phatkhat74

With so many options for a light/average weight rider, how can I choose something that's right for me? I've been a minimum 275# since graduation in 2001. I let my self go to 393# and over the course of last summer/fall I managed to drop down to 355# because of my rekindled love of riding a bike. I hadent rode a bike in several years because of the seemingly instant fail rate of those bikes with my weight. Granted those select bikes did come from a wal-mart rack. Last summer i went to my local bike shop was recommended for my $600 budget a Haro mountain bike which I bought and did have success with. The owner mentioned he didn't feel overly comfortable recommending me a road bike because of my size which I was fine with at that time. A few squeaks here and there but it held up to a runtastic 1482 miles worth of abuse (and by abuse I mean my weight, I only ever rode it on the road). I know how to "float" over objects and unavoidable road hazards. I don't remember ever having a rough impact with anything last summer/fall. I realize the inevitable will happen and I'll hit something or take a tumble but overall I'm a pretty decent rider.

Last fall something happened to me and it's changed my whole mentality about riding. I'm chugging along up a fairly long and steep stretch feeling pretty good about my pace when out of no where this cyclist wizzes by me seeming doing triple my speed, made all of about 3 seconds of road noise as he passed me and before I knew it, he was out of sight over the horizon. I realize I'll never be in the kind of physical shape that cyclist was but since that day I've been obsessing over a road bike to replace my mountain bike.

So my question to whoever reads this, rather my plea, is there a road bike out there that would be reliable for a guy my size? Soon as the weather is a consistent 50+ degrees here in the heart of Kentucky I plan to start riding again and would love to hit the road on a new bike. Yes I am constrained to a budget, $1600 at the time of this writing. Size wise I'm 355# and 6'2". I'm not brand loyal, I just want reliability in a well made product.

Thanks to all who take the time to read this and to the ones who reply with some insight.

Jason
Campbellsville, KY.

GravelMN

Surly Ogre, CrossCheck or Long Haul Trucker depending on your style preference. The Cross Check is the most like a road bike but beefier. Good stock wheels and a tough but not overly heavy frame.

phatkhat74

Thanks for the suggestion. doing a rough Google of that list puts it in my budget. Is a steel variant frame build about my only option at my weight/price range? I was looking to get something lighter, maybe aluminum frame and wheels with less drag. Any input on a 700x24 for tires? I see Big Bens has that size. I've read a few other post that like that size. Also reading through others post, i see many people buying a stock bike and upgrading the wheel set, is that a good viable option?
Again, thanks
Jason

late

Look at the Soma San Marcos. Your size will have 2 top tubes, which will give the bike the strength to avoid the flexing most big frames have.

phatkhat74

I like the Surly Straggler but still i wonder with those wheels would it truly be an upgrade that i would really notice.

phatkhat74

Thanks for the input, i hadn't seen a double top tube like that yet while browsing.

Jarrett2

When I started riding bikes I was around 375. I rode hybrids for a while because I was scared of road bikes. One day I got passed on a bike trail by a road bike guy like I was standing still and it fueled the drive to get one for me too. I was around 325 lbs when I got my first aluminum road bike. I was scared it was going to blow up or crumple, but it didn't.

Now I'm in the 275 lb range and riding carbon and it is fine as well.

After riding both aluminum and carbon, I'm a big carbon proponent. Many bikes say carbon is only good if you are under 275 or 240 or something, but I feel like it can handle more weight than that. That said, I don't know where that magically number is that takes carbon from being safe to unsafe. It's probably way higher than any of us know, but few want to test it and find out.

The bike I started on at 325 lbs was a Specialized Secteur. This is a great first road bike. It has a very comfortable geometry for bigger folks. Plus the more recent models have the Smartweld technology plus Zertz in the frame and fork to smooth out the ride. So it can be made comfortable.

I see folks recommending steel, but my LBS tells me steel is too flexible for big folks. That it will be noodly under the strength/weight. I haven't ridden enough steel bikes to know. The one thing I do know about steel is they are heavier. And heavier means slower. If you want to go faster, the lighter the bike, the better. That's why aluminum and carbon are so popular. They are light and stiff at the same time.

The main thing to be concerned about at 300+ is the wheel strength. That's where you'll see failures first. You need to have at a minimum 32 spoke wheels. This isn't a big issue because some of the entry level road bikes come with 32 spoke wheels. But you have to make sure that the wheels have been trued and taken up to their max spoke tensions to give you the most strength. Sometimes its hard to find a bicycle shop that can or knows how to do this.

