gabeham206

Hello all, I purchased a mountain bike last summer and have loved riding the past year. I'm down 40lbs, and weigh 340lbs now. I find myself mainly riding paved trails and am starting to look into maybe getting a road bike. Anyone my size have a road bike, and have any issues with constant flat tires, broken spokes, etc?

fietsbob

Bene Sugg : make friends in the LBS.. letting service after the sale, go long ,
is not extending use life of any parts.

Particularly wheels: more spokes not less, though low spokes is currently fahionable ..
trade in the low spoke count wheels, at point of sale..

tiger187126

agree with everything above. i'm 350ish on a road bike with skinny tires. one popped tube, but i was on some terrible roads.

got about 55 miles on it, and it's been absolutely great so far.

cplager

Cyclocross bikes are something to consider as well. They are generally (but not always) slightly less agressive than road bikes, but almost always allow wider tires. I weigh less than you do, and wouldn't want to ride 28mm tires unless I had too and certainly wouldn't want to go any smaller.

Skinny tires are over-rated for skinny people. They're somewhat silly for us...

Edit: Just to be clear, I'm not saying skinny tires wouldn't work for people of our weight. I'm just saying they'll be uncomfortable and not (really) faster than more reasonable, wider choices.

Rock31

I bought my road bike (Specialized Sectuer) somewhere between 340 and 350 lbs, spoke with the LBS about tires and such, they took great care of me and I have been riding it a little over a year now, 2 flats, no broken spokes, stock everything on it except for the seat.

good luck and have fun

Yo Spiff

If the wheel is well made, you'll be fine. I have a road bike with 32 spoke wheels and it went 12 years without even needing the wheels trued. Finally broke a single spoke last summer and has been fine again since. I was up to 286 at one time.

As previously suggested, a cyclocross bike would have sturdier wheels. Touring bikes as well. Look for at least 36 spoke wheels, preferably 40 spoke. Or roadify a rigid mountain bike. They are cheap, plentiful and undervalued. Check out the drop bar mountain bike thread for some useful discussions on this.

ahultin

I bought my road bike at 340lbs. wheels went about 2000 miles before any major issues. Had new wheels built using the velocity deep v and DT alpine 3 spokes, i think I am around 7000 miles on them with no issues

bassjones

I'm over 375 currently and ride a CAAD9... I did swap the wheels for 36 H Deep Vs, but that was it. Still running 23s too. There are times I wish I'd gotten a Long Haul Trucker instead, but mostly it's just a matter of continuing to lose weight and get faster.

I'm the taller, more handsome fellow in light blue. My little brother is wearing my dark blue jersey. He's on a steel touring bike - Jamis Aurora. He's around 300.

donalson

just wondering why?... i've considered the LHT... I could swap 98% of the parts from my 1x1 and be riding and make it more of a real road bike with a little time...

bassjones

The CAAD is a very aggressive road bike. Look at the picture above. My bike is 2cm larger, but his bars are quite a bit higher. I'm considering a 17degree stem to give me a more relaxed ride for now. There's also the tire issue. 23s and 25s are fast, but I sometimes wish I was able to run 32s. Handling, speed, agility, etc... are all better on the CAAD. Sometimes I wish I had a more relaxed ride. I'm hoping to add an LHT to the stable this fall, so then I'll have the best of both worlds to choose from

tiger187126

btw, i also own a secteur so that's two votes from 350 crowd.

donalson

@bassjones

ah ok... I understand completely... I know I run into issues being to leaned over because my legs hit my gut and it kills my breathing :-/ I've been building a small database looking for what I want based on what I ride now and have ridden in the past... frame stack/HT height is high on my list... and no need for racing twitchy handling for what I want...

I've seriously got my eyes on a Soma Smoothie ES... not to far off from my old '92 trek I had and loved

digibud

A simple change to strong but lighter wheels with somewhat smaller tires would also be a good option to start with. Mtn bikes typically come with tires designed for dirt but even a change to narrower, lighter tires might make a big difference. I ride 2.25" studded tires on my mtn bike in winter and change to 1.5" nearly slick tires in summer. Huge difference with just that simple change.

c12mech

At 355, down from 380, I admit to looking silly on a road bike. But I look silly on any bike. I ride an Orbea Orca which is similar to the Caad posted above in terms of aggressiveness. I ride on mostly crappy roads and the wheels had stood up surprisingly well until an unplanned off-road excursion. I am waiting now for a custom set that I should be able to take whatever I can dish out. I say ride it as much you can. If you are loosing weight that will only make it easier.

