gabeham206

Thanks for the insight everyone. I think I've decided to go with getting street friendly tires for now and see how that treats me, and maybe when i get down into the 270's lbs I'll reward myself with a road bike.

cplager

I highly recommend you take him up on this offer. It's a lot of fun to try out and ride funnybikes. (I've ridden unicycles, two-wheel drive bicycles, a bicycle that had two extra wheels to cancel out the angular momentum, long wheel base recumbents, short wheel base recumbents, folding bikes, mountain bikes, comfort bikes, road bikes, ...)

donalson

@fangwolf I'll have to hit you up... you're opposite corner of Houston fro me but I may have to take you up on that at some point

tiger187126

good plan on upgrading the tires.

remember when you do want to step up to a road bike that you don't have to get such a severe drop between the seat and the bars. that's why rock calls the secteur a "comfort" road bike. the seat is extremely close to the handlebar height, which makes it a lot more comfortable than some road bikes that are built for racing/speed. it's a really good transition.

bobotech

About 95-99 percent of my riding is done on road bikes. I have a few of them. I really don't like flat bars, I'm much more comfortable riding on the hoods and maybe going into the drops on descents. My main bike is a Specialized Sequoia Elite (carbon forks/stays), and then my other main bike is a Motobecane Fantom Cross Ti Team bike. I generally ride 700x28c tires.

I'm over 350 pounds.

jedrek

I ride a Surly LHT with Ultregra/Tiagra and either run 28c Schwalbe Duranos or 47c Big Apples. Not a road bike, but very similar geometry. I also ride a Kona Jake CX bike and have a Peugeot from 1988 I'm converting to flat bars. The only problems I've ever had were with the (AWFUL) stock wheels on the Kona. I've since upgraded them to a $150 set of 36 spoke wheels on Tiagra hubs and they've run like butter.

Currently ~350lb.

Hackman61

You fellas are encouraging. I'm running about 286 and was thinking I was too big for a road bike. I'm really Jonesing for the Cannondale Synapse 7 Sora in White. Many pounds ago I used to ride only road bikes and had a nice Trek Aluminum 1200. I like my current 7.2FX, but that darn cannondale is really calling me.

digibud

Then go get it. I think anyone that weighs 286lb and is looking to do work to get in better shape deserves anything they can buy that helps that process. I got back to biking when I hit right at 285 and maybe rode 2mi my first ride, but you and I have something in common, hackman. We both know what CAN be done and we know that all it takes is riding with a bit of effort. Then ride by ride the distances get longer and slowly but surely the lbs come off. Make riding your major indulgence. Add a Garmin to track your progress. Use your spare change for a change of wheels. Whatever. Have fun.

Astrozombie

Wowzers, i was able to replace a spoke myself on my slicked MTB, but a shop shouldn't be charging much more than $5 to do it. And yes my FD I could never get perfectly dialed in, i thought i was the only one.....

Pistard

I like Jamis, stonger wheels for clydes, +25mm tires, you can go steel with the satelite series, or several others like the ventura's in alu, I am 220 and ride a CF endura, love that thing...

Shakeyone

Yea the spoke cost sucked but it motivated me to really hammer studying bike repair. I been reading the hell out of the bike repair forum and Sheldon Brown's site. This week working on a list of tools and making some price lists. Between reading this forum and riding that might take a while but after a bit of a rough spring weather we been having some wicked riding weather so definately have to cash in on that.

I wish I had time to have the LBS take another crack at the FD, the limits are fine no chain dropping, but going from 50 to 39 it chatters bad so I then have to drop down to the 30 and back up to the 39 and its "ok-ish". So I stay in the 39 too much but dont have the legs to push the 50 all the time without cross chaining. So first 2 on the list is cable puller, and workstand with a little greese to lube the line. (got my fingers crossed they get it this time though)

For the record I am more mechanically inclined then I let on, but I am also 5 times harder on myself then I am would to others (or lack to the balls to tell stangers to get thier head out of thier ass and do it right). I have no tolerance for half-ass work and not sure my knowlege can meet that criteria yet.

I heard people say try to ride light and with all the problems I had I tried to keep that in mind. That dont work for me. I do try to be safe and not abusing the bike, but all honestly, when I ride, I ride to ride with purpose. No matter how hard I ride cant outride a bad diet, but with a good diet I can ride the s#*t out of weightloss.

donalson

for front Der... I love friction shifters... or the old after market sram gripshifters for up front... the gripshift gives you multiple trim clicks so if you are in the middle ring up front and in a few gears over from center out back it lets you click one notch to get rid of the light chain rub you'll get sometimes with minor cross chain... friction gives you unlimited fine tuning (and you can use em with a double or triple... it doesn't care lol)

but with enough work you can get the shifting perfect with normal shifters

Hackman61

Thanks Digibud. Back in my road bike days it was nothing to ride 50-75 miles on my Trek Aluminum. Did the Seattle To Portland ride in back to back years. Now I'm back to working hard on my 7.2 both on the road and in the garage on a trainer. I kept thinking I'm too heavy for the Synapse so I have to drop some weight. I'm now thinking I might have to go take a serious look at one this weekend. Thanks for the kind words of encouragement.

Shakeyone

Oh crap, looks like some of the FD issue is on me, I am taking from your comment that I am the cause. When I was told about cross chaining the referance was dont use the 28 cog with the 50 and dont hit the 12 cog with the granny but with the mid I just assumed free reign, tho I didnt use the 28 or 12 cogs from the middle since I was that faron the cassette I usually switched rings but thought the other 7 were fair game, I wasnt aware I should keep it only on the center cogs from the middle ring.

