Advice needed on first bike (in many years)

Karr1981

Hi Guys,

I am looking for some advice, im around 5ft 10 and 23 Stone, and need to get my ass into gear, I enjoyed cycling when younger so keen to get back into it but wondering what bike/s are more suited to heavier guys?

Budget wise unclear as not sure what sort of range im looking at

Any advice gladly accepted

dj58

Hello,

The usually advice for someone your weight is to look at a cyclocross, CX bike which will have clearances for wider wheels and tyres. You may need to swop the O.E. wheels depending on the spoke count, particularly the rear, for a 36 spoke 3 cross type. Depending on your budget you may be able to acquire a bike with disc brakes.

keef66

Yep, I'd second that. A CX bike or one of the recent newfangled gravel bikes will take fatter tyres than a pure road bike. And if you can afford it, hydraulic disc brakes. The wider, disc specific wheelset that comes with the bike may well be up to the task already, but if you start breaking spokes or having the wheels go out of true too frequently, consider having some more robust wheels built for you.

Budget however will determine how much of this is possible... Likely looking at £1000 for a decent spec with hydraulic discs

Karr1981

keef66 wrote:

Yep, I'd second that. A CX bike or one of the recent newfangled gravel bikes will take fatter tyres than a pure road bike. And if you can afford it, hydraulic disc brakes. The wider, disc specific wheelset that comes with the bike may well be up to the task already, but if you start breaking spokes or having the wheels go out of true too frequently, consider having some more robust wheels built for you.

Budget however will determine how much of this is possible... Likely looking at £1000 for a decent spec with hydraulic discs

Ok, £1000 was a bit more than i was expecting if im honest, but not impossible so thank you both for the suggestion ill check them out, maybe i can find a second-hand one hehe

when i was younger (but still big) the biggest issue i remember having was the back wheel (bearing i think) failing causing the wheel to pull sideways whenever I peddled the chain side, dunno if that was just mistreatment or because of my weight hehe

ugo.santalucia

You have to be realistic... and I am going to be brutal here... can you climb on a race bike or maybe it's best to start from a mountain bike, which is easier to climb on to?

Suggest you go to a reputable shop and try out a few bikes with an open mind.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

I've upgraded a lot of bits on mine over the last ~15 months and I don't know what rider weight limit they may have, but the default Voodoo Wazoo is very capable for £400 currently before British Cycling discount, if you are looking at flat handlebar bikes... Just swap the supplied tyres for a pair of Jumbo Jims, they roll so much better on the road than the Mission Commands!

This is an extreme solution, but they are fun bikes, it's only now my fitness has improved a lot over the last few months that I'm now looking at adventure bikes to make holding ~18+ mph on the flats much easier.

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/m ... o-fat-bike