Fat Bloke, Hybrid or Road
chrisday1984
Posts: 5
Afternoon all,
I currently have a super cheap (fairly rubbish) MTB and am looking to move into road riding, not that my MTB would be strong enough for any off road riding! I enjoy cycling and want to use it to help me lose weight without tearing my knees to bits but my bike is very heavy, slow and I am about to go through my second bottom bracket.
I am 18 stone and play rugby so have fairly strong legs. This adds extra complexity as I don't only need a bike to be strong enough to hold my weight but also the strength in my legs and add to that the fact that I'm not exactly Mr Flexible.
Is it possible to buy a hybrid bike until I lose the spare tyre and then change the bars at a later date to drop bars to give a more aggressive riding position, similar to a road bike, or are they too differently set up? Or would I be better to go for a road bike (with strong wheels) from the get go?
ANY help would be very gratefully received!
TIA
Chris
I currently have a super cheap (fairly rubbish) MTB and am looking to move into road riding, not that my MTB would be strong enough for any off road riding! I enjoy cycling and want to use it to help me lose weight without tearing my knees to bits but my bike is very heavy, slow and I am about to go through my second bottom bracket.
I am 18 stone and play rugby so have fairly strong legs. This adds extra complexity as I don't only need a bike to be strong enough to hold my weight but also the strength in my legs and add to that the fact that I'm not exactly Mr Flexible.
Is it possible to buy a hybrid bike until I lose the spare tyre and then change the bars at a later date to drop bars to give a more aggressive riding position, similar to a road bike, or are they too differently set up? Or would I be better to go for a road bike (with strong wheels) from the get go?
ANY help would be very gratefully received!
TIA
Chris
0
Posts
Fixed TT 2015-2016
If you arent flexible enough to use them now then a hybrid with rigid forks (i.e. NO suspension) may be better until you decide you can and want to look at drops again in the future. You can get good cheap hybrids from Halfords (Boardman) or Decathlon for example.
You might want to make sure you get a bike with enough clearance around the wheels to run 28mm tyres at least - skinny tyres at your weight would have to be pumped so hard that the ride would be a bit harsh. 28mm or even 32mm could run lower pressures and bring alot of comfort.
I can highly recommend the Planet X London Road as a tough road bike.
Designed for nasty roads and carrying lots of gear - the blurb even talks about hopping curbs with fully loaded panniers. Fat tyres, 32 spoke wheels, disc brakes for stopping all that momentum. It's also pretty light for an alloy disc braked road bike at ~10kg.
FWIW, I hover around 14.5-15 stone, athletic build with big strong legs and regularly carry two fully loaded panniers on mine and it's not missed a beat.
The range starts at £700 - http://www.planetx.co.uk/c/q/bikes/road ... ondon-road
There is a massive thread (20+ pages) over in 'Your Road Bikes' with lots of happy owners.
I found the rim brakes were poor especially in the wet and if i stood up and pedalled hard uphill there was a bit of flex in the bike.
Due to this i bought a specialized diverge with hydraulic disc brakes. It is a rugged bike which while quick enough on road can handle off road as well. So far it has been a great bike and has ridden well on or off road on smoother trails. There are plenty of similar bikes available.
What budget are you looking at ?
I've always harboured a sneaking suspicion that what we call a hybrid is really a solution in search of a problem - they frequently are really little other than flat-bar road bikes, occasionally with silly-low MTB gearing.
Given that discs & wide gearing are increasingly common on "proper" road bikes, the main difference is the bars - and on a properly set-up bike,the position on the hoods of a drop-bar bike (which is where most people spend 75% of their riding) shouldn't be too different to a flat-bar bike anyway.
Some kind of cyclocross/gravel bike is a good idea, as it will be more overbuilt than a regular road bike, while giving similar position and performance. We heavy chaps are also more likely to feel the benefit from disk brakes, both from the somewhat better performance and the avoidance of rim wear, although you'll be fine with rim brakes if you aren't planning to do many wet rides.
32 spoke front wheels and 36 spoke rears are a good shout, although rim choice and build is also important - I've had good results with Archetypes and DT Swiss RR585 rims, less good results with shallow/box rims.
I recently took the plunge trying out the Pro-Lite Garda DS wheelset, which seemed fairly widely recommended for heavy riders while still being cheap and cheerful and having put about 700 miles in so far so good - I've had several 32 spoke factory wheelsets fail long before this point.
The short answer is I wouldn't bother with a hybrid, but you might want to consider a cyclocross or gravel bike instead of a pure road bike - whatever you get, check the length of frame warranty, and if there is a weight limit - wheels are likely to be a problem before frame however.
I'd agree that the better 'hybrids' actually are flat bar road bikes, with a geometry more suited for riding in town where visibility is paramount.
Boardman Hybrid Team 2014
I have both a hybrid and road bikes. If you are planning on 50/60 miles or more I would say go for a good road bike. However if you are planning going out for an hour or two at a time, a hybrid would be fine, as you can still work as hard as you would on a road bike to get fit.
Well, as aero as a 97kg big lad can be!
Boardman Hybrid Team 2014
Just got back from Mallorca trip and had a Trek Emonda that had Askium Elite wheels and did 245 miles and 24k ft climbing and it was a touch less comfy with lower bars but strong enough
Its effectively the only actual difference between a road bike and a hybrid (given that every other thing could be pretty much the same on both).
Road bike (drop) bars are much better for road riding (the clue is in the name) so if thats what you are going to do, then thats what you need to get.
As to wheels. Its more about build/quality than spoke count IMO.
Am not saying you should get low spoke count ones, more that you should get decent quality ones.
Very similar to me - 6ft 4 and 17st former second row. Started off on a flat bar road bike, Giant Rapid. Have to say loved it and it got me into riding and helped me lose weight. Did a few 100k's on it. Now on a Defy (actually have two) and much more comfortable IMHO. Actually managed fine with the stock wheels but have just upgraded to a set of handbuilts with 32 hole rims front and back.
I converted my Triban 540 flat bar to drop bar this year. First ride out was a culture shock and I wondered privately if I'd made a mistake. Now that I've done 7 or 8 rides, and adjusted the position (raised the bars, moved the brakes closer) it feels natural and right. But it took a bit of getting used to.
What will be an issue unless you are very fit and very powerful (a la Martin Johnson) is hill climbing. Climbing is all about power to weight and the 17 stone will hurt. I'm now down to 13 stone 6 after a few seasons cycling and my performance on short, flat rides is no better than it was when I was still playing rugby. My stats on longer or hillier rides have changed out of all proportion though.