big lad - what bike !

twedspeed

Hi , a workmate wants a bike but he,s a BIG lad , I.E. 19 ST plus .
Has had bikes before but tends to muller the back wheel axels & spokes.
Good points are he dosent want to hammer down mountains just urban & mild off road tracks , it,ll be a hard tail .

He likes cannondales but has killed his old Fatty headshock .
Would like to either rebuild the fatty or buy a newer model ..........So........

1/ . Can he get a EXTRA strongly built rear wheel , does anyone specialise in extra tough stuff ? ( was thinking Down Hillers ? ) that would fit the fatty.
2 / Are old headshock fatty dales past their sell by date I.E. can you still get the bits and keep em servicable or are we pee-ing against the wind.
3/ Who does the best deals U.K. on last years 2008 cannondales particularly the " BAD BOY" or " F " range .
CHEERS IN ADVANCE

ride_whenever

I'd say re-build the 'dale.

Seeing he's a fatty, get him some decent coil forks for the front end of his bike, something like the tora 318 with a firm spring, or even an x-firm.

As for wheels. A decent set of handbuilts will be fine. I'd say 721 on xt hubs with doublebutted spokes possibly a 36 hole rear wheel for a bit extra strength. Ask you LBS to price something up and speak to the monkey who will be building it and make sure they understand that it is a massive fatty riding it, so it'll need to be higher tensioned and very even.

.blitz

The Bad Boy is an urban/hybrid bike no ? What about a Chase 1/2/3 ? Leisure Lakes have access to a fair few Cannondales, I got my Rize 5 from them last year.

Daz555

I hear the Kona Hoss is a good choice for the big lads.

AdvoCake

As a 'fully grown gentleman', i managed to knacker the spokes on the back wheel of my ex8. Just got them rebuilt with stronger spokes/nipples, then got some ex5.1D on hope pro2 hubs. I suspect having full suspension probably saves them a little work over a hard tail.

Steve Kish

Tandem wheel for the rear? 8)

LV

At 6'1" and 19st, I'll let you know how I get get on with mine when it arrives!

XxxBFGxxX

23 stone 6foot 4.

i ride a GT avalaunch 1 with DMR pro 26 wheels very strong for my fat arse can bunny hop and pish about on them and there strong for me.

nicklouse

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12607306

TBH any bike will do. just make sure it is looked after.

XxxBFGxxX

agrred there mate but the wheels that come with some bikes are crap. hence why i bought stronger ones. lol

Oceanblue

I'm just short of 19st and lost 3st on my old GT and when I say old I mean 1996!!! It never gave me any bother and in fact is still in active duty on my turbo trainer. My new ride is a '09 Giant XTC 4 and two weeks into it and 30 miles later I'm loving it.

counterculture

rebuild the cannondale and strengthen the wheels and springs, cannondale frames dont have a specified weight limit, so they can take a pounding from big chaps, my gary fisher wahoo took aabuse from my fat arse for 3 years before i had any problems, apart from a bit extra wear and tear on cranks etc

plus if he's using it regularly he wont stay 19st

The Northern Monkey

wouldn't reccomend anything with pro2 hubs... have read a few times that they don't take kindly to heavy riders.

Maxeh

Hi chaps I'm new here, sorry to hijack the thread slightly...

I'm also a big bloke (6ft, 20+stone) and I'm looking to get back into biking again after 5 years off!

What sort of bike out the box or second hand should I be looking for?
I want to be using it mainly to get fit, using the Sussex Downs as my route's of choice.

Cheers

S-Works-Rider

my dad is 6 foot 6 and is 21 and a half stone of muscle and his S-Works Carbon Stumpjumper with The Gold Award Winning Shimano XTR Wheels handle him Fine
and they have Less Spokes than Normal Wheels !!

there are alot of good bikes out there ''just waiting to be sat on'' 8)

don't worry about ur weight, when you get a Good Bike or A Good Set Of wheels

xtremedash

The key to keeping the wheels straight is to get a decent set of handbuilt wheels. If done properly you won't need any extra tension as the wheels should be just as tight whoever uses them. A very even tension all round will be most important in keeping the wheel true.

OwenB

I'm 6'3" and until recently 21 stone, I get around quite nicely on my Avalanche 1, which is incidentally for sale now for anyone who may be interested, there is a thread in the classifieds :roll:

Sponging-Machine

I had a Kona Hoss and can strongly recommend it for any big lads. The frame is excellent and comes with decent kit that shouldn't fall apart. I had the original model which came with some aweful forks, but the frame is definately worth an upgrade.

I got rid of it to buy a Giant Trance. This has also proved to be an excellent bike for someone my size as it's reasonably lightweight without being silly. I only wanted a 4" bike and all the others I looked at were super-skinny race jobs. There're loads of good deals around on Trances at the minute as they're no longer making them.

Oh, I'm 6'5" and 18stone.

montevideoguy

hey guys,

Would a Specialized Rockhopper be a decent bet for the bigger chap? 6'2 here and 17 stone.

Getting a bike through the bikes4work scheme so been looking at the options at Evans (only place I can use the cert) Seems to be a choice between that or GT Avalanche 1.0 disc

Graydawg

Im 6'4", 16 stone 4lbs and Just got a 21" Rockhopper.

Its fantastic and seems sturdy enough for my weight!!

tank3872

im a big bloke all 19stone of me is riding a trek3900 with suntour forks an i am loving it,as long as your mucka aint wanting a cheap bag of bolts from halfords he should be ok for trail riding what you pay for is what you get at the end of the day.

just dont let him copy gee atherton or he will need a new bike every week good luck to you