Recreational & Family - A good bike for a big guy?

A friend of mine needs to get a new bike, but he needs suggestions on what to get because, well...... he's a big feller. 325 lbs. I'm not sure which kind would be best for him because he'll only be using it on a road or bike trail, but he'll be putting literally twice the strain on a frame, crankset, chain, etc as a guy my size (150 lbs) does. A normal active weight for him is about 230-250, but he's not starting off there. He let himself go for a few years and is now determined to get back to normal. I'd hate for him to get a bike made to support him now, but later will have extreme tire-on-road resistance with big tires, unnecessary suspension, etc.

Any suggestions?

What is his price range. There are a lot of bikes that will meet his needs, but it will all depend on how much he wants to spend.

I'm 6'2" and 300#. I'm taking an old steel frame touring bike and refitting it to suit my personal preferences. Everything I know I've learnt here and at the bike shop. Someone told me (with great logic) that a touring bike frame was built to carry lots of extra stuff, so adding my personal bulk without all the other stuff is not likely to be an undue stress on the frame. Ever since I busted a frame when I was riding to school during 8th grade, I've been careful not to do some of the things you 150 pound guys could get away with, viz. riding on stairs, jumping curbs, mashing gears. That bike was not trying to kill me; I think it was just trying to commit suicide because of the abuse I gave it.

I figure if I don't like the touring bike and find something I just have to have, I won't have laid out a lot of cash initially so I can afford to get what I want later on. On the other hand if I find the touring bike and I have developed a simpatico, then I have something cheap and good and recycled.

I wouldn't worry so much about what bike will fit whatever riding style he evolves into after losing weight... If he doesn't say on the bike long enough to lose the weight it won't matter.

To support his weight he might be better off to stick with entry level components. No stupid light frames and wheels... at least 32 spokes, maybe 36...

As far as style, I would go with a comfort bike (I did at 365) and it will do fine. Buy entry level, and save the remaining money for the future road bike when he has ridden enough to learn what his riding style is.

As an alternative, a touring bike would also provide the strength of components that would work... and be more of a road worthy machine.

If he has his mind set on buying only one bike, I would sugest the tourer as the one with the greatest long term potential.

Ever since I busted a frame when I was riding to school during 8th grade, I've been careful not to do some of the things you 150 pound guys could get away with, viz. riding on stairs, jumping curbs, mashing gears.

I broke a frame in high school, when I weighed 150... I haven't broken one since, and I weigh 300 and have been riding for a couple of years (starting at 365)... If someone at 300 wants to jump curbs and do other things like that, then the first step should be to lose weight, because no frame will handle the abuse for long with the extra weight. If the objective is road riding, I would agree with your approach to use a tourer (that is my plan this year).

If the plan is to jump curbs at 300 pounds, I would say to buy the cheapest used bike you can, because you will have a good chance of break it... whether or ot it is a touring frame.

I'm 6'2" and 300#. I'm taking an old steel frame touring bike and refitting it to suit my personal preferences. Everything I know I've learnt here and at the bike shop. Someone told me (with great logic) that a touring bike frame was built to carry lots of extra stuff, so adding my personal bulk without all the other stuff is not likely to be an undue stress on the frame. Ever since I busted a frame when I was riding to school during 8th grade, I've been careful not to do some of the things you 150 pound guys could get away with, viz. riding on stairs, jumping curbs, mashing gears. That bike was not trying to kill me; I think it was just trying to commit suicide because of the abuse I gave it.

I figure if I don't like the touring bike and find something I just have to have, I won't have laid out a lot of cash initially so I can afford to get what I want later on. On the other hand if I find the touring bike and I have developed a simpatico, then I have something cheap and good and recycled.

really good point of view. One point is to make 110% sure that the touring frame is a LUGGED
steel frame to have a good platform to build on.

Or go here for a decent you can't break it new bike.........

www.worksman.com

If someone is planning to spend mega-bucks, there are a lot of good choices. However, if a rider is spending less than $400 for a new bike, the best choice is a mountain bike.

A $350 or $400 mountain bike is built to take abuse at a far higher level than a road bike or hybrid. A 300 pound rider would want to get the wheels carefully trued before his first ride, and then get them re-trued after every twenty or thirty hours of riding...at least until the spokes have stretched and settled into place.

A 120 pound kid can ride a mountain bike off a three foot high loading dock "for grins" and not harm the bike. A 300 pound rider needs to avoid that sort of thing...just pedal smoothly on the road and on smooth trails. A year of regular riding, and he will be a 200 pound guy...

A good bike shop can adjust the shocks for a heavy rider. I don't like the shocks to be active when I'm mostly riding on the roads, so my shock are adjusted to be firm. With slick "street" tires, a mountain bike can be almost as fast as a road bike on a thirty minute or sixty minute ride, but provides more stability and more comfort than average hybrid or road bike tires.

really good point of view. One point is to make 110% sure that the touring frame is a LUGGED
steel frame to have a good platform to build on.

Or go here for a decent you can't break it new bike.........

www.worksman.com


In Portland, Oregon Worksman bikes are used to deliver Pizza and probably lots of other stuff that I don't care about so much, consequently don't notice. They don't just look solid; they look like they are built carefully. You might see some of their delivery bikes around Lincoln, or if not, possibly Omaha.

I contacted the company and asked if they had a showroom somewhere but they don't. They guy who responded to my message told me if I'm around Ozone Park I can see them at the factory. I won't be far from Ozone Park next month, so I might go have a look. I have not seen one of their bikes without a special-use configuration, except in the pictures at their website^^^.

PS It is lugged, unless some producers add lugs just for show. (The first steel railroad cars were built to look like wood, just so people wouldn't think they looked funny. So, for all I know, lugs might have been a cosmetic feature on some bikes Wasn't there a guy in some BF forum who joked that he was going to market fake plastic lugs?)

It's a Motobecane Grand Touring that is more than twenty years old, but not a whole lot more. I think it may have had a triple ring crank added to replace a double, because I have been told that it's not supposed to have fifteen speeds.

ALL Worksman built bicycles are fully lugged. The lugs
are real in everyway, mate.

I rode Worksman for 25+ years where in the factory I retired
from never ever have more problems than the odd flat tire.
Most here don't like Worksman because they are so heavy and
lack all the gee whiz cycle stuff so popular today. If anything
they are a time warp from the past when everything was built
to last which is why I like'm so much. Spend the money...one time
and one time only and be done with it by buying extreme durablity. ;) ;)