Mako7

Hello, everyone. I am fairly new to cycling and have some questions. I guess this is the best place to start. To start off with, I am about 6'2" and currently 250. I started riding my bike August 10th and since have lost almost 60 pounds. I have ridden 1000 miles and feel great! My first goal weight is 225.
When I hit that goal weight, I would like to reward myself with a new bike. My question is, would getting a new hybrid, like say a Fuji Absolute 1.3, be able to handle my still rather large frame? I am a very big boned person and if I get under 200 pounds, I look skeletal and sickly. 200 - 225 might be a good weight for me, at least for a while, and I am concerned a hybrid like the one I am thinking of getting will wear out too quickly.
What are your thoughts? Any helpful advice will be greatly appreciated.

scrming

Even at your current weight of 250, it shouldn't be an issue for that bike. I ride a similar hybrid and a full carbon fiber road bike and weighed about 300 pounds. The Absolute will be a fine with 225!

Oh and Welcome and congrats on the weightloss and keep of the good work!

GravelMN

As a fellow Clyde, I'm a fan of CX or touring bikes rather than most hybrids. While they can be set up quite similarly to road bikes, they have the advantages of having robust frames and components and room for larger tires. Many of the "gravel bikes" coming out would also fit in this category. I'm a fan of chrome-moly frames but there are excellent frames made of any of the other popular materials.

Frame strength is rarely the issue as long as you stay away from the ultra-light stuff. Wheels are usually the weak link, but more in the form of broken spokes and difficulty keeping them true, rather than catastrophic failure. Make sure your stock wheels are properly trued and tensioned by a competent wheel builder and you should get quite a few miles out of them. If they prove to be problematic, upgrade your wheels and you should be golden. Some may argue with me on this, but I believe that running slightly larger tires not only increases comfort and decreases the chance of pinch flats, it also helps distribute the stress on the wheels.

IMHO, it pays to save up a bit and get a model with mid-level components rather than getting an entry level model with plans of upgrading.

Take a look at some of the offerings from Soma, All-City, Surly, and other steel frame builders. My current road bike is a Motobecane Gran Premio which has a butted chrome-moly frame with CF fork. I love it but I do wish they had designed in a few more mm clearance for tires. I can run any 25mm tire I want, but 28s get darn tight.

FarHorizon

IMHO, anything under 250 and you're good to go for just about any bike you want! Before rewarding yourself, try some road bikes and some recumbents before deciding - you may like them!

Mako7

Thanks to all for the advice. I have previous injuries that make it hard to use the classic curved bar road bikes. The flat bar allows me to sit straight up when my back starts to fatigue. I have lower back injuries, among many other issues, so constantly leaning forward is difficult. I have thought about the recumbents, but not sure if they are worth the money for me. I am looking at spending around $800 on a nice bike that will be comfortable, fast, and still allow me to do 50 milers without compromise (currently can go about 30 miles but I will get there).