Old 04-11-21, 05:33 PM
  #10  
Attilio
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Join Date: Mar 2020
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Bikes: Salsa!

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6'2" is definitely fat as defined by BMI >25, it's getting in the lower but truly obese territory so not good for your health. That said it's really good you are thinking of taking a turn for the better. At 240lbs a lot of bikes are available to you. The good news is that bikes are WAY over-rated in terms of weight. I mean I wouldn't buy a bike rated up to 160lbs but I learned this recently having helped a friend who is 6'2" but 305lbs who wanted to change his game after a mutual friend died and he got scared staring down his 50th birthday. At 305lbs the options are truly limited. So we called around a bunch of shops and companies and here is what I learned in a nutshell.

Most bikes will still be mostly OK. The wear will be faster the heavier the rider. That said whatever the factory max weight for the bike is, let's say for my friend we found the Salsa Journeyman Flat Bar Claris 700 was 300lbs. Salsa (and every other manufacturer I contacted) told me they arrive at this by taking the max weight forces the bike is rated to accept and dividing it by four. So a bike that is rated for a 300lbs rider is really made to withstand 1,200 given the forces of acceleration, decelration, jumps and bumps on the road. So if you're starting out riding with the intention of making a total lifestyle change whose objective is to lose weight you're probably OK as long as you don't pick a truly "skinny" bike.

What I mean is that when you start out, you are not going to be very good. You will be out of shape and slow so the forces on your bike, despite your "fat" weight, will be less overall. As you improve you will be hopefully losing weight as your lifestyle changes take effect but by the time you are performing at a higher level that will tax the bike your weight will have dropped. So unless you buy something truly fragile and stick with gravel, hybrids mountain or general all purpose steel bikes even of the department store variety that aren't total junk you will probably be fine and as you lose weight and your capabilities increase the problem will take care of itself.

As always it pays to contact the manufacturer and ask them specifically what the max rider weight is and proceed accordingly. That's what I did for my close friend and we learned a lot. I suggest you do the same.
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