Rock31

I love the Secteur, could not be happier with it, I think you can classify it as a 'comfort road bike'

pdlamb

First thing I'd do is get some slicks on the MTB. That'll give you the advantage of reduced rolling friction for only $40-80.

Road bikes for clydes are problematic for two reasons. First is that many road bikes have a weight limit, and the dealer/manufacturer can claim the warranty is void because you exceeded it. Maybe they won't, but the possibility is there. If the mechanic at the shop knows what he's doing, he can tension and stress-relieve the wheels, which takes care of most problems.

Second is that a clyde's stomach gets in the way when he tries to get down in the drops.

Touring bikes can address both problems. The bars are usually higher than other road bikes, and the frame and wheels are stouter to carry a load. At 340 #, the OP is a load without any help.

Shakeyone

I really hate that comment... because its true. I got my CX bike last Aug @275ibs couldnt breathe for s#*t using them. whole point was with flat bars hand grip was limited so not using the drops really blew me away. Thats why that comment stings for me. Off-season, no riding or evil trainer riding, just core/total body workout to maintain / slow weight loss, and @250 I love the drops especially the windy days. Now if I can find some good old skool hooks I got the H2 ergo kind and hate that kink in the middle of the hook.

Comment aside, I know plenty big guys ride road bikes, and I don't want to steer you away from it, but I think biggest determing factor is how well do you know bikes and repairs? Do you have a repair stand, trueing stand and misc bike specific tools? (this can also be off set with a big pocket book and N+2) If most of that is true then go for it, if not hammer out some research on wheels and repairs along with product lines.

The CX bike I mentioned earlier with only 1500 miles on it is taking a beating (I only use it as a big tire roadie 32c) and I dont have the repair skills or tools and its costing me a lot of cash I dont have on the repairs.

donalson

@ Shakeyone what sort of repairs have you needed?

Shakeyone

Had to have rear wheel trued twice. Spoke replaced (tured so 3x) other stuff is the normal repairs, cable streaching adjustments, and an abnormally bad luck with presta valves, 0 punctures, but on third tube cause of presta valve failure. Rims double wall Alex S480 32h with 700x32c running at tire rating max of 100psi. Thats why in my previous post I mention about the repair skills cause I dont have them so the $2 spoke cost $60 to replace and the trueing $20 a piece. I been watching you tube videos and with the repair costs I could of gotten a trueing stand and cassette removal tool but I am worried about F*'ing it up!

Erwin8r

Shakey, seriously, no need to worry--it isn't very difficult with some practice (although there are some times when I want to rip out a front derailleur and throw it out onto the road, but I digress... ). And $60 for a spoke replacement sounds like you need a new shop. Heck, some shops charge $50 for an entire wheel build...

donalson

wow that spoke cost is crazy... I snapped 3 spokes on a charity ride (last 2 were in the last 10 miles but I was determined to finish)... my LBS didn't have the correct spoke length in stock so they cut me new spokes to length and then let them replace them for me... think it cost what you spent to have your wheel trued up... just crazy.

I replaced one on my MTB because I dropped a chain and it chewed up one spoke... that cost me a few bucks for the spoke and the shop let me use their tools and stand (I had an awesome shop in FL)

sorry for the tangent... but ya fixing your own stuff is obviously much cheaper... I just had no idea how much so...

donalson

and some shops will build the wheel for "free" as long as you buy everything from them...

but I feel you on the front Der... getting them adjusted 100% is the most difficult part of getting a bike setup IMHO... there is a fine art to it... everything else is just basic mechanical wrenching...

Shakeyone

To tie it all together, Yea I brought it up cause I was frustrated lately, but at the same time with this topic I figured it was really important to point out cause yea I am sure there are some bigger riders on low spoke count wheelsets but most likely have the knowlege or the cash to deal with it. But also having a N+1 helps and wanted to point out cause many shops around here take 2 to 5 days on thier repairs and I can't be without a ride that long. I went all in on this bike selling my other bikes so I could afford that one, big mistake, having a back up is huge when you need to send out for repairs. For the record the spoke replace was $51 and change so I did round up, and had to call all around to get it done same day, as I was really pressing on the Strava spring classics and didnt want to lose ride time.

Long story short, with knowlege, repair tools, back up bike, and or cash, a big rider can ride anything, but some of those things can be easy to over look at time of purchase.

donalson

well said... just like initial purchases often overlooks the cost of a helmet, pump, small tool kit, shoes, pedals etc... it all adds up :-/

Fangowolf

Donalson, you can take my LHT for a spin if you want to get a feel for them. Mine is a 54cm. I'm not to far away, Jersey Village, also have a recumbent Sun EZ sport AX if you want a real different experience.