It’s every gyms owner’s dream: Find a space, buy some fitness equipment, create an amazing layout to optimize space and never have to give the equipment another thought. Sadly, this is rarely the fairy-tale story gym owners are accustom to. Inevitably, after a few worry-free days, in will walk the infamous ‘bull in a china shop’ user. Can your equipment handle that guy?
SportsArt’s equipment is built with these bull-like gym goers in mind. Take our treadmills for example. From design to production, our treadmills are put through the ringer with rigorous tests designed to break the average machine. These tests allow us to simulate the biggest, baddest users that “run” in your gym for hours on end and make sure that they can withstand the abuse time and time again. Some of the tests our treadmills must pass are:
Robot Treadmill Test
To imitate the effects of running time and time again, our SportsArt test lab developed a robotic “treadmill tester” — which is basically a 500-pound octopus. This machine runs on the treadmills for five hours around the clock at a speed of 5.5 miles per hour, with only an hour break in between each stint. The combination of high-impact, heavy foot plant speed and the simulation of heavy user allow us to test the deck, roller bearings, and belts for wear, as well as the motor for heat build up and amp draw when under extreme stress. In order to pass this test, component life must exceed 15,000 miles — roughly 10 miles per day for 4 and a half years.
Incline Fatigue Load Test
In this test, 800 pounds of steel plates are placed on the usual striking zone of the belt. The treadmills are then inclined to the maximum of 15 degrees, then brought back down to a decline of -3 degrees every 60 seconds. This happens 1,440 times each day. To pass this test, the lift motor must function flawlessly for at least 130,000 cycles. This guarantees our treadmills can rise to the occasion for every workout.
Tire Bounce Test
Tire bouncing isn’t as silly as it sounds! This test is designed to imitate the reoccurring force of impact that occurs on commercial treadmills every day. The wheel/hydraulic testing robot drops the tire with a force of 300 pounds 1,800 times per hour. That’s 43,200 times per 24 hour period! This is done to ensure our treadmills can withstand the constant abuse. In order to pass, the treadmill must survive 3 months’ worth of impacts (4,000,000) with no component or motor breakdowns.
By performing tests like these on our treadmills, we are able to identify issues and make changes to components to ensure that our treads can handle the constant use it would see in a busy fitness facility, allowing them to truly stand the tests of time. Knowing our products will not fail in the commercial space provides us with the utmost confidence in our machines’ longevity, which makes it easy for us to offer the industry’s Best-in-Class Warranty.
