Tru Grit Reaper Air Bike Review

Who this bike is for

The Tru Grit Reaper is an air bike for somebody who has outgrown a plain fan bike. You can ride it like a regular fan bike, but it also has a resistance knob, and that knob is the whole reason to buy it.

It's also a good fit for a big guy who hates skinny air bike seats, and for anybody whose old fan bike is loud enough to be annoying.

What I came from

I had one of those old Schwinn Airdyne bikes for a very long time. For what I paid for it and for as old as it was, it was great. But it was super loud, you couldn't change the resistance, and it was time to upgrade.

I already had the Grit Runner Elite treadmill from Tru Grit, and I love that piece of equipment. So when I saw they were coming out with an air bike with resistance levels, it was a no-brainer for my gym.

The resistance knob is the whole difference

Most air bikes only have the fan. The harder you pedal, the harder it gets, and that's it. The Reaper adds eight levels of magnetic resistance on top of the fan.

On the lowest setting it rides like a normal, smooth fan bike. The first time I turned it up halfway I said "holy smokes" out loud. It's like riding hills. Go from no resistance to max and it's a huge difference.

You can change it on the fly, too. It's a knob, it's smooth, and you don't even lose a step.

My gym is a single car garage, so I need every piece of equipment to do more than one job. This gives me resistance work and a fan bike in the same spot.

How quiet it is

I can't believe how quiet it is. It's belt driven, and it's smooth. My Schwinn was super noisy compared to this one.

It's still a fan bike. It winds up when you get going, and it's going to make some noise. It's just a lot less than what I was used to.

The seat, and fit at 6'5"

The seat was the first thing I noticed when I got on. It's wide, it has a nice cushion, and it's a lot more comfortable than my old Schwinn. One thing I don't like about the Assault bike is that super narrow seat. This is the opposite.

It's a quick adjust seat. It goes up and down and slides forward and back, and it takes a couple of seconds. That's handy if you're trading off with somebody in a partner workout.

I always run mine at the very top. Tru Grit lists the seat height at 24 to 31 inches, with eight vertical positions and five horizontal.

Size, weight and moving it

It's 52 inches long, 24 inches wide and 52 inches high at the handles. That's 8.7 square feet. It's not a huge amount, but if space is at a premium in your gym, keep it in mind.

It weighs 156 pounds. That's not crazy heavy, and it has big wheels on the front and a handle on the back. I keep mine in a corner of the gym, pull it out when I need it and slide it right back.

The monitor

The monitor is a backlit LCD that runs on four AA batteries, so there's nothing to plug in. The batteries last a while.

It has targets for time, distance, calories and heart rate, plus interval settings and a custom one. It's Bluetooth compatible, and it can show miles or kilometers per hour.

Putting it together

It came on a freight truck. They called a few days ahead to schedule it and gave me a window. It shows up as a box inside a box inside a box, with no branding on the outside.

Most of the bike comes put together, and the tools are in the box. You put on the two stabilizers and their covers, the seat, the handles, the footrests, the pedals, the monitor and the water bottle holder. The handles and pedals are marked left and right so you can't screw it up.

Two things to watch for. There are screws packed in with the parts, and I poked my finger on one pulling pieces out of the box. And on the neck that holds the monitor, there's barely enough room to get the Allen wrench on the bolt. Hand tighten it all the way down first.

It took me about an hour and 15 minutes with the camera. By yourself without filming, 30 minutes max.

How it's held up so far

I've used it pretty much every single day for just over a month. Regular rides, short rides, sprints, with resistance and without. It's been one of the best additions to my home gym ever.

It feels solid and heavy duty. But a month is a month. I don't know how it's going to last over time, and I'm not going to pretend I do. I'm planning a 6 month update and probably a 1 year update.

The catches

It costs more than a basic air bike. When I first looked at it on preorder, it was priced above the Rogue Echo Bike. What you're paying for is the resistance levels, which the Echo doesn't have.

It hasn't always been in stock. When I made my 1 month video it was on sale and sold out.

And like I said, long-term durability is still an open question for me.

Would I buy it again?

Yes. Coming off an old Airdyne, it was a real upgrade. It's quieter, the seat fits me, and the resistance makes it a different kind of bike.

If all you need is a basic fan bike and the extra money matters more to you than resistance levels, buy the basic bike. If a fan bike doesn't push you hard enough anymore, this is the one I'd look at.