Course programs, but with much more sudden changes in resistance to help improve lower body strength and burn more calories.

Ease of assembly

Before you can start enjoying your first cardio workouts on your new piece of fitness equipment, you first have to make it through the assembly.

Fortunately, due to its compact size and minimalistic frame design, it shouldn’t take much longer than 30 to 40 minutes to get the Schwinn A20 fully setup and operational.

This is partly due to the quality of the assembly instructions in the user manual, and partly due to the fact that much of the bike already arrives pre-assembled.

This results in only the foot pedals, display console support, and main frame sections needing to be connected, with a full parts list making it easier to match up the parts in the box with the instructions in the guide.

The owner’s manual also features a full troubleshooting guide with solutions to any issues you might experience, including the e-2 error which is occasionally caused by a loose cable, and has a simple fix.

Although Schwinn do say that this bike’s power supply can be either batteries or an AC adapter, you will need to purchase each of these separately to the bike to get the resistance system and console working.

Customer reviews

While we aim to provide you with all the information you need in our own review, there will inevitably be questions that we won’t have answered.

If you do have any questions about the design or functions of the Schwinn A20, ‘Amazon Answered Questions‘ is the place you want to ask them.

You may already find that someone has asked a similar question and received an answer, but if not you can always post your own.

This will then be answered by someone who has already purchased this bike, and is experienced in using it for their own workouts.

With a high average rating in the customer reviews section, one last subject we wanted to cover was the pros and cons of this bike, as reported by other people who have already bought it.

The full reviews are also available on Amazon, but for convenience we’ve put together the following quick reference guide.

Pros:

  • No need to connect to mains power, meaning you aren’t restricted in where you setup the bike
  • Quick and easy to assemble
  • High quality materials
  • Quiet to use, no matter which resistance setting the bike is set to
  • Sturdy and stable frame design is improved with the rear base stabilizer
  • Large display screen and console makes setting up and tracking of your workout much simpler than most recumbent bikes at this price point
  • Well packaged prior to being sent out and delivered
  • Provides an effective form of low impact exercise
  • Free shipping
  • Seat settings are suitable for users ranging from 4 feet 5 inches to 6 feet 2 inches

Cons:

  • Requires batteries to power the display
  • LCD display isn’t backlit, making it difficult to read your workout feedback in low light conditions
  • Although optional, the power adaptor is sold separately, leaving you to rely on battery power or order the adaptor at the same time as the bike

What’s included with the warranty?

  • Frame: 2 years
  • Mechanical and electrical parts: 6 months
  • Wear parts: 30 days
Schwinn exercise bike buyer's guide

Review Overview

Overall Review Rating

4 / 5

With 8 levels of resistance, 6 preset workout programs and a 275 lb weight capacity, the Schwinn A20 does an excellent job of covering the basics.

Around half the price of their flagship recumbent bike, there are obvious sacrifices that need to be made if you are on a budget, including the display console functions and ergonomic seat design.

But overall, the low profile frame and well padded seat and back support make it as easy and comfortable as possible to workout on this bike, which is particularly useful if you have restricted movement or are looking for a lower impact form of exercise than conventional cycling.

Product dimensions: 61" (L) x 19" (W) x 40" (H) Product weight: 60 lbs Weight limit: 275 lbs