Advice for a Friend - Beginner MTB for Overweight Guy?

CommyAdam

Hey,

I have a friend (don't start, its not me...) who want to get into MTB for fitness and for fun... knowing that i've been riding for years and am into it in a somewhat obsessive way he asked for advice on what to buy... he is able to buy a mountain bike for around £5-600. For me the issue is that my friend (and i'm not whippet by any means) is probably considered quite overweight currently, though its good to hear he will be getting out on his bike to do something about it.

Now i know what to reccomend a guy getting back into MTB for that money - a decent hardtail with hydraulic discs, improved drivetrain (deore XT or X5 perhaps), decent wheelset and starting to see some weight saving at that price bracket...but the weight issue has made me wonder....should i alter my reccomendation?

Instead of some of the lighter hard-tails out there for the money (Cube, Ghost, Trek, Giant etc) i have currently reccomended a half price Kona Five-0 hardcore hard-tail style bike with bigger 140mm Marzocchi 55's w/ 20mm dropouts, decent hayes hydraulic brakes, some fairly sturdy FSA cranks (i think they cranks fall apart quickly under excess strain) and High Rollers .... have i gone about this the right way?

I think that the bike will better be able to cope with any excess strain put on it? For example if he joins me on trail center rides and maybe even after some time doing drops / jumps etc on some red or even black routes, it feels like that bike can take the impact better...or am i subjecting him to a lifetime of dragging a far heavier bike round the trails? to me the security of the tougher frame and components outweighs the weight savings in that price bracket?

Any advice or first hand experience?

Cheers!

The Rookie

Stock recommend at that price is the Rockrider 8.1 from Decathlon, hiowever it's coil spring and I'd perhaps suggest the Voodoo Hoodoo from Halfords as it ticks the boxes and adds an air fork making it easier to compensate.

Link to the Kona, sounds like a good option.

CommyAdam

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=78911

yeah i thought about the Voodoo and Rockrider....i just dont know if they're tough enough....

its a time old trade off between strength (but increased weight) and lightness (but likelihood of snappage)

lostboysaint

How heavy is "overweight"?

Note how I resisted saying "could you just jump on the scales?"!!

brindlescoops

lostboysaint wrote:

How heavy is "overweight"?

Note how I resisted saying "could you just jump on the scales?"!!

This, in my case I was 20 stone when I started and i never even came close to trashing a bike or its components. Unless you are doing 3 foot drop offs (which as a beginner I guess he wont) in my opinion, i would imagine most bikes will be fine, especially the price range you ae talking about as they wont be built for lightness, the 39 stone cyclist started out on a standard hardtail.

lostboysaint

My feelings exactly. When I started again I was 115kg and rode a variety of very standard bikes. As long as the spoke count is pretty high (32 min), the wheel rim section pretty robust (21mm internal better) and the bike hasn't been pushed to it's design limits with regard to tube thicknesses, geometry etc. he should be fine.

mcnultycop

I was north of 150kg when I rediscovered mountain biking. As stated above an air fork is best for adjustability, but I had no issues with strength of any components on my fairly basic Trek 4500. The seat post slipping in the qr was the only weight related issue I had, I just had to nip it up with an Allen key.

Your "mate" will be alright with a normal bike, you don't have to buy anything OTT.

CommyAdam

Haha i assure you its a mate, i'm more than happy with my Meta SX, it can manage my bulk easily (extra air in my suspension haha) !

Thanks for the advice, i think, as i was hoping he would be coming on more trail centre/AM/FR type trails with me i think i'll stick with recommending the kona, simply because he will need a tougher bike and component set regardless of weight.

Cheers for the advice, its a fairly sensitive subject i appreciate and didn't want to hurt his feelings unnecessarily...

DanDax1990

The extra weight on the Kona is a good thing, right?

I started mountain biking again mainly to loose weight and I wasn't botherd about the fact the bike I chose was a bit heavier than some other alternatives I could've gone for because the more weight will result in more effort whilst pedaling which will result in loosing more weight and getting fitter?

Also note the Kona is only in stock at 22"?

Looks good to me though.

CommyAdam

Yeah you're right, the slightly heavier bike will probably make it easier to get fitter quicker...

And i'm hoping that this is because he ordered the 20" bike already

MynciBoots

I'm a fat bloke (about 18st) and just got the new Hardrock 29er Sports disc, only been out a couple of times, but already can tell it's gonna be great!

Jopo

Im using the carrera kraken started off 17 and a half stone with no problems at all!

Now nearing 16 and a half and bikes still doing fine (well its in halfords with brake issue just now but not due to weight)

I just run quite high thre pressure