Sole Fitness is a well-known home fitness brand, popular for providing high-quality machines that are solidly-built and easy to use.
And their R92 Recumbent Bike fits that mold in the best way.
With a sale price right around $1000, the R92 is Sole’s most affordable recumbent bike to date- but with features like a 20 lb flywheel, 20 resistance levels, and a heavy-duty frame you wouldn’t guess it.
Throw in one of Sole’s awesome warranties and you’ve got a home run here.
Long-story short, I think the R92 is likely the best recumbent bike in its price range.
If you’re interested in the longer story, keep reading.
In this review, I’ll be going over everything this bike does and doesn’t have going for it.
After reading, you’ll know whether or not it makes sense to invest in this recumbent bike.
Sole’s R92 comes with impressive performance specs and a great warranty for the price, but the console is a little dated. If you’re looking for a high-performing recumbent though, it’s the best option in the ~$1k price range.
Sole’s R92 Recumbent Bike
Sole is one of the most popular home fitness brands out there.
Their treadmills, bikes, and ellipticals are often found on “best of” lists each year and they’ve won numerous awards for “best in class”.
The fitness brand started out by providing hotels with quality treadmills, but as their popularity grew, they started branching out into home fitness.
Designing treadmills to withstand the light commercial loads of hotel use was helpful when it came to the home fitness game.
They carried over their same dedication to quality and durability that made their hotel models so popular to their residential units.
The result?
Sole treadmills quickly became some of the best products on the market.
Fast forward and their other cardio machines are just as popular.
The R92 we’re here to talk about now is one of 2 recumbents in their lineup, with the other being the more expensive LCR.
The R92 is basically a smaller version of the LCR, but it’s still quite impressive in its own right.
Especially for the price range (I’d even go as far to say this is the best recumbent bike under $1000), but more on that later.
Pros
- Heavy-duty frame
- 300 lb weight capacity
- 20 lb flywheel
- 20 magnetic resistance levels
- Oversized, comfortable seat
- Bluetooth speakers
- USB charging port
- Great warranty
- Great price
Cons
- Only 7 workout programs
Frame
Having a durable frame is crucial for a recumbent bike.
I mean it takes away from the experience if you feel the frame wiggling around while you pedal.
Well, with the R92, you shouldn’t have to worry about that. Sole designed this bike with a heavy-duty steel frame that can handle users up to 300 lbs safely.
I like to look at the weight capacity as an objective measure of how sturdy the frame is, but it’s also a good idea to look at the assembled weight itself.
After all, this tells you exactly how heavy the bike is and having a heavier bike is a good thing when it comes to stability.
The heavier a bike is, the less likely it’ll be to wiggle and wobble around.
In this case, the R92 weighs 130 lb fully assembled, which is significantly heavier than most.
For comparison’s sake, the popular Schwinn 290 (which is a nice bike by the way) only weighs about 108 lb.
Part of this extra weight comes from the heavy flywheel Sole put on the R92.
This bike comes with a 20 lb flywheel, which is heavy in the world of home recumbents where it isn’t uncommon to see 13-14 lb flywheels.
Flywheel weight might not be as crucial on recumbents as it is on indoor cycles, where you’re more likely doing higher intensity workouts.
But having a heavier flywheel on your recumbent is still going to give you a smoother ride and ability to access more overall resistance.
So if you’re looking for a recumbent that can perform, having a heavier flywheel is a good thing.
Overall, the R92 scores highly with its heavy-duty frame and heavier than normal flywheel.
Seat
The seat is another critical element when comes to a bike’s overall level of comfort.
Recumbent bikes seats should be large, padded, and preferably adjustable to maximize comfort during your workouts.
The seat on the R92 is oversized and covered with a thick padding, so we can go ahead and check off those first 2 boxes.
The backrest isn’t adjustable, but the seat itself is easily adjusted horizontally along the frame to match your height.
Although it would be nice to see an adjustable backrest too, at least Sole designed the seat on this bike to recline slightly for a more comfortable sitting position.
It’s also got a little lumbar support built-in, which is nice.
I like that the handgrip heart rate monitors are built into the handles on each side of the seat. I think this is a more comfortable placement option than the handles by the console.
The water bottle is also placed conveniently by the seat.
Overall, the backrest isn’t adjustable, but the seat itself is large, padded, and comfortable.
Features
The Sole R92 comes with the following features:
9″ LCD console- Sole’s been updating most of their consoles, but the R92 wasn’t one of the machines to get this upgrade. That’s ok though, especially if you’re not interested in streaming workouts. The console on this bike is pretty simple, but it’s large enough to see clearly during workouts and you’ll be able to view all stats at the same time.
Workout programs- the R92 only comes with 7 built-in workout programs, so there aren’t a ton of options to choose from, but you can also create 2 of your own custom workouts.
