Friends, there is clearly a structural problem with the NordicTrak 720 SL recumbent bike. As you've already noticed if you've read the other complaints here and elsewhere, the crank assembly is functionally worthless and appears to have a lifespan somewhere in the seven hour range — assuming it doesn't arrive broken, as mine did.
I purchased the product at Sears in December; used it for all of three weeks, when it promptly broke — no resistance. The friendly folks at ICON diagnosed the problem correctly as a bad crank — that's the good news. The bad news was that I would have to wait two weeks for the part to arrive; and following its arrival, I would be contacted by the local entity they had contracted for service.
Sure enough, the part arrived as predicted — right around the end of January. We were supposed to receive a call from the technician within 72 hours — right. We waited a week, then called ICON again to find out what was going on — part's here, where's the tech? They assured us they would take care of the situation.
Yet another week expired — and after assurances that the technician would call us the very next day, another call was needed to light a fire under someone. Finally, the technician actually responded — amazingly enough, they already had a work order number — generated two weeks earlier. Guess they've got more important things to do. This is really not surprising when you're dealing with contracted service, by the way. Want good service? Buy the product at the place they're contracting the service through.
Well, he came out, was terribly polite and competent, and fixed the bike. As with other postings you'll read about here, worked like a charm for all of two days — much longer than the others, I might add — before it's again displaying the same symptoms. The crank hasn't gone yet, but it's clearly just a matter of time. I'm not planning to wait another month to get the same thing fixed, with the same defect just around the corner — this thing's going back to Sears.
Moral of the story? Don't buy this bike. I am usually very patient about minor issues, and it's always possible to get a defective part here and there. But this thing is clearly defective. Want to take a guess at why they can't keep those cranks on hand? I think they're going through them as fast as they can get them from the manufacturer.
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