Bike for a larger person

I have a friend who has battled with depression and weight gain for a long time. He loses weight then gets depressed and gains it back. For the longest time I've promoted the virtues of exercise; it would help with the weight loss AND I think it would make him feel better. He has some self-esteem problems. When we've gone for a walk, he gets winded really easily because he has never really exercised.

DH and I have offered to go riding with him or go hiking or whatever it takes. My friend thought all our activity was so great but not for him.

So today he e-mails me and at the end, asked me if they made bikes for larger people. Wow! After how many years this is such a good thing!

So, do they? He's taller than me and I am 5'11". I don't know his weight but his waist (jeans tag) say 46. I think. I try not to pry that way but saw it once. He is larger, he has trouble sitting in small chairs and stuff.

Does anyone have any experience with this? I've seen larger riders on bikes...I know he feels nervous and thinks the tires should be huge to support his weight. So maybe mtn bike? Any recommendations? I think budget would be a consideration too.

Thank you all :D I'm just really excited for him! He lives RIGHT on a bike trail and this would get him out of the house and do all sorts of great things. I bet he'd make new friends too! He needs positive people around him, people who could get him enthused about this stuff. Besides me, that is.

He might want to check out the Clydesdales forum at bikeforums.net. From the little bit of reading I've done there, they seem like a friendly, supportive bunch (not like some other parts of BF) and there are lots of threads about bikes that work for bigger folks, wheels that are strong enough, saddles, etc.

I was pretty durn close to 300 pounds when I started riding on my GI Joe's diamondback hybrid bike. It was good for about 300 miles before I started breaking spokes and I replaced the rear wheel with a bontrager mountain bike racing wheel ($80-100). I've put in 1300 miles on it (and also switched to a road bike as I've gotten smaller) and it has served my purposes quite well. Your friend might weigh more than that since he is taller than me, but if he's in the neighborhood of 300-350 pounds, I'd say any hybrid bike with a sturdy rear wheel should do the trick for him as a start. Even if he's heavier than that, I'd say there are still plenty of options. Seattle Bike and Ski (just off the B.G. trail near Bothell landing) is the shop that set me up with my trusty rear wheel, and they didn't seem to think it unreasonable that a person my size would be on a bike. Maybe a starting point for info?

also, I ride with a supportive group of people who often have rides on the B.G/Samm (among other places) and we would love to have him join us.http://www.bikesclub.org/ If he looks under Ride Changes, ride leader Bill Lutterloh has a ride coming up this next monday.

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Originally Posted by divingbiker

He might want to check out the Clydesdales forum at bikeforums.net. From the little bit of reading I've done there, they seem like a friendly, supportive bunch (not like some other parts of BF) and there are lots of threads about bikes that work for bigger folks, wheels that are strong enough, saddles, etc.

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What a great link! Thanks for posting that.

He might like the book Heft on Wheels.

My husband is 6'7" and weighs 280 (but has been as high as 305). He wears 44-46" pants depending on the brand. He has a 19" Raliegh Mojave 2.0 with a longer stem and seat post. He also has a 27" Miyata road bike from the '80s that has an extra long seat post, too. (They're measured differently, of course, since they're different types of bikes.)

The Raleigh is really too small for him, but the Miyata fits him nicely. Prior to the other day, he hadn't had any trouble with his spokes. BUuuut, he took the Raleigh to the beach in October and rode along the bike path. When he got home he never cleaned it up--when he finally took a look the poor thing was rusted over from the salt! So, we cleaned it up and lubed it up...but the spokes were weakened and 3 of them popped at once the other day. The spokes did not look rusty to me, even after they popped, but the salt in combo with the weight can be the only explanation. (My hubby is not as in to cycling as I am, as you can tell.)

Your friend is probably not over 6'4". A person who is that tall would be able to ride the largest bike in almost any line. You should tell him that he's lucky because men can drop weight like mad when they take up cycling--unlike we women who have to work at it. lol.

I second the recommendation for the clydesdales forum. They are a nice bunch of folks.

Karen

Thank you :)

I will check out the Clydesdale forum today. He is SO out of his element that I'm not even sure he'd know what to ask. I think it's difficult to come out and say to the public (well, the forum) the things that he says to me, also. He had this preconceived notion of cycling that I think is busted now, which is good.

This is such a great step and yes, he will/would lose weight fast. Honestly last time we walked it was less than a mile and he had to stop to rest.

Thank you for all the great ideas!

He doesn't have to post on the forum, he can just search and read. It's probably all been asked already.

Karen

Yes, encourage your friend to take a look at the BF Clydesdales forum, and then see if he'd like to come on a ride with us one day :) . There's always Interurban/Green River for a start.

East Hill

We've had some bigger guys come into the shop who wanted to get into road riding. I'm not sure how large your friend is, but we've never had a problem putting someone on a road bike. If he's concerned about a durable wheelset, the shop could build him up a pair of super durable wheels (we've done this for people).

