SportsArt Fitness designs and builds award winning products

SportsArt, a Woodinville, WA based supplier of high-end cardiovascular fitness products, has introduced over 30 new products since 1998. In an industry whose product development cycles mirror the automotive industry-typically 2-3 years from concept to roll out-this type of activity is unprecedented. For those familiar with SportsArt's long-standing tradition of manufacturing excellence, this should come as no surprise.

Founded in 1977, SportsArt began building fitness products in 1981. By the early 1990's they were firmly established as a premium OEM manufacturer. In fact, a long list of products designed and manufactured by SportsArt have been awarded various "Best Buy" designations over the years.

In the mid 1990's SportsArt designed and manufactured the Precor 855e recumbent cycle, which received a "Best Buy" award from Consumer's Digest. SportsArt's 5002B is a variation of this award winning product, with 4 significant upgrades. These upgrades are: (1) the addition of heart rate control which allows riders to maximize their cardiovascular and/or fat burn training.
(2) Improved body positioning while exercising. Extensive testing has shown that most exercisers prefer a semi-recumbent, rather than full recumbent, body position. The 5002B incorporates this design change, resulting in enhanced comfort. (3) Patented six-position seat back. This unique feature allows the user to adjust the rake, or tilt, of the seatback-another SportsArt patent. (4) Poly-v belt drive instead of chains. This feature provides smoother resistance and a virtually silent drive train. In addition, the SportsArt recumbent is the only exercise cycle on the market that features an infrared remote control built into the handle. This allows the rider to make programming and resistance changes without interrupting a workout.

Also in the mid 90's and also designated "Best Buy" from Consumer's Digest, was the Precor Mode1 recumbent, built by SportsArt. The full recumbent belt/flywheel cycle is not offered in the SportsArt line. Instead, two all new semi recumbent cycles, the 506 and 506P are offered. These units offer the enhanced comfort of a semi-recumbent body position and a resistance system-permanent magnet-that is superior, both in longevity and consistency of resistance, to belt/flywheel systems.

During this same time frame, SportsArt designed and built manual treadmills for both Schwinn and Ultrafit. The Schwinn unit was rated tops in the market by Home Gym and Fitness magazines while the Ultra-Fit was recognized by Prevention magazine.

In December 1999, Runner's World rated a SportsArt designed and built treadmill, the Smooth 7.5, one of the top 10 treadmills on the market. SportsArt added heart rate control and the exact same unit became the SportsArt 3100HR. SportsArt has since completely redesigned and significantly improved what was already one of the top units in the industry. The new models, 3106/3108/3110, all feature larger running surface, improved shock system, more powerful motor, lower step up height, heart rate control and contact heart rate, and improved programming.

How can it be that products designed and built by SportsArt for other companies receive awards while the same, or in many cases significantly better, products sold under the SportsArt name go unnoticed? SportsArt President Terry Brown, who spent 14 years with Precor, has a few thoughts; "Although SportsArt offers many products with best-in-class features, value and performance, our distribution is not necessarily as widespread as some of our competitors.

If a writer, or media representative gathering information on fitness products, only visits one or two specialty fitness locations, they may not see a SportsArt product. It's unfortunate because SportsArt has really raised the bar as far as what consumers can expect from quality exercise equipment. Magazines and media outlets providing information on fitness products would be doing their readers a great service if they were to learn more about SportsArt. We have designed and built more award winning products than virtually any other vendor and we think consumers stand to benefit from the superior value and performance of SportsArt products."

To help writers and editors learn more about their products, SportsArt has established a policy of providing test products to qualified media. For more information on these award-winning products please contact SportsArt.