chokeray

Hello,

I am trying to get into cycling but my weight has put me in a difficult situation, I want to ride a single speed bike/fixed gear bike but i am unsure as to what to get,

a friend recommended me a Quella Varsity 61cm bike and i have spoken with their representitive and they claim it can hold up to "160kg",
i was looking to also get 32c tires as the bike can fit up to 35c but got told that going for 32c would be preferable due to debris.

I am being told that it should be able to hold me but have seen mixed opinions online on this topic, I have also been going back to my old regime of gym and proper diet over the past 2-3 weeks reducing my weight from 144 to 136.

What's your guys opinion on this?

ACHiPo 

Sorry I can’t offer advice on the bike, but I do commend you on your journey. As a fellow Clyde that recently got back into cycling on an e-bike and highly recommend it. I’m down 10 lbs, and having a blast. Good luck and have fun!

base2 

At 300 pounds you should be fine with most bikes that have sensible components and not über-weight-weenie. The big concern is the quality of the rear wheel build. 32 or even better, 36 spokes on a quality symmetrical hub (with no dish) ought to address whatever weight concern you have permanently.

It may well be worth taking the wheel to a bike shop for a real once over by someone who knows what they are doing after the first ride or two to properly tension the spokes for even tension, so that each spoke is doing it's proper share of the load. To ensure wheel roundness for the same reason. And lastly true.

Since it is a mail order bike. While they're at it, have the bike shop actually add grease and properly adjust the bearings of both front and rear hubs.You'd be amazed at how many have no grease and are ridiculously maladjusted right from the factory.

Ride light. Don't abuse it with curbs and what-not and you'll be fine.

35's would be better than 32's and have virtually no effect on how well the bike rolls or resists cuts or punctures. Roll with whatever comes on it until it's worn out.

HIPCHIP

Do you have a local bike shop you can check with? They should know what their bikes will handle and recommend changes to account for your weight. I’d think an all metal frame, steel or aluminum, will probably work. A single speed model may limit what you can get, and don’t forget Mountain Bikes as they can handle more abuse.

ScottCommutes

I wouldn't worry much. There are four kinds of cyclists - light people with low power, light people with high power, heavy people with low power, and heavy people with high power. Racers are light people with high power. You are a heavy person with low power. The group I worry about on bikes is the NFL lineman type - heavy people with high power..

Speedskater

Light people with high power are called 'hill climbers'.
Heavy people with high power are called 'sprinters'.

donalson

i'm your weight and height... I can say I wouldn't consider any Quella bikes purely because they are single speeds... SS or fixies can be lots of fun but they limit you so much when it comes to how far and where you can ride.

for tires it really depends on where you ride... my touring bike I run 42c tires, my classic road bike runs on 32c tires and my newest (about a 10 year old bike) is running 23c... I'll upgrade it to 25 or 28c (max it'll run) when I have some spare cash... but really I haven't had issues with any size as long as they are running the proper pressure which I run based on what this web page suggests... I ran a more traditional higher pressure years back but have enjoyed these pressures. https://silca.cc/pages/sppc-form

wider allows lower pressure and gives more comfort.

Toadmeister

I’m about your size and strong rider, rode over 2000 miles this year road, gravel, and trails including RAGBRAI.

I would not consider a single speed
for us Clydesdales unless you plan on ruining your knees and other joints.

Consider a 1x drivetrain. Give yourself some gears for those hills and so you can spin. Your body will thank you and your drivetrain will last longer.

schnee

I'm your size. I'm agreeing with a few of the others here, but I'll go further.

Single speed at our size is for tooling around to get coffee on Sunday morning, or dedicated track workouts, not for distance road training. You'll ruin your knees or will be walking up hills a lot.

I'd even consider 32c tires the minimum size for a 'go-fast roadie' setup - i.e. pavement only. You'd be better off with even bigger tires, like 38c or 40c, if you're going to mix in anything other than road, like any dirt paths or even gravel.

If you want to go long distance, and handle whatever hills you encounter, look for a 2x drivetrain with a 'compact' front crank.

Russ Roth

I'm not gonna join the naysayers on here, although SS isn't my primary bike it is one I enjoy quite a bit, but it also depends on the ride. In dec I rode mine at the US cyclocross nationals and have raced it at other cross races, I use it to ride through Manhattan on a regular basis, and have done fine riding up to 30 miles in a day. Gearing matters a lot and you will spend some time figuring out the one that works best for where you ride. You may end up walking a large hill, who cares, so far the only hill I've had to walk in NYC I got to watch a guy 10 years younger on a newer C-dale with a compact crank walk it as well, and you will get passed on the flats by all the roadies with their higher gearing, but you'll also learn to spin faster if you want to go faster. Looking at that bike there isn't anything about it that suggests its trying to be light. I'd trust what the rep says about the weight limit, I'd bet its actually higher but they've padded the estimate to err on the side of safety. There's plenty of spokes and the rims look deep enough that they're probably plenty strong and stiff. Mine came with the Kenda Kountach which are a 28c but I swapped them out for Clement X-plor USH 35c tires for something tough enough to survive the city streets However the kountach have done a remarkable, trouble free job on my tandem and just rode in and out of the city and have survived through Brooklyn with no troubles either. I think in the future I wouldn't hesitate to put a new pair back on the single speed, they also seem a bit big for a 28c. But even at 286lb I still find a 25c tire to be a comfortable ride on the racing bike so my tire perspective might not be yours. But modern 25c and 28c tires, especially on modern specced rims, are wider than the old tires and are more comfortable having a rounder shape.

LeeG

Beginner and fixed gear. Why?