I ended up learning how to do it on my own after having multiple spoke issues with my first few bikes. Cyclocross and Gravel bikes are another option. They are built to be ridden on rougher surfaces than true road bikes and therefore are typically build with stronger materials. Often time they have disc brakes and I've found my disc brake wheels to be stronger than my rim brake wheels.

What brands does your local bicycle shop carry?

Null66

Uh,
Steel...
LBS is incorrect.

Works...

I was 285 add up to a 50lb pack and we're in the ballpark. Roughly 5k miles on built up Disc Trucker.

Once went off road at about 20, to pass cars on seemingly smooth grass. About 7-10 ft. hole appeared too late to dodge, only had time to think "This is gonna hurt"... went airborne (with about 50 in pack)...

Everything was just fine... wheels still true.. (but then they're built for the apocalypse, 48sp PW tandem disc hubs, with chukkers rims and 38 tires).

One suggestion. Don't cut top tube. You may need a higher handlebar placement to allow room for uh, stomach... I know I do... It's about an inch lower than first build. I'll keep the handful of spacers, thank you. Never hurts to be able to adjust position if it comes to that...

I'm down 45lbs as BP went nuts 2 years ago...
So what's a few ounces extra on the bike?

obed7

heavier means slower? Not really, not in the price range bike you are talking about, and not at your size....
you will not really see much speed difference in the lightest and heaviest bikes in that range....
what you need is something reliable and comfortable...what ever you like and will ride will make you faster because you will ride it more... and further develop the motor. at your size the material the bike is made of will not be a factor worth thinking about when it comes to speed.

Jarrett2

OP said he wants to go faster, not tour. Faster means lighter, more narrow tires.

Buying a road bike that weighs anywhere near the weight of his mountain bike would be a step in the wrong direction if speed is his goal, imo.

To reiterate, a Specialized Secteur with 25/28 tires was fine for me at 325 lbs. Almost 2,000 miles on it now. And much faster than my hybrid which was much heavier and had wider tires on it.

My 2013 Secteur morphed into this bike for 2015:
Specialized Bicycle Components

The 2015 Secteurs look to be good bikes as well:
Specialized Bicycle Components

If you really want steel, could look at the AWOL:
Specialized Bicycle Components

But I've ridden that bike and it is a slow, heavy mofo compared to the others.

I got all that "at your size, at your weight" stuff as well when I was over 300. If you are athletic for your size, the bike weight will make a difference in performance. My lighter carbon road bike is faster than my aluminum road bike and the difference is only a few pounds. The weight of the bike factors in more than the weight of the rider when it comes to performance, in my experience. If you want speed, bike weight is a factor. For me the goal is the lightest bike that is reliable for my weight. At 325, it was the bikes I listed above.

dr_lha

"Heavier means slower" is an argument for loosing weight, not for buying carbon over steel. It's only a valid argument once you get to the point where you have no more weight to lose.

sstorkel

Good advice! Cutting the top tube is usually a catastrophic mistake. Perhaps you meant the steerer tube of the fork?

Steel bikes have always felt noodly to me compared to carbon fiber or aluminum. My CF and aluminum bikes appear to have 2-4X more material around the bottom bracket than my steel bike. No wonder they feel stiffer when I'm standing to pedal up a steep hill!

At your current weight, I don't think it makes sense to get too hung up on overall bicycle weight. Fluctuations in your body weight due to different levels of hydration are likely much larger than the difference in weight between a steel frame and an aluminum frame. Also keep in mind that light bikes are often light because they're using lightweight wheels and tires, which you probably want to avoid.

There are very few 700x24 tires for road bikes. The most common sizes are 700x23 and 700x25. In general the larger the tire, the more comfortable the ride will be. Now that I'm relatively light, I use 700x25 tires (Continental Grand Prix 4000 S II). Before that, I was using 700x28. Not all road bike frames can accept 700x28 tires, though.

Jarrett2

I wish that were true. We could all be speeding around on inexpensive 50lb steel bikes.

Here's a quick story regarding that. Just a couple of weeks ago I went on a 30 mile group ride through some nice hills with a bike shop in the Hill Country of Texas. We weren't going too fast, maybe averaging 16.5 mph in the hills. The owner of the bike shop (who could ride anything she wanted to) was riding a carbon frame. At the rest stop, we got to talking about frame materials. Carbon, Titanium, Steel, etc.

She said she has a steel bike that she absolutely loves to ride. Rides like a dream she says. And I asked her why she was not riding it today and she said, "Oh, there's no way I could keep up on the hills on that bike, its too heavy. I have to bring the (light) carbon bike when we do the hills."

