Body Sculpture BC1510 Exercise Bike

...computer...

The Body Sculpture BC1510 Exercise Bike is a low- end exercise aid. The thing is, it's much lower- end than the documentation would have you believe. The sales literature boasts about the following features, which I will review as I list them:

- Durable tension strap for varied resistance.

This sounds more impressive than it actually is, but to be truthful it's adequate for the needs of your ...
...turn it, but the change in resistance is barely noticable other than at the extremes- it's either easy or difficult, and there's not much between.

- High quality chain for durability.

All I can say about this is that it feels solid enough, and hasn't broken yet.

- Manual adjustable tension for varied resistence.

This basically means the same as the first point, only it's more geared towards ... more

I bought this bike for around £20 (brand new) from a popular catalogue store's clearance warehouse. My initial advice regarding this product is this: If you see it at a clearance warehouse retailing at around £20, and you really want an exercise bike and don't have the free cash to get anything more flash: get it.
If, however, you see this bike retailing at it's RRP (that's somewhere around the £80 mark), then walk on by, because it's really not worth it.

This is one of those products that is a bargain in the right circumstances. I'll tell you why, in a little while. First, the good bits.

It's a cheap exercise bike. It comes 'flat-packed' in three main parts- the main body, the seat and seat support, and the handlebar support. The handlebar, pedals and stand are all included, and have to be attached once the main sections are put together. Putting the thing together is nice and easy, with all fixings such as screws, nuts and bolts supplied, as well as a nifty but cheap spanner- type object which lasts just long enough to tighten the bolts adequately, and then disintegrates.

The bike is of basic design, and the seat isn't suitable for younger (or shorter) users- I'm about 5'7", and it's just about right for me at it's lowest setting. The seat itself won't have your backside purring contentedly, and extended sessions can leave your posterior feeling a little flattened, but it's not overly uncomfortable. This really depends on who you are- I'm fine with the seat as it is, but my mum finds the use of a cusion to help.
The handlebars are comfortable enough, with a foam-rubber, faux-neoprene sleeve to go over each side. These are shaped so that they can be held in a number of positions for comfort, style and speed, but I have found that if I hold them near to the top and lean on them too much, the adjustability of the handlebars becomes a hindrance more than a help, and allows them to move forwards rather suddenly. On a few occasions, I have narrowly escaped braining myself on the computer, which is located just in front of the point at which the handlebars are connected to the frame. Ah yes, the included cycle computer...

The Body Sculpture BC1510 Exercise Bike is a low- end exercise aid. The thing is, it's much lower- end than the documentation would have you believe. The sales literature boasts about the following features, which I will review as I list them:

- Durable tension strap for varied resistance.

This sounds more impressive than it actually is, but to be truthful it's adequate for the needs of your average bedroom-based health aspirations. The dial clicks satisfyingly as you turn it, but the change in resistance is barely noticable other than at the extremes- it's either easy or difficult, and there's not much between.

- High quality chain for durability.

All I can say about this is that it feels solid enough, and hasn't broken yet.

- Manual adjustable tension for varied resistence.

This basically means the same as the first point, only it's more geared towards the clicky control for it, which does sound nice but, as already stated, doesn't actually do all that much.

- Computer monitors: Scan, Time, Speed, Distance and Calories.

Now, this is the bit that causes the actual worth of this bike to be a lot less than the manufacturers ask for it. I'll describe the listed features first, as they're not immediately obvious to all:
Time: This is simply a stopwatch- it starts counting when you start pedalling, and stops when you stop pedalling.
Speed: This is an estimate of how fast you'd be travelling (in kilometres per hour) if you were pedalling at a similar speed on a real bike.
Distance: This is an estimate of how far you'd travel if you were pedalling at the speed indicated in the 'speed' section for the amount of time indicated in the 'time' section.
Calories: An estimate of the number of calories (or kilocalories, to be pedantic) that you've burned up so far on your 'trip'.
Scan: Now, this is the one that sounds really interesting. It isn't. It simply cycles through the other four sections, allowing you an overview of what you're doing, and gives you something to stare at.

The computer(a plastic box about the size of a large cigarette packet, with an LCD screen on the front and a battery compartment on the back), as I've previously mentioned, is situated just in front of the point at which the handlebars meet the frame. It clips onto a purpose built section of the frame, and a wire, similar to a personal radio's earphone cable, which protrudes from the computer connects to another similar cable which protrudes from the inner workings of the bike. I don't know what it does in there- the tempting answer is "not much", as you'll see further on in this review.

It's this part of the whole affair that sounds interesting- you can sit on the bike, pedal away, and know that you've worked off yesterday's chocolate bar, or that if you cycle for another fourteen minutes, you can have a 1/2 pounder from the chippy rather than the 1/4 pounder. It sounds very useful and a bit fun, and it would be if it worked.

In my experience, to say that the computer worked intermittently would be generous.
Occasionally, it starts working when you start to pedal, as it should. But then, after thirty seconds or so, it indicates, via it's easy-to-read LCD screen, that you have stopped pedalling. A short while after that, it switches itself off to conserve battery power.
On other occasions, it doesn't register that you're pedalling at all, and you just can't wake it up at all.
And possibly the most annoying scenario of all is when I walk past the bike, glance at the computer's screen, and see that it's counting away to itself without anyone riding it at all.

I could possibly have got in touch with the company's customer services department and asked them about it, but they don't seem to go out of their way to let you know how to contact them- the few details that I have found and subsequently used, have remained unresponsive. The documentation doesn't help- It's simply a collection of either obvious or unintelligible statements in badly translated pigeon- English.

So, in conclusion, don't buy it unless you see it available at a price which outweighs the sheer rubbishness of the included computer. As a low- end, back-to-basics exercise bike, it's great- you can get on, pedal for a bit, then get off again. It does exactly what a low end exercise bike is supposed to. The fact that they've stuck a plastic box onto it and called it a computer is nothing more than a poorly conceived gimmick designed, I imagine, simply to push up the price. It's not even nearly worth the £80 asking price, but I'm perfectly happy with it, having spent only a quarter of this. 

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