Road Cycling - First roadbike for tall rider - suggestions?

Hello everyone!
My name is Paul, and this is my first post on this great site.
About 5 months ago I became Interested in losing weight, I am 6'8" and weighed about 295# so I started paying attention to what I ate, and started walking then jogging. After a few months I got kinda tired of looking at the same few miles of road day after day, plus my knees were starting to bother me a little, so I started looking for other options, I have always liked biking in general and my dad used to ride a road bike a lot, so I started surfing the net for info on road bikes, and instead of jogging I started riding my dads stationary Schwinn Airdine, as of this writing I am 245# and still falling. Anyway, I found a great site, http://www.chainreaction.com (talk about a nice LBS) after I had read just about everything there, I started looking for some other rescources and found, check it out - bikeforums:D I have read quite a bit of very useful stuff and felt I was ready to go to the LBS (50 Mi. away) :( So I went to the shop to see the fine machines in person, my dad came along for the ride, the salesman came outside and greeted us, I told him I was looking for a road bike, so he took me to the road bikes and asked me how tall I was, I told him and he said I was probably a little too tall for the biggest production bike, a 63cm , and that I could get a custom made from a local bike builder, but it would cost around $1500 to $2000 just for the frame, I asked if I could try out a couple anyway and he said sure, but the biggest one they had was a 60cm GIANT brand, not sure which model, rode that and a couple of treks and a steel schwinn that belonged to the salesman, I loved the sti shifters, but the sora seemed to shift a little roughly, so I tried the tiagra components on the trek 1200 and liked them much better I finally decided on the Treck 1200 for $850 but that model only comes in 60cm. (Continued)...

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The salesman said I might consider the Treck 2000, but at $1100
I am wondering if I would be better off to get a custom frame with lower grade components and upgrade later. I have a 37" or so inseam and think the 63cm would be OK, though I haven't actually ridden one that size. The Treck 2000 comes with a carbon fiber forlk and better components, and comes in 63cm. Are there any other tall riders out there who have had this same delimma? Or anyone who could offer some advice, any feedback will be appreciated, Thanks, Paul

PS. Sorry if I went on a little too much, I guess I was trying to kinda introduce myself at the same time.

The salesman is full of hooey about custom frame prices,unless the local guy is Richard Sachs.Check www.strongracing.com or www.anvilbikes.com. anvils with top shelf steel start at about $700 and a steel fork is another $150.Strong frames in suitable steel start at about $800. Don't statrt with Sora,cause 8 speed is a dead end and upgrading to 9 is expensive.A complete shimano 105 bike build kit including wheels is about $875 from www.excelsports.com.

Welcome to the forums!

Are you looking for a race bike? Or just something you can enjoy the day with?

Cannondale offers "Jumbo" (63.5cm c-c) bikes for tall folks. You may want to look into there touring bikes. They are designed for loaded touring, and would have no problem hauling around your weight. The T800 would be a great entry bike, the T2000 will last you for years. (http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/02/cusa/model-2TR2.html)

I believe retail on the T800 is under a grand, and you can pick up the T2000 for $1500. You could easily swap out the cogs and tires for faster riding on the road.

You could also check out http://www.gvhbikes.com/ he has some good prices on bigger frames and bikes, in fact he's got 63cm CAAD5's for sale with Ultegra for $1350, of course you only get probably 2 choices of colors, but it's a good price. He also has Viner frames in up to 64cm. I've never bought anything from them, so I can't comment on their reliability or anything like that, but it may be worth taking a look at.

63cm is the size that the quick and dirty math comes out to for your inseam (but that doesn't substitute for actually trying it out).

Andrew

I was thinking of Cannondale as well, since my touring bike is an older 25" Cannondale, and when I looked at their site I saw that they have a custom frame program for road-racing bikes too, if that's of interest (click here (http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/custbike/welcome.html)).

A steel frame may ride more comfortably on rough road surfaces, however. If equipped with road-racing tires, my Cannondale rides pretty harshly compared to my deceased Fuji Team road-racer, which had very light Ritchey Logic Prestige steel tubing. With Panaracer Pasela 700x35 touring tires at ~80psi, it's not too bad.

Gotta wonder if that's bike inseam or pants inseam.Makes a BIG difference.Gotta think a 63 is too small unless he has stumps for legs., and it don't sound like it.

Hey, thanks for all the info, I checked out all of the sites you sent me. I think the reason the local builder is so expensive is that he is supposed to be a more prestigious builder. I am looking for more of a racing bike, and the guy at the LBS said they can handle anything up to 285 or so, so the weight should not be a problem. I found a site that tells you how to check your inseam and what size bike to get, I did as it said and put a book between my legs and measured a couple times and came out with about 381/2", I guess that is the pants inseam?? If 63cm is for 361/2, does that mean I'll probably need around a 68cm? Will it make a big difference if I just raise the seat a couple inches and get a longer handle stem, as opposed to getting a bigger frame?

