The Life Fitness Club Series Recumbent Exercise Bike – Health Club Quality

The Life Fitness Club Series recumbent exercise bike is a self-powered home cardio trainer that delivers a smooth workout to rival almost any health club model.  It has quickly become one of the most popular residential recumbents on the market today, as it provides the ride and durability that people love.

The Bike

The Life Fitness Club Series recumbent exercise bike has a red backlit LED display showing readouts for time, speed, distance, calories/hr, watts, MET, target heart rate, and more.

The programs include Hill, Random, EZ Incline /Resistance, 5 HeartSync™ programs, and Special Terrain programs such as Around the World, Kilimanjaro, Foothills, Cascades, and Speed Training. You can also change workouts on-the-fly without restarting the time and other stats.

The LifeCycle recumbent bike features:

• 19 Programs; 5 HR workouts
• 20 levels of Resistance
• Lifepulse™ contact heart rate grips
• Polar® wireless chest strap
• 34 seat positions
• Wide Ride™ self-leveling pedals with straps
• Self-powered
• User capacity: 400 lbs
• Dimensions/Weight: 54"L x 26"W x 51"H / 134 lbs
• Warranty: lifetime frame, 3 yrs parts, 1-yr labor

Check out the Club Series Recumbent on Sale at Life Fitness Now!

The Buzz

You are already aware of the legendary traits of LifeCycle bikes including quality, comfort, style, and durability. The Life Fitness Club Series recumbent exercise bike has all of these characteristics.

It offers the user a contoured, high back padded seat, front and side-mounted handlebars with pulse grips, wide pedals with straps, multiple seat positions, and a wireless heart rate chest strap (included).

The Club Series LifeCycle recumbent bike is built on a solid frame of 134 pounds that can hold a user up to a maximum weight of 400 pounds. And just like a commercial bike, this LifeCycle is self-powered and does not require a cord to an outlet to power up the display.

It has a self-contained alternator system and Poly V belt-drive that combine to deliver 20 smooth, quick-changing resistance levels.

More cool features include the seven My Workouts™ programs where you can pick your favorite pre-programmed workouts that save your weight and incline levels automatically. You can also store feedback results for each workout and track your progress.

Life Fitness recently introduced a more enhanced version of this bike called the Club Series Plus, which might become even more popular than the base model due to the fact that it has a lot more features and capabilities.  It has a touch screen interface as well as workout tracking and app syncing, something missing on the base Club Series.

There is also a Platinum Club Series, but that is more of a commercial model that is not necessary for home use.

How Does the Club Series Compare to the Other Life Fitness Recumbent Bikes?

There are currently six recumbent Life Fitness bikes, with the Club Series being towards the higher end of the series.  All of them are top-notch, built with the highest quality components.  But as you move up in the series, you get more features and capabilities.

Let's take a brief look at the entire recumbent series to see how they all compare...

The entry level model is called the R1, and it features the company's basic Go console, contact and wireless heart rate, 20 resistance levels, standard self-balancing pedals, a cup holder and a maximum user weight of 300 lbs.

Moving up you have the RS1, which features a convenient step thru design plus an additional console option, the upgraded Track Connect.

You then have the next level R3, similar to the R1 but with enhanced cushioned pedals and a jump up to a 400 lb. max weight capacity.

The RS3 is similar to the RS1, but adds the advanced pedals and higher max weight just like the R3.

After the RS models that's when you get to the Club Series, which is simply a more commercial-grade series of bikes.  These are closer to what you would find in your gym, and they can stand up to the heaviest usage.

The base Club Series recumbent is very similar to the bike you might have used at your health club and is a more rugged, solid version of the R3.

The new Club Series + offers a step through design, new touch screen console, Bluetooth tracking, workout replay option and 25 resistance levels.  It is the more technologically advanced model than the base Club Series recumbent.

The top of the line Platinum Club Series comes in four different frame colors, three different consoles and unique programming on top of all of the other features of the recumbent Club models.

So as you can see the Life Fitness Club Series recumbent is more health club quality than the R and RS models, which are more residential-grade.  However, it is not as advanced as the newer Club Series + or the Platinum version.

Which Life Fitness Recumbent Bike Should You Choose?

If we had our choice of Life Fitness recumbents, we would opt for the Club Series + on the higher end and the RS3 or RS1 on the lower end.  At All Exercise Bikes we prefer a step through design if it's available, and all of these models give you that.

The touch screen with Bluetooth and workout tracking on the Club Series + is awesome, as is the new look and feel of the bike itself.  So we would lean towards this one if you're considering the Club Series.

If you want to save a little money, by all means go with one of the RS models.  You don't get the touch screens but you do get Bluetooth technology, something you don't get with the basic Go consoles on the R models.

Note that the upright C models are very similar to their R counterparts, so if you are considering one of those the same basic comparisons apply.

Our Take on the Club Series Recumbent Bike

The Life Fitness Club Series recumbent exercise bike offers the guilty-pleasure comforts just like health club models costing twice as much. Reviews on this model are very good, but you just have to make sure you have the budget for it.

You can save $1,300+ and get the Life Fitness R1 LifeCycle with the same warranty and many of the same features for around $1,399, so if budget is a big consideration, take a look at that model.

The RS series will give you the additional console option as well as step-thru design, which is something most users appreciate.

If you are set on the Club Series, definitely consider the new Club Series Plus as its price is more justified.  It's only $1000 more than the base Club and gives you a lot more for your money.