Maybe someone can help me with my stationary bike...

  • My in-laws were nice enough to give me their old DP Fit for Life Air Gometer stationary bike. It is an air resistance bike, and the handles move back and forth and you petal. It's pretty old, but it's in good shape. They didn't have a manual for it. The problem is, I can't figure out how (or even, if) the tension can be adjusted. I'm not in great shape, and the times I've tried to use it, I feel like I'm pedaling a bike up hill, carrying a load of bricks. The only knob I can find on the thing adjusts the height of the seat. As it is, I can barely use the thing without running out of breath in five minutes. I need to set the tension to be lighter, so I can work up gradually. I've searched all over the web, but I can't find a web site for DP Fit for Life equipment, or anything else that helps. I'm hoping someone here might know something and be able to help me.
  • I wonder if you can augment your exercise routine to slowly work up your time on this machine especially if there is no other way to adjust the tension. It would seem a shame to get it to your house and then not use it.
  • Have you checked the whole thing super-thoroughly? Maybe it's an old model and is designed in an old way. Check everywhere for the knob, I suggest - and if you can't find it thenmaybe you can fashion something.. like a towel padding the fly wheel so that it becomes harder to pedal. Okay lol, maybe not the cleverest suggestion but that's all I've got.

    At the end of the day, you can probably get a cheap 2nd or 3rd hand bike for not too much money.
  • I think she needs to go the other way, Mazza.

    Can you post a couple pics of it? I tried googling as well and it sounds like DP is no longer making stationary bikes.
  • Hehe, I think you're right, Chick in the Hat.
    Good idea - maybe if you could get a couple of pics on here, Candace?