MTBdigest

I have lost 63 pounds since April of this year. I am in the market to buy a road bike to supplement my boot camp training classes to help lose more weight.. Right now I am about 325.8 pounds.

My budget is about $1200 dollars.

I went to my LBS and the Specialized Allez Elite was the best option from them in my price range. I am posting this to see what bikes you guys suggest me looking at.

Thanks
- Scott

Black wallnut 

The Allez is a good bike although it has very aggressive geometry. Good for racing. Your dealer can make it fit you for a more relaxed riding position. How good is the service from that shop? That would matter to me more than anything. The component level of this bike is entry level and are worth upgrading however as you say it fits your price range.

If you decide to buy it insist that the shop goes through the wheels and properly tensions and stress relieve them for a heavy rider. Then again after the first 100 miles. This should go for any bike you buy btw.

oddjob2

Congrats on the weight loss, that's incredibly fast, 20 lbs a month. I'd be happy with 1/2 that rate!

I have got to imagine that given your size, a steel framed road touring or hybrid bike would be a whole lot more comfortable to ride as you can run tires as wide as 38c on some of them, steel will soak up the bumps in the road, and a touring geometry is more relaxed.

Something like this, not racy, but a well respected touring design:
Novara Randonee Bike - 2014 at REI.com

Also, check out the Trek 520.

You might want to check out some 29er's too, they are a lot of fun to ride.

If you want to spend less, than consider a lugged used chromoly, Reynolds 501/531, True Temper, Columbus SLP, or Tange #2 tube set road bike, from Trek, Miyata, Schwinn, Specialized. It is easy enough to upgrade most of them with STI brifters. Trek Multi-Track hybrids are hard to beat, cheap, easy to upgrade, and great for everyday use. I can run 38mm tires on mine and like them so much, my goal is to have one at each house.

Willbird

It is all about the type of fit. Trek calls a more relaxed (less racy) fit an H2 fit...the 1.1 and 1.2 have that type...more or less it adds up to a taller head tube. Then there is what they use on the Domane 2, which they refer to as "endurance geometry".

The Fuji Sportiff would dovetail into the H2 fit.

I'm looking hard at the Sportiff myself...or maybe the Cannondale CAAD8.

The more you spend the better wheels and groupo (parts like shifters, brakes, deraillors) you get. But being blunt at 325 you might be better with a $600 bike with a $500 wheel upgrade ( just one somewhat newby guys opinion).

I prefer the idea of a"compact" two ring crankset (50/34) to a triple...but it is flat enough here that 34/28 (which is lowest gear on the caad8-6) is for sure a low enough gear to climb any hill that has pavement on it :-)...I'm riding 38 in front and 12-25 8 speeds across the rear and have never had to bail to my small chainring yet.

At 5'10" 260 though I'm still too chubby to breathe well on a Fuji Sportiff with my hands on the brake hoods.....at least it felt that way on a quick spin I took on one the LBS has.

The Specialized Secteur is their more "relaxed" fit maybe ??

Bill

etw

I would check out the Secteur

Specialized Bicycle Components

It is considered a little more relaxed geometry and is in the same family as the Roubaix

Willbird

Yea it is supposed to have the "zerts" in the forks to absorb road bumps. Angled top tube bikes might limit your seatpost choices though ??

MRT2

Check out the All City Space Horse. A bit more than $1,200 retail, but maybe you can get it for a bit less than full retail. Cro moly steel frame. you will get 32 spoke wheels, and somewhat wider tires 28 to 35 mm, which will be a comfortable ride, especially at your current weight.

Willbird

I'm liking the the Sectuar the more I look at it :-)

PhotoJoe 

The Sectuer is the "comfort" geometry from Specialized. Similar frames from the other big names are:

Cannondale Synapse
Giant Defy
Trek H2 (variety of frames)

I'd suggest you ride as many bikes as you can. It's amazing how sometime one just "speaks" to you!

Good luck in your search.

Jimbosays

I was your same size (down about #30 now) when I pick-up a pre-owned Secteur and have ridden it fairly hard without any significant mechanical issues . . . And still look forward to getting on it as often as possible (a few times a week.)

Have my eyes on a Specialized Roubaix (window shopping anyway), but the Secteur is indeed a comfortable, quick and sturdy bike for a big guy/gal.

donalson

to recap on what a few others have said (and specifically photojoe here) most of the companies call these either "plush" or endurance bikes... while there is no question that they are still designed around being racing bikes they are designed to be a bit more upright, fit slightly larger tires (which make a BIG difference) for racers riding the worst roads out there (namely cobbles in races like the roubaix and even some stages in this years tour de france...

they should be a good entry into road riding, as you get into better riding shape they can be setup more aggressively until they they want to move to a more aggressive bikes but it is worth mentioning that these sort of bikes are still limited real roads (at least at our weight)... so it is worth looking at or considering cyclocross, gravel grinder or even touring bikes, these are built for heavier loads and more pounding... they also allow for larger tires which require less pressure for a given load and therefore more comfort and even the ability to stray off the beaten path a bit more... and then of course you've got options if you don't want the beaten path at all in mountain bikes...

in short there are a million options when it comes to bikes... you need to be honest about what you really plan to do and how you want to ride.

whatever you do keep us posted and then enjoy the ride

brad0383

If you have a LBS that sells Felt Bicycles, take a look at the Z85. Same type of geometry as the Sectuer. I have the Z5, the carbon version of this bike and LOVE it!

Willbird

There is a dealer semi local to me that according to their webpage anyway sells both Felt and Giant.....and those two IMHO seem to offer a nicer groupo within a given price range............But Felt jumps right from Sora to 105 in the Z series....leaving out a Tiagra option.....the Giant Defy2 fits right in that missing slot though.

Looking over bike specs to compare is confusing :-) for a newby :-).

brad0383

Felt, Giant, Specialized, Trek, etc are all nice bikes. The best advice would be to visit as many LBS as you can and ride all the bikes. You will find a bike that fits you best and maybe even more important, a LBS that will take the time and find a bike that fits you best.

psalm

Test ride as many bikes as you can, one will speak to you. When I did it the one that spoke to me was the Cannondale CAAD8. I was 315 pounds the day I rode it home. It's a bit on the aggressive side, but it felt right the moment I sat on it.