Bike for a fat guy

[FMCoug]

Question for you bike gurus. I'm looking for other stuff to do besides walk for my cardio. Walking on the treadmill is great but gets kind of boring and also as I mentioned I have some tendonitis in my left foot that tends to flare up. Over the summer I can swim but that doesn't help now. Riding a bike sounds like it would be an ideal low impact thing for me but I'm not sure if I'm too heavy for a bike. I'm currently at 298. I also don't want to spend a ton of money.

My gut feeling is that I should probably wait until I drop another 50 lbs or more but wanted to see what you guys think.

[RC Vikings]

I would go with a mtn bike but put some smooth tires on it since I'm guessing you will mainly be riding on the road. Buy some good shorts so your butt doesn't hurt and you may want to start out with standard pedals but look to moving into some clipless ones down the road. Good luck.

[creekster]

Being a fat guy I am the one you should listen to here. How much do you want to spend?

If you go with a mtn bike I suggest a hardtail. If you go with a road type frame, I strongly suggest a touring frame and touring wheel set. Seriously, they are designed to carry one human and a bunch of crap and so do fine with one big human like us. you do not need to wait to drop more pounds. Buy one now. It will be good to have some diversity in your aerobics.

The keys to looking for a bike for you are these:

1. Avoid super lightweight racing frames. Get a sturdy but well built frame. This doesn't mean heavy, necessarily, but it needs to be strong enough for you. I do not suggest titanium or carbon fiber. The extra weight cause some issues, usually, with those materials. Arch and others may disagree with this opinion, but they have never been as heavy as you and I, so they have no clue on this matter. Trust me. A good mountain bike frame (hard tail) or a good steel or aluminum touring frame would be just fine. You can also consider a good cyclocross frame, as they are also meant to be very sturdy.

2. Get strong wheels. Assuming you have a decent frame, the real difficulty you will have will be in your wheels. Here is what I suggest: get a touring wheel set and then get them built/re-built by a local wheel builder who has a very good reputation among the bike crowd (maybe Waters can help you out here). Sturdy, properly built wheel will last for years and years. Crappy wheels will be out of true before you get back from your first ride. Any wheel poorly built will leave you unhappy. Understand what I am saying here. Even if you buy an off the shelf bike, I think it is worth having a good wheelwright re-true or even re-build the wheels. Form the manufacturer you are almost ALWAYS getting machine built wheels and they just aren't built strong enough for a clydesdale.

Btw, if you want to poke around the web for more info, the term frequently used for heavy riders (the big and tall crowd) is 'clydesdale.'

Also, do not buy a bike from Wal-mart or target or sears, etc. Go to a bike shop and get a decent one.

[FMCoug]

Originally Posted by creekster

Btw, if you want to poke around the web for more info, the term frequently used for heavy riders (the big and tall crowd) is 'clydesdale.'

That was the trick. Found some good sites.

[FMCoug]

Any of these look like good options?

http://dallas.craigslist.org/search/...sk=&maxAsk=500


Should I try to enlist Waters to go bike shopping with me?

[MikeWaters]

My advice:

don't get a mountain bike. they are inherently slow even with bald wheels. It's not satisfying to go slow and be passed by grandmas walking their dogs.

your ass is going to hurt no matter what. get good shorts and take it slowly at first, and don't give up if your ass feels like you were stuck in a phone booth with Richard Simmons.

Creekster's advice is for rich people. He assumes you are rich. I know better. I say get a solid bike with non-fancy wheels, preferably steel frame, wheels with a lot of spokes. If the spokes start breaking, then go to plan B. But you'll probably be fine.

[creekster]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

My advice:

don't get a mountain bike. they are inherently slow even with bald wheels. It's not satisfying to go slow and be passed by grandmas walking their dogs.

your ass is going to hurt no matter what. get good shorts and take it slowly at first, and don't give up if your ass feels like you were stuck in a phone booth with Richard Simmons.

Creekster's advice is for rich people. He assumes you are rich. I know better. I say get a solid bike with non-fancy wheels, preferably steel frame, wheels with a lot of spokes. If the spokes start breaking, then go to plan B. But you'll probably be fine.

Ha. I am not rich. I do have experience being fat, however, and I am telling you that crappy whells are the weak spot. Most bike frames can deal with the extra weight but cheap wheels cannot. If you want to save coin, go ahead and get the cannie F400. Look carefully at the headshock, however, as they can be a little pricey to rebuild (note to MW: rich people don't care about the cost of rebuilding a head schock), so make sure it is in good shape. The stock wheels on an F400 will propbabyl be ok and if you are just riding on the road may be fine. But if they go out of true, take them to a good wheel builder, and you must find a good one, and then do what he says.

The thing is the cost of using a good wheel builde ris not much different from a bad whell builder. But some guys do a great job and others don't. A good one wil build you a wheel that will never give you problems. On my triple our wheel have carried me, my wife and my son and stuff on a rear rack and have never haf a problem becasue they were well built.

[MikeWaters]

alum
http://bikesdirect.com/products/moto...iragesport.htm


steel
http://bikesdirect.com/products/mercier/galaxy.htm

[creekster]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

alum
http://bikesdirect.com/products/moto...iragesport.htm


steel
http://bikesdirect.com/products/mercier/galaxy.htm

I like the seond one more. I would stay away from the 650 wheels in the smaller sizes on the first one. In gnereal, these are not great wheels, but may be good enough. But if you ahve problems, you should follow my advice.

[MikeWaters]

I didn't realize the first one had 650 wheels.