The flagship of the Smooth Fitness line of elliptical trainers, the original Smooth CE, has quietly disappeared from the Smooth website. On a break maybe, taking a well deserved break, maybe to come back one day or finally walking into the sunset never to be seen again as his PE and ME brothers? Only time will tell for sure.
Before the demise of the original CE, Smooth Fitness introduced a line of American-designed ellipticals in 2005. This line consists of the Smooth CE 2.1, CE 3.2, and the giant CE 7.4. Weighing in at 210lbs and a whopping 85″ of space, the CE 7.4 requires a lot of room to move around. The CE 7.4 is the Shaq of ellipticals. You definitely don’t want to cram this beast into an efficient apartment or even a spare bedroom. which is not roomy enough to hold it!
That’s the beauty of the original Smooth CE. It only extended to 55″ and yet was stable enough to provide an extremely smooth elliptical workout. This was due to its hefty 48 pound flywheel. Simple physics, the heavier the drive system, the more smooth is the movement.
But don’t lose hope just yet. The arrival of Smooth CE Plus fills the void left by the demise of Smooth CE. Like the original CE, the CE Plus is another renowned Kettler elliptical trainer (Kettler EXT7) made in Germany for Smooth Fitness.
Kettler is a German toy and fitness manufacturer that makes good use of its unique metal tube manufacturing and cutting processes in its products. This is particularly evident in their high-quality elliptical trainers. The Smooth CE Plus has a very strong and durable steel frame, which Smooth trusts so much that they back it with a lifetime guarantee.
What is really unique about the Smooth CE Plus is its extended 19″ stride length. One of the drawbacks of the original CE was its shorter 16″ stride length, which presented limitations for some people over 6’2 6′ and you still get a quality elliptical feel on the Smooth CE Plus. But how is such a long stride length possible on an elliptical trainer with such a small size?
A little investigation reveals a patented technology that Kettler calls “Extended Motion.” The pedals slide on rollers along the foot rails. This allows for a smoother feel and is also the secret behind the extended stroke. This actually introduces a bit of the old-time NordicTrack skier feel to the CE Plus, and additionally can help alleviate some of the numb foot symptoms that occur with fixed pedals on most other elliptical trainers.
Siemens, another German company known for its quality products, makes the LCD console for the Smooth CE Plus. One weakness of the original Smooth CE was its confusing and hard-to-see LCD screen. The LCD screen of the Smooth CE Plus is larger and backlit for better viewing. I still prefer a commercial-style dot-matrix LED display like Smooth uses on its American-designed ellipticals like the CE 7.4, but the CE Plus console is decent enough.
The Smooth CE plus’s great stability comes from its 50lb flywheel (2lb heavier than the original CE) and total unit weight of 200lb, which is only 10lb lighter than the massive CE 7.4! ! It’s really amazing that Kettler put it in a 55″ space when the CE 7.4 consumes 85″ of space!
So if you don’t have a lot of space to work with and don’t want to sacrifice quality for a compact machine, then you really can’t go wrong with the Smooth CE Plus elliptical trainer.