Reebok ZJET 460 Exercise Bike Review

What’s there to say about Reebok that hasn’t been said countless times already? A name that’s synonymous with sporting activity the world over their products are used by millions of people worldwide and with an ever-growing reputation it’s inevitable that the standards they need to keep living up to go up and up. To see if their ZJet 460 upright bike is up to the task we took a close up look.

Assembly is a straight-forward affair for the most part. The user manual for this model, like all other Reebok machines relies on diagrams rather than words to walk you through the assembly process. And for the most part, it’s very good though the bit about attaching the handlebars is sadly missing! The good news is that attaching the handlebars is very straight-forward and most people won’t have any trouble in figuring it out.

Once built the ZJet 460 is solid and sturdy bit of kit that looks great. Reebok has opted to move away from a smooth body shell and has introduced a 3D lattice on both sides of the bike. The visual effect is great and really makes it stand out. The design is carried through the rest of the bike including the console so that it features swishes of contrasting black and white like the lattice on the side. It looks great and while it doesn’t affect the performance of the bike in any way, it does show that Reebok isn’t content to just regurgitate old ideas on new models and continues to make an effort.

The riding position on the ZJet 460 is very good. The saddle is adjustable for height and distance and the handlebars can be tilted towards and away from the rider making it easy for just about everyone to get a comfortable, sound, ride. There are also adjustable foot pads on all 4 corners of the stabilisers (front & rear) making this model suitable for more or less any kind of floor that you care to put it on.

The console features a 5.5″ back-lit 2-colour LCD screen that has nice large, easy-to-read characters and a moulded tablet holder. There are 24 levels of electronically controlled resistance and 12 preset workouts. Each workout is scalable so if you find a particular programme you like, you can just keep making it harder as your fitness levels improve, which is a nice touch. In addition to the preset workouts, there are target based exercises you can do for target time, target distance, target calories and there’s also heart rate control and a user-defined programme as well as a manual mode. In addition, there’s a recovery fitness test that checks to see how fast your heart rate returns to normal after your exercise and gives you a fitness rating ranging from poor to excellent based on how quickly you return to a resting rate. There’s plenty to keep one busy here though it’s disappointing to see that the only way to measure your heart rate is via the handgrip sensors. Handgrip sensors are, unfortunately, less than accurate and shouldn’t be used to make sure that you stay within your maximum heart rate as you could go over and not know it. Better then to leave the heart rate control workouts on this model alone unless you have a separate heart rate monitor that you’re using.

Mechanically the ZJet 460 is solid. With a heavy-weight flywheel weighing in at a hefty 9kg (19.84 lbs) the cycling action is smooth and consistent throughout the entire cycle and the riding position as mentioned earlier is good. Clearly Reebok has used good quality components here as it’s easy to appreciate the smoothness and the almost totally silent operation of this bike. It’s nothing more than we’d expect, but it’s good to see that substance has been put on an equal footing at least with style.

Other features include a water bottle holder that’s positioned well, transport wheels at the front which make it easy to move this bike around should you need to. The ZJet 460 also comes with Reebok’s 2-year on-site parts and labour warranty for peace of mind.