Opps thats on me, but that said the FD could still use some tweak like I said its a crappy shift from the 50 to the 39 so having to drop to the granny and back up to the 39 to get a better chain alignment. Ill have to look into the friction shifters but the gripshift wont work for me since I am on drops with a sora groupset and STI shifters. And hate grip on flatbars since I ride flatbars without gloves to limit the ghost white hands and brown arms but my hands sweat too much to shift gripshift easily.

I feel silly now for not figuring that out sooner, but now I know. Thanks!

donalson

IMHO it's nothing to worry about... honestly I fully cross with it in the middle ring up front (especially while MTBing) and it's nothing like the chain line you get if you cross in the big or small rings... but it's still just the nature of the beast to get minor rubbing if you do cross in the middle... I don't worry about it and just use it as a reminder that I need to shift... on my setup I can push both leavers down (UP to the big up front and down 2 steps to bigger cog out back) with ease

plumberroy

I weight #310 I"m riding a surly steamroller with 700 x25c tires I got in early spring. I have had 1 flat from a pin hole in a tube. My LHT has flat bar I love that bike
Roy

gabeham206

So, Temptation and curiousity led me to my LBS a few days ago to test ride a new Secteur compact. It felt great and was amazed how light it was (I have a big mountain bike now) And by the time I brought it back into the store from my ride, I was in love. The salesmen made it a point that if I were to buy this bike now, I'd need to get some beefy wheels. They quoted me a price for $350 for parts and labor (Labor was $120 of that), And that was using the hubs already on the bike. Does that sound reasonable?

tiger187126

more knowledgeable guys will probably chime in, but here's my 2 cents:

if you love it and it fits, ride it and replace something when/if it breaks.

these are the wheels that came with my secteur: https://www.specialized.com/us/en/ftb...ing/dt-axis-10

i've read a lot about how i should get more spokes than these have, but so far after 100 miles nothing is wrong with them. i popped a tube after some rough pavement, but so far that's it. i ride carefully and avoid hitting anything i can and stay on the pedals/bar more than the seat the majority of the time to avoid having all my weight crash down on the back wheel if i hit something. i also try to avoid riding in the dark because i've had some nasty bumps that make me worried i'm going to break something that i didn't see.

i talked to the salesman for a while about the bike and even with the weight limit of 250 he said he'd had guys my size buy similar bikes without issue and he'd seen guys that weigh 150 bend rims like you wouldn't believe.

i don't know about how true "racing" wheels would hold up with a heavier rider, but the secteur (at least mine) is geared more towards comfort riding than speed. maybe these rims are just tougher, but i don't see a reason to switch them out until they become a problem.

donalson

@ gabeham206

what do you weigh?... i'm over 300lbs and if I got that bike I'd simply ride the bike... the wheels will be the weak link... they are 32h wheels and bigger guys have ridden less.

as for them building a wheelset... that price is very high... especially using the stock (likely low end) hubs... I just did a quick mock wheelset build on universalcycles... at just over $350 you can build a wheelset with shimano 105 hubs, velocity 36h deep V rims (heavy but very strong), DT swiss DB spokes with DT brass nipples...

so for that $350 extra you'd have a second set of wheels... keep them as backups or just sell the stockers...

bobotech

Why bother with new rims? If they are using the same hubs that are on the bike, it just sounds like they are replacing a new hoop with a new hoop that both have the same amount of spokes. They look like 32 spoke wheels from a picture I googled.

So a big no from me on rebuilding the wheels. Just ride it lightly, don't be hitting potholes and bunny hopping it or jumping off curbs and so on. You will be fine. Rebuilding the existing wheels strongly reeks of profit taking on the LBS's part. So that does not sound reasonable.

gabeham206

@donalson, I'm down to 337lbs now, and my goal is to get down to 250. I'm 6'5'' and have a pretty broad frame, So I'm always gonna be a bigger guy. I'm gonna look into that wheelset build, Donalson. It'd be nice to have those eventually, when the factory wheels start to break.

donalson

sounds like we're similar size and build... I checked out the secture at my LBS a few weeks ago... sadly the largest they carry is the "61cm"... with the compact frame geomotry I had the seatpost nearly fully extended to the min-insertion line and the shop doesn't carry 64cm models... but a quick look you have to step up to the sport compact to even get that as an option...

as for wheelsets... thats just a known bomb proof build but a bit heavy... I'd prob even consider going to a 32 spoke up front and save a few bucks (literally just a few lol)... i'm sure there are other options for less money

digibud

I would absolutely buy the Secteur with confidence. I think the rear wheel is 32spoke. Correct? If so, all you need to do is buy a front that is 32. Maybe if you're over 325 you might want a 36rear but even then you can easily find a good set of 32/36 wheels for well under the price he quoted you. There would be NO point in having just the rims replaced at that cost. That was a rip-off quote. If the existing wheels are built well, I'd bet they would work just fine. If you road them for a while and broke a spoke in the first few months then you might want to get a sturdier set of wheels but a properly tensioned set of wheels 28/32 would probably do you just fine. I'll admit I would not bomb down big hills with them so yeah...it might be good to buy a second set of wheels but just do so from a catalog house or ask what deal the dealer would give you on a new set, but definitely do NOT pay that kind of money and still end up with the same hubs.

Wheresgid

Which bike would that be?

ahultin

First road bike was a fuji roubaix aluminium frame with carbon fork and stays. The aluminium dropout cracked amd was warranty replaced with a full carbon fuji gran fondo