Large adult son wants to ride

[Trek420]

Anytime I drool, stare or even glance sideways at a bike in my LBS if it's not in stock in my size they happily offer to order one. I decline saying I'm just looking, have more than enough bikes, don't need another, love steel just lookin' at the puhrty carbon etc blah blah.

More smiles and assurances from them that it's ok, if they get it in stock and built up they will sell it. I'm 5 foot nuthin'. It's not as if I'm the only short female rider around.

Same applies to your brother, it's not like he's the only tall big fella around.

It's all about great service. Find a local shop that treats him right!! He must try the bike.

[Blueberry]

I have bar end shifters on 3 bikes (including a surly cross check) and love them. True, you can't shift as quickly in a pace line, but otherwise (and since I don't generally do that kind of riding), they're great- a little less fiddly (and you can always shift the rear to friction if it gets out of adjustment). I find them more robust than STI.

I bought by Surly off ebay - and had never ridden one. I lucked out with fit - bought it off a couple of key measurements. I think it could work for your son to order one sign unseen *if* he has a local dealer that will do a fit kit on him. They should be able to tell if it will be a good fit for him, and they may be able to duplicate the geometry on the fit kit and/or let him try a bike that's similar in fit. When you order a custom bike, you can't really test it either. The key is finding a dealer he can trust. I can only think of 1 shop within 4 hours of me that ever stocks built frames - I think most buy sight unseen. Good luck!!!

CA

[Trek420]

CA, when folks here say "I lucked out with the fit" most are speaking from a ton of experience. My LBS keeps all the measurements of my bikes on file. Whether a bike is on TE, Craigs, Ebay .... I can check against his measurements and think "sure, close enough for government work". not that I want/need another bike

But for a new or newer rider, one with some health concerns I sure wish he could try the bike or similar.

[OakLeaf]

y'know, this just occurred to me, and pardon if I'm being rude - at his size, will his belly make it difficult for him to reach the drops, and thus the bar end shifters? And/or does he have back issues? Bar end shifters might not be the best idea for someone who can't lean very far forward.

Re: frame materials, I've known two very large guys with carbon frames who've had no problems at all. Wheels and spokes, yes - frames, no.

[tulip]

Have you called Surly directly and talked to them about your dilemma? Surly customers are a close lot far as I can tell, and maybe they could get in touch with one of their customers in your area and arrange for your son to try out a bike.

[Eden]

Re: frame materials, I've known two very large guys with carbon frames who've had no problems at all. Wheels and spokes, yes - frames, no.

Yes, carbon is quite strong, but when it fails it can fail rather suddenly and spectacularly (some poor fellow took a face plant in a different field at a race I was in when his carbon front fork failed and I'm guessing he wasn't a huge guy either), so I think its one of those things that you have to decide if you are up to taking that risk.... When you are rather large having a bike that weighs 24 lbs instead of 18 isn't going to make that huge a difference to your ride, so perhaps better to stick to stronger materials at first. Not to mention that no company will honor a guarantee for a broken frame if you are over the weight limit that they set.

That's not to say that aluminum and even steel cannot fail. My husband cracked a lugged steel frame, but steel will at least usually give you some warnings before it goes completely.

btw I don't think a cross bike is a bad idea. They aren't too much heavier than racing bikes (probably in the same weight range as touring bikes), but they are still sturdy. They are made to take off road punishment (and frequent falls), so they tend to come with sturdy wheels and the components tend to be made for relatively easy maintenance and to take a beating without failing. (oh and a slightly higher end one will come with disc brakes which may be much appreciated by a larger rider)

[dex]

Speaking of steel frames and disc brakes, do you have any Kona dealers in your area? If you do, the Sutra would be worth checking out. It's their touring bike, and isn't horribly expensive, but is a pretty comfy ride.

I think he would be best getting to try out the bike before buying, unless you think it would be easy to sell if it doesn't work out for him. My experience: I very much wanted a Surly LHT, but when I went to test ride them, no matter what we did to the bikes we couldn't get one that felt/fit right. (2 different sizes, five different stems, 2 different seat posts, and many adjustments in between--I found a shop that was willing to fiddle with the fit all day.) I still like the bike, and recommend it to people looking for commuting/touring/sturdy bikes, but it just doesn't work for me.

[Tuckervill]

I feel your pain. My husband is 6'7" with a size 13-14 foot. He would like to try clipless pedals, but he has foot issues and shoes absolutely have to be right. No one carries shoes that size that he can try, and even if they did, they'd be in one style, one make. Similarly, his legs and arms are very long and no one has bikes his size just laying around. The largest stock bike (about 64 cm) is still probably too small for his particular needs (he also used to weigh over 300, so that was an issue too--but now he's down to 255, thanks to spinning and riding his bike and other exercise and eating right).

There is a compromise here on your son's bike. It's a make-do compromise, and it's one we face all the time and if you don't hold your standards up too high, it all works out all right. Time's a'wastin', when your son could be riding! Try to find an old steel touring bike--and you can probably get one for $100. It will probably have 40 spokes on the rear which will help. (Alternatively, get the heaviest giant-saddled hybrid you can find, even if it is aluminum.)

Centurion and Trek and Scwhinn all made touring bikes out of steel from the 70s. Change out bars and saddles or what-have-you to make it semi-comfortable. And he just needs to get out and start riding! He's never going to start riding if he doesn't have a bike. Capitalize on the interest and get on one and go. Then the decision of what is the best bike for him can be put off while he learns something about his body, his motivation, and maybe loses enough weight to make the decision simpler.

Just buy one and make-do. Not every bike decision has to be either wrong or right. Some of them can just be eh.

Karen

[Blueberry]

CA, when folks here say "I lucked out with the fit" most are speaking from a ton of experience. My LBS keeps all the measurements of my bikes on file. Whether a bike is on TE, Craigs, Ebay .... I can check against his measurements and think "sure, close enough for government work". not that I want/need another bike

But for a new or newer rider, one with some health concerns I sure wish he could try the bike or similar.

Yep - agreed. I also knew I could re-sell the bike if I needed to, and was willing to take the risk. I still think he's be OK, though, if he went to a shop that could do a fit kit on him to make sure that bike would work - or find something in stock that was close to the geometry so he could get a feel for it. The long top tubes of cross bikes can be a challenge.

On the bar end issue - I can't ride comfortably in the lowest part of the drops and pedal. But I have no problems shifting.

CA

[SandyLS]

Son and I finally went shopping for his new bike. After reading all I could find about Clydsdale riders we decided to order the Surly long haul trucker. A new shop in E. Lansing Michigan, Revolution Bikes, http://revolutionbikesllc.com/ had the best prices of anywhere we checked. They do mostly internet mail order sales. They seemed to know what they were doing when they measured him for the bike. The bike should be in next week. My son was invited to come back while they set it up for him so he can learn a little about the bike. They also run a weekly ride out of the shop in which he was invited to participate so they could help him learn about proper pedaling and such. I'll post again after the bike gets set up for him.

[sbctwin]

It sounds like your son is on his way to a good ride. Great job!!!

[Blueberry]

Yay!!!! Sounds like the shop will give him just the kind of support he needs to learn to love biking!!!! Please keep us posted on his progress

CA