20 resistance levels- combine that heavy flywheel with the 20 levels of magnetic resistance and you’ve got everything you need to really crank up the intensity. Unlike a lot of home recumbents, the R92 has enough muscle to challenge even the most advanced athletes. The magnetic resistance system also ensures the resistance is smooth and silent.
Bluetooth speakers- a very cool feature. You can connect your phone or tablet up to the speakers wirelessly and listen to your favorite workout mixes without messing with wires.
Bluetooth compatibility with apps- you have to use your own tablet/phone, but the R92 is also bluetooth compatible with Sole+, Sole’s free fitness app that gives you access to instructor-led workouts.
USB charging port- another handy feature to ensure you don’t completely drain your battery while listening to your music. You can charge your smart devices during your workouts.
Integrated tablet holder- the conveniently located tablet holder allows you to watch your pad or read a magazine without blocking your view of the console screen.
Cooling fan- the built-in fan might come in handy on those more intense workouts.
Assembly
Putting the Sole R92 together shouldn’t be that bad.
Their instructions are pretty straightforward, although I would suggest they split the assembly into more steps so there isn’t so much going on in each one.
For example, step 4 has you adding all the plastic parts and pedals in you giant step.
They tell you which bolt to use for each piece, but you’ll likely have to go back and match the part number to ensure you’re using the right one for each piece.
Not a huge deal, but the images could be a little clearer too.
Overall though, if you’re even a little handy, you shouldn’t have any problem putting this bike together by yourself.
Keep in mind, this is a heavy bike- it’ll be a good idea to have a second person around to help you get the bike to whichever room it’s going to be in.
That second person will come in handy during assembly as well when you have to lift it and put the stabilizing feet on.
All of the necessary tools are included.
Warranty
Sole backs the R92 up with the following guarantee:
- Lifetime frame
- 2 years parts
- 1 year labor
This is a great warranty for a bike in this price range (~$1000) and one of the reasons I’m such a fan of Sole products to begin with.
You can’t beat lifetime on the frame, that’s as long as a warranty gets.
And when it comes to the parts warranty, quality bikes in any price range will usually offer 1-3 years, so 2 is pretty solid.
And a year on labor is pretty standard in any price range, so nothing to complain about there.
For the sake of comparison, Schwinn offers a 10 year frame, 2 year parts, and 90 day labor warranty for their slightly more affordable 290 Recumbent Bike.
And NordicTrack offers a 10 year frame, 2 year parts, 1 year labor warranty for all their exercise bikes.
So again, by comparison, I think Sole does a nice job with their warranties.
Sole’s R92 vs Sole’s LCR
| Sole’s R92 | Sole’s LCR | |
| Flywheel | 20 lb | 31 lb |
| Resistance levels | 20 | 40 |
| Weight limit | 300 lb | 350 lb |
| Warranty | Lifetime frame 2 year parts 1 year labor | Lifetime frame 3 year parts 1 year labor |
| Console | 9″ LCD | 10″ touchscreen |
| Preloaded apps | No | Yes |
Before I wrap things up here, I want to provide a quick comparison to Sole’s other recumbent bike, the LCR.
The LCR is a higher-end model with several upgrades and as such, it costs about $500 more.
The LCR comes with a heavier flywheel (31 lb), 2x as many resistance levels (40), and a heavier-duty frame that can hold folks weighing up to 350 lb.
These differences are significant in their own right, but the LCR also comes with a 10″ touchscreen console that’s loaded with entertainment apps and even comes with free fitness streaming content through Sole+.
In other words, the LCR comes with a much nicer console with loads of attentional tech features.
So, if you like the R92, but are looking for a more sophisticated console, you may want to check out their LCR.
Final Thoughts
I like Sole products because they’re about as unpretentious as home fitness equipment can be.
Their treadmills and bikes let their specs do the talking for them- and the R92 is no different.
Although with a sale price right around $1k, I would consider this a budget recumbent bike, there’s nothing budget about the R92.
I love how heavy-duty the frame is and that Sole threw a 20 lb flywheel on this model.
All this solid, heavy-duty material gives the R92 a lot of weight… and that’s a good thing.
This bike isn’t going to feel flimsy or wobble during use- something other recumbents in this price range may do.
I also like that Sole included bluetooth speakers and a USB charging port, tech features that actually come in handy during your workout.
Speaking of features, I think the R92’s biggest downside is that it only comes with a few workout programs, so it certainly isn’t the best option for folks looking for a vast workout library.
It’s obviously not the best equipped for streaming workouts either, although it’s nice that Sole’s fitness app is free with purchase.
But there’s nothing to complain about when it comes to that warranty.
Overall, I think Sole’s R92 is a great home recumbent and a steal at that price. Easily one of the best recumbent bikes on the market. Highly recommended.