As I mentioned in a previous post, if speed is your goal, get the lightest (and stiffest) bike that is reliable for you.

Jarrett2

I'm a fan of the 25's and 28's as well.

dr_lha

Yes, and I'm not saying bike weight is unimportant (clearly lugging an extra 30lbs up a hill is going to have an effect), but the fact is that the difference between the lightest carbon frames, and a good quality steel frame (say, a Surly Long Haul Trucker), is at best 4 lbs, not 30lbs.

Here's a recent article on the effect of bike weight on speed. https://www.usatriathlon.org/about-mu...ht-102113.aspx

Jarrett2

What works for a 150 lb triathlete (presumably riding a tri bike) has little to do with my personal riding goals

And here's the problem with getting info on a forum, OP. Everyone has their own experience. goals and opinion.

I'm giving you mine as someone who is athletic and slightly competitive despite starting to ride at 375 lbs. What I learned through trial and error when buying bikes over the last couple of years is that for me (someone heavy who likes to go faster) that a lighter road bike achieved that for me. I went from comfort hybrid to "performance" hybrid to aluminum road bike to carbon road bike and each step netted more speed.

That said, if you are not cycling to push yourself and just enjoy getting out and riding around, then a nice, comfortable steel bike with big tires and heavy wheels would likely be perfect for you.

And not to worry, there's always a reason to buy another bike down the road in case the next purchase doesn't fulfill your dreams

obed7

your story does not back your point...in the first place, i doubt the female shop owner is the size and weight of the OP...
Second, I doubt the OP is at his ideal weight and strength like the female shop owner...
Third I doubt either of the bikes the shop likes to ride for specific purposes is in the price range the OP has stated was his budget...
You mention speed Vs. touring...ok, my story... my steel aero (yes that is what I said, a 20 year old frame design) is about .2 mph slower than my cf propel....over the same course with me pushing...
so yes the cf frame is a bit faster.... do you really consider .2 mph faster a real increase in speed for the recreational, exercising rider?

I do agree that he will see some increase in speed by going to a road bike, going to road tires, etc... but the difference in frame materials is not going to affect how much faster he is going to be by very much at all.

Null66

Yeah, steerer...
Thanks for the correction.
doing too many things at once...

Noodly?
Depends upon what the goals were for engineer designing the frame.
You'd have to have a heck of a lot of weight on a DT (or ogre) for it to feel noodly.

There was a couple links about the effects of weight on speed floating around here.
Mostly the differences have more to do with the quality of the components on the lighter bike than the couple ounces.

The DT frame itself is not all that heavy. Sure, it's like twice or so of other frames but it is something like 1/6th of my bikes total weight. But my whole bike (an admittedly heavy, built for comfort and reliability 35.5 lbs) Even so, it is only 12.8% of gross vehicle weight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GzhYqAA5XU

Jarrett2

True, she's a woman.
False, neither is she.
False, they are.
Yes, +.2 mph is an increase in speed.
I'm glad we agree.

dr_lha

Indeed, for them the weight of the bike is a much closer fraction of their total weight, so makes a much bigger differences, which it turns out, isn't that much (unless you're racing of course).

If you're riding to push yourself, then a heavier bike would require more pushing, no?

Jarrett2

lol, its funny you say that. Sometimes I take out my touring bike loaded with stuff on slower group rides to make it a little tougher on myself. When I get back on my light carbon bike for the next ride, it feels like its going to shoot out from underneath me

phatkhat74

I like the look of that bike, most definitely looks to be lighter than my ride.
My LBS carries Haro, Trek and Schwinn that i remember. There may be another but I never went to the road bike side.

phatkhat74

I really dont want another steel bike. I would prefer disc breaks but its not a must have. I do however want smaller tires than the 52mm width im currently ridding on. I see several bikes come with 25mm from the factory.
Thanks for the input everyone, its helping me see new options and ruleing out others.

Jarrett2

Trek CrossRip Elite might be nice too:
CrossRip Elite - Trek Bicycle

Could have the dealer swap the stock 32's for some puncture resistant 25's and be good to go.

vesteroid

No way would I invest in a carbon bike at 355 lbs. I would go for the least expensive, best fitting bike regardless of frame material.

I would have to second a stock crosscheck. They really are nice bikes, and for what you want, I think it could serve you well. Not to mention most local bike shops can get them, even if they dont stock them. Build the frame up with inexpensive components and decent wheels.

when I built mine, I think I had about 1500 in it several years ago and I used an apex group I found off ebay.