New Bike for Tall Plus-Size Woman?

[DarcyInOregon]

Thanks for the tips! Yes, I am deathly afraid of leaning down too far on the bike. Not only is it going to be a huge change for me from the MTB, but I also have a herniated disk in my back that I have to watch out for. So, any undue stress back there is not good for me.

Just want to say, I have two herniated disks in my lower back, and I ride a Trek Pilot 5.2 WSD. I am 5'8". Riding the Pilot, plus gym workouts to strengthen the core and back muscles, finally got rid of the constant sciatica pain caused by the herniated disks, and I haven't been troubled by the sciatica for quite a few years. Just saying, don't fear a road bike because of herniated disks.

Maybe move up to a road bike when you have saved up more money, and look at the Trek entry level road bikes.

[Juliegoddess]

Just want to say, I have two herniated disks in my lower back, and I ride a Trek Pilot 5.2 WSD. I am 5'8". Riding the Pilot, plus gym workouts to strengthen the core and back muscles, finally got rid of the constant sciatica pain caused by the herniated disks, and I haven't been troubled by the sciatica for quite a few years. Just saying, don't fear a road bike because of herniated disks.

Maybe move up to a road bike when you have saved up more money, and look at the Trek entry level road bikes.

Thanks, Darcy! That's good to know! Yes, even just losing these 20 pounds has helped the back immensely. I believe that the bike would do much LESS damage (if any) than all that weight I was carrying! And I still have 40 more pounds to go...

[out_spokin']

Hey Juliegoddess -- sorry I lost track of this thread momentarily! I ride a 59cm (center to center) seat tube with a 54cm top tube. Crazy in a world where most men's bikes have "square" geometry! But that's actually roughly the same as what the Terry Symmetry is. http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/terry/geometry.html

I know this is still out of your budget, but I searched for the Symmetry just to see what's out there, and was amazed to find that Sierra Trading Post has a closeout on 23" inchers for $765 + shipping. Pretty great for a Tiagra-level bike with an excellent steel frame.

HOWEVER, I just found a interesting deal you might look into on the Terry trading boards (which is how I found mine). http://www.terrybicycles.com/trade/browse/sell. Check out the post for a Trilogy - she's 5'10", so it could be the 23" or maybe the 21.5" frame size. It's their entry level road bike from the early 90s it seems, so maybe 8 speed components? If it fit, could be a very good match, since it's listed for $300 - even with shipping you could fit a good tune up and even few parts swaps/upgrades and stay in your budget.

Before you do much else, though, one thing I recommend is checking out your fit -- you're stating your inseam as 32", but is that your actual inseam or your pants inseam? A fit at a good shop is best, but use that fit calculator that lo123 mentions -- it's very good.

And lo123 - thanks for the rundown on models! I looked at that top end model and wow....but after seeing not all the models had 58s got sidetracked. Awesome to have in my pocket if I go test riding some nice spring day.

[Trek420]

If you would consider a cross bike, KnottedYet is almost your height and rides this:

http://surlybikes.com/bikes/cross_check_complete

I think she likes it a lot. It's a little higher than your budget but you might be able to find one used, last years model, local bike swap etc.

My niece, UK Elephant and her mom (therefore my sister), Duck on Wheels are your height. UK rides a Specialized cross bikes.

In this thread she picks a bike:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=5009

Ducks ride is a Trek flat bar road bike of some sort. Uhm, I know that it's red. Both of them are very happy with their rides I think.

Here's Duck getting her bike fitted:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=30113

Now get out there and test ride lots of bikes for us because the tall TE gals want to read the ride reports.

[Juliegoddess]

Thanks SO much everyone! I can't wait to spend the winter digging and checking out bikes. I'm also going to hit all the LBS's in the Detroit area. Al Petri is renowned in this area, so I'm hoping they will be able to tell me if a bike is a good fit. When I sit on a bike, I really can't tell if it "fits" me or not. And for saddles, I would have NO idea until I rode on it a while.

So...it's gonna be a fun winter, trying out lots of bikes! I'll let you all know what I find!