One thing I would also recommend...we had a bigger guy have problems with getting flats. So, we gave him stronger tires and thorn resistant tubes. These tubes are really thick and he hasn't had a problem since. It was tough putting them in, but they work!

Giant makes a great bike and their comfort bikes are really sturdy but light in my opinion which makes them easy to ride, which is important in encouraging people to KEEP riding. I started out with one of those bikes and it was really easy to ride compared to the bikes people sometimes buy at Wal-Mart which can be extremely heavy. I found that the heavier the bike the less I wanted to ride it. I got a Giant and my journey into cycling began. I started on the comfort bike as a heavier person and I moved to a Giant road bike and I've never felt like I was too big to ride on my Giant.

I got tired of seeing cyclists pass my office window every day. I had the desire to do what they were doing but I was bigger and my fear of being made fun of was huge. Finally I just did it and it's wonderful. I figure I'm going so fast that nobody really is paying attention to what I'm wearing or how big I am. I'm just out having fun and getting healthy. The hardest part is to put away fear and get out there with the rest of them. Good luck to your friend.

rivergrl - that's very insightful. What model did/do you have? I don't know Giants at all but I believe they are reasonably priced. I also think comfort would be good, I want this to be a positive and fun thing.

The Clydesdale/Athena forum at bikeforums.net is a great one. I enjoy reading about people, their problems and triumphs. The Historian -
http://historian2wheels.blogspot.com/
has a neat blog about his weight loss journey. He started at 385#.

I second rivergrl on the Giant bikes. I bought a Suede 7-speed for $340. It is a totally comfortable bike with pedals set forward like the Electra Townies so you can put your feet on the ground while stopped at a light. Trek Pure also has a similar model which I've ridden - very comfortable and lightweight compared to Xmart bikes. My handlebars are adjustable in angle so I can sit upright or bend forward more if it's windy. The bike looks like a cross between a cruiser and mountain bike. I can ride through sand, gravel, up hills, etc. and smile all the while.

I bought a Sedona but the Cypress (the model names may be different now) but the Cypress has thinner tires so it rides a bit more like a road bike, you can get a little more speed up on the Cypress but the Sedona I have is great. I still ride my Sedona when I ride with someone who doesn't have a road bike. It's just a great riding bike and comfortable for long Saturday rides.

Here is the link to the bikes on the Giant web site.
http://www.giant-bicycle.com/en-US/bikes/lifestyle/

I highly recommend the Cypress or the Sedona for your friend. My LBS was fantastic and they deal with just about every brand and they recommended the Giant for getting into the biking thing. The LBS recommended I start with this type bike because they are easy on the knees and are easy to ride. I started with this bike and I was hooked. I rode it for a year before buying a Giant road bike. I couldn't bear to part with the Sedona so I kept it and I ride it more casually. I also bought a trainer and put the Sedona on there. It works great for rainy days!

Good bikes aren't cheap but if you really want to stick with something like cycling then spend the money to get a good bike. It will last longer and be easier to ride. In the end it will be well worth the money.

teigyr, have you talked to your friend yet? Have him look at this link:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=320748

I know we can tell your friend all day about the benefits of riding a bike, but this is a great story. We can't all hope to achieve this, but we can all aim for that same goal--to help ourselves get more fit, and to help beat diabetes.

East Hill

Kona has a line of bikes for the larger rider:

http://www.konaworld.com/bikes/2k7/H...UXE/index.html

Good luck to your friend :D

Thank you. I love the link with the cyclist and I will definitely share that with him. It's difficult because I've always been active so it's easy to say "oh, you just get on a bike" but for someone who's never exercised, it's not so easy as that. I mean it IS easy but mentally it can be challenging.

Thanks for the info on Kona too! Between the Kona and the Giant, maybe he can find something. He is an artist so sometimes funds are low but I bet maybe we can look for something used.

Also, you might want to do a little scouting ahead of time and talk to some shops and see which ones might be most able to help a large rider. If you do a little groundwork it may save him some stress when he actually gets ready to look.

I was at my LBS this morning and talked to one of the shop guys about bikes for a larger rider. (it wasn't one of my favorite shop guys, but that's ok)

He thought the Kona Smoke would probably be a good bike to start with. Steel frame that can take a lot and flex when needed, no suspension to waste energy or bottom-out, large smooth tires, sturdy wheels. Oh, and it comes with fenders which is nice to have around here. $350. Right now they have only one, a size 22 inch, and it's not built up yet. But they can help figure out size and order/hold one for your friend. http://www.konaworld.com/bikes/2k7/SMOKE/index.html

They've been selling bikes at a phenomenal rate with the good weather, so it can be tough to get what you want immediately.

Oh, and they had a 50 cm Surly Cross Check out on the floor... purty!

www.recycledcycles.com