Broken Elliptical

About a year and a half ago, in an effort to get fit, we purchased a Horizon E900 Elliptical from Dicks Sporting Goods in Leominster, MA.

Before I make any major purchase I do a lot of research and for the price we were willing to pay, this appeared to be the best model available.  People that owned it seemed to think highly of it.

The unit has worked well.  On average, I probably use it two or three times a week and although I still weigh more then I’d like, it has done a pretty good of keeping me fit.

Tonight, I was about half way though my thirty minute session when I heard a strange noise coming from the bottom of the pedal arm.  I didn’t stop immediately, as I probably should have, but it didn’t matter because within a few seconds, the pedal arm had jumped out of the track and was moving on the floor.  I got off the unit and knelt down to see what was going on and found that the axle on the inside right wheel had sheared off.  Bummer.

I’m not surprised that something is broken on the unit, because it does take a lot of abuse in it’s day to day operation, but I am surprised by the part that did break.  It seems like it shouldn’t be a high stress area.  The wheel just moves back and forth in the track and shouldn’t really be taking a lot of abuse.  I suspect the part was just defective.

I’ve sent an e-mail to the company to see if that part is covered under the warranty and also inquired as to how much it will cost if it is not.  Hopefully I’ll get a response tomorrow and have the thing fixed in the next week or so.

It must be my day for breaking things.  Shortly after the elliptical broke, I was attempting to cut off a piece of cheddar cheese with a knife an the wooden handle snapped in two.  Maybe I’m just getting too strong from all the work I’ve been doing on the elliptical.

Posted by Al on 01/12/10 at 09:38 PM in What's Happening