Bike Suggestions for Large Male
06-23-20, 06:07 PM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2020
Posts: 7
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 6 Times
in
3 Posts
Bike Suggestions for Large Male
I am a complete novice when it comes to bicycles and a giant man. I would like to begin biking as a method to lose some weight. I am 6’4 and about 420 lbs. Most bikes I have researched have either don’t have a high enough weight capacity or they don’t list a weight capacity at all. Would anyone have any advice on what types of bikes I should be looking at or what brands sell bikes for larger riders?
Likes For chadkams:
07-31-20, 12:57 PM
#2
The Drive Side is Within
Hi and welcome! I’m your height and am at about 220. So I don’t have personal experience being a heavier rider but as a sort of big dude I’ve always read articles about heavy cyclists and their gear with interest.
Steel is strong, resilient, and comfortably springy. I’m pretty sure that will be your best bet as far as frame material.
https://zizebikes.com/
Here is a manufacturer that designs and builds bikes for riders up to 550 pounds. I haven’t read up on them but their website is a good place to start.
You can also probably start with a vintage steel mountain bike with maybe a custom set of wheels, but if you’re not hitting bumps hard, regular mtb wheels should be enough to get started with. I’m 220 and regularly put my two kids on cargo bikes for probably a 320 pound total back a few years. My wife and I are both good sized folks and we ride tandem no problem.
I will look for the excellent Bicycling magazine feature article on a large rider and his successes. It was from a few years back...
Steel is strong, resilient, and comfortably springy. I’m pretty sure that will be your best bet as far as frame material.
https://zizebikes.com/
Here is a manufacturer that designs and builds bikes for riders up to 550 pounds. I haven’t read up on them but their website is a good place to start.
You can also probably start with a vintage steel mountain bike with maybe a custom set of wheels, but if you’re not hitting bumps hard, regular mtb wheels should be enough to get started with. I’m 220 and regularly put my two kids on cargo bikes for probably a 320 pound total back a few years. My wife and I are both good sized folks and we ride tandem no problem.
I will look for the excellent Bicycling magazine feature article on a large rider and his successes. It was from a few years back...
__________________
The bicycle, the bicycle surely, should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets. Christopher Morley
The bicycle, the bicycle surely, should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets. Christopher Morley
08-01-20, 02:27 PM
#3
Master Parts Rearranger
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Portlandia's Kuiper Belt, OR
Posts: 4,407
Bikes: 1982 Trek 720 - 1985 Trek 620 - 1984 Trek 620 - 1980 Trek 510 - Other luminaries past and present
Mentioned: 222 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1557 Post(s)
Liked 2,035 Times
in
991 Posts
Welcome @chadkams to BF. Finding tall bikes for our height (I'm 6'5") is difficult enough, but ones with stated weight capacities and/or proven in real life are even tougher to hunt down.
A good place to start is the in-good-humor-titled Clydesdales & Athenas sub-forum here. I have run across a number of posts of riders of similar height/weight with bike frame/wheel questions, so you're in good company there as you peruse the various threads.
For wheels, you're looking at something with at least 36 spokes, if not 40. "Deep V" or deep section rims are very stout and the high spoke count ensures everything is held together firmly. Steel is generally the material of choice for frames. The Zize bikes look like a good place to look. Another question to answer, if you haven't already, is your budget--whether you're considering new or used. Bikes built for extra strength will likely be a bit more than the average company offering, but since there are many who have blazed this trail before, I think they'll know of a few production bikes that were overbuilt plenty and can accommodate you, without breaking the bank.
A good place to start is the in-good-humor-titled Clydesdales & Athenas sub-forum here. I have run across a number of posts of riders of similar height/weight with bike frame/wheel questions, so you're in good company there as you peruse the various threads.
For wheels, you're looking at something with at least 36 spokes, if not 40. "Deep V" or deep section rims are very stout and the high spoke count ensures everything is held together firmly. Steel is generally the material of choice for frames. The Zize bikes look like a good place to look. Another question to answer, if you haven't already, is your budget--whether you're considering new or used. Bikes built for extra strength will likely be a bit more than the average company offering, but since there are many who have blazed this trail before, I think they'll know of a few production bikes that were overbuilt plenty and can accommodate you, without breaking the bank.
