The 'weight issue'

SpinningJenny

Hi all

I've been converted to the idea of getting an MTB - yay! I've realised that off-road cycling is more my thing. Generally speaking, if I damage myself or my bike then it will be due to my own stupidity/lack of agility rather than a 10 ton truck - and hopefully, less damaging in the long run!

I've been to my LBSNTMO (near to my office) and had a chat with one of the helpful guys there. I understand the pros/cons of women's v men's/try before you buy and all that jazz, so I'm not asking about a specific bike - this is more general.

The MTB world is new to me. Apart from knowing that I want (sorry, would like) a hard tail to begin with, I have been alerted to the fact that being a mere woman, I may not suit the suspension in the forks on a man's bike. However, I am a solid lass, having spent a lot of time building up my muscles in the gym over the winter. So, whilst still shapely, I have exchanged the weight of fat for muscle and am over 10 stones, at 5'3".

So, all this concern about the shocks in the forks - am I weighty enough to get the use of the suspension, or not (if I end up with a man's bike)? Again, generally speaking.

I would appreciate some advice from you experienced lot - I feel a try out of bikes on the near horizon....

cee

a mate of mine is 10 stone dressed and he has a normal blokes bike....

just make sure you new fork (whatever it turns out to be) has pre-load adjustment.

this affects how much the fork sits into its suspension while you are on the bike...it is recommended to be about 15% ish of the available travel (so the fork can extend into holes as well as compress over bumps)...

The preload adjuster allows this to be set up right for your weight.

Hope this helps.

C

supersonic

An air fork is infinitely adjustable as well.

I'd aim for 25% sag though.

cee

supersonic wrote:

An air fork is infinitely adjustable as well.

I'd aim for 25% sag though.

I was going to go into that with the air fork and then add....

in fairness, even a coil fork can have the spring weight changed out, and even use a lower weight oil....

obviously that brings about a certain expense and/or level of confidence in taking the forks to bits. Interesting to compare the cost of retrofitting a lighter spring compared to the difference in price between an air and coil model fork?? maybe i am just like that.

but without any idea of what the bike will be or budget at this point.......thought i would stick with the good ole pre-load.

I should have said a recommended minimum of 15% sag.

supersonic

Yeah, changing springs is preety straightforward - hopefully the shop would swap out the spring if needed. Usually an 'average' spring is for 10-12stone riders, but of course rider position can affect sag.

SpinningJenny

Thanks people.

Budget - up to £500 for the moment. That makes sense - re the sag and what have you. You know, I never thought of myself as particularly 'mechanically' gifted, but my brain seems to get the bike thing.

I'm buying an MTB magazine for my train journey home

supersonic

Buy 'What Mountain Bike' - by far the best ;-)

£500 is a decent budget - most forks will be coil spring. Check out the Buyers Guides in the mag, and the What Hardtail thread in the forum here.

Then a case of shortlisting and testing.

Mrs Toast

My weight tends to see-saw between 9 1/2 and 10 1/2 stone, and I'm 5ft 2. Whenever I've hired bloke's bikes with coil spring forks (Trek 4300, Kona Fire Mountain and Cindercones) , they've hardly budged, even on their softest setting - I might as well have been riding a rigid bike.

However, they were hire bikes, so it could just be that they were heavily used and badly maintained...

SpinningJenny

supersonic wrote:

Buy 'What Mountain Bike' - by far the best ;-)

£500 is a decent budget - most forks will be coil spring. Check out the Buyers Guides in the mag, and the What Hardtail thread in the forum here.

Then a case of shortlisting and testing.

I did indeed buy WMB

My brain is full of all sorts of info now... and I will pop over to the What Hardtail section - I didn't see that yesterday!

Mrs Toast - yes, that's's wht I'm worried about. - lack of response! It is, as we all know, a case of trying them out.

Ditch Witch

SpinningJenny wrote:

I have been alerted to the fact that being a mere woman, I may not suit the suspension in the forks on a man's bike. However, I am a solid lass, having spent a lot of time building up my muscles in the gym over the winter. So, whilst still shapely, I have exchanged the weight of fat for muscle and am over 10 stones, at 5'3".

OMG, this makes me so bloody angry.


