Bike for a larger person

[Tuckervill]

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

[teigyr]

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!

[Tuckervill]

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

Karen

[East Hill]

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

[SalsaMTB]

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!

[rivergrl]

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.

[teigyr]

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.