Tips Archive:

Hot Tip of the Month- March 2008: “Resistance Pads on the Schwinn Indoor Cycles”

I’ve written about this before, but I remember a different area. I’ve come across something new; which rarely happens when you do something over and over. I was servicing a club with Schwinn Evolutions; and when it was time to remove the resistance pads; each pad I attempted to remove was fractured where the brass grommet is molded to the resin pad body. I was surprised because I was under the impression that no one but myself worked on these bikes. I ended up replacing most of the pads on the 30 bikes that night. I called the facilities director and after further discussion I learned that the previous maintenance contractor was still servicing the bikes after I had come in. He was over tightening the hardware that connects the pad to the resistance arm to the point of pulling the brass grommet out of the pad and fracturing the pad body. Bottom line; if you re install the pads do not over tighten them. I use a Makita drill with a clutch and when I’m re installing the pad hardware I set the clutch to about 6 or 7. Also; I don’t use silicone on the pads. It tends to load up the fibers and wears the pad out 10 times faster!