So, all those 10stone guys out there (my husband being one)... They need women's bikes do they? What utter claptrap

As supersonic says, make sure the forks are adjustable.



The sooner the bike industry gets over its "men's bikes/ women's bikes" and accept that men and women come in all shapes and sizes, the better.

[/rant]

SpinningJenny

Oooh - nice rant!

Yes, I've had time to fester too. Like - why a good chunk of the women's bikes have flowers, leaves or PINK or PALE BLUE on them??? :shock:

I'm going to just try what I like, that's in my price bracket and if it works for me and isn't offensive to my eye, I'm going to buy it

Ditch Witch

Thanks. Ranting is my speciality


That's the best way I'm a big fan of pink myself, but at 6' and 14 stone, it's pretty hard to find pink bikes in my size, cuz only men are my size, right? :roll:

Oops, there I go again

SpinningJenny

Yep, you are freak of nature

cee

Ditch Witch wrote:

That's the best way I'm a big fan of pink myself, but at 6' and 14 stone, it's pretty hard to find pink bikes in my size, cuz only men are my size, right? :roll:

ahem..mans bike....pink too.

Thewaylander

Nad alto fo the forks are air out there now, so i wouldn't worry, just need a shock pump and yyou can set the up as,

As for sag this is totally personal. in south wales if i ran 25%sag i'd be battered by all the rocks and run upwards at about 35%.sag sometimes more depending on the trail

Ditch Witch

Cee, that is a thing of beauty


There's a male triathlon pro that rides a pink bike, too. Makes it easy to find in the rack

sparrowlegs78

Ditch Witch wrote:

Thanks. Ranting is my speciality


That's the best way I'm a big fan of pink myself, but at 6' and 14 stone, it's pretty hard to find pink bikes in my size, cuz only men are my size, right? :roll:

Oops, there I go again

I want a pink bike tooooooo...i'm 6ft 2 and nearly 14 stone with all the kit and a camelbak on....i've just bought pink tat for my Merlin
Caz xxxx

SpinningJenny

Yeah - that pink is fine...

It's that baby pink that makes me want to run for the hills! :shock:

cee

Ditch Witch wrote:

Cee, that is a thing of beauty
:

yip...not mine unfortunately...Thats Joe Barnes...downhiller for MTBCut.tv.....

he also has an Orange 5 in the same colour.

Ditch Witch

to be fair, i don't think I want an entirely pink bike, but a bit of pink is nice

Spec did a tri bike last year (or year before) that was black with pink trim. If bikes were edible, it'd be om nom nom nom.

mea00csf

boyfriend has a blue and pink tri bike, his excuse is they're team colours for the tri club he belongs to . Actually it look really cool, the frame is a gorgeous blue, and all the extra bits like the bar tape, saddle, cable runs and bottle are all bright pink. It certainly gets some looks!

Ditch Witch

Mmmmm, that sounds lovely

snowangel

i'm also 5ft3 and usually around 10st, i have a womens specific giant anthem and a klein palomino (not womens specific) ( i know i'm a lucky girl!!!) with fox forks both, and i prefer the klein

SpinningJenny

Thanks snowangel. I'm going to try out some bikes at the weekend, all being well...

And yes, you are very lucky indeed!

elPedro666

My courier(style) bike is pure white with pink cables - gets me some funny looks in town!

SpinningJenny

elPedro666 wrote:

My courier(style) bike is pure white with pink cables - gets me some funny looks in town!

They be jealous.

Not that I like the pink so much, but still, I bet it looks stylish...

elPedro666

SpinningJenny wrote:

elPedro666 wrote:

My courier(style) bike is pure white with pink cables - gets me some funny looks in town!

They be jealous.

Not that I like the pink so much, but still, I bet it looks stylish...

Not so much that, more that you wouldn't believe how many yards of pink outer you can get for a fiver - seems noone wants the stuff...

SpinningJenny

No, really...?! :shock:

elPedro666

SpinningJenny wrote:

No, really...?! :shock:

I was surprised too, guess there just aren't enough secure men out there.
In their lycra.

SpinningJenny

elPedro666 wrote:

SpinningJenny wrote:

No, really...?! :shock:

I was surprised too, guess there just aren't enough secure men out there.
In their lycra.