Is there anyone who has gotten a bike that was a few sizes too small?

I was trying to stay under $1000 but I don't want to just blow it on a bike that is too small and that I won't ride.

Strong and Anvil are not exactly novices,and can build anything one wants.Don't buy a too small bike.

I'd check out http://www.wrenchscience.com and do thier little fit program, but it sounds like your probably going to be on a 66 or so. Even so it's going to be hard to find a stock size bike, and be in your price range. Colnago makes some frames in 65cm size, I believe http://www.rivendellbicycles.com/ has some larger stock sizes as well, but both are going to blow past your budget pretty quickly (Rivendell is around $990 for a frame/fork, Colnago's will start at around $1200 or so and go up), http://www.habcycles.com/road.html says they'll do custom geometry for $995 (not sure what that all entails). I'm sure there will be a few other "stock" bikes around, but after that you'll have to go custom which will get you prices all over the map.

There is a website somewhere (I never bookmarked it) that somebody may be able dig up that lists quite a few of the custom frame builders here in the states. That would be a good resource to start from I think (especially if there is a builder in your area).

Andrew

Just for refrence, Im 6'4" tall, and ride a 59cm (c-c) bike. I spent quite a bit of time riding 60 - 63cm bikes, but they all felt way to large for me. I have close to 6" of seat post sticking out on my bike, but the fit is perfect.

At 6'8" you are a pretty big guy, with pretty big legs. They should be turning in big circles. Try and ensure the bike comes with extra large pedal cranks. 170mm is for medium sized guys (5'10). You can get them up to 185mm in length (from a French company called Specialities-TA if the big manufacturers wont supply them).

Check out the size guide at:
http://simon.trinhall.cam.ac.uk/bike/cranks.html

If you are going custom, they can build a bike specially adapted to take longer cranks. It would have the bottom bracket part of the frame a few cm higher, so you dont ground pedals at the end of those long cranks.
If you do go this route, the bottom of the frame will be raised, but the top of the frame should still be where you want it to be. The net result is that the frame "size" will be smaller.
Discuss it with your custom builder.

A good source of info on custom builders is from

http://www.henryjames.com/blocator.html#geo

who make the components which go into frames.

Thanks much, all you guys have been great! I am leaning more toward a custom frame, looking into anvil and a couple of others. I am also going to go back to the LBS, they had a bunch of old used bikes for sale and I was going to see if they had a 63 I could try to see if it is big enough, if not I will probably get a custom, thanks for the advice. Paul

Seem my Biggest Bike in Boulder Blog...Size does matter!

http://journals.aol.com/hammeljill/big-bike/

If you RACE a road bike, you can get a tiny frame and just hike up the saddle. But, a fitness rider needs a bike that gets the bars up closer to the saddle. With a traditional frame, that means that when you stand flat-footed over the bike, the top tube is just lightly brushing your crotch.

In my case, at 5' 9" 1/2, with a floor to pubic bone measurement of 34 inches, the bikes that fit the best measure 33 inches from the floor to the top of the top tube, just behind the head tube. Those bikes are generally a size 60 or size 61. So, that puts a guy who is 5' 10" and a fitness rider (NOT a "racer") on at least a size 60...how can a guy who is 6'8" possibly ride a size 63 bike?

On E-Bay, I've seen "custom" bikes for guys who are 6'8" or 6'10". They often sell for FAR less than their true value, due to a lack of bidders. There just are not many cyclists that tall.

So, if I were that tall, I'd be looking on E-Bay. Over a period of a few weeks, something of the "right" size is likely to show up.

On E-Bay, you can also get a copy of Bill Walton's book about cycling. About twenty years ago, Walton got into cycling because his knee problems made running too difficult. The book has a photo of Walton on a custom bike with the tallest head tube I've ever seen...I think the "stand over" on that bike may have been close to 40 inches, from the floor to the top of the top tube.

ABH, did you bother to see how old this thread is??

No, I was scanning the list of NEW posts and saw it there...but I suspect that tall cyclists continue to exist and have questions in 2008, just as back in 2002...actually I've been seeing some VERY tall 7th graders lately...something is being put in that McDonald's food.

Hello all,
Technology is amazing! I haven't been on this site in years, yet I received an email letting me know that one of my threads had been replied to.
Boulder Bill, that is one awesome bike! I wish I could afford something like that. Do you mind sharing how much the fitting and bike cost all together, just for my future reference?
For anyone curious, I ended up getting a 63 cm Fuji Ace-the largest they make, and adjusting from there. I must say that it is comfortable enough and has given me many thousands of wonderful miles, but it is by no means ideal; my elbows hurt sometimes after long rides, and I had to put 36 spoke velocity wheel in the back.
Thanks for the replys everyone, I am sure someone will benefit from them in the future. Paul J.

Lennard Zinn knows his stuff when it comes to big frames as he is 6'06" himself...
http://www.zinncycles.com/