When it was finally time to ride, we clipped in (or simply adjusted the toe cages if the bike didn’t feature clip-in pedals), and got to spinning. We do appreciate that the bike is easy to assemble and provides a stable, comfortable ride. But the toe-caged pedals can only be used with sneakers or athletic shoes, so additional pedals are required for clipless cycling shoes. If you’re in the market for an indoor cycling bike, you’ve probably considered a Peloton model—but are they worth the cost?
The wheels come in 29″ with large 2.25″ tires, which really helps the bike roll over obstacles such as tree stumps and rocks quickly. The geometry is comfortable, and this bike is going to be a pleasure to go on and off-road with. These bikes will suit users from 5’0″ all the way to 6’5″ depending on the frame size. They are all made of lightweight aluminum and are strong and robust. It wasn’t until around 1986, when Ned Overend won two Mountain Biking National Championships for the Schwinn team, that people really started to notice how excellent the mountain bikes had become.
Just like our best overall pick, Schwinn’s IC4 bike includes a free one-year membership to JRNY and allows you to connect it to your favorite cycling apps, like Peloton, Zwift, and more. We love that JRNY membership offers 50+ global routes that auto-adjust in real time to your speed, so you can travel to bucket-list destinations from your saddle. The bike also has dual-sided pedals that conveniently allow you to spin with sneakers or a pair of cycling shoes.
A subtle gold sparkle finish on the otherwise black aluminum frame adds some detail. Many who saw me riding this bike remarked that it’s not bad-looking. I even spotted a routing port for an internal dropper post, though at this price clearly buyers will need to purchase schwinn cruiser one separately. Schwinn equips the Axum with 29er wheels and 2.6-inch-wide tires. The 35mm-wide rims are a nice match for the tire width, delivering good stability and rollover capability. It’s not quite a plus bike, and that might actually be a good call.
It’s built around a tough steel frame and fork that’s not scared of rough paths or pub crawls. The hydraulic disc brakes, 1x drivetrain, and Vee Tire wide knobby tires on 27.5-inch wheels are borrowed from mountain bikes and add to the Larkspur’s go-anywhere capability. In 2019, this bike started coming with mechanical disc brakes. The Coda S2 comes with well-rated Vittoria Randonneur tires—that is, tires from a “real” tire company that you can buy in a bike shop, and now in a wider and cushier size—and steel-wrapped resin pedals. In 2018, the Coda Sport (as it used to be called) cost $530; now, the Coda S2, which has very similar components, costs $770. We have used other Schwinn indoor cycling bikes before, so we were familiar with the brand and other models before testing and had high expectations for this bike.
Hall of Famer, Joe Breeze, used the 1937 Schwinn Excelsior’s geometry in designing his first mountain bike frames in 1977. Schwinn Protocol, much like the Traxion, is a full-suspension mountain bike. It has dual suspension, forks on the front, shock on the rear, and will be very capable when it comes to getting nice and muddy. It also has trigger shifters instead of twist shifters which are a lovely touch and much better for off-road riding.