Exercise Equipment Review

You are not the only one, who ordered this machine without a manual. It did come with a book with about 10 pages all the same with a warning... =(

Has anyone found a solution for reducing the tension on the bicycle so that it doen't always feel like you are travelling uphill?

Did you ever find an answer, our bike has become a dust collector because of this problem.

The voltage on most free spirit ellipticals is 6V and the machine can draw up to 1.5A. I'm running mine off an old batter charger (6V/1.5A max) and it is working beautifully.

The main thing is not to try too high a voltage. When it first broke, i tried a 4.5V, 500mA adapter I had laying around and it worked, but seemed slow to tighten. That was because the machine was trying to draw more current than the adapter could provide. I wanted to make sure that under higher load (i.e. when the belt inside is being tightened by the little motor) that it had enough current to do it properly. You can't hurt the machine with low voltage or low current (it would be the same as when the batteries are weak). You can if you overdo the voltage. The machine decides how much current to pull from the wall and it depends on what you are doing with it at that time. After doing some research, I realized there was an option for 4D batteries in series, which means 6V total. After that it's easy. You could even search eBay for 6V 1.5A power adapters and just plug it in. It's a standard barrel plug on the elliptical. If the receptical on the machine is broken (as mine was) I just opened it up and wired it together permanently with the battery charger that I used.

Good luck!

Mine is Freespirit mod 30141 and is running with 110vAc to 6vDc adapter.

Hi:
I may be too late to reply to your question about the tension cable for your Free Spirit exercise bike because you wrote it last year, but I thought if it's just sitting in your basement, you might be happy to get this information. I have a different model, but had the same problem as you when I was assembling my bike this afternoon. The solution is very simple (if your problem is the same as mine). I was also frustrated by the fact that the cable didn't seem long enough to feed through the end of the extension tension control cable bracket but I eventually figured out that the tension knob was turned to the highest tension, which means that the tension cable was pulled up, and therefore shorter. All you have to do is turn the tension knob to the lowest tension setting, which lengthens the cable enough for you to feed it through the bracket.
I hope this is helpful! Let me know if it works for you.
Cathy

I have the same bike and have had it apart because the belt tensioner (plastic) broke into pieces. For your information, there are no lubrication points inside the the cover. All of the bearings are sealed ball bearings. I replaced the belt tensioner with a wide wheel from an old roller skate (the bearings are exactly the same). And there is no contact between the flywheel and the magnets that provide the resistance so no wear. So if it is making noise maybe a bearing is worn out. I still have the manual for it and no mention of special maintence is mentioned. Do you know how I can enter other smart programs onto it?

My wife picked up a Free Spirit item #30140 and its missing its power supply. Where can we find a manual or can someone let us know the voltage and polarity for the power supply.

Thanks.