Mountain Biking - Bikes for big guys?

OKay I am a big guy , I admit it. About 330 lbs, but I am fairly active and was thinking about getting into biking. My question is do they make reasonably priced bikes that could support my weight? Just want something basic, couple hundred bucks or so, if I fall in love with the sport then I'd feel okay about going crazy $$$ wise. (where can I find out the wieght limits for frames/tires ect)

Anyone know?....thanks in advance

There is no set company or standards for heavy guys. I am in at 260ish (and gaining damn winter). A good standard to go by is parts built for dh/fr. If you plan to do xc or trail riding dh parts will be fine and should never break.

Heres the catch. cost. Parts for you or I cost money. A couple of hundred bucks will get you a bike that is good for commuting and flast trails. Start throwing in roots and rocks and you risk breaking the rims (the first to go), hubs, cranks etc...

sorry I can't help you past that and I am not saying to spend a 1000$ bucks. But the more you put into it the longer the parts will last.

When I got back into biking a few years ago I was almost your size. My first new bike was a Trek 4500. Not a great bike but very inexpensive with a good strong frame. I used this bike for mainly trail riding as I knew that hucking was out of the question at my weight. Since then I have dropped some weight, found that I loved biking, and upgraded to more and better bikes.
My advise would be to get a relatively inexpensive bike until you are sure you are going to really love cycling. You can always upgrade later. A Trek 4500 is a good starting point but you should go to your lbs and see what you like the most and feels best. Good Luck.

thanks for the answers, ended up picking up a Diamondback SORRENTO, seemed a decent entry level bike, I wont be doing anything rough with it, not til I can drop some lbs anyway

DiamondBacks have a good rep over there in the USA i think.... Good Choice :) Welcome to bike forums.cnet :)

find yourself a good used bike..... you can find a great bike for about 300 dollars that a few years ago may have cost 600-700. get a solid hartail, check for Kona they are over build and have a solid reputation.

I have copied this from another forum, but it fits with this thread for big guys. This is a beefy bike for beefy guys.
C:\Documents and Settings\My Documents\My Pictures\2003825235549_cpc01.jpg

What you see here is the only bike in the world prepared to handle DH with a 300+lb rider. 65lbs of pure beef. It's been broken, twice. The swingarm was replaced by FTW last summer, and he patched a hole in the downtube. I've dropped about 10' on this bike. Some specs:

Risse champ with custom wound springs and Big Daddy kit.
Fox Snow Mobile shock with 350lb spring.(stock is 170lb)
Profile cranks
Arrow rims
Custom Thick Bikes gutless seatpost
Planet X Goliath handlebar(and I still bent one)
and so on.

It's NOT a great bike, but it works.

Ok, I can't get the image to copy. Just use this link.

http://www.teamfatbastard.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1349

A little past the couple of hundred he has to spend :)

Star, I'd hate to have to ride that bike anywhere but downhill.

Kona has introduced the HOSS this year. I don't know the MSRP, I'm sure it's probably in the $600 to $800 range, but it's a XC type bike specifically designed for heavier riders.

What I'm trying to say by this is that with the popularity of more DH/FR components becoming available. This is (hopefully) an interest in designing heavy duty bikes for the gravity challanged (heavy guys).

The HOSS is a good indication of this new trend, it also shows you can build up a bike with heavy duty parts and go ride the piss out of it.

L8R

If you decide to upgrade, a2 already mentioned this one but here (http://www.konaworld.com/kw_index.cfm)'s a link to it. I have a friend who pushes 300 and rides like a scrawny little roadie, he rides a Surly Instigator. It's a big, ugly, heavy frame but it's held up for him. Cheap too...

OKay I am a big guy , I admit it. About 330 lbs, but I am fairly active and was thinking about getting into biking. My question is do they make reasonably priced bikes that could support my weight? Just want something basic, couple hundred bucks or so, if I fall in love with the sport then I'd feel okay about going crazy $$$ wise. (where can I find out the wieght limits for frames/tires ect)

Anyone know?....thanks in advance

My son is almost as big as you at 270lbs. He recently purchased a Raleigh, an M50 I think it was. A mtb that cost about $220. On the recommendation of the salesman, he upgraded the wheels to a set that are a lot stronger. I think they cost an extra $30.

I own a 1995 GT Karakoram which has to deal with my 6' 3 and 260 pound frame.

I fell for the front shocks---I love em.
I'm not a mudder,rock climber or downhill racer but being an ATB, it can handle all of that.

The only changes i make are the tires...skinny's in the spring..wider tires in the winter.

The worse that's happened to me on it was when a full grown Golden Retriever came galloping at me broadside..Her owner was across the bike bath and called for her...I pulled the front tire away from her but she hit my back rim--turned it into a pretzel..i went high-jumping across my handle bars.

As peeved as i was with its owner, I was more concerned about the dog.
I could always replace my wheel set.

Probably more than you wanted to know but--I love my GT.

I'm 5'11", 260lbs and purchased Kona's Hoss in mid October. Since then, I've been riding almost daily - mostly trails but also bike paths and roads - all I can say is Kona has made a hell of a great bike!

I've had nothing more than some minor break-in issues (front derailleur adjustment, brake squeal, etc.) and the bike feels extremely solid. I did switch out the original stem to better suit my riding style; and my Hoss - for some reason - came without the (Shimano M505) clipless pedals listed on Kona's spec page. (I'm trying to get an answer from Kona on this, BTW - will let you know what they say).

Anyway, it's a truly great bike for big folks who want to enjoy riding trails without fear of the bike beneath them falling into pieces...

MMPC,

The sale spec on the bike ends up being at the discression of the shop. A lot of bikes change specs from region to region. Just a fact of life. If the cost difference isn't too much it was probably a tadeoff for the shop.

Maelstrom, I didn't know that - interesting. Wasn't the case in this instance, however. I received a reply from Joe at Kona (Same day! That's good customer service!). Evidently, the reason my Hoss didn't come with the Shimano pedals listed on Kona's spec page is because Shimano couldn't supply them soon enough. Rather than hold back delivery of the bike, Kona decided to ship it with their Jack**** platforms. I think that was the correct decision - I was grateful to get my bike when I did.

Upon delivery of my Hoss, the LBS sold me some gently used WTB pedals at a great price. They were okay but had a really hard time shedding mud and liked to disengage a lot (no matter the tension setting). I've now upgraded to Crank Bros. Candy C pedals; been reading a lot of rave reviews about them - we'll see how they do...

The jack**** pedals are decent flat pedals. Handle some abuse :) congrats on the bike

If you wanna sell the Jacksheet pedals let me know!

L8R

a2psyklnut - I would but the bike shop kept 'em in exchange for a great price on the WTB